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I'll go on record right now, Southern Miss is going to be a TOUGH game for us this year... looks like Monken has their ship turned around: ------------------------- But third-year Southern Miss coach Todd Monken is drawing a proverbial line in the sand. “I expect we will put ourselves in position to go back to a bowl game this year,” he said during an interview with the Hattiesburg American this week. “But it’s going to take everybody. We need ‘The Rock’ to be packed for every home game. If we sell out ‘The Rock’ (every home game in 2015) and we have a losing season, I’ll resign.” Since the start of the 2012 season, Southern Miss has had just one announced crowd of more than 30,000 (the first home game of the 2012 season). During the same span, the Golden Eagles have drawn less than 25,000 fans 13 times, which is passable relative to the program’s Conference USA ilk. Last season, Southern Miss ranked fourth in the league – out of 13 teams – in average home attendance (22,739). Golden Eagle fans are no strangers to the particulars of the football program’s recent history. In 2011, Southern Miss won the Conference USA Championship as well as the Hawaii Bowl and finished the year 12-2 – the best record in school history. The following season, under new head coach Ellis Johnson who replaced Larry Fedora, the Golden Eagles went 0-12 – easily the worst season in school history. Johnson was abruptly dismissed and Monken was hired. Southern Miss was 1-11 in year one under the former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator and 3-9 in 2014. But Monken is confident enough in the roster he’s assembled that his squad is capable of taking another step toward relevance. “I love being the head coach here,” he said. “This is a special place. I know we’re significantly better than we were last year. I believe we’ve got the team to get back to a bowl game. With the help of our fans, I don’t see us not.” read more: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/2015/07/12/usms-monken-aims-fill-rock-home-games/30066655/