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 2009-02-11
Coach Jones is in the studio with Lee Shirvanian at Wings Sports Grill. The Joey Jones show has been extended through March thanks to Bo and Gene Bishop and others. Thus as a thanks to the Bishop’s and Wings Sports Grill I wanted to pass along their Valentines Day special which is kids eat free for those who cannot get babysitters. They have a special Mardi Gras in Mobile menu that has some really great dishes to choose from. So go visit Wings and thank them for extending the Joey Jones Show and encourage them to keep it going beyond March. Plus if you don’t order from the Mardi Gras menu, then order “The Joey Jones Special” and if they don’t know what that is remind them that its the Black and White Chicken, a dinner fit for USA Football.
Four more signees have been added to the Football program. Keairon Wilson from Davidson High School here in Mobile was being recruited by several schools and decided to go with USA late. He is a 6’ 180 pound defensive back but he can play Safety, Linebacker or something in the nickel package. He was selected first-team all-region as a senior after posting 90 tackles and five interceptions.
Darious McMullen, 6’2” 280 pound, is ranked as the 33rd top defensive lineman in the nation by Scouts.com and ranked as the 21st best player in Alabama and 5th best in the state at his position in the state. He was being recruited by Florida but something happened there, he then committed to Vanderbilt and they eventually backed out late and took another lineman. Coach Clark was in the area and found out about him, talked to him and invited him down. He liked it and wanted to think about it another week and eventually decided to come to USA.
Mardavian Martin is a 5’11” 185 pound player out of Millbrook. He was a first-team all-county and all-metro choice as a senior. Coach Jones said he could be a cover corner or receiver type. He was being recruited by Georgia Tech but his grades are a little questionable so they are going to work with him on that.
Mytez Madden is a 6’1” 195 pound true inside linebacker from Anniston. He earned honorable mention all-state and first-team all-county honors. Coach Jones said he is very physical and runs the field very well.
USA also possibly has a kicker from Davidson HS that will be a walk-on for USA. They also have another kicker that will be coming in who went to Florida then transferred to Alabama. They also have a long snapper who is a transfer from Alabama who was not able to get on the field and play.
With all of these incoming freshmen, how many of them would you want to redshirt and have around in 2013 for Division I football? Coach Jones said that this is a very difficult question to answer. They cannot answer that right now and it will be a difficult thing to do. They will know more after spring and summer workouts. They have to have the players to play in the fall but if they have pretty good depth at positions they will look to see who they can redshirt.
They will definitely have some practices open to the public but the first week will probably be closed for the first week of practice. They will have some workouts at Ladd-Peebles but since many of the students get out of class at 2pm and have class again at 6pm they cannot take a bus, dress out, work out, shower and get back for their classes so they will be having practices on campus so they can dress out, work out, go back to their dorms to shower then go to class. While it is not that bad of a situation, it is not ideal by any means. This will only be a temporary thing until the field house is complete in late May.
Coach Jones then went through the signing class that was announced on Wednesday in the Mitchell Center but could not be named at the time of the Joey Jones Show last week.
Don’t forget to visit Wings Sports Grill and thank them for extending the Joey Jone Show and order “The Joey Jones Special” which is the Black and White Chicken, you won’t regret it.
GO JAGS!
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!
Coach Joey Jones Show Recap 2009-01-14
Joey Jones, Lee Shirvanian, Haven Fields and Daniel McCarthy were all at Wing’s Sports Grill in Mobile today for the Joey Jones Show. Most of the episode was dedicated to recruiting talk since we are in the home stretch before national signing day.
This weekend is a recruiting weekend at the University of South Alabama. About 13 prospects and their families are coming to tour campus and what Mobile has to offer. Most are verbally committed but there are some in the group who are not committed. They wil lbe housing them at the Battlehouse Hotel in downtown Mobile and will take them to a coupld good restaurants to eat, including Wing’s for lunch one day. While they are at USA they will have a chance to meet with some of the academia at USA. What the staff wants is for the recruits to leave USA and not have any unanswered questions.
USA is actively recruiting about 50 students heavily in order to fill their 30 scholarship alotment for the 2009 signing period. When asked, Coach Jones said that there are about 20 more students that are sort of on the fence. In the case of oversigning, one option is a gray shirt. A gray shirt is when a scholarship is held for them the next signing season and they agree not to enroll into school until that next spring. So, a 2009 recruit would hold off from enrolling at USA in the fall of 2009 and would enroll the spring of 2010. He would still get a scholarship and would then count against the 2010 scholarship alotment.
Haven Fields is the assistant athletic director for football, he was hired by athletic director Joe Gottfried. He was a former linebacker for Auburn from 1996-1999. He was associate director of athletic development at Auburn University before coming to the University of South Alabama. He works for the football program on the school side to work out things so Coach Jones and his staff’s day-to-day life is much easier and so they can focus on working with the student athletes and prepare for gameday.
Keith Ayers, in the Office of Public Relations for USA, stopped by for a few minutes to talk about a couple things. First he wanted to let the listeners know about the schools plans for national signing day on February 4th. At 4pm in the Mitchell Center they will announce the schools first signing class and they will have some video to show to everyone in attendance. This will be a historic moment for the University and the football program. Free T-shirts, autographs and much more will be available.
The second thing Mr. Ayers wanted to let everyone know is that ticket sales have been ramping up and wanted to urge everyone to call 461-1USA to get their season tickets before they are all gone. The third and final thing is that tomorrow evening the USA Men’s Basketball team will host Troy and it will be K-12 appreciation night so kids in K-12 will get free admission and the first 1,000 will get free USA Football T-shirts as well. This is all tomorrow night at the Mitchell Center.
Daniel McCarthy’s former team in Richmond just won a national championship for Division I-AA football. Lee Shirvanian asked if a playoff would work in Division I-A since it seems to work fine in Division I-AA. Mr. McCarthy said that going through it with his former team was probably the most exciting thing he has ever gone through. Just like every game in the Division I-A regular season is like a playoff game, every game in the Division I-AA is also like a playoff game as well because there are only a limited number of spots available in the playoff for schools to get in.
Mr. McCarthy is the compliance officer for USA, so he is the go-to guy on questions about proper and improper conduct by the staff on recruiting visits. Coach Jones says that when recruiting, “Its pretty much just use your common sense.” But he and the staff do sit down with Daniel from time to time in order to ask him questions, not to try to find a loophole, but to make sure everything is done within the rules set forth by the NCAA.
Mr. McCarthy said he would like to see football recruiting treated more like the other sports in college and have it opened up somewhat. Other sports are much more open than football so the kids get to know the coaches much better and he thinks this would help cut down the number of transfers by students to other schools. This will help players choose the right school and program for them and would allow the school of find good players that fit well in their program.
When asked about how they educate their student athletes about rules, both Mr. McCarthy and Coach Jones responded that they have meetings to go over what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. The caller who asked the question mentioned the Andre Smith situation with the University of Alabama before the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Mr. McCarthy said that it has gotten to the point where agents have to be approved by the NFL and in some states they have to be approved and licensed by the state legislature to operate in that state. Sometimes they employ a back door runner, someone who might want to get into the agent market or whatever, to work their way into befriending student athletes to steer them to their ’employer’. It can start out innocently by giving them a few dollars then it can easily escalate to more and eventually becoming an NCAA violation. The staff and everyone involved work hard to make sure nothing like this happens.
It was mentioned in the show that Coach Jones is working hard trying to find the right person to fill the offensive coordinator position left vacant when Les Koenning left for Mississippi State recently. Lee Shirvanian made light that if people knew who has been contacted, interviewed or even were interested in the position, we would be amazed. But one person who was interviewed by Coach Jones for the position was former Hoover High School head coach Rush Probst. However, since his interview he has since let Coach Jones know that he is uninterested in leaving his position at Colquitt County High School, at least that is what he has told the local newspaper. We will see what transpires over the next few days.
So come out and support your Jaguars tonight as the Women take on Troy and tomorrow night when the Men host Troy both in the Mitchell Center.
GO JAGS!
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.)
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-10
Coach Jones joined the program over the phone since he was just across the state line from Auburn in Columbus Georgia for recruiting. He left out early this morning and will return late tonight. Also Travis Toth joined Lee Shirvanian at Wings Sports Grill, he is the marketing director at USA.
First off Lee wanted to bring everyone up to date on recruiting. Coach Jones said that they are at the point where they can be more specific about what they are looking for such as defensive linemen, linebackers, getting another quarterback or so and they would be looking pretty well. They seem to be set with offensive linemen, running backs and wide receivers for now.
It was brought up that a letter was sent out by the SEC and SBC clarifying an NCAA rule that they had been back and forth on for some time now. The rule maybe was a bit fuzzy so they ruled that coaches could not attend the game or practice of the Alabama – Mississippi All-Star Game coming up soon. Even though they are in a contact period with recruits they cannot go to these events. A lot of good players have played in this game and it’s a huge honor for any high school player to be selected to play in this game.
When asked about the challenges the coaches have when it comes to preparing for this game coach Jones answered that the key was offense. Defensive schemes are easier to prepare and get the kids ready for, but offense is a huge key to get prepared. They will be bringing together kids that play in a multitude of different offensive schemes. Some may have played in the Wing-T, Veer, or Spread offenses so bringing them together and creating a cohesive offense that they can run together is a huge task. The key is to keep it simple so they can learn, understand and execute it over the course of a four day period.
The holidays is coming up and Travis Toth talked about an ad they are running in the Mobile Press-Register as gifts for that sports loving fan this holiday season. They have a choice of two sideline tickets ($75 for the season) or two endzone ($48 for the season). It will come with a certificate for the tickets and a USA Football T-Shirt. So if you know a USA sports fan, this would be a great holiday gift for them to open on Christmas day.
Coach Jones said they have set dates for spring football practice and when I talked to one of the team members last night he told me that it will start February 18th. So after the holidays, they will jump right back into the grind to get ready for South Alabama Football in the fall. When asked about something like an A-Day game, similar to what Alabama and Auburn have in the spring, coach Jones said that they would have something special for the last day of spring practice. He did not indicate if it would be a full on A-Day game like experience or if it would be a more low-key scrimmage but something will be planned and we will know about it on his radio show for certain.
Daniel McCarthy has been hired as directory of compliance so he will be working closely with the football program to make sure everything is done by the book and no rules are broken accidentally. The rule talked about earlier with the All-Star game was mentioned again and he expects that it may be changed in the future. Kids may be recognized at the game who may not have received a scholarship otherwise which is a huge benefit to the kids.
Recruiting trips will continue through December 20th and then they will pick back up on or around January 4th, Coach Jones could not remember the exact date since he was on the road recruiting. USA will be able to sign up to 30 kids in February but they could receive more than those in verbal commitments. Some may not qualify academically, but they are talking to a lot of interested kids that have good grades so that may not be a concern come signing time.
Lee Shirvanian then asked Coach Jones what his first roster could look like. Jones responded that they could have anywhere from 50-60 on scholarship this fall and about 20 of those would be Junior College transfers and the rest walk-ons. He expects them to be 120-130 players by the time they start next summer preparing for the fall schedule. He started recruiting Junior College kids fairly close to home but they are now recruiting them from Texas, California and other places to find the best players they can to fill the positions they need. So far this year, 17 kids have been signed to scholarships and they have 13 more they can sign this calendar year. They have been working on some and can announce them around the December 17th deadline hopefully.
Lee brought up an interesting thing, why don’t Junior Colleges in Alabama play football? Coach Jones and others agreed it would be great for kids in our state. The economy and money are probably the biggest factors.
Coach Jones is not close to releasing the schedule yet for next year. Many of the coaches he is talking to for contracts have been in the midst of their season so negotiations have been put on the back burner for the last few weeks. They will be getting back into that soon. Currently, even the players do not know who they may be playing and I know at least one of them is quite eager to know.
Going back to the rules talk, Lee Shirvanian stated that lately he has not hear much about football rules violations. Mr. McCarthy said that rules compliance for football is much harder than for basketball. Basketball has maybe from 7-10 players they have to monitor. Football they could have 120-130 as Coach Jones indicated on their roster, that they have to monitor and make sure no rules are being breached. Its really a whole team effort to get this done. USA has a group of faculty volunteers that help advise these players when they come to see the school and it really helps that they can talk to faculty from their potential chosen majors too.
When asked about the sports dorms that the NCAA has gotten rid of, Coach Jones was outspoken about them. He likes the sports dorms for players so they are held responsible and are kept out of potentially bad situations. When he was a player at Alabama he knew that there were people there watching out for them. Kids are going to be kids, nothing has changed since he was in college. They do not need babysitting but they can sometimes use a big brother as a mentor.
Lee asked Coach Jones about how soon USA could have a senior in the Senior Bowl, which is held each year in Mobile, Alabama. Coach Jones was very optimistic and enthusiastic stating that it could be in the next few years. They are really bringing in good, talented players that could be selected. Its also a good recruiting tool to say that the Senior Bowl is located in Mobile and that they will definitely be looking at USA for potential players.
Travis Toth then mentioned that USA will be hosting our basketball rival, Western Kentucky on Thursday, December 18th and we need everyone we can get into the Mitchell Center to help kick off the Conference season with a big win over the Hilltoppers. They have been playing well and so has USA. So come out and join us for the game!
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-12-02
Coach Jones was not on the show today, he is recruiting in his regions of New Orleans. However, Dameyune Craig filled in with Lee Shirvanian from Wings Sports Grill.
The first topic on the show was the buzz going around today about the job security of Coach Tubberville up at Auburn. Today marks the third day of meetings with the Athletic Director without any real press releases or vote of confidence in the Auburn coach. This has led to many people calling the WNSP radio station with rumors, unnamed sources and so forth stating that either Coach Tubberville was out or still in as coach of the Auburn Tigers in 2009. Unconfirmed reports of a 1pm news conference has circulating but at the time of writing, nothing has come out about it.
We are in the midst of recruiting season and that is exactly where Coach Jones is right now. One caller asked if USA was recruiting the quarterback from Leroy, who is playing in the state championship game later this week. Coach Craig would not say anything about it directly, but did affirm that USA coaches are busy recruiting the best quarterbacks in the area and the region to come play for the Jaguars.
Craig also made light that Alabama and Auburn are only recruiting about 5-8 players in Alabama this year. There is no immediate cause for that but that situation would give USA a prime opportunity to try to get some local talent that may be overlooked by those schools.
Another caller asked about receivers and quarterbacks that are on the team right now. Coach Craig said that they have two Division I receivers right now. One is a transfer from UAB that is pretty quick and they hope to have him cleared to play next fall. The other is a transfer from Southern Miss, also with good speed. The Jags currently have a quarterback from Louisiana and they are recruiting more at all positions.
When asked about what kind of responses potential players are giving USA coaches since USA is a new school starting a football program, Coach Craig recounted a question that was asked to the staff. One kid called up and asked how likely the program is to fold before he graduates. It was obviously not a question that came from the kid himself. It was something that other coaches hinted or dropped in his ear during the recruiting process. That’s part of it.
When asked about recruits who have verbally committed to Auburn. If Coach Tubberville is relieved of his duties, how likely is it that they will still go there? Coach Craig said that some players commit to coaches or playing styles. Many commit to the school itself and they are not likey to change their commitment. USA is committed to football. Its very evident in the money being put into top notch facilities and the campus and that is a big reason how we will get good recruits.
Finally, when Lee Shirvanian asked Craig for his SEC Championship pick, he chose Florida over Alabama. I pick Alabama, not because I am an Alabama fan, but because I think Alabama matches up well with Florida. Coach Saban and Coach Steele are very good and devising defensive schemes to disrupt the other teams offense. Auburn has a pretty good defense and the Alabama offense did a good job early of breaking tendencies and keeping Auburn on their heels. Then when the Auburn offense failed to move the ball and give the defense a rest, Alabama’s offensive line just dominated their defense.
With Harvin possibly out it will take away a big offensive threat from Florida but don’t let tha fool you. They have some players and lots of speed. If it gets into a footrace, Florida has the advantage. But if its a smash mouth, dig into the trentches game it is Alabama’s advantage.
Go Jags! and Roll Tide!
Joey Jones Show Recap 2008-11-12
This week Matthew and I decided not to try to go to Wings for an in-person viewing of the show but rather I stayed home and listened on the radio. So come to find out why Coach Jones wasn’t on last week was because he and his staff was in Kentucky taking a chance to observe their staff go about their daily routine. I guess seeing how an SEC coaching staff goes about its day is something that could help a new program get started.
President Gordon Moulton was the special guest on the show this week and together they talked about several things which I will get into during the course of this article. The first thing mentioned was that less than a year ago (December will be one year) since the football program was approved at USA and look how far we have come. We have a little over 100 players and about 800 signed up online for the marching band. This has all been accomplished in the last 11 months. Currently, USA is on track to be the fastest program to go from inception to Division I play in NCAA history (at least since they started keeping track of this stat).
President Moulton made light that this could mean a few rough years to begin with but ultimately if so both he and coach Jones believe this is best for our program. But those tough years could be offset by the teams we play. Getting into matchups with teams like Tennessee, whom we have a date with in 2013, could help the program along both financially and personel wise.
Coach Jones made light that practice has been going well and the team and staff have been working hard to keep their competitive fire going even though they are not taking the field against opponents this year. Its easier to keep that fire going when you work all week implementing a game plan to pit against a team on Saturday. But it takes some special players and staff to keep up that kind of will all semester without any opponents.
The BCS was mentioned during the show by the host Lee Shirvanian. President Moulton said that up until now that his talks with other university presidents did not include football because we did not have that program. But university presidents take issue with a playoff system because it would be that much more time out of the classroom for the players. When you get eight teams playing a playoff you end up extending the already long season by another three games. Coach Jones supported the idea of the ‘plus one’ scenerio put forth not long ago but it could easily be extended to a four team playoff where #4 vs #1 and #3 vs #2 would then pit the winners against each other. But then again it would be easier to extend that playoff to add more teams like the fear by president Moulton.
Lee Shirvanian brought up an interesting point likening college football to NFL football if a playoff was instituted. The draw of college football is how meaningful each and every game is during the course of a season. Many teams cannot afford a single loss or else you are out of the running. If a playoff system was added then the passion around each and every game could lessen and you would result with the NFL where as long as you make the playoffs you can slack off some during the season. In three or four years down the road USA will have to work hard not to lose a game in the Sun Belt Conference because that one loss could be the difference between winning the conference championship or not.
It took South Florida nine years to go from program inception to being ranking in the top 25 last year. Their plan was a 6 year plan to go from inception to playing in Division I football which is currently the fastest program to begin Division I football. USA is currently on pace to beat that with an ambitious plan to be in Division I football in four years. Obviously it would be great to be ahead of their schedule in being ranked in the top 25 as well.
The talk then drifted to recruiting and facilities. The foundation is being set now for the new fieldhouse for the football team and it will look stellar. Over a thousand beds have been added on campus through the building of the student apartments in The Grove. Coupled with the new Student Rec Center currently under construction, our facilities will be on par or better than any in the conference which will pay dividends in recruiting.
In addition to the field house being under construction, the practice fields are under construction. The grass field is almost finished and the artificial turf field is well under way, coach Jones said.
As for our stadium, they are working or have already worked out a 5-year contract with Ladd-Peebles Stadium to be the home of the USA Jaguars. While eventually alumni and supporters will want an on campus stadium, it will have to be funded privately through the community and the school.
Coach Jones is working to finalize the football uniform colors and design. He told everyone listening that he carried a preliminary design to Moultons office this week. The marching band is also working to finalize their uniform and both will look excellent when they take to the field for the first time in 2009.
They then turned to the economy and how it may affect college sports in the near future. It is quite obvious that the economy is not as strong as it has been recently but it has not taken a toll on college sports yet. But the possible affect is not known yet. President Moulton said that the program with staff and all scholarships will cost about $5 Million per year. Which in the scheme of things, is not bad. As we get further into the program and into Division I football, those costs will rise. But “not a single nickle” has come from the academic side. All of the money thus far has come from supporters and from student fees. This was done so that the program could operate normally and not in a deficit during its first few years.
Another guest to make an appearance on the show was Travis Toth, who is the new marketing director at USA. He has been working with on campus organizations to help promote athletics more. Just for Monday nights exhibition match the Mitchell Center drew just under 3,000 people with 706 students in attendance. Basketball will have some concerts on the steps of the Mitchell Center this season. Baseball will also have concerts before or after a number of their games.
Mr. Toth then turned to tickets sales. Next season there is going to be a guaranteed 6 game home schedule with a possible 7th game in the works by coach Jones. Season tickets for the football games is only $75 and will go on sale to the general public next week. He also informed us that less than 150 season tickets are still available for the lower level of the Mitchell Center this season. Plus for a 16 games at home and the low price of $50 per season ticket (for upper level seating) the value is phenomenal.
Finally Coach Jones said he may miss an episode of the show in December due to a recruiting trip to Texas. But he is working on something special for national signing day so stay tuned for this and more.
Go Jags!