Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-03-04
In the studio today at Wing’s Sports Grill on the Beltine near I-65 just off of Airport Blvd is Head Coach Joey Jones, Lee Shirvanian and Travis Toth.
One of the first questions was how close is the schedule to being finalized? Coach Jones said that they are waiting on one last contract to come through and they should be ready to release the 2009 football schedule. Lee Shirvanian followed that question up with his next one, why does it take so long? When getting game contracts together, lawyers get involved so they have to read through the contract to make sure that it benefits their school. Another thing has been trying to find teams that have open dates that match up with ours.
Putting together the schedule is like trying to put a huge puzzle together, all the pieces have to analyzed and fit together to make an overall picture. But for the 2009 season they are looking at possibly 8 games.Which by all indications all seven or eight games will be home games. While it was not stated the most likely reason that schools would want to travel to Mobile is that its a larger stadium than most they will be playing their first season in Division-I football.
Also, spring practice will be starting on Monday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and the coaching staff has changed their minds once again for the publics benefit. All practices, including the first week, will be open to the public. Practices will be held from 2:30-4:45pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays with the occasional Wensday thrown in there as well. Coach Jones said there will be right at 100 players out there for practice with roughly 16* of them having scholarships. (* NOTE: This number may or may not be accurate.)
When asked what they will be doing at practice Coach Jones said that they have to evaluate all of the kids and give them a chance. In addition to evaluating them, they also have to teach fundamentals. The coaching staff are not going to be too fast in getting into scrimmages, they will be having scrimmages but they have to start with the fundamentals first.
Joe Gottfried visited the show and was talking about scheduling. Again Lee Shirvanian asked why is it so hard to put together a schedule? Gottfried’s response was that since we are an unclassified school it’s hard to find other unclassified schools or find schools who want to schedule you. Plus getting them to travel to Mobile is sometimes difficult. They are working on teams for 2012-2016 and spending a lot of time to work those schedules out so they will benefit our team the best we can. They do not want to schedule another big game the next week after playing Tennesse for instance.
Lee made light about how quick the USA program is going from nothing to Division-I football. Gottfried said that South Florida took 3-4 years to do what we are on track to do in 1 or 2 years. The staff and administration have gotten on board and without them it could not be possible to do it. Joe Gottfried also let it out that in 4-5 years from now we just might be on the schedule to play Notre Dame. Joe is close to some people up there and they have said we are still on the list of potential opponents for Notre Dame. What is really exciting about the possibility of USA playing Notre Dame is that they have a long standing contract with NBC to have their games nationally broadcast. So that would be you would be able to see USA taking on Notre Dame national television like NBC within the first could seasons of being in Division-I football.
Joe Gottfried also talked about how the topic comes up regularly about the possibility of building an on-campus football stadium. He said that that decision is definitely further down the road. But if that were to come true it would just all to all of the current construction on the USA Campus that is generating large amounts of excitment. If you go by the intramural fields and see the football field house being constructed along with the practice fields and all that goes along with that, you will be amazed and cannot help but to get excited about USA. Also the new student recreation center being built at the corner of Old Shell Road and Stadium Drive right beside of Stanky Field. It is such a great time to be a Jaguar.
One caller asked if we would be playing in the Sun Belt conference when we begin this fall. Coach Jones response was that in 2012 we will have our first full Sun Belt schedule. However, until that time we will be playing as an independent school.
Coach Jones, when asked if they are still looking for players, said that the coaching staff is still looking to bring in at least one more quarterback. Just like with their other quarterback recruits that will be coming in he will have to be of the runner/thrower model to fit in with their offense.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-25
Brian is in the studio with Coach Jones and Justin Schwin. Lee Shirvanian is with the baseball team getting ready to broadcast when they take on Southern Miss. Broadcasting live from Wings Sports Grill on Airport Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama.
With spring practice beginning in one week from Monday on March 9th they were talking about the workouts and the time being put into strength and conditioning since Justin Schwin was among the radio panel this week. Each coach has a certain area in the weight room to cover while the Strength and Conditioning coach Justin Schwin is moving around checking everything out and making sure everything is going correctly.
They can work with the players eight hours a week up until spring practice begin. At that time they can then work with them 20 hours a week. The breakdown of the workout under the current eight hours a week schedule is that they are in the weight room five days a week. During spring practice they will be in the weight room two days a week but the rest of the time the workouts will be on the field for the 20 hour a week maximum.
Coach Jones said he wants the athletes made into athletes not muscle bound blocks that cannot move on the field. They are not just building strength and bulk like sometimes was done in the old days or is portrayed in movies but he wants athletic players that can move and have speed. They can and will modify players’ workouts for whatever Coach Jones wants to see the player work on.
You have to train for everything from strength and agility to hip speed and changing direction you cannot focus too much on one and neglect the other. Weight training has to be done very carefully else you will injure kids. It has to be done in progression from getting the right form and technique up to the point they are finally working out and getting stronger. Also you cannot work out at 100% capacity every time because that does not improve the players and it also leaves them open to injury.
When talking about supplements, protein shakes and the such Coach Jones said that if you eat correctly then you don’t really need all the supplements on the side. They may have an added benefit but proper nutrition will work and may even work better than supplements. What he says to the players is that if it’s a quick fix then it’s probably not that good. With any sports players and just like with these players, if they eat junk and play football then they will play like junk.
Coach Jones clarified about where practices will be held. It was initially decided to use Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the workouts and practice until the time that the fieldhouse is completed for summer/fall workouts and due to students class schedules and transportation to and from the Stadium. However after looking at possibly building or using something as a locker room and shower facility, they determined that it was not economically feasible to do such and it was worked out that Ladd-Peebles would again be where spring practice would be held.
The first three practices will be closed to the public, but the workout times have been set for 2:30-4:45pm. Three possible scrimmages have been scheduled for March 27th, April 3rd and April 10th which will be open to the public at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
A caller asked about a possible television coach’s show. The caller has seen schools like Troy, and others around the country, who have a televised coaches shows and he posed that it would be an invaluable recruiting tool for Coach Jones and USA to have a televised coaches show. Additionally he asked if WNSP (who broadcasts the Joey Jones Show) was going to be the flagship radio station for USA sports whereby everything USA would come first before other things (shows etc.). Coach Jones said that USA has signed a contract with IMG and they will have a lot of input into what is done. Joe Gottfried has been talking about many potential things but nothing has been thrown out as a concrete option or idea yet.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-18
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| Artists rendering of what Ladd-Peebles Stadium could look like in the fall. |
Brian sitting in for Lee Shirvanian who is heading to Tennessee with the basketball team for a matchup with MTSU. In the studio at Wings Sports Grill is Coach Joey Jones and the new Offensive Coordinator for the South Alabama Jaguars, Coach Greg Gregory.
Coach Jones was the Grand Marshal of the Mardi Gras parade Wednesday night. At the end of last week, Coach Jones announced Greg Gregory as the new Offensive Coordinator for the Jaguars. Coach Jones said he tried to stay patient in the light of how important the position was on the staff. He wanted to fill it as soon as possible so the players can start to get to know him, his philosophy and start getting stuff together. But he also did not want to rush to fill the position with just anyone. Coach Jones wanted to get a good coach with the philosophy that he wanted that fit the players and the staff he already has in place.
Coach Jones and Coach Gregory have very similar philosophies. Both feel that a balanced offense is a necessity to keep the defenses from targeting the run or the pass. Coach Jones did not want a coach that was of the fun-n-gun mentality who throws every down and has only a handful of running plays. But he did not want a coach that ran the wishbone either. Probably above all, Coach Gregory wanted to be at USA. He wanted to be part of a new start-up program. Obviously he has been around that with his time at South Florida, which is to date the fastest program from inception to playing Division I-A football in the history of the NCAA.
Coach Gregory said that he and Coach Jones talked about a month ago and some things happened at USF as well. He said it was not negative but from what I have gathered online he may have talked with Urban Meyer at Florida about the open OC position there and Coach Leavitt stripped him of the Offensive Coordinator name and/or duties. Coach Gregory also said that it has been a goal of his to be at a program that is starting its football program. He wants to be a part of starting a quality program and be there when the history is made and when the traditions are started.
Brian asked the question that everyone wants to know obviously, what the offense going to resemble when we see the Jaguars take the field this fall. Coach Gregory said they want to be pretty balanced. Last season at South Florida they ran the ball a little over 500 times and threw the ball somewhere in the 400’s which is pretty balanced. The passing game yielded a little more yardage than the running game but was still pretty close. But his goal for the offense is to be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want on the field. Being able to run the ball or throw the ball in any given situation really gives the offense a huge advantage over the defense and allows them to dictate the pace and tempo of the game. They also want to have the tough, hard-nosed element as well as the exciting element of the game. This translates into them having the ability to run through or over someone for those tough yards but also having the spark for an 80 yard run or pass reception for a touchdown.
During Coach Spurrier’s time at Florida their offense was seen as a passing offense however if you look back at the play breakdown, they probably passed about 60% of the time and ran about 40% of the time. Plus if you look at the yardage breakdown it would roughly be about the same. However their offense was perceived at a passing offense. The coach can craft the image of the offense to be what he wants it to be and Spurrier wanted it to be perceived that way. Their philosophy was to throw early and run late so they would throw the ball to open up the running game. So they were still a pretty balanced offense but not in the conventional manner.
But really what it boils down to is doing what it takes to win game. If it takes throwing the ball to win games, you want to be able to throw the ball well. If it takes running the ball and grinding out yards then you want to be able to do that well also. Additionally it’s a team sport, so the offense cannot just do what it wants to do at the expense of the offense. An offense cannot pass and throw interceptions all game long and expect the defense to bail them out every time. But in a similar way the defense cannot blitz every down and give up quick touchdowns and expect the offense to bail them out as well.
A listener called in asking about how important is it for USA to get a stadium on campus. Obviously, if it were not for Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile we still may not have college football at USA and Coach Jones also acknowledged this. He went on to say that there are possible plans for a stadium on campus but nothing solid and also nothing in the near future. Teams who have gone with on campus stadiums tend to have larger student turnout for the games. Currently, they (the staff and players) are only focused on playing at Ladd-Peebles. South Florida play in Raymond-James Stadium which is the Tampa Bay Bucs stadium which is obviously off campus so Coach Gregory is familiar with this type of setup.
In the Sunday edition of the Mobile Press-Register, there was an article about a group of people from the C.P. Newdome Foundation that that wants to build an extensive network of sports facilities in the county for a price that could reach $1 Billion. Included in their plan was a 50,000 seat stadium. When brought up by Brian, Coach Jones said he had not heard of it which was not surprising since he has been working diligently on the recruiting class announced recently. Most small Division I-A schools average about 25,000 per game Coach Jones said. With USA playing at Ladd-Peebles, which seats 40,646 (but is said to have a maximum of capacity of 50,000), it will be very good if every game is a sell-out.
While the size would be great, he acknowledged he does not know anything about it. However my thoughts about it is, yes it sounds nice if it comes to fruition, however the place they have been talking about building it is less than ideal to say the least. Their idea is for more than 1,000 acres near Interstate 10 and McDonald Road which is, at the shortest distance, is at least 15 miles from both campus and downtown Mobile and is roughly a 40 minute commute from campus. If a location that is large enough could be found that is closer to the campus or downtown Mobile, then I think it would be a more realistic dream but at the moment I think this is still a dream in this groups mind.
Brian said that he has gone on record before saying that Ladd-Peebles stadium is not the nicest facility in North America but it is located in a good place. It is close to what is happening downtown as well as the nice hotels like the Battlehouse which is where they put recruits when they visited Mobile. However, campus is where everyone wants to build a stadium but, as he was saying, $20-30 Million dollars could be invested in Ladd-Peebles to make it a much nicer facility and it would satisfy South Alabama’s needs for several years to come.
Coach Jones said he likes where it is and the tradition behind the stadium as well. He had several recruits make their official visit to USA over Senior Bowl weekend and while he could not give them tickets to the game, he did get to let them on the sidelines at one point and he credited that as a great recruiting tool for them. He does not have any negatives about Ladd-Peebles Stadium however it will be the President’s choice ultimately about future stadium possibilities.
Coach Gregory said he does not believe that the stadium being off campus (or being Ladd-Peebles Stadium) makes that much difference in where they choose to go play. It is about the coaches, the environment and the school.
Coach Gregory was asked about the offense again and he was talking about his previous experience how his team went from like a regular I formation offense to a wishbone offense from one year to the next. But they had experience with the offense and college ball. At USA with a new program it’s a bit different. Coach Gregory said he has to keep in mind how much can they put it, play wise, for the offense. That will depend on how well the players internalize the offense and the plays as to how much he can get installed before the fall.
Most teams by now at least have some idea of who is going to start under center at quarterback or as running back and so forth. But in USA’s case, these are all unknowns. Coach Gregory hardly knows their names right now much less who is going to start where. But all the players will have a chance and the good ones will come to top.
Coach Jones Adds Two To Coaching Staff
South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones has put the finishing touches on his coaching staff by hiring two assistants. On Thursday he announced the additions of Greg Gregory as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and Tommy Perry as running backs coach and special teams coordinator.
Coach Gregory has been a head coach for two years. He has also been an offensive coordinator at four schools with 15 years experience at that position. His last two years were at South Florida guiding them to 17-9 over the last two seasons, including a win in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl last season.
Those who are familiar with college football know the name Matt Grothe, the quarterback for USF. He was among the top 30 in the nation in total offense over the last two seasons while Mike Ford and Ben Williams combined for a total of 18 touchdowns in 2007. Also, the Bulls produced record numbers in total offensive yard with 5,383, yards per game with 414.1 and 34.7 points per game in 2007. His previous two seasons at USF, he coached the tight ends helping to lead them to the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Papajohns.com Bowl.
Coach Jones stated, “Greg wants to be a part of something new, and he brings a wealth of experience. He’s an excellent football coach that I’m excited to bring to USA,”. He further commented about the USA and USF programs, “South Florida has built their football program from scratch and we are modeling a lot of the things we do based on what they have done.”
Prior to USF, Coach Gregory was an OC at Ohio from 2001-2003, previous to that he was OC at Richmond where the Spiders won the Atlantic 10 championship with a 7-1 record and 10-3 record overall. He was head coach at Missouri Southern in 1998 and 1999. He took over a team that forfeited all of its victories the prior year. At Army in 1982 he worked with the receivers then in 1984 he moved to coach the tight ends and was the junior varsity coach. In 1985 and 1986 he coach the teams running backs. Then in 1987 he shifted to quarterbacks coach and finally in 1989 he became offensive coordinator. In 1991 he was promoted to associate head coach in addition to his OC duties.
In total he spent 16 seasons with Army where they won 93 games and advanced to four bowl games which are the only ones in the program’s 109 year history. They also won 10 of 16 games against Navy during his time there. Ron McAda was one of his quarterbacks during his time there which was the only Army QB to be selected in the NFL draft. Coach Gregory was honored as being a commissioned officer with the rank of captain from 1982-1985 as well.
Coach Gregory was quoted about joining the USA staff, “It’s always been a goal of mine to be part of a program that is starting from scratch. This is a great opportunity — USA is in a hotbed of football from a recruiting standpoint and the athletic director is fully behind the program.”
Coach Tommy Perry has spent the last three seasons in various roles on staff at Alabama under both Nick Saban and Mike Shula. His first two seasons saw Alabama go 7-6 one year under Shula then the next under Saban. Then in 2008 he saw the tide go 12-0 in the regular season then two consecutive loses in the SEC championship game and the Sugar Bowl to finish 12-2 and finish 6th in the nation.
Perry began his coaching career at Texas in 2004 as assistant strength and conditioning coach as well as being an academic advisor. Later that year be became a linebacker and strength coach at Texas A&M-Commerce then moved to running backs and kickoff return duties in 2005. Three of his running back earned all-Lone Star Conference honors that year. Including a player who ran for more than 1,000 yards in 10 games to be selected first-team honors. Also part of his duties at A&M-Commerce as to assist recruiting in Northeast Texas and Northern California.
Perry also has experience in the NFL’s Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals in 2006 as a special teams assistant and head strength coach. His team competed in the World Bowl and posted a 7-3 mark.
Perry graduated in 2003 from Texas A&M and played two seasons, lettering in 2003 for the Aggies at fullback, inside linebacker and defensive end while participating on various special teams units. He was one of four players on the team who served as the program’s 12th man as a senior. He came to TAMU from Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas as an inside linebacker.
Coach Perry was quoted saying, “There’s a lot of energy here in Mobile, everyone I have talked to knows about the program and is excited about it.” He continued, “The Mobile area and the Florida Panhandle have a lot of talented players, and there is a lot of momentum behind the program. I’m excited to be a part of this process.”
Coach Jones remarked about Perry, “I think Tommy gained valuable experience working under Nick Saban. We expect that he will be able to contribute a lot of things to USA football based on the knowledge that he has gained and things he has seen working at Alabama.”
The Jags will start their first-ever spring practice on Monday, March 9th.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-02-04
The entire coaching staff is at Wings Sports Grill for the Joey Jones Show. Coach Jones begins the show talking about the Signing Day Event at the Mitchell Center to present the players to everyone who is in attendance. As previously reported it will also be streamed online.
Great news as well is that the Joey Jones show will continue for a few more weeks and hopefully throughout spring practice.
At show time they have signed 27 to this point with a couple pending this afternoon but cannot name names. Coach Jones feels great about the ones they have signed and a couple have popped up late and could be great additions to the class some of them will be worked on this afternoon. Majority of recruits are from Alabama but several are from out of state. Rough numbers are about 5 GA, 2 or 3 from MS, 3 LA or so. They signed more defensive players than offensive players so probably 2/3rds are defensive players.
Did not go head-to-head against Alabama or Auburn, once they offered a scholarship USA would back off but would sometimes keep contact to make sure that everything continued to be okay. Its hard to get a kid if they think they might be able to go to Auburn or Alabama.
Coach Clark (Defensive Coordinator) speaking first on the show. They were looking for runners and hitters and stressed character, they were even looking for Defesive Lineman who can run. Emphasized speed over size, not just 40 yard dash speed but also speed in changing directions, hip speed etc. Multiple 3-4 defense so your defensive backs could be linebackers and linebackers could be defensive backs.
Kurt Crane (Linebackers) talked about the situation where if you wanted to sign about 9 linebackers you have to recruit about 65 linebackers. He praised the USA staff at doing a great job at targeting linebackers to get and actually landing them. He also cautioned the offenses that they will be playing to make sure and wear their gear and mouthpieces because these guys are going to hit and they are going to hit hard.
Brian Turner (recruiting coordinator and defensive coach) said that defensive line is going to sign 8 guys, about 4 inside and 4 outside. Some from will come from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana I think since he was speaking pretty fast.
Duwan Walker (defensive backs coach) has ties to south Georgia area. He has been looking at speed starting with hips and then foot speed. Have been looking far and wide from New York to California for Defensive Backs.
John Turner (Offensive Line, Guards and Centers) said the they have signed about three Offensive Linemen and he is really excited about them. He also said they could turn out to be some big strong top Offensive Lineman.
Mitch Rodrigue (Offensive Line, Tackles and Tight Ends) has ties to south Mississippi and Louisiana area and Coach Jones said these areas will be a key area for USA especially with Mitch’s ties to the area so look in the future for possible big signees from these areas. He was hired in July and was a bit behind on recruiting but he has already gotten on top of recruiting for next year. They have picked up some good tight ends with good hands and can block as well.
Dameyune Craig (Wide Receivers) is known around the area and also recruits this area. He won some championships in high school and was quarterback at Auburn. He is really excited about the guys coming in. Some big guys who can run as well as smaller guys who can make you miss. There are receivers in this class he thinks can play on the next level. He thinks in two years USA will be ready to compete against the other Division I schools.
Some names will be released at press conference at 3pm but all names will be released at 4pm at the Mitchell center.
Also when asked about the Offensive Coordinator position, Coach Jones said that Tony Franklin will not be his Offensive Coordinator (unlike what was said on the WNSP morning show in speculation). He will not reveal who it is going to be but he did not rule out naming him at the Mitchell Center event this afternoon.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-21
Lee Shirvanian was in the studio with Brett Bedsole while Coach Jones was on the while being on the road recruiting in New Orleans.
The beginning of the show was Lee asking Coach Jones about his experience at the Senior bowl when he was a Senior at Alabama since the Senior Bowl is coming up this weekend at Ladd-Peebles Stadium right here in Mobile, Alabama. Currently NFL coaches and scouts are in town looking at potentially draftable players in this all-star game.
They also started talking about the signing day festivities that will happen at the Mitchell Center on Wednesday, February 4th starting at 4pm. Coach Jones said that Joe Gottfried will be speaking first then Coach Jones will about the overall recruiting class. Then individual position coaches will speak about the recruits a little more in depth and somewhere along that timeline they will show some short videos that have been compiled about the recruits.
Recruiting right now is open for all coaches right now. This weekend is another on-campus recruiting visit weekend. A total of 13 potential recruits came last weekend to tour the campus and see the facilities. As many as 18 could come in this weekend and next weekend they may have about 8 or 9 recruits coming in for visits. The number could go up or down depending on how many recruits verbally commit while here. January 30th will be the beginning of a recruiting dead period from then through signing day on February 4th.
Brett Bedsole, Director of Football Operations, who was in the studio since Coach Jones was out recruiting were talking about season tickets with Travis Toth, USA’s marketing director. The season tickets are on sale and priced based on a 6 game home schedule. However, they basically have a 7th game locked in and are also working on an 8th game. If you order tickets now, the $75 for sidelines and $49 for endzone tickets will include these extra games for no extra charge. However, they will be a cutoff date in which the price will go up. Possibly in March or April.
When asked about what caliber teams USA will be playing in 2009, Coach Bedsole and Mr. Toth could not say precisely who USA would be playing but they did say that they will be playing teams that they can compete against. A good example would be Hargrave, which is a school that some schools will place recruits who do not clear for those Division I schools.
When asked about recruiting and recruits attitudes toward USA and their visit here Coach Bedsole said they have been receiving very positive words. They are enjoying their times here, part of it could be just being away from home and family in a way. But USA also houses them at the Battlehouse Hotel, which is very nice in downtown Mobile, Alabama.
Lee Shirvanian and Coach Jones seemed to indicate that Wednesday February 4th will be the last episode of the Joey Jones Show for this season. I expect it to pick back up in the fall before football season starts. But many listeners, readers and myself will miss the insights that we have gotten from the show thus far.
Go Jags!
Jones Says Propst And Mumme Not Coming To USA For OC Position
As wrote about before, Rush Propst will not be returning to the Mobile area to be the offensive coordinator with the Jaguars. He publicly released this to shoot down the unrest in the community in Colquitt County Georgia. He won five state championships at Hoover before leaving amid some controversy in 2007.
Propst has been eyeing collegiant jobs but no one offered any positions to him after leaving Hoover. He took head coaching position with Colquitt County last season and improved on a 2-8 season to go 4-6 his first season.
Another name mentioned for the Offensive Coordinator job was Hal Mumme who went 11-38 in four seasons at New Mexico State before being fired this year. But is probably more recognizable from his stint at Kentucky from 1997-2000 replacing Bill Curry.
Mumme revitalized Kentucky football which was reeling from 6 losing seasons out of seven under Curry, his lone exception was a 6-6 season that ended with a loss to Clemson in the Peach Bowl. Mumme brought in what he called the “Air Raid” offense lead by sophomore quarterback Tim Couch. His offensive coordinator through 1999 was Mike Leach who is now head coach at Texas Tech but left Kentucky to go to Oklahoma at the time.
However, the 2000 season would see questions popping up and investigations concerning NCAA rules violations. Replacing their starting quarterback with an untested freshmen seemed to alienate his team, then coupled with the off field problems lead to a 2-9 season although many games were close and the offense producing huge numbers. But nearing the end of the season it was becoming apparent that many significant NCAA rules violations had been committed by staff.
Mumme resigned after terminating his recruiting coordinator, his defensive coordinator and his football operations director being put on an eight-year “show-cause” order which blackballed him from college sports for those eight years, he resigned on national signing day in February 2001.
Coach Jones did confirm that Propst and Mumme were among the “seven or eight” coaches he has interviewed but neither would be coming to USA. Jones declined to indentify any other potential coaches who might have been interviewed. He did say he has talked with former Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin but he said it was not an interview and that Franklin is not under consideration for the position.
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-07
Lee Shirvanian was in the studio at Wings Sports Grill but Coach Jones and crew are all out on the road recruiting. But over the phone he still reveals a new hire for his Jaguar staff. Brett Bedsole was hired and started his duties on Monday as Director of Football Operations, which was an unfilled position on his staff.
His explaination of what a Director of Football Operations does is that he takes care of anything the coach needs to do administratively, help the recruiting coordinator and help organize and run the summer football camps among other things. He jovially said he would have something like 14 or 15 different hats that he will wear. Basically, he is there to make sure Coach Jones and the rest of the coaching staff are ready to go onto the field. He takes care of the administrative side for the coaching staff. While the associate athletic director will take care fo the football program at a higer level than the coaching staff.
One example was made by Travis Toth, Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions, was that a local company wants to get Coach Jones to make an appearance at their grand opening. While it would take Travis a long time to get ahold of Coach Jones and work out his scheduling and get it ironed out with the company. However, Travis can contact Brett and he could get it done much quicker and more efficiently while letting Coach Jones continue working on recruiting or preparing for the Jags next game.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, the staff are out on the road recruiting. This is a new recruiting period after the recruiting black-out in late December. Recruiting will continue through this week and next week will be another black-out period while the National Football Coaching Convention takes place. The recruiting will pick back up after that through the end of the month.
Coach Jones also informed the listeners that this weekend was not a recruiting weekend on campus, however the next three weekends will be. The first two are pretty well booked up and then they will see from there about the third weekend.
On to recruiting. So far the Jaguars have 27 out of 30 possible spots verbally committed. As always with college recruiting, other schools are talking to our guys just like our staff are talking to guys who are leaning towards other schools. We are working hard to keep our recruits and to help get some more to come down to Mobile.
The 10 Junior College recruits who joined the program were going through orientation at USA on Wednesday. Mr. Bedsole has been working with them to make sure housing and cafeteria needs are all taken care of for them. Monday was Mr. Bedsole’s first day on the job, so he was learning where things were on campus and now has been the source of information for these incoming recruits.
The JuCo transfers will start classes on Monday when USA begins the spring semester. They will begin their winter workout period of weightlifting and running throughout the month of January. Then in February, they will being spring practice.
As Coach Jones has indicated previously, at least some of the practices and scrimmages will be open for the public to view, but Mr. Bedsole has not delved into that with Coach Jones yet. Again, Coach Jones will have autonomy over that and will say what they can and cannot do. He hopes to talk to Coach Jones about that soon and will hopefully have more about that next week on the Joey Jones Show.
When asked about redshirting decisions, they said nothing will be decided upon until after spring practices. They want to see how well all of the players perform together then look to see what they have and decide upon redshirts accordingly. Players may be good with their former teams and players but they must be evaluated in the USA system first before any decisions are made.
Big games coming up for Jaguar Basketball so come out and help the Jaguars by taking in a game in the Mitchell Center. Also don’t forget to get order your Football season tickets at 445-1USA!
Go Jags!
(Note: I cannot find confirmation about Brett Bedsole’s hiring as Director of Football Operations at USA. I hope I have his name correct from the radio show. When confirmation comes in, it will be passed along.)
Les Koenning Accepts Position With Mississippi State
South Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach has accepted a position with Coach Dan Mullen and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. He has previously coached at Mississippi State from 1986-1989 as running backs and wide receivers coach.
Coach Koenning has been an offensive coordinator since 1998 when he first took the reigns at Duke. Following Duke he has coached at Houston, Texas Christian, three years at Alabama and five years at Texas A&M. Overall Coach Koenning has been part of squads that have gone to nine bowl games.
When asked about Coach Koenning leaving he stated, “I’m really pleased for Les, this is a great opportunity for him. He’s an outstanding coach and recruiter who deserves to be at a school like Mississippi State. This was too good of an opportunity for him to turn down, we wish him tremendous success in the future.”
Also, Coach Koenning had this to say about the South Alabama football program. “I have no doubt that South Alabama is heading in the right direction, and I’m thankful for the past year that I was able to spend there. The opportunity to return to Mississippi State and work with coach Mullen was an opportunity my family and I could not pass up. I wish nothing but the best for South Alabama and all of the fine people I had an opportunity to work with.”
Coach Koenning was named to the USA staff on February 29, 2008 and was the schools first offensive coordinator but never coached in a game for the Jaguars. Now the search is on for his replacement. No words as of yet about possible replacements but coach Jones has indicated previously that they are looking to run a shotgut type spread offense with balance running and passing the ball.
We hate to see coach Koenning go, but us at ThunderJags.com wish him the best in the SEC with Mississippi State.
-Go Jags!
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-17
Coach Jones was back in Mobile for his radio show this week with Brian Turner, the recruiting coordinator for the South Alabama Jaguars. Today marked the first day for Junior college transfers to sign with new schools.
Coach Jones had 13 scholarships available from this signing year and would be able to sign up to about two weeks into 2009 if necessary to use all of the 30 allocated scholarships in a given year. Jags staff have been busy recruiting their areas as well as hotbeds like California and Texas for players. They have been focusing on offensive and defensive linemen.
When the show went on the air, Coach Jones and his staff had already received six faxes from signees and expected about five more to come in relatively soon. Here is a rundown of some of the signees from the show.
Early James, quarterback from Jones County Junior College who is listed at 6’2″ and 191lbs. Coach Jones said he was a dual threat and was very athletic. He can play all over the field from Wide Receiver to Safety in addition to Quarterback. LSU and some other big SEC schools were recruiting him and some had dropped off. His family lives in Moss Point, MS so he wanted to stay close to them which factored into his choice of USA. Many schools do not have the type of offense that West Virginia has so many of the schools recruiting him were trying to decide if they wanted to move him to safety. He was ranged 44th among all junior college players by rivals.com. Last seasons stats: completed 115-239 passes for 1,406 yards and 12 TD’s leading Jones County to a 7-2 record and a #14 ranking in the final National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
Kevin Helms is a tight end from Mississippi Gulf Coach Community College. He is listed at 6’3″ and 225lbs. His hometown is Gulfport, MS. He is skilled at both blocking and has good hands. He can line up on the outside or down in a three point stance and be respected and each. He is willing to block or catch on any given play. Coach Jones also gave the hint that they will be using the tight end alot in their offensive scheme. He was named to first-team all-state and his team was rated fourth in the final NJCAA rankings and he helped lead them to a 12-0 record and the NJCAA National Championship in 2007.
Corey Pittman, also from Mississippi Gulf Coach Community College, is listed as being 6’5″ and 300 lbs from Chickasaw, Alabama. He was selected first-team all-state as a sophomore.
Heath Blount from Northeast Mississippi Junior College is 6’6″ and weighs 290 lbs as an offensive lineman.
Chris Brunson from Tyler, Texas is listed at 6’3″ and weighs 300 lbs as a lineman.
Brian Krauskopf is another offensive lineman from Texas. He is listed as being 6’3″ and weighing 285 lbs. He was named second-team all-region and all-state last season at Blinn Junior College. He helped them to a 9-3 record and a final ranking of 11th in the NJCAA polls. They finished the season 3rd in the nation with an average of 427.5 yards of total offense per game in 2008.
Chris Payne from Vicksburg, Mississippi is a 6’3″ offensive lineman weighing in at 320 lbs.
Levi Slaydon from Pearl River Community College in Mississippi is a 6’3″, 270 lb offensive lineman. His squad finished 8-3 and ranked 13th in the last NJCAA poll. They also was 14th nationally with an average of 370.8 yards per game of total offense.
Steven Pease is a Freshman listed as 5’11”, 175 lb defensive back from Williamstown, New Jersey. He helped Millford Academy (N.Y.) to a 9-3 record by breaking up 10 passes, four tackles for a loss and one interception. He was chosen as the teams most improved defensive player.
Each of these players will enroll at USA in January and will be able to participate in the program’s first ever spring practice. The schedule still can not be released until sometime after the new year since it still has not been finalized.
USA has been recruiting against teams such as Memphis, Southern Miss, other Sun Belt teams, Conference USA teams, and SEC teams. One they are expecting to sign was being recruiting by UCLA.
The Jags may pick up more players in the coming weeks as they go home and think about things. They may decide that they are not where they want to be and after talking with family could decide that South Alabama is the school for them.
Lee Shirvanian asked if Coach Jones believed in giving kickers scholarships. He replied yes, that one reason why he believed in giving them scholarhsips is because they are starting a new program and they need to make sure to have kickers on the team.
After what they have signed, they are pretty much done on offense with the exception of another quarterback. On defense, they want to get more defensive linemen and defensive backs. Also, they would not turn away any good linebackers either, but the DL and DB’s are the spots they identified as being spots of real need.
Continuing with other aspects of recruiting, someone asked if building a program around too many junior college transfers is a bad idea, Coach Turner replied that you want to build your programs foundation with freshmen then use Junior college transfers to fill in needs.
Someone asked if Gene Chizik’s recruiting could put a dent in Saban’s recruiting in the state of Alabama. Coach Turner said that he is a good recruiter wherever he has been but probably not. He was a hot coach coming out of Texas two years ago but his tenure at Iowa State has seen him cool off alot since then.
On the topic of recruiting players who are verbally committed to other schools but are in the midst of a coaching change (hint, Auburn), there is a feeding frenzy for their recruits. When asked if USA would get into that and have they, Coach Jones said yes they will and yes they have and indicated that they have made some calls to players that have been recruited by Auburn.
A caller said that he saw on ESPN that an assistant from Iowa State was being interviewed by Gene Chizik and that two coaches from South Alabama were also being considered for positions. His question was that if they lost two coaches would that set the team back. Coach Jones said that they would not want to lose any of their coaches but they want to move up and he wants the best for them. Its the nature of the business. But if they did leave they would have to find coaches and work hard for the players to make sure that their loss does not negatively impact the team.
If anything about this comes to our ears here at Thunderjags.com, we will pass it along as quickly as possible.
Go Jags!