(01-31-2015 10:04 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

That's a rendering of my own personal expansion plan. Like Billy Mac's, it's a long shot.

(01-31-2015 10:03 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 07:54 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 06:52 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 05:25 PM)LR Eagle Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 01:37 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  Assuming this conference even lasts the duration, and we do remain members of it, why is that a reason to stop trying to better ourselves? That is a ridiculous way to look at things.

Let's apply that principle to the rest of life, shall we? You should've just not gone to college at all if you couldn't afford to go to Harvard. May as well just take the bus if you can't have a Mercedes. Can't afford a mansion? Just live in a tent. What difference does it make since you'll never have the indoor pool and tennis court anyway?

Some of you need to make a run to Wal-Mart for new tampons and a 6-pack of pride. You b__ch about what university officials in the past have done to the culture, but in the same breath b__ch about any attempts by anyone to change the culture.

My mistake. Carry on salivating over fantasy renovations that will never happen.

We think small time because we are small time and all the silly bravado you clowns throw around can't change the fact that we are completely irrelevant.

I'll never get this attitude. Walk around any big city in America. Chances are, 200 years ago it was a dusty little town, or even wilderness. It's not like Dutch settlers handed over their trinkets to buy Manhattan and were pleasantly surprised to find a thriving financial district complete with subway trains and skyscrapers. They built it.

Similarly, the Hattiesburg of today does not have to be the Hattiesburg of tomorrow. The Southern Miss of today doesn't have to be the Southern Miss of tomorrow... unless that's what we want. And yet people act like we're just fated to stay irrelevant forever, and FSU, Louisville, Virginia Tech, and even *East Carolina* were just born with silver spoons in their mouths.

They weren't. FSU was still a women's college when we were playing giant killer back in the 1950s. ECU got snubbed when CUSA was originally formed. There were no silver spoons to be had.

Those schools got sick of being small time, so they built their way out. This is not difficult to fathom, outside of Hattiesburg.

crux defined....there are some in this town that hate change....I wonder why.....lmfao

it reminds me of a child protecting 'pretend friends'.....the child understands fear and weakness, therefore 'pretend friend' creationism.....the sentiment of 'those' can only yield fail=true (over time)....I know ya git it

Hating change is something I associate with New Orleans, and Hattiesburg, with its purple and gold football uniforms, is in the orbit of New Orleans.

I lived it for 37 years and then I got out. When I go back, it blows me away how little has changed.

To be fair, change, when it has happened to NOLA, has often been bad. Could probably say the same about USM, especially in the last 15-20 years.

we'll have to disagree regarding that analogy....katrina was good for the 'burg and a disaster for nola...

both were cause/effect forced changes....

I'm talking about the the changes that involve choice.....

two different animals...

(01-31-2015 08:02 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(01-31-2015 05:25 PM)LR Eagle Wrote:  We think small time because we are small time

And our being small-time now is the direct result of too much small-time thinking in the past. It's a hopeless cycle of lack of ambition, laziness and self-pity.

The choice now is between trying to break that cycle or merrily continuing on down it.

There is no breaking the cycle now. We had a chance to become relevant when Louisville and Co. jumped ship to the Big East, but we missed it with RG's incompetence and Bower's inability to win anything resembling a big game against a Cartel school. We had another, slimmer chance to do it a couple years ago, we opted to hire EJ versus someone competent and that was that. Those were our only chances to win our way into a better conference, now it's about TV markets and we have none.

I'm sure we'll return to success again one day (likely once all of our current coaches are gone since most of them suck), but the days of real relevance are over. Our ceiling is winning C-USA and going to some meaningless bowl that serves as nothing more than a commercial for the games that matter that people actually watch.

The long term demographics of USM are also not in our favor. Enrollment is increasingly female and/or liberal arts/education/nursing focused. Those aren't exactly prime audiences for athletics. We have noting to attract the casual fan from MSU/Ole Miss/LSU/Bama.

We had a chance years ago and we failed miserably. We are exactly where we deserve to be.

"It's not as if this barricade / Blocks the only road."

--Neil Peart

(02-01-2015 11:20 AM)LR Eagle Wrote:  There is no breaking the cycle now. We had a chance to become relevant when Louisville and Co. jumped ship to the Big East, but we missed it with RG's incompetence and Bower's inability to win anything resembling a big game against a Cartel school. We had another, slimmer chance to do it a couple years ago, we opted to hire EJ versus someone competent and that was that. Those were our only chances to win our way into a better conference, now it's about TV markets and we have none.

I'm sure we'll return to success again one day (likely once all of our current coaches are gone since most of them suck), but the days of real relevance are over. Our ceiling is winning C-USA and going to some meaningless bowl that serves as nothing more than a commercial for the games that matter that people actually watch.

The long term demographics of USM are also not in our favor. Enrollment is increasingly female and/or liberal arts/education/nursing focused. Those aren't exactly prime audiences for athletics. We have noting to attract the casual fan from MSU/Ole Miss/LSU/Bama.

We had a chance years ago and we failed miserably. We are exactly where we deserve to be.

I agree with the vast majority of that, but what does any of it have to do with having a nicer basketball facility and a legit entertainment venue on campus? Saying the positives of completing this project are negated because our football team won't ever play for a national championship is absurd.