E-mails I have received so far this morning...
Mr. Ramsey,
The cartoon of December 1, 2007 is off base and unfair. I like Jeff Bower and was sadden, but not suicidal about his departure. Jeff has done a good job for USM, but the last few years have demonstrated a downward trend from his hay day. There are two kinds of coaches those that have moved on and those that will, even Ole JoPa at Penn State will move on one day. But USM did not crap on Jeff. We gave Jeff seventeen years. He gave us seventeen years. He could have moved on anytime he wished, we could have released him any time we wanted. But he is gone. Right or wrong will be determined in the next few seasons. BUT WE DID NOT CRAP ON HIM. As they say in the Godfather, "nothing personal just business." And even at USM sports are just business.
Marshall, if a picture is worth a thousand words, today's cartoon is worth a million. As a USM alum, I am embarrassed by the shoddy and callous treatment of the most loyal and one of the best college football coaches in America. Richard Giannini better hire a magician or his only legacy at USM will be as the AD who fired Jeff Bower. Thanks for expressing the feelings of many Golden Eagle fans as only you can.
Marshall Ramsey, 39, is the editorial cartoonist for The Clarion-Ledger. He is a two-time Pulitzer finalist and is nationally syndicated by Copley News Service. His cartoons have appeared in USA Today, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and on his Mother's refrigerator. It is also rumored that his work has appeared frequently in the bathrooms of several prominent local politicians.
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8 comments:
"I like Jeff Bower and was sadden, but not suicidal about his departure." ~ Disgruntled USM Person
Perhaps if this person had spent more time in class and had learned basic grammar, he would be better served than worrying about defending what we all know was wrong. He can't choose the correct tense of a word and can't punctuate a sentence either. My guess is that he didn't make the football team either.
Good snarky morning to all!
Nothing will get me onto the opposing side of an argument like written bad grammar. If you write it, it's there forever.
to quote more Godfather:
"Look how they massacred my boy."
Vito to Bonasera re: Sonny
i have sent the cartoon to the college football guys as espn.com they have been riding the administration at usm over this. i am sure they will like it.
A good cartoon brings out the commentators on both sides. So, well done.
When I first saw the title of this post below the one I had been reading, I thought it might have something to do with baseball at Smith-Wills.
I think USM did what USM needed to do. There had been wide disgruntlement among the fanbase, and the coach hadn't done a whole lot for them lately. What can you do? It's not fair to the fans to give a guy a lifetime gig if the fans don't feel the guy is giving them his absolute best. Southern Miss should absolutely play for the CUSA title and try to be a BCS-buster every year, and given the expectations this year, they drastically underacheived. Worse yet, since CUSA was diluted a couple years ago, you'd think USM would've capitalized, but they didn't.
If you were to look at FSU or Penn State, a lot of questions have been asked of those programs as well in recent years. If Bowden or Paterno start churning out 6-6 or (gasp!) less seasons, there's going to be a lot of folks that want to see someone new, but you can't fire either one of them. It's a catch-22.
So I won't criticize Gianinni for doing what he thought he needed to do. A trained monkey should be able to get USM to 7-5 and to a bowl in CUSA every year. They're looking for better than that, and more power to them.
You're right. USM was in a slump -- they should have shot Bower in the middle of 49. That would have gotten him out of the way for that high-powered coach they will bring in for what they were paying for him. And that great PR they have gotten around the country -- well, that was a bonus, too.
After all he had done for the school, for the program, he deserved better. I guess I should have been fired this year for not winning the Pulitzer, too.
I still disagree. People keeps saying how great of a coach Jeff Bower was for USM, but if you look at the records, he's 119-82-1 (.592)in seventeen years.
If you go back and look at the seventeen years prior to Jeff Bower taking over, FOUR DIFFERENT COACHES amassed a record of 114-75 (.603).
So the four different coaches actually had a higher winning percentage than Bower.
He wasn't some great coach...he was just par for USM. If USM fans are looking for something better, Jeff Bower has shown over 17 years that most of the time he's going to produce teams that win about six out of ten and underachieve on a national basis. Which is NORMAL for USM. If they want something better, I don't think Jeff Bower has done anything to show that he's the guy to give it to them.
I respect him for being there 17 years, but he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary to warrant a lifetime contract.
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