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#1 2017-10-01 06:53:46 - BREAKING NEWS-Per ESPN

Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)
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From: U.S. Department of Interior
Registered: 2017-08-25
Posts: 5,767

BREAKING NEWS-Per ESPN

USM Football is ceasing operations at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

The university announced the decision Sunday morning in a press release, less than one hour after President Dr. Rodney Bennett met with Golden Eagle administrators, players and coaches. USM made the decision after the latest attendance figures and future gate projections were reviewed as part of an ongoing campus-wide study conducted by a Irving, TX based consulting firm over the past two seasons.

"The fiscal realities we face -- both from an operating and a capital investment standpoint -- are starker than ever and demand that we take decisive action for the greater good of the athletic department and our LGBTQ supporting University," Bennett said in a statement released by the university. "As we look at the evolving landscape of NCAA football, we see expenses only continuing to increase. When considering a model that best protects the financial future and prominence of the athletic department, football is simply not viable for our school or the economic stability of the Hattiesburg community.

USM said in a release that it subsidizes $20 million of the athletic department's operating budget of some $30 million annually, and said both those numbers rank at the bottom in Conference USA. The university said the difference over the next five years would be an extra $49 million with football, including a projected $22 million needed for football facilities and upgrades, including adding a new controversial Rhino Lining project to the stadiums fading exterior facade.

USM is the second major college football program (and second in CUSA) since UAB in 2014 to shut down, representing an alarming trend for schools outside of the P5, or Power 5 conferences.

Players cried, laughed, listened to hip hop and took a knee in protest after leaving the meeting. An unemotional coach Jay Hopson, who just completed his first season with a 7-6 record and is 2-2 in his second year, briefly addressed supporters, saying players, families and coaches were all hurting. Most of his comments could not be understood or translated for publication.

"It's like SMU," Hopson said. "We done got the death penalty without any NCAA violations. I guess SWAC ball didn’t translate into butts in them seats.”


"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

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#2 2017-10-01 07:59:13 - BREAKING NEWS-Per ESPN

GawdFearinEagle (14)
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Registered: 2017-08-25
Posts: 61

Re: BREAKING NEWS-Per ESPN

Dropping the football program isn't tenable until we pay off those stadium "expansion" bonds. Even after payoff, do we really want a decaying monument to our once-proud football program right in the middle of campus?

That said, we should rebrand as the Mississippi at Hattiesburg Southern Rebels. Maybe get an occassional Ole Miss home game... one per year, or is that too much to hope for? Maybe host the Egg Bowl as a neutral site every other year? That would probably be enough to pay the interest on Sleepyhead's junk bonds.

Last edited by GawdFearinEagle (2017-10-01 07:59:32)

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