USM’s Monken aims to fill ‘The Rock’ for home games

[Harry]

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:

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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/

[UNT90]

A program that recognized and fired a disaster of coaching hire after one year.

 

But how can we expect to compete with USM?

[GreenTexan13]

A program that recognized and fired a disaster of coaching hire after one year.

 

But how can we expect to compete with USM?

We beat them in Mississippi this year, and make their coach resign.

 

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

We beat them in Mississippi this year, and make their coach resign.

A road win?? I would have to see it to believe it.

[untjim1995]

A program that recognized and fired a disaster of coaching hire after one year.

 

But how can we expect to compete with USM?

I think that USM is a sad tale of what happens to a G5 program once the winning goes away, particularly for those in small markets. I give them credit for absolutely not settling for a coach who managed to go 0-12 in his first year.  But USM fans have watched them go from being CUSA Champions, when that league actually had teams in it that they considered as true peers, to seeing that coach get hired away by UNC, and then seeing the big market teams leave to the AAC. They got left behind, not just because of their TV market being small, but also it coincided with going 0-12, meaning the AAC had no interest in adding them over the other CUSA teams. Even if they improve greatly, I still don't think they will ever get that mojo back of where they were, which was one of the most respected G5 teams in the country, right there with Boise State, Fresno State, UCF, and others.

To me, and its not really even close, they are the biggest losers in the conference realignment game. They have watched their program go from being an original CUSA member, with teams like Louisville, Cincy, UH, UAB, Memphis, USF, UCF, TCU, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, and ECU having been in the conference at different points, to now looking at Marshall, UAB, and Rice as their only compadres that got left behind--and UAB may be completely gone very soon. Its very possible that we have seen the glory days of USM come and go, even if they do start winning again in this version of CUSA. Their fans hate being stuck in the league, knowing they cannot do anything about it, for no other reason than they are in a podunk market. I guess we will see--they have had higher expectations in the past, but we don't know if that is going to continue or if they are just going to be resigned to their place in today's college football world.