A Very Merry Christmas From The Thunderjags Crew
From our families to your, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas from all of us at Thunderjags.com!
Also, be safe and pay attention to the weather reports on Christmas day. Severe weather will be threatening many areas in the South.
Coaches, Players Surprised By Arrow’s Sudden Retirment
Interim head coach Jeff Price | jaguarsmensbasketball.com
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team spoke about Wednesday’s sudden announcement of head coach Ronnie Arrow’s retirement on Thursday. Instead of Wednesday being a normal day, it would be anything but that.
Players said that Coach Arrow walked in, called his players together, informed them that he had decided to retire effective immediately then made a quick trip around the room shaking hands with each player before he left.
The players were shocked.
“I was shocked because we just came off a win (over Arrow’s former school Texas A&M-Corpus Christi where he returned for his second stint as USA’s head coach),” Augustine Rubit said Thursday to AL.com. “And we were just looking forward to getting better and bringing more wins for him in the conference. It was just surprising that it happened all of a sudden.”
“We were all shocked,” he continued. “Going through the year, you knew you had coach Arrow as the head coach. That’s all you expect. I know we have some really good coaches who are stepping in. In some ways, it’s the same thing as him. I feel like we still have good coaches.”
Dr. Joel Erdmann announced that associate head coach Jeff Price as interim head coach in the press conference on Wednesday. This is also Price’s second stint at South Alabama.
“He just walked in and he told us all that he wasn’t going to be our coach anymore and that he was proud of us and that he wishes us well on the future of the season,” Javier Carter recalling about the meeting. “We were just all stunned, honestly. Everybody was just in awe because we didn’t know what to expect. It was just out of the blue because we were getting ready for practice.”
Carter indicated that none of the players sensed that Arrow was disappointed or unhappy or even leaning towards that decision.
Additionally, Carter said that the meeting was so short and abrupt that none of the players had an opportunity to ask Arrow why he had made that decision. “None of us has talked to him to my knowledge. He came in and he talked to us and he greeted us all around the room and that was about it,” said Carter.
Rubit said that the players sensed the somberness and that they recognized the seriousness of the moments before Arrow addressed the team. “He came in, it was serious. Everybody put their phones down. We were thinking it’s like a normal day, (we’d) watch film. And he said it and it didn’t seem real. He said it, shook our hands and walked out. It didn’t seem real at all.”
“It was kind of awkward, just sitting back thinking about what the first game will be like without him. But I feel like all the coaches taught the same thing and followed him so we’ll see how it happens and how it goes.”
Carter said that the team is comfortable with Price taking over. “Coach Price as an assistant, we’ve really enjoyed him. He’s a players’ coach and a coach coach. We really enjoy coach Price and we believe if anybody else is for the job, it’s definitely him.”
“Everybody has their ups and downs, like anybody does as a head coach, but we all loved coach Arrow and we enjoyed him as a coach,” Carter finished.
Coach Price is excited to take over the program despise the circumstances. Price said that the joined Arrow’s staff at South Alabama because he could visualize himself taking over the program when Arrow’s time came to an end. But he didn’t expect it to be Wednesday.
Price was just as shocked as any of the South Alabama fans when he found out about Arrow’s decision.
“It was rather abrupt and took us all a little by surprise,” Price said in his first meeting with the media since the announcement. “Particularly me. I’ve known Ronnie for over 20 years. I think it took us all by surprise a little bit but I think up to this point everyone has handled it well and understands that we have to move forward and get back on track and do what we have to do.”
“You never want things to happen this way,” he continued. “I came back to South Alabama because I wanted to be the head coach here one day, which is why I came back here. But obviously you want to come back and be the head coach after we go to the (NCAA) tournament and Ronnie retires. That’s been different and difficult just because of my respect for him and our relationship. But I’m sure Ronnie understands as well, and wishes me the best of luck and obviously the players he was close to as well the best of luck.”
This becomes Price’s fourth head coaching stint as he takes over a team that is 5-5 on the season and 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jags have a big win over then ranked Florida State to open the regular season. Price’s overall record as a head coach is 318-188 in 17 seasons as a head coach at Georgia Southern (1999-2009), West Virginia Wesleyan (2010-11) and Lynn, FL (1993-99).
Previously he was an assistant coach at South Alabama under Ronnie Arrow from 1989-1993, twice at Washington, Georgia Southern, Union KY, and Pikeville KY.
Now Price gets to audition for the permanent job the remainder of the season. He will be judged on how he handles the team and his team’s success. But Price said that he cannot view it as an audition, he has to approach it as service to the players.
“I think you have to stay away from yourself and understand this is about these guys,” Price said. “These guys have worked so hard. We’ve been at this even back to the summer when we went to Canada. We’ve been working for six or seven months and it’s about them right now. My situation will be taken care of based on how things go and it’s all about them and how they perform and present themselves, and I think we’ve got a great group of guys and they’ll do that.”
According to Price, there will not be any dramatic changes in how the team looks and plays, but there will likely be some differences.
“I don’t think, because we’ve been at it so long, that you can make drastic changes,” he said. “You’ll see some changes in regard to maybe how we approach the game, not so much what we do on the floor. We might open the floor up a little bit more. I respect coach Arrow and I learned from him in everything that he did. I think if anything changes you’ll see maybe some changes in our approach to the game and game day and practice and things like that more than you will, in particular, on the court.”
As of Thursday’s time with the media, Price said that he had not spoken to Arrow about his decision. “I’m sure he had his reasons (for retiring now), whatever they are, and I try not to speculate,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people try to speculate and at this point, but obviously he felt like it was time to do that (retire).”
Price said that he believes the players have reacted well to the news. “It’s hard to tell (how the decision may have affected them immediately). Morale has been good to this point. I think our guys are mature enough to understand that this is part of the business. I’ve been doing this 30 years and this is just part of the business. People come and people go and you learn to circle the wagons and start over and regroup and I think after we get past this our guys will be excited. We’ve got a talented bunch of guys and I really like our team. I think we have a chance to have a special year, we’ve just got to get past this and regroup.”
“We have a goal in mind. This isn’t about me. This is about this university and these players and the success they know they can have. I think our team has a lot of promise and they know that and they’re smart enough to know you can’t let things drag on, you’ve got to get back to work. Hopefully, we’ll see that on Saturday.”
South Alabama will host Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday in the team’s first game since Arrow’s retirment. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:05pm at The Mitchell Center.
USA Football Signs Six JuCo Transfers
Head Coach Joey Jones talking with wide receiver Carr Tigner during preseason practice.
The University of South Alabama football team received National Letter-of-Intent’s from six junior-college transfers on Wednesday.
Jay Jones, Cristobal Dinham, Montell Garner, Desmond LaVelle and twins Steven and Steffon Fuller all signed with the Jaguars on Wednesday. They will enroll at USA in January and will be eligible to participate in spring drills.
Jones is a 5’9″, 180-pound running back from Horn Lake, Mississippi adn transferring from Northwest Mississippi Community College. Jones rushed for 504 yards and three touchdowns to rank in the top 50 in the nation rushing. He also added 11 pass receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown. He began the season with an 83-yard, one touchdown rushing performance with another 23 yards on three catches against Copiah-Lincoln CC. He followed that up with a season-high of 157 yards rushing on 29 carries in a win at Jones County CC. He then followed that performance with a 126 yard rushing performance with a touchdown against Holmes CC. He also had a 51 yard reception during the season.
Dinham is 5’10”, 210-pound running back from Lithonia, Georgia and transfers from Independence Community College in Kansas. He ranked fifth in the NCJAA by averaging 126.5 yards per game and finished the season with 1,012 yards and 10 touchdowns. He rushed for 100+ yards in five of his eight games. He rushed 30 times for 276 yards in the season finale in a win over Highland Community College. He tied a school record by scoring four times in a game against Dodge City Communtity College while rushing for 176 yards in the game. He also rushed for 157 and 110 yards in back-to-back wins for the school.
Garner is a 6’1″ 185-pound cornerback originally from Colleyville, Texas and transferring from Navarro Junior College. He tallied eight pass break-ups in the season which tied him for fifth in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference. He also added 23 tackles and an interception. The Bulldogs finished ranked fourth in the NJCAA poll with a 10-2 record. Against nationally ranked Kilgore Junior College, Garner tallied 10 tackles in the 42-14 win. Then against Blinn JC he tallied seven tackles, three passes defended and an interception in the win.
LaVelle is a 5’11” 230-pound linebacker from Decatur, Alabama who transfers to USA from Northwest Mississippi CC. He tied for fourth on the team with 53 tackles, with 4.5 of them for a loss, two fumble recoveries an interception and a pass defended while earning first-team All-Conference honors. His team finished 8-2 on the season ranked ninth in the final NJCAA rankings and a defense ranked 14th in the nation with 316.6 yards per game. As a freshman in 2011, LaVelle collected 25 tackles, two of them for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery.
The Fuller brothers are from Scooba, Mississippi and attended Kemper County High School. They both attended East Central Mississippi CC. Steffon is a 6’4″ 205-pound safety who recorded 54 tackles and four pass break-ups last season to be named first-team Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College’s First-Team All-State. He recorded eight tackles in three of the Warriors’ nine games including against nationally-ranked East Mississippi CC.
Steven Fuller is also 6’4″ weighing in at 200-pounds. He played in the secondary, at wide receiver and on special teams until last year. Defensively he had 20 tackles, three of them for loss, two pass defenses and a blocked kick. Offensively he caught seven passes for 95 yards while collecting 13 pancake blocks on run plays.
“Any time you sign junior college kids, you want to upgrade your starting lineup. Not that these young men will be given a starting job, but when you sign a junior college student-athlete you anticipate that they can come in and start,” Jones stated. “We’ve got a couple of safeties that we feel really good about — they are real good athletes who had a ton of offers — who will help us fill the void losing B.J. Scott, and a tall cornerback. We also signed two running backs because we had a lot of depth issues with injuries there in the fall. You can’t have enough good running backs. And with Desmond LaVelle returning, we signed four on defense and two on offense.”
“I think we have upgraded our team for sure.”
Wednesday was the first day Junior College transfers could sign their National LOI’s. They have through January 15th to sign with schools.
Coach Ronnie Arrow Retires Effective Immediately, Jeff Price Takes Over As Interim Coach
The University of South Alabama will hold a press conference today at 3pm concerning the Jaguar Basketball program.
They have not released any further information about the press conference or what will be discussed. Matt Weaver will be covering the the press conference and will provide live updates from his twitter account as he is able.
Lots of speculation is being tossed around but nothing has been confirmed at this time. Visit Thunderjags.com and follow Matt on twitter for up-to-the-minute developments.
UPDATE 2:15pm: Unconfirmed report that Coach Ronnie Arrow is retiring and Assistant Coach Jeff Price will take over the head coaching duties for the remainder of the season.
UPDATE 2:45pm: More reports surfacing that Coach Ronnie Arrow is retiring effective immediately, Jeff Price taking over as Interim head coach. Press conference at 3pm.
UPDATE 3:05pm: Dr. Joel Erdmann reads a written statement from Coach Ronnie Arrow announcing CRA’s retirment effective immediately with Jeff Price taking over as interim head coach. A national search committee will convene after the season to select his replacement. Erdmann said that the reason for retirment is personal in nature. Erdmann did not directly answer question if CRA’s retirment was performance related and said it was “no singular issue,” and “speculation is untrustworthy.” Team was “quiet, surprised” by announcement. Arrow informed team initially of his decision before telling Erdmann, then Erdmann then met with the team. Neither Arrow nor Price attended the press conference.
JSU Announces Hire Of Bill Clark
Former South Alabama defensive Coordinator Bill Clark was named head coach at Jacksonville State on Tuesday, December 18 | jsugamecocksports.com
Jacksonville State University had a good list of potential head coaches to choose from to replace Jack Crow who was let go recently. They received several applications for the job, some with name recognition that made the school officials take notice immediately.
They could have picked someone from a BCS school or someone with prior collegiate head coaching experience but in the end they chose former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark. Clark will formally be announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
Clark is a 44 year old Anniston native and 1990 graduate from Jacksonville State. He may not have head coaching experience on the collegiate level, but he led Prattville High School to two state 6A championships. His last two teams won 30 consecutive games and the 2007 team was ranked #2 in the nation by the USA Today national high school poll. His winning percentage was over 90% for his tenure at Prattville.
After his final season at Prattville, he was named the Alabama High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year and the Schutt Southeast Regional Coach of the Year.
He was among the first coaches hired by South Alabama head coach Joey Jones when he was putting together his staff. He also named Clark the assistant head coach as well as defensive coordinator.
He was key in developing the South Alabama program into what it is today. In only the Jaguars fourth season of play and their first in the Sun Belt, the defense finished #2 in defense in the conference.
“I’m very happy for Bill and his family,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones said to AL.com on Tuesday. “I appreciate what he’s done to help build this program at South Alabama. You’re always happy for someone in this profession to move up and get a job they want, so I’m very happy for him and his family. He meant a lot to me. We’re great friends and will continue to be. I think we’ll always have that in the back of our minds, of starting this program at South Alabama and how gratifying it has been to build this thing and that’s something he was a part of. I appreciate everything he’s done.”
“It means a lot,” Clark said to AL.com. “When you set some goals in life and to achieve one of those goals you set at an early age, it’s gratifying. It’s real gratifying.”
“It’s big (to have the opportunity come at JSU). I think to go back to where there are people you know and in the surrounding areas, you feel like you’re going to be representing more than yourself. You’re going to be representing people you went to school with and people you played ball with and family. That’s what it’s all about.”
“There’s so many thing that you want to bring to the table, but when you’re talking about student-athletes, you want to bring them in there and get them a degree and put a great product on the field,” he continued. “The thing we want to bring is excitement. When you start talking about what gets you coming to football games, it’s excitement.”
“Watching guys running and passing and representing their school and their town and their families, all the reasons that we got into this game and that make it so great. That’s what we want to put out there. The big thing about football is it’s the face of a school. So obviously we want to put a great image out there and a great message and hopefully you’ll see that when you see us play.”
Clark also said that his time at South Alabama has been rewarding and important to him.
“To get to come here and be the start of building a program and to see it done the right way, that’s a plus,” Clark said. “We were so supported here. Joey and I were friends before we started this and that will remain the same. To get to be with a friend to do this was special.”
“I can’t say enough of about it. That’s what I want to see where I’m going. You want to see that support. Obviously, a coaches’ job is to bring people together and bring the community together, so that’s the thing I’m looking forward to at Jacksonville.”
“We’ll head up (Tuesday). They have some things planned (Wednesday). We’ve got to get into all the talks of staffing established. It’s all going to be a whirlwind now. You know how coaches are, in the first five minutes you’ve turned the switch and you’re worried about players and recruiting and what have they been doing in the weightroom and getting my staff on board. It’s kind of like a win, that joy is real short-lived and then you’ve got to go to work. It’s real satisfying and it’s real exciting, but it’s time to go to work.”
The next thing for South Alabama and Jaguar head coach Joey Jones is to find someone to fill the defensive coordinator position on the staff and other staff position who may follow him to Jacksonville State.
It is unknown how this will affect South Alabama’s junior college commits, who are able to sign with schools beginning today. But Coach Jones has time to fill the position before National Signing Day for high school recruits in early February.
Augustine Rubit Named Sun Belt Player Of The Week
South Alabama’s Augustine Rubit was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday. This is the third time he has earned this honor in his career and the first time this season.
The Jaguars only had one game this week when they hosted Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday. Rubit scored 23 points, tied a career high with 19 rebounds and also tied a personal best with three assists in the Jags 74-69 win over the Islanders. His eight offensive boards were double any other player in the game.
Additionally, Rubit earned his fifth double-double of the year, which ties him for the most in the Sun Belt, and his second double-double in a row. His 19 rebounds were the most by a Sun Belt player so far this season.
Rubit currently leads the Sun Belt in rebounding with an average of 10.3 rebounds per game and is second in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game.
Another career milestone is within reach for the junior. He is three points shy of becoming only the 14th Jaguar to score 1,000 points in a career.
South Alabama will return to the court on Saturday to continue their Conference schedule when Arkansas-Little Rock visits Mobile for a 2:05pm tip-off at the Mitchell Center on Saturday, December 22.
Bill Clark To Be Named Head Coach At Jacksonville State
Reports are surfacing that South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark will be named head coach at Jacksonville State today with a formal announcement on Wednesday.
This past season the South Alabama defense finished second in the Sun Belt in it’s first season of play in the conference. He has been with South Alabama all four season of play. He came to Mobile from Prattville, AL where he was the head coach of Prattville High School. He would replace Jack Crow who was fired after the 2012 season.
No word on potential candidates to fill his position with the Jaguars at this time.
Recent JuCo Commits
South Alabama received two verbals recently from JuCo players according to Rivals.com.
Cristobal Dinham, a 5’9″ 205-pound running back from Independence Community College in Kansas, gave his commitment to the Jags ahead of Wednesday’s signing day for Junior College players. He does not have a rating on the Rivals or Scout networks. He is originally from Lithonia, Georgia.
Another running back that has committed from a JuCo is Justin Jones, a 5’6″ 180-pound running back from Northwest Mississippi Community College. He is originally from Horn Lake, Mississippi and is expected to sign with the Jags on Wednesday as well. Recruiting sites reported that he committed to South Alabama back in the summer.
These two commits are expected to help give the Jaguars depth at the running back position where injuries had left them very thin down the stretch of the 2012 season.
Rivals.com also has another recent commit on the offensive side of the ball. ShaVarez Smith, a 6’2″ 205-pound wide receiver from Dean Junior College in Franklin, Massachusetts shows to have committed on this past Saturday. He has a two-star rating from Rivals and a three-star rating from ESPN. He is listed as having a 4.5 40-yard dash time coming out of high school in McDonough, Georgia.
Smith had received an offer from Charlotte, Ohio and South Carolina. He has good size, hands and route running ability. The coaches hope he can help fill Gabe Loper’s spot as a big, clutch receiver to compliment the other receivers on the field.
Over the next day-and-a-half we will get a good idea of some of the JuCo signees as they can begin signing and sending in their Letter-of-intent’s on Wednesday and will have through January 15th. High School players have to wait until February 6th to begin signing their LOI’s and then have through April 1 to sign.
South Alabama Football Weekend Roundup
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark working with Jake Johnson and the linebackers during individual drills on Saturday morning.
Over this past weekend the Jaguars hosted their final group of recruits before the JuCo mid-year signing period begins on Wednesday, December 19.
Steffon Fuller from East Central Community College, a 6’3″ 205-pound safety, Steven Fuller, Steffon’s twin brother who plays wide receiver, safety and cornerback at the same school. Montell Garner, a cornerback from Navarro College in Texas. Michael Jolivet, a 6’4″ 240-pound defensive end also from Navarro.
No word yet on how their visit went but one cornerback cancelled his visit to go to Boise State instead.
Mesa Community College offensive tackle David Griffin had committed to South Alabama a couple of months ago, but after visiting the University of Hawaii he has switched his committment from the Jags to the Warriors.
Griffin had committed to South Alabama to be closer to his family however his time in Arizona made it easier for him to commit to Hawaii after a good recruiting visit. Since Griffin is a JuCo player, he can sign in December and will have two years of eligibility.
Another JuCo target Jerome McClain, a 6’2″ 290-pound defensive tackle from Pensacola who is playing for Northwest Mississippi Community College visited South Alabama last weekend and was close to giving his commitment at that time. He then visted Memphis over the weekend. McClain said his top three so far are South Alabama, Memphis and Florida Atlantic. He is set to visit the Owls on January 4th.
Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark interviewed at Jacksonville State on Saturday as well as West Alabama head coach Will Hall and possibly other candidates.
Clark is an Anniston native and a JSU graduate.
Hall, 32, finished his second season as the head coach at West Alabama after serving three years at their offensive coordinator. He was an All-America quarterback for North Alabama. UWA went 9-4 this past season to win the Gulf South Conference and splitting the Division II national finalist Valdosta State. His 2011 team went 8-4.
However another name has surfaced recently in Tyler Siskey. Siskey, another Anniston native, is a 1996 Donoho graduate and is interested in the job.
Siskey is currently Ole Miss’ director of recruiting development. Previously he spent four years as Arkansas State’s receivers coach and was the offensive coordinator for the Red Wolves in the GoDaddy.com bowl when Hugh Freeze left for the Ole Miss head coaching job.
Siskey commented that “It’s home, it fits and it’s a fit on both sides. We both share the same vision, and that is to win and to win big and to win now.”
Could Georgia Southern Be Added To SBC Next Week?
When could we hear the first about possible new additions to the Sun Belt Conference? It could be as early as next week.
Tonight is the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs kickoff with #1 North Dakota State and #5 Georgia Southern playing for a slot in the FCS National Championship game. Kickoff is set for 8pm.
Rest assured that Sun Belt Conference officials and Georgia Southern officials have been in contact and talking about their interests in moving up to the FBS level and the Sun Belt’s interest in adding a strong team within it’s regional footprint.
Earlier this year the students voted to move up to the FBS level with an increase in student fees to help support the move. I believe that these meetings have been occurring since the students voted for the move but were going to wait until after the season was over to get serious about talks. But with Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic accepting invitations to Conference USA, I believe those talks were accelerated.
If Georgia Southern loses their Semifinal game then we could hear an announcement as early as next week. However if they win and earn a spot in the National Championship Game against the winner of the #2 Eastern Washington vs Sam Houston State game, then the announcement would probably be delayed. The FCS National Championship game is set for January 5th in Frisco, Texas.
That would put the Sun Belt back up to nine football playing schools. Who else would the Sun Belt consider adding? There are rumors about New Mexico State, Appalachain State, UT-Chattanooga all the way to Lamar, Liberty or Sam Houston State.
New Mexico State is already an FBS school but were a bottom dweller in the WAC with only one win last season that came in their season opener against Sacramento State. They would bring a very tall basketball team as the Jags learned in a recent game.
Appalachain State is another team in the regional footprint of the Sun Belt and has been a powerhouse in FCS for some time. However their location in Boone, NC is a very beautiful place, it is also a difficult place to travel for sports.
UT-Chattanooga is an interesting school to consider. It is located in well-known Chattanooga, TN which makes travel quite easy for sports and also fits in the regional footprint as well. They could be a very good replacement for Middle Tennessee who is just up Interstate 24 from Chattanooga towards Nashville.
Many South Alabama fans may know some about Lamar University. The Jags played their first true road game against the Cardinal in Beaumont, TX a couple years ago in the Jaguars second season of football. Football had been dropped from Lamar back in 1989 but in January of 2008 the students voted to add an athletic fee to bring football back to the University. Their stadium had a huge overhaul and a large jumbotron screen was installed. Their campus is very nice and could be a nice hidden gem in conference expansion.
Sam Houston State, as mentioned above, is in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. They are located in Huntsville, TX which is north of Houston on I-45. Either school Sam Houston State or Lamar would be a nice addition to compliment Texas State out in the Lone Star State.
Then there is Liberty. I haven’t heard much about the possibility of Liberty joining the Sun Belt. Liberty is a private christian university located in Lynchburg Virginia. They have an enrollment of about 12,500 and 80,000+ studying through their online program. Their chancellor is Jerry Falwell Jr. I don’t see them moving to the FBS level, but stranger things have happened.
Who do you think would be good additions to the Sun Belt to comprise a 10 or 12 (football) team conference? Post your suggestions here or on our Facebook page.