USM Fans Question

[NashDawgMan]

For the folks that live in or south of Jackson, or any place that has a lot of USM fans: What are USM fans like? My buddies in Jackson can't stand them. I've never really lived in an area that has a USM contingency and am just curious.

Is there a comparable fan base?

[UMCDawg16]

Southern fans are terrible. #1, You can't be a true USM fan without being delusional when it comes to sports. One of my good friends is a USM grad and he is always talking trash about State and how USM has better athletics than State. I know several other USM grads as well, and 70% of them are bandwagon OM fans.

[starkvegasdawg]

Nobody is sure. USM fans are like Bigfoot. People claim they exist and there may be a few out of focus pictures supposedly of one but nobody can offer any real definitive proof they are real.

[BulldogBear]

Yes, there is. Imagine an typical Ole Miss douchebag that also has a little man complex. I'm really in agreement with those that say they can more insufferable than Bearsharks. I promise you, if we beat them by less than 30 points they will go on and on about the score doesn't reflect how they kicked our a$$ on the field and scoreboard doesn't really give them enough credit. You have to break them or they, like Bears, will put an asterik by it.

[Coach34]

I met one of them- and he was related to two more- so I feel like I know most if their fanbase. They are just like a poorer version of Ole Missus fans- delusional and empty on the inside

[Jack Lambert]

Cut them a little slack. They did swap going to the Mobile Bowl and New Orleans bowl for sixteen years.

[dickiedawg]

I've got a couple of friends that went to school there.

You guessed it, LSU fans.

[Jacksondevildog]

They wear a lot of Hollister clothes and wear Oakely Gascans.

[notsofarawaydawg]

My first cousin talks shit all the time about State. He was a first semester dropout at USM because he partied way too much. He and his mama claim he had to come home because of wisdom tooth issues. I called bullshit .. he's a softie and couldn't hold his liquor and attend class too. Lot's of people like this from where I grew up. Can't wait to throw it in their face during the next family reunion.

[Johnson85]

What are USM fans like?

I know 30% of their fan base. 2 of them are depressed and see the writing on the wall. One of them is pretty upbeat. Not delusional about where they are now but doesn't think the landscape in college football has changed that much. Says same 25 to 30 teams have been consistently good, teams like state and UM will be good occasionally. Places like USM are at a disadvantage but while numbers have gotten bigger, proportion is the same (i.e., USM used to have a $5M budget when State and USM had $20M budgets, before that they had $1M budget when state was $5M, etc.), and competitive landscape will stay basically the same. It's possible he's right, State and UM could certainly make terrible hires that would set them back, so I don't think you can say he's delusional, but I think he's overly optimistic.

I have no clue what the other 70% is like.

[cubswillwinitonedaydawg]

I'm from Laurel, lived in Hattiesburg a few years, and know plenty of USM alums. I say alums, because most alums are not really fans. Most students have another team that they pull for (LSU, Bama, etc.). I know 3 that are 100% USM - the rest of the USM alums I know either don't have much interest in college sports or have another team they follow and pull for. Walk around starkville and basically all hats and shirts you see are MSU. Walk around Hattiesburg and you will see more LSU or MSU gear than you will USM. The recent semi-success of the basketball team and Omaha trip in 09 brought them a little sense of school pride, but in an area where football is king, it just didn't do a whole lot.They got pretty arrogant after 2012, but the past 2 years took basically all the wind out of their sails. I have one buddy who seems to think that they may never recover from the Ellis Johnson hire. And now that up and coming schools in surrounding areas like South Alabama and ULL are pulling in recruits that USM used to get, he may be right.

[shoeless joe]

I know 1. He's a good guy and has no delusions of any of there sports. I don't know the other 9 so can't say about them.

[Drugdog]

Elitedawgs Remembers worthy thread.

[trob115]

Seems like an awful lot of you know the same people***

[Dawgheadcheese]

It is not accurate to compare USM to any other SEC school - including OM. They are a fragile fan base. Are some delusional? Maybe. But not to the extend of an OM for instance. They really don't have a fan base that is committed or passionate enough to reach a point of delusion or super high expectations. Here is the make up of their fan base.

First, they have fans that bleed black and gold and support USM the way they should - I would say about a third of them make up this group.

Secondly, they have a significant percentage of "fans" / "alumni" that support other teams - these folks went to USM due to geographic / cost / commutable considerations. USM has always been a "commuter" school for many of their students due to their "hub city" location. Ride around campus on any day of the week and notice all the vehicles with stickers supporting non-USM schools.

Lastly, they have an abnormal percentage of fair weathered fans. Fans that show up and invest in USM when things are going well and disappear when things are not going well.

[TheRef]

It is not accurate to compare USM to any other SEC school - including OM. They are a fragile fan base. Are some delusional? Maybe. But not to the extend of an OM for instance. They really don't have a fan base that is committed or passionate enough to reach a point of delusion or super high expectations. Here is the make up of their fan base.

First, they have fans that bleed black and gold and support USM the way they should - I would say about a third of them make up this group.

So there's 3 fans

Secondly, they have a significant percentage of "fans" / "alumni" that support other teams - these folks went to USM due to geographic / cost / commutable considerations. USM has always been a "commuter" school for many of their students due to their "hub city" location. Ride around campus on any day of the week and notice all the vehicles with stickers supporting non-USM schools.

There's 5 fans

Lastly, they have an abnormal percentage of fair weathered fans. Fans that show up and invest in USM when things are going well and disappear when things are not going well.

There's the last 2 fans

My calculations of the fan base in bold.

[archdog]

Southern fans are terrible. #1, You can't be a true USM fan without being delusional when it comes to sports. One of my good friends is a USM grad and he is always talking trash about State and how USM has better athletics than State. I know several other USM grads as well, and 70% of them are bandwagon OM fans.

I have yet to meet a USM fan that even knows about football. All of their opinions on sports in general make me scratch my head.

[EAVdog]

The 3 I know:

One is the biggest shit talking Roll Tide fan.

One is a huge LSU fan.

And the last one is always posting Hotty Toddy on his facebook account .

Can't say I blame them.

[TrapGame]

The 3 I know:

One is the biggest shit talking Roll Tide fan.

One is a huge LSU fan.

And the last one is always posting Hotty Toddy on his facebook account .

Can't say I blame them.

This USM grad is the biggest Bulldawg lovin' bastard you'd ever meet. My degree may be mustard colored but my heart bleeds maroon!

...And it's a long story on how I wound up at USM. Let's just say it involved a woman.

[Reason2succeed]

My sister in law went there. She schizophrenically goes back and forth between being a State fan and a Bama fan. Come to think of it the whole household does the same thing even though her husband graduated from State.

[starkvegasdawg]

This tells you all you need to know about USM football:

http://image1.stadiumjourney.com/images/stadiums/441_Action_at_MM_Roberts_Stadium.jpg

[RougeDawg]

I'm from Laurel, lived in Hattiesburg a few years, and know plenty of USM alums. I say alums, because most alums are not really fans. Most students have another team that they pull for (LSU, Bama, etc.). I know 3 that are 100% USM - the rest of the USM alums I know either don't have much interest in college sports or have another team they follow and pull for. Walk around starkville and basically all hats and shirts you see are MSU. Walk around Hattiesburg and you will see more LSU or MSU gear than you will USM. The recent semi-success of the basketball team and Omaha trip in 09 brought them a little sense of school pride, but in an area where football is king, it just didn't do a whole lot.They got pretty arrogant after 2012, but the past 2 years took basically all the wind out of their sails. I have one buddy who seems to think that they may never recover from the Ellis Johnson hire. And now that up and coming schools in surrounding areas like South Alabama and ULL are pulling in recruits that USM used to get, he may be right.

Well your buddy seems somewhat delusional if he believes the Johnson hire is the reason they are in their current state. The Fedora hire is the reason they are on the brink of dissolving the program. Bower knew how to recruit the small town diamonds in the rough player, similar to Mullen. Fedora did not have the connections and never recruited the way needed at USM. He won off of the talent brought in from the previous regime, and left when he could see the hand writing on the wall. They could have had Bill Walsh coaching after Fedora left and had very similar results.

[TrapGame]

This tells you all you need to know about USM football:

http://image1.stadiumjourney.com/images/stadiums/441_Action_at_MM_Roberts_Stadium.jpg

I was at a home USM game in the late 90's when Bower had them rolling and the stadium wasn't even half full.

[Johnson85]

This tells you all you need to know about USM football:

http://image1.stadiumjourney.com/images/stadiums/441_Action_at_MM_Roberts_Stadium.jpg

That is crazy.

How much of an anomaly is that? Was that like 1 minute left in the game during the worst game of the Ellis Johnson season? Or do their stands often look like that?

[defiantdog]

Didn't they just do an expansion as well?

[Coach34]

...And it's a long story on how I wound up at USM. Let's just say it involved a woman.

Norman Price in da hizzy

[Coach34]

This tells you all you need to know about USM football:

http://image1.stadiumjourney.com/images/stadiums/441_Action_at_MM_Roberts_Stadium.jpg


Their Homecoming crowds really turn out...good for them

[LC Dawg]

This tells you all you need to know about USM football:

http://image1.stadiumjourney.com/images/stadiums/441_Action_at_MM_Roberts_Stadium.jpg

In their defense that is the visitor's side shown. There's probably fifty more people on the home side that you can't see in this picture.

[Todd4State]

Norman Price in da hizzy

Even their own players are MSU fans.

[Todd4State]

It is not accurate to compare USM to any other SEC school - including OM. They are a fragile fan base. Are some delusional? Maybe. But not to the extend of an OM for instance. They really don't have a fan base that is committed or passionate enough to reach a point of delusion or super high expectations. Here is the make up of their fan base.

First, they have fans that bleed black and gold and support USM the way they should - I would say about a third of them make up this group.

Secondly, they have a significant percentage of "fans" / "alumni" that support other teams - these folks went to USM due to geographic / cost / commutable considerations. USM has always been a "commuter" school for many of their students due to their "hub city" location. Ride around campus on any day of the week and notice all the vehicles with stickers supporting non-USM schools.

Lastly, they have an abnormal percentage of fair weathered fans. Fans that show up and invest in USM when things are going well and disappear when things are not going well.

This is pretty much my take as well.

It also doesn't help that have an emphasis on fine arts and music because people on those professions usually don't give a rats ass about sports. Or make enough money to afford giving back to their school.

Their band will be better than ours though. Which is fine with me.

[Todd4State]

Well your buddy seems somewhat delusional if he believes the Johnson hire is the reason they are in their current state. The Fedora hire is the reason they are on the brink of dissolving the program. Bower knew how to recruit the small town diamonds in the rough player, similar to Mullen. Fedora did not have the connections and never recruited the way needed at USM. He won off of the talent brought in from the previous regime, and left when he could see the hand writing on the wall. They could have had Bill Walsh coaching after Fedora left and had very similar results.

Exactly. And Monken almost had the same record his first year. But yeah- that's Ellis Johnson's fault.** Ellis didn't even have a chance to get a recruiting class in that was totally his own.

I would have been very curious to see what they said if Monken had pulled off an 0-12 season to see if they would have still blamed Ellis Johnson.

[Johnson85]

Exactly. And Monken almost had the same record his first year. But yeah- that's Ellis Johnson's fault.** Ellis didn't even have a chance to get a recruiting class in that was totally his own.

I would have been very curious to see what they said if Monken had pulled off an 0-12 season to see if they would have still blamed Ellis Johnson.

I think the official line is that FEdora left the cupboard bare, and then Johnson came in and screwed it up worse, so that they ended up with two wasted recruiting classes (the Fedora/Johnson one that Fedora left in poor shape and Johnson couldn't fix, and the Johnson/Monken one that Johnson left in shambles and Monken couldn't fix) on top of a team already depleted from Fedora's failure to recruit.

[State82]

One of my best friends is a USM alum. He follows them closely but doesn't attend a lot of games. He mskes a few football, basketball and baseball games every year. But he is far from delusional and actually pulls for us if we aren't facing USM. He has attended several MSU baseball games the past few years. He made the comment the other day that he thinks his son may end up at MSU. He is probably the most level headed USM fan of the bunch.

[Dawgcentral]

I have many USM stories, but I'll share this one.

USM had a big game in Jackson back in the 80's with a Jackie Sherril TA&M team. They brought fewer that 13,000 to the game. Jackie said he'd never play them there again. And he never did.

Most boring college game I ever attended.

Hell, I'll add one more. Went to a game at USM while spending a weekend with friends that lived near campus. The game was within 10 points in the third quarter. They all wanted to leave, and we ended up at Nick's Ice House, the place with commode seats at the bar and around the booths.