Willingham and Fulmer out at end of season
Last week or so it came out that the University of Washington was releasing Tyrone Willingham at the end of the season. Yesterday Phillip Fulmer went in front of everyone and announced that the he was going to go along with the University of Tennessee’s wishes and will leave as their head football coach. Fulmer is in the midst of a second consecutive rough season and it will be the last at his alma mater. In the summer he signed a new contract that has a $6 Million buyout clause.
Someone speculated that, albeit quite far fetched, that Fulmer could go to Auburn, Sylvester Croom could take over in Tennessee and Tubberville could go to Mississippi State. I don’t put much stock into this rumor but crazier things have happened. Such is the life of a football coach in the SEC. Could this be the Saban effect? Come into a team that has underperformed and in two season be challenging for the SEC title and a possible National Title.
We will have to wait to see who will replace Fulmer at Tennessee.
I Ordered My USA Football Season Tickets
This morning, season tickets for USA Football went on sale and according to the person I spoke to at the athletic office I was the first to order. However, they have had several calls regarding information about tickets.
Currently they are available to donors to the football club, which is still without a name, and season ticket holders for football and baseball. They will go on sale to the public in a couple weeks. People who get season tickets now will then be able to choose their location in the spring. The order for choosing seating location will depend on the number of points you have which I wrote about in the previous post.
Go Jags!
Football Season Tickets Available Beginning Monday
On Friday, South Alabama announced that season tickets for the first year of South Alabama football will be available. For two weeks, donors to the Football Support Club or basketball season ticket holders will be able to purchase their 2009 season tickets in advance. Season tickets will then go on sale to the general public on Monday, November 17th.
Since the 2009 schedule has not been released, the ticket prices are based on a six game home schedule. The prices are quite affordable with tickets costing only $75 each for either sideline or endzone tickets for $39 each. Students get in free with seating in the fan section.
There are 4 different plans to choose from with the first three being mulit-year commitments that lock in the current price for tickets through 2011. The forth plan only commits for the 2009 season and does not guarantee prices for future seasons.
Depending on cash received, gifts-in-kind and outstanding pledge balances those factors will determine access to and seating locations for football, men’s basketball, baseball, ncaa tournaments, bowl games, SBC tournaments, ncaa events hosted by USA, tickets for away games, priority parking at home contests and any athletic event where demand exceeds ticket availability.
Seat selection for USA Football will begin in the spring with these priority points being used to determine appointment times for season ticket holders to choose their seating location.
Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling the ticket hotline 251.461.1USA.
Go Jags!
Jags Football Travel to Knoxville in 2013
Joe Gottfried announced this morning that the 2013 Jaguar Football schedule will include a trip to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Volunteers on November 9th. This contract is for only one game. The Jags will also start a four-game, home and home series with Navy during the 2013 season.
Coach Jones was quoted saying that “When you look at South Alabama football, Tennessee is where we want to be in the long run.” This news should further energize the excited South Alabama fans to know that in just five short years our program will be taking the field against teams like Navy and Tennessee.
As for information about other opponents and the 2009 season schedule, those will be released in the future. As soon as any scoop comes along we will be covering it here on Thunderjags.com.
-Go Jags! Beat Tennessee!
Jaguar Football Defensive Scheme Scoop
On the noon radio broadcast today of the Joey Jones radio show, defensive coordinator Bill Clark was the guest from the coaching staff. One of the callers (not myself unfortunately) asked about the Jaguar defensive scheme. More specifically what would be their base scheme.
I suspected it was going to be the widely used 3-4 and those suspicions were confirmed on the show. Coach Clark said they would be utilizing a 3-4 base. To break it down for those who may not know football lingo too well the 3-4 scheme uses three down linemen, typically two defensive ends and a nose tackle, and four linebackers. Your linemen are typically larger and a little on the slow side, while your linebackers are still fairly large but are more manuverable. This leaves four defensive backs which are normally two cornerbacks and two safeties. The safeties may merely be referred to as safeties or could be broken down into a strong safety and a free safety. These guys cover the receivers downfield and are typically fast.
Many high school teams will use a 4-3 base defense (four down linemen and three linebackers). Since high school football tends to be more run oriented, the 4-3 is better suited for a strong run defense. This is not to say that a 3-4 is weak against the run.
Its all about a thing called ‘gaps’. When looking at the offensive line you have five linemen. Two guards, two tackles and a center. Between each of the linemen is a ‘gap’ which is four, then you have the left side and right side ‘gaps’ that bring the total up to six and if there is a tight end used as a blocker then there could be a seventh gap. Its easier to cover the inside gaps with four down linemen than it is with three typically. But if you look at Alabama and their nose tackle, you can get an understanding of how a 3-4 can be as good or better in stopping the run. Alabama’s nose tackle, Terrance Cody, is considered a ‘two gapper’ which means he is big and strong enough to take away the two gaps up the middle (on either side of the center). Which leaves you with six guys to cover four (or five) gaps. Its all pretty complicated with analytical geometry (not really just a Better Than Ezra quote there). But a 3-4 can also typically give you more speed on the field (another faster linebacker than a slower defensive lineman).
Back to what I started talking about. The jags defense will be a base 3-4 but will be flexible and will be able to run the 4-3 just as well. This is pretty typical, but he emphasized the fact that they want to be flexible which can also be translated into “we want to give the offense many different looks to keep them guessing”.
Other points of interest from the radio show was tickets. Hopefully in the next few weeks ticket information and prices will finally be available. They stated that it would be very affordable for everyone in the area. Also Joe Gottfried, and I suspect Coach Jones, is working on schedules. Scheduling is a long term thing and they are not put together a year or two in advance. It is a true vision of where you want the program to go in the future. So not only are they dealing with schedules for 2009 and 2010 but they are working on schedules six, eight and even ten years down the road. Its a long term plan to make South Alabama a strong and successful football program.
So keep checking back for the scoop on tickets and schedules and like always,
Go Jags!
Tommy Bowden out, Dabo Swinney in at Clemson
Former University of Alabama walk-on player, graduate assistant and coach as well as wide receivers/assistant coach at Clemson, Dabo Swinney, has been named interim head coach at Clemson after it was announced that Tommy Bowden had been ousted as head coach six games into the 2008 football season.
Swinney was one of the candidates for the USA Head Coach position before Joey Jones was chosen to be the Jags first head coach.
Coach Jones’ Radio Show on the Air
It may not be ‘Hey Coach’ but it does have a familiar location. Coach Joey Jones started his weekly radio show on August 27th with Lee Shiravain and 105.5FM WNSP. The show takes place live at Bob Baumhauer’s Wings Restaurant on Airport Boulevard.
For those Alabama fans out there, that should seem familiar to you. I have listened to several episodes on the radio with Coaches DuBose, Stallints, Franchione, Shula and now with Coach Saban (Not all of them at Wing’s thought). Unfortunately it aires at Noon each week so it doesn’t sound like its going to foster a whole lot of fandom until the Jags actually hit the field in 2009. But Jaguar fans can be a tenacious bunch so I will have to attend an airing to take it in for myself to see.
But besides Coach Jones, it will have members of the Jaguar coaching staff and other assorted guests and numerous giveaways throughout the season. If you cannot make the show live, you can listen to the broadcast on 105.5 and call in with questions or comments.
Go Jags