Saturday’s Game Is Still On Officially Despite Alcorn State’s Covid Situation
As of now the Jaguars home game against Alcorn State is still officially on. However it seems to be a bit in limbo due to a lack of athletic trainers.
The Braves were not allowed to practice on Monday or Tuesday due to all of the part-time athletic trainers for the team testing positive for Covid.
Due to NCAA rules, team cannot practice without on-site medical staff present.
According to people who spoke with USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity, the football team’s activities on Tuesday were “limited to a walkthrough where University-employed nurses – not a certified athletic trainer – were allowed to pass out ice bags.”
“We’ve got a big game (at South Alabama) that’s going to make the university money, and we can’t go out and get treatment for the young men and women,” head coach Fred McNair said via Football Scoop. “We can’t get treatment or rehab on this day, not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“This is something that needs to be fixed. This is an administration issue. I could talk about it all the way till I turn blue. This has got to be fixed. We’ve got to be able to pay somebody to be the Alcorn State athletic trainer, and we don’t have one. That’s disheartening.”
While most of the FCS played their 2020 season in the spring of 2021, Alcorn State opted out entirely. It was framed as Covid-19 concerns.
According to sources talking with USA TODAY, the team’s upperclassmen opted not to play because the school did not have a full-time strength coach or an athletic trainer during the pandemic and they did not feel prepared to play.
A full-time athletic trainer was hired at the end of January but left in July for a health care job in the private sector. Instead of hiring a replacement, the athletic department chose to use two part-time trainers who were not vaccinated, according to the source.
No players or coaches have tested positive for Covid. The two part-time trainers tested positive prior to Saturday’s game against Northwestern State. The trainer that left in July was brought back on a temporary basis to get through the game. When players came in on Sunday for treatment, he informed the staff he would not be able to come back on Monday.
South Alabama would be owed $360,000 in liquidated damages if the game isn’t played per their contract.
Kane Wommack Officially Named Head Coach At South Alabama
The University of South Alabama officially announced that Kane Wommack will be only the third head football coach in South Alabama history on Saturday.
Welcome 🏠 @KaneWommack!
— South Alabama Jaguar Athletics (@WeAreSouth_JAGS) December 12, 2020
Full release ▶️ https://t.co/GAvFBg4X8K#Something2Prove pic.twitter.com/NaorcalwWz
Coach Wommack, 33, will be the youngest head coach in the FBS ranks.
Wommack is in his third season as linebackers coach and his second season as the defensive coordinator at Indiana and is a candidate for the Broyles Award after helping the Hoosiers to a #8 ranking in this weeks AP poll.
Our previous post had an extensive rundown of his accomplishments at Indiana.
In his first year at Indiana as the youngest Power 5 defensive coordinator his squad finished in the top-50 nationally in scoring, total, rush, and pass defense.
Prior to Indiana, Wommack was the defensive coordinator at South Alabama under head coach Joey Jones from 2016-2017. He was also the youngest defensive coordinator in FBS at the time. His defense ranked in the top-10 nationally in pass defense (174.6 yards per game). They also allowed 10 fewer points per game over the previous season which ranked them the 5th best improved defense in FBS. In 2017, the Jags were ranked in the top-15 nationally in both red zone defense and fumble recoveries.
Jeremy Reaves, currently with the Washington Football Team in the NFL, was a two-time first-team all-SBC selection and the the school’s first-ever Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. Randy Allen, Bull Barge, Roman Buchanan, Kalen Jackson, and Darrell Songy all earned all-league honors during Wommack’s two years at USA.
Prior to USA he served as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Eastern Illinois where they finished in the top 25 of the final national poll in 2015 after a first-round appearance in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.
Previously he was at Ole Miss from 2012-2013, Jacksonville State 2011, and Tennessee-Martin in 2010.
He began his playing career at Arkansas where he was a fullback in 2005-06 as the Razorbacks won the SEC West in his second season. After transferring to Southern Miss, he helped the Golden Eagles to three straight bowl appearances before earning his degree in 2009 and became a volunteer assistant at the school.
Kane and his wife Melissa have three sons named Asher (6), Tatum (4), and Jones (1).
Wommack had support from various former players, including Reaves.
Mood!!!!!!!!!!!! Proud to be a Jag today ❤️ Welcome home @KaneWommack @MCWommack pic.twitter.com/p4QjUQLjw1
— Jeremy Reaves (@JR1ERA) December 12, 2020
@KaneWommack GOOD TO HAVE YA BACK COACH!!!!
— Nick Mobley (@lone29wolf) December 12, 2020
Welcome back to Mobile and Jag Nation.
Kane Wommack To Be South Alabama’s New Head Coach
Kane Wommack has reportedly been selected and agreed to terms to be the next head football coach for the University of South Alabama according to multiple sources. This news comes five days after Steve Campbell was dismissed following a 4-7 season.
Coach Wommack is only the third head coach in the programs short history that dates back to the 2009 season. He is also the youngest head coach in FBS football at 33 years of age. He has also been nominated for the Broyles Award, which honors the nation’s top assistant coach.
He reportedly was chosen over former FBS head coaches Jim McElwain and Butch Jones, as well as assistant coaches Charles Huff (Alabama) and Tee Martin (Tennessee).
Wommack comes to South from Indiana University where he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach since December 27, 2018. In his first season as coordinator they finished in the top 50 in several categories: 12th defensive touchdowns, T27th fumbles recovered, 34th in 3rd down conversions, 36th in total defense, T38th in 1st downs, 43rd in rush defense, 45th in scoring defense, 46th in pass defense and 48th in pass efficiency defense.
While the 2020 season has been an odd one with some widely different number of games completed, his defense is currently ranked 1st in interceptions, 1st red zone defense (57.9%), T14th in sacks (17 ints, 3 fumble recoveries, and +10 as a team), 17th in pass defense efficiency, 20th in scoring defense, 27th in fewest defensive penalties, T37th in rush defense, 38th in total defense, and 38th in 3rd down defense. This has helped the Hoosiers to a #12 ranking in the College Football Playoff standing.
Prior to Indiana, he served as the Jags defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for two seasons under head coach Joey Jones. When Wommack was hired he was the youngest defensive coordinator in FBS.
During his two seasons at USA the Jags defense was the 13th-most improved scoring defense and rush defense in the nation, and the 5th-most improved nationally in scoring defense while ranking in the top-10 nationally in pass defense. They finished in the top 5 in the Sun Belt in pass defense, pass efficiency defense, tackles for loss, and 3rd down conversion defense. Safety Jeremy Reaves was named the 2017 SBC Defensive player of the year and twice first team all-conference honoree. The 2017 defense allowed 22 or fewer points in regulation in seven of the eight conference games.
Kane grew up around the game. His father Dave Wommack has been a coach since 1981. Dave has been defensive coordinator at Southwest Missouri State, UNLV, Southern Miss, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Arkansas State and Ole Miss.
Kane’s coaching career began as quarterbacks coach at the University of Tennesee-Martin in 2010.
Then in 2011, Wommack served as a graduate assistant on Jack Crowe’s Jacksonville State staff working with the defensive line.
He served on Hugh Freeze’s staff at Ole Miss as a graduate assistant on his father’s, Dave Wommack, defensive staff from 2012-2013. He helped coach the Husky position in his fathers 4-2-5 defense.
Kane then served as the defensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois from 2014-2015 where they ranked 2nd in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring and fourth in takeaways with four defensive players earning all-OVC honors. In his second season there he helped them make a first-round appearance in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS playoffs and a top-25 ranking prior to joining Joey Jones’ staff at South Alabama.
Coach Wommack will have a short time to assemble his staff as the Early Signing Period starts on December 16. They will have to evaluate the group of players that Campbells staff had recruited and had committed.
Kane and his wife Melissa have three sons, Asher (6), Tatum (4) and Jones (1).
Welcome back to #JagNation Coach Wommack!
One Team, One Goal, Let’s Win!
South Alabama Announces Campbell Will Not Return
It’s was previously reported that it was expected that South Alabama would be making a change at head coach. It has not been confirmed with an official announcement by Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann and the University.
He informed the team at a 2pm team meeting.
University of South Alabama Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann announced Sunday that Steve Campbell will not return as head coach of the Jaguar football program.https://t.co/9Zn1NOiaYp pic.twitter.com/ibhOpFm2gQ
— South Alabama Football (@WeAreSouth_FB) December 6, 2020
In three seasons at South Alabama, Campbell compiled a 9-26 record overall as the head coach. He had one year left on his 4 year contract that was signed in December 2017. Reportedly his $350,000 buyout was paid by a program booster.
It had looked like Campbell had secured his job for one more season after notching the programs first-ever win in Jonesboro, Arkansas against Arkansas State on November 28. However an embarrassing 29-0 shutout at home to in-state rival Troy for the first-ever meeting between the two in brand new, $80 million Hancock Whitney Stadium was too much to overcome. The Jaguars had never been shutout at home and finished the 2020 season 4-7.
The 2019 season his team finished 2-10 with their only FBS win came on a season ending upset of Arkansas State behind a stellar five catch, 144 yard and four touchdown performance by Jalen Tolbert.
Campbell came to South Alabama after a four-year stint at Central Arkansas where he went 33-15 and going 24-3 in the Southland Conference. In each of his last two seasons his teams went to the playoffs but were knocked out in the second round each time.
Prior to UCA, Campbell led Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to an 87-22 record and the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association national champion during his 10 seasons as the helm.
During his three season stint at Delta State from 1999-2001, his teams posted a 27-8 record including a 14-1 record and the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2000.
Until his time at South Alabama Campbell had never finished with a losing record, however his Jaguar teams were continually plagued by poor performing offensive lines, an offense that struggled to score, and a porous defense that slowly improved through his tenure along with longtime defensive coordinator Greg Stewart.
We would like to also thank coach Campbell and his staff for their hard work for the student-athletes, administration, and the University. We wish them and their families the best.
Campbell became only the second head coach in South Alabama football history after Joey Jones’ contract was not renewed after the 2017 season.
The University will look to fill the position quickly with the early signing period begins on December 16.
Dan Parker of the Parker Search Firm is leading the search for the replacement.
Early names being floated or who have expressed interest are Indiana DC and former USA DC Kane Wommack, Tennessee WR coach Tee Martin, Ole Miss OC Jeff Lebby, Alabama RB coach Charles Huff, Alabama DB coach Karl Scott, Notre Dame RB coach/Run Game Coordinator Lance Taylor, and Wofford head coach Josh Conklin.
South Alabama Expected To Move On From Steve Campbell
It’s being reported that South Alabama will be moving on from head football coach Steve Campbell.
There is a team meeting scheduled for 2pm where it is expected he will make the announcement to the team.
In three seasons at South Alabama, Campbell compiled a 9-26 record overall as the head coach.
It had looked like Campbell had secured his job for one more season after notching the programs first-ever win in Jonesboro, Arkansas against Arkansas State on November 28. However an embarrassing 29-0 shutout at home to in-state rival Troy for the first-ever meeting between the two in brand new, $80 million Hancock Whitney Stadium was too much to overcome. The Jaguars had never been shutout at home and finished the 2020 season 4-7.
The 2019 season his team finished 2-10 with their only FBS win came on a season ending upset of Arkansas State behind a stellar five catch, 144 yard and four touchdown performance by Jalen Tolbert.
Campbell came to South Alabama after a four-year stint at Central Arkansas where he went 33-15 and going 24-3 in the Southland Conference. In each of his last two seasons his teams went to the playoffs but were knocked out in the second round each time.
Prior to UCA, Campbell led Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to an 87-22 record and the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association national champion during his 10 seasons as the helm.
During his three season stint at Delta State from 1999-2001, his teams posted a 27-8 record including a 14-1 record and the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2000.
Until his time at South Alabama Campbell had never finished with a losing record, however his Jaguar teams were continually plagued by poor performing offensive lines, an offense that struggled to score, and a porous defense that slowly improved through his tenure along with longtime defensive coordinator Greg Stewart.
Early names being floated as a replacement are Indiana DC and former USA DC Kane Wommack, Tennessee WR coach Tee Martin, Carolina Panthers RB coach Jeff Nixon, and Alabama RB coach Charles Huff.
Reports Swirling Big Ten To Cancel Football Season
After the reports yesterday that the Big Ten had enough votes internally to postpone the fall sports season to the spring, we all knew Monday would be a very interesting day.
Dan Patrick reported early Monday morning that the Big Ten had voted internally 12-2 to postpone the season. The two votes for a fall season were Nebraska and Iowa.
Now the Detroit Daily News is reporting that the Big Ten will announce on Tuesday that the conference has officially decided to postpone fall sports until the spring of 2021.
Meanwhile the SEC is reportedly recruiting ACC and Big 12 teams to play this fall. Both the ACC and Big 12 seem to be on the fence as to playing football this fall. Even the Big 12 may be cozying up to Nebraska, who left the conference to join the Big Ten in 2010.
Big Twelve to Nebraska: Come on home Nebraska. Let’s find a partner, make it a dozen and renew one of college football’s great rivalries! pic.twitter.com/uCfwOLQ8LE— Spencer Tillman (@SpenceTillman) August 10, 2020
All the while the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA are still practicing and moving forward towards a 2020 fall season. It’s being rumored that some early games are moving up to week zero (August 29th). Troy and Middle Tennessee may be renewing their rivalry this year, and they may make it home-and-home in one season!
When you thought 2020 could not get any more crazy! This scheduling and will they/won’t they discussion is bringing out some borderline unimaginable stuff!
The Fate Of Fall Sports Likely To Be Determined In The Next 72 Hours
The next 72 hours will determine if we have college football this fall, or any fall sports for that matter..
On Saturday, the Mid American Conference announced that they were postponing their fall sports until the spring, which includes football.
The MAC, considered a Group of 5 conference, is starting to look like the first domino to fall among the FBS conferences.
The Big Ten presidents met on Saturday and, while they did not vote to postpone the season, they did vote that football practices should remain in the “acclimatization phase” until further notice, which means helmets only and without contact.
Apparently commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an emergency meeting as concerns continue to grow among college football athletics officials that the upcoming football season, and other fall sports, will not be able to be played due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It appears that, even though the Big Ten presidents did not vote to postpone the season, they are ready to pull the plug on the fall season and wanted to gauge whether the other commissioners and university presidents would join them.
The Big Ten presidents could meet as soon as Sunday Night with the feedback from the other Power Five commissioners and could be the first to vote to postpone fall sports season to the spring among the Power Five.
The PAC-12 is set to meet again on Tuesday.
Basically no one wants to be the first, nor the last.
However if all of the power five conferences vote to postpone fall sports, including football, to the spring they will need to have some sort of plan ready to announce to the fans and student-athletes. They will not want to hear “we’ll get back to you on that.”
I fall into the camp that having a football season is probably one of the best things for the student-athletes. They will be on campus with excellent medical care and rigorous testing. Probably the biggest threat would be college parties and girls. Because, lets face it, some college kids are going to have some parties and athletes will be invited.
Jags vs Southern Miss Date Change; Tulane Replaces Grambling For Home Opener
South Alabama Athletics announced two scheduling changes on Thursday.
The season opener against Southern Miss has moved up to Thursday, September 3. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, September 5th.
In an effort to replace the Jags home opener against Grambling, which was cancelled when the SWAC announced the postponement of the football season to the spring, has scheduled Tulane to visit Mobile.
USA was trying to schedule an FCS school to replace FCS Grambling but was unable to find anyone to fill that hole in the schedule. Apparently they did not want to take the chance of forever having a home opening loss in Hancock Whitney Stadium to go down as a loss to in-state foe (can’t really call them a rival…yet) UAB.
As for attendance for the season opener at Southern Miss, or attendance at home this season, there has not been an official announcement. So far it is presumed that home game attendance will be limited to 25% if fans are permitted to attend games at all, at least in the early part of the season.
Take a look at our previous article about attendance numbers and why USA should consider playing their home games at Ladd-Peebles this season due to the reduced attendance numbers because of the pandemic.
Check back for updates as they come.
Go Jags!
SEC Decision Cancels South Alabama’s Game Versus Florida
Another blow to the Jaguars schedule happened today, courtesy of the Southeastern Conference.
The SEC announced they were going to a 10-game, conference-only schedule for fall of 2020. Due to this decision, the Jags game in The Swamp against Florida will happen this fall.
This had been rumored for the last several days and pretty much was inevitable when the Atlantic Coast Conference announced an 11 game season, 10 conference games and one non-conference game.
Additionally, the SEC football season will start on September 26 and the SEC Championship Game will move to December 19.
As it currently stands, the Jags will open against Southern Mississippi on September 5, then would return to action on September 26 against UAB.
However, as we are seeing nation wide this is a fuild situation and Sun Belt Conference peer Conference USA, with members USM and UAB, could go to a conference-only schedule themselves.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Sun Belt Conference could go to a conference-only schedule themselves or collaborate with CUSA for an 8 + 2 schedule, which would allow the Jags to hold steady with the schedule they currently have.
It’s unknown if USA will get any compensation for the game cancellation.
We’ll share more as we get information.
South Alabama’s Game Against Grambling Cancelled; Working On Scheduling New Opponent For Home Opener Sept 12
On Monday, the Southwestern Athletic Conference announced the cancellation of fall sports for the 2020 season. This effectively cancelled the Jags game against Grambling that was set to officially open Hancock-Whitney Stadium.
The SWAC becomes the 5th of 13 overall FCS conferences to announce cancellations their fall schedule due to COVID-19.
The Jaguar Athletics Staff are diligently working to scrounge up another opponent for the September 12th date.
South Alabama isn’t alone in this situation as the cancellation of SWAC and other conference schedules ripple across college football. Some FBS conferences who have announced a conference-only schedule such as the Big Ten and PAC-12.
Most notable is fellow in-state institution, University of Alabama, who had a marquee season-opening game schedule against Southern Cal that was cancelled due to the decision by the PAC-12 conference.
Once we hear something, we’ll pass it along!
Go Jags!