Who Do We Think We Are?

Will winning seasons get us to the next level?

Obviously not.  Southern Miss has 16 consecutive winning seasons.  We’ll have a winning season in 2007 and on and on…

Will a perfect season and crashing the BCS get us to the next level?

Not really.  Tulane was kept out because they didn’t really play anyone (did you know Shawn King is now the QB for the Las Vegas Gladiators  of the Arena Football League?).  But Utah and Boise State have something to crow about!  Where are they now?   Are the BCS conferences beating down their door?  If anything, the BCS teams are avoiding scheduling them for fear of looking like Oklahoma.

What then?

I believe it takes two things:

1. Shrewd negotiation - Just as we negotiate schedules and we fight to get home and away series, we need to use leverage (where we have it), to get where we want to be.
2. Money - We may not be able to duplicate what Louisville did for the simple truth, we can’t spend what we don’t have.  But we should work on getting to a point where we offer enough to deal.

Next Steps?

We need a well set goal and a plan of attack.  When fans see the goal and plan, they will come in with the money they can.  I’m willing to bet the Louisville fans knew there was a goal and a plan.  And they made it happen.  I believe Southern Miss can too!

Problem Statement: Attendance at Southern Miss athletic events is not what we need it to be.

First off, I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m not a marketing major, so if I’m off base, please call me on it. I’m approaching this from my business background and years of experience seeing companies succeed and fail in marketing their products.

I’m confident that Southern Miss has gotten the message out that we have a solid football program. There probably isn’t a man in the State of Mississippi that doesn’t know who Brett Favre is (and soon, Adalius Thomas may command the same respect). Every year, thousands of students graduate from Southern Miss knowing we have a program. One that wins more than it loses, particularly at The Rock.

So, that being said, is it the product or the marketing?

I used to think that marketing was about letting people know you have a product. But now I know it is more about ensuring the right message gets gets out. What message is out there? Why is it that when walking down the street in Gatlinburg, TN I see Mississippi State and Ole Miss products in a store and no Southern Miss? Why do our sister schools, who aren’t any bigger that Southern Miss draw larger crowds?

The short of it is that Southern Miss wins. Do we get less credit for those wins? It appears so. And therein lies the problem.

Be it perception of the product or an actual deficiency, not being in a respected BCS conference (read not the Big East) is costing us.  The question is not whether we can win in one of those conferences, we just need to get in.

I’ll be the first to admit, I love watching Southern Miss win a football game. Typically, I’ve spent a day getting to Hattiesburg (I live in Nevada). I arrive at the campus three to six hours before the game and spend time with friends, old and new. Game time at the Rock rocks!

Southern Miss wins most of the games played there, which means my experience on campus is usually a good one. After a good win, I’ll spend a few more hours in the tailgating area savoring the moment.
But we lose at home more than I’d care to remember. The team doesn’t always come out looking sharp. Then the after-game tailgating isn’t so sweet (and I don’t stay as long). Some of those losses were not supposed to be losses.

Coach Bower was granted another extension.  Maybe in and of itself that isn’t a bad thing.  He does post an impressive win record.  When to take into account all the years he only had four home games, it means even more.  What chaps me is that his contract has been set up that he gets an extension offer for merely winning more games in a season than he loses.

How many of us get that kinda deal?  I know if I was unsuccessful at work just under half the time, I’d likely lose my job.  Actually, I lose what is effectively more than “one game” per year, I will likely lose my job.  Where is the stretch goal?

Worse is that we have in recent years reduced the quality of our OOC schedule.  At least two of the OOC opponents for next year are supposed to be gimmes (UT-Martin and Arkansas State).  So, four conference wins and Bower gets an extension to 2011?

Would he have to have four losing seasons in a row to be gone?

Please don’t get me wrong.  I think Bower is a great coach.  He’s shown loyalty to Southern Miss, and I believe he has been well rewarded for it.  But we are growing tired of carrying the “mid-major” title around.  We’ve lost the “Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” intensity.  And beyond a few sparks here and there, our defense has not been much of a “Nasty Bunch”.

I hope Bower will step up himself.  Make the “9 and 3 is not good enough at Southern Miss” is real driver.  If management won’t give you a stretch goal, make one for yourself.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the effect that the Internet has on Southern Miss sports. Obviously it has many positives, but I’m thinking it might also have some negatives. More and more, games in all sports are being broadcast on the Internet. And more and more, those broadcasts are moving from live stats (Gametracker) to radio to video. For those of us that live far away from Hattiesburg, that is a Godsend.

But, does it keep local fans from attending the game? It is not news that Southern Miss struggles with attendance in all sports. Sell outs, even in football, are few and far between. It is common practice to “black out” television in the local area when a game doesn’t sell out. Should the same be set up for Internet broadcasts? It would be easy enough to tie a user to an IP address (and yes, most of these can be plugged to a specific location or region).

Would it make a difference?

Or a more important question; is Southern Miss doing all it should do to appeal to Internet users to build support?

To offset the negatives of easy access, I believe Southern Miss should takes steps to use technology to improve the program (and that includes attendance). The potential is definitely there.

My hope for EaglePost.net is that it becomes a focal point for many current and future fans of Southern Miss. I want to engage the fans, build a solid community of users, and give them a reason to show up for the games. Come early, leave late, spend time with the guys you’ve come to know through EaglePost.net.

I’ll never be able to measure whether that engagement results in better game attendance. But I certainly hope that it does. As I noted, I don’t live close to Hattiesburg. So, the Internet is my best way of staying engaged. So, as members of EaglePost, I hope you recognize that you are effectively a marketing branch for Southern Miss. Wear that badge with pride.

BLACK - GOLD - BOLD

EaglePost.net

CoogFun
Rivals - Houston

Give ‘em a shout!

I thought I should take a moment to answer my own rant from last night. I just got a bit frustrated after hearing the attendance number for the Alabama game.  I also saw the size of some of the LSU message boards.  We are children amongst men.

Things I resolve to do:
1) Grow this message board and make it a central resource for Southern Miss fans.
2) Increase my Eagle Club contribution and buy at least two tickets to every game (I’ll give tickets away if I cannot attend).
3) Continue to work on the EaglePost Auction, adding a larger assortment and obtaining items that will really make a difference.

What are you going to do?

LSU Message boards:
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/default.asp?b=1

http://lsu.rivals.com/forum.asp

http://mb2.scout.com/blsu55929

So, the argument gets ugly. Is Southern Miss a Mid-Major in all sports? This came to a head on our message board when a few papers, including the Hattiesburg American, questioned where our conference stands. Obviously many of our fans took offense. Even more aggravating to some of our fans, was that there was no plug for our game with the nationally ranked Alabama in the Jackson metro area. Southern Miss went on to blank the Tide, by the way.

Southern Miss has always been looked down on in the state of Mississippi. And honestly, it always will be. Not because of the performance on the field/court, but because of our performance around it. Frankly speaking, we don’t bring enough to the table. Attendance is poor (among the lowest in the conference). And I’m sure that equates to pure dollars. Dollars we put in and dollars we draw to the program from advertisers.

Gentlemen, until we pull the traffic, we are Mid-Major at best. And yes, traditional media will not give us our due. We had less than 3700 at tonight’s baseball game. I listened because I live over 2000 miles away. But how many fans sat right there in Jackson? How many fans were within 30 miles of Pearl and didn’t bother? Are they really fans?

Are you?

March 3 and 4 - Southern Miss (9 - 1) faces the University of Louisiana-Lafayette - Ragin Cajuns (10 - 1) at 1pm each day.

The Ragin Cajuns message board is RaginPagin.com.  Stop by and invite them over.

March 3, 2007 - Southern Miss (18-10, 8-7 C-USA) faces The Herd (12-17, 7-8 C-USA) in basketball at 4pm.

Marshall fans have multiple message boards (stop by and invite them over):

Herdfans.com

Herdnation.com

Scout - Marshall

Rivals - Marshall