Coach Jones Q&A Session Before L’Arche Football Preview
A video was posted online of the question and answer session with Coach Jones before the DEX Imaging L’Arche Football Preview Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.
When asked about the status of the Jaguars Division-I transfers, he said that Brandon Bridge (quarterback) will not be eligible. Bridge is a transfer from Alcorn State and the NCAA did not grant a waiver. The Jags are still waiting to hear about the eligibility of offensive lineman James Elliot, who came from Kentucky and applied for immediate eligibility.
Coach Jones said that almost all of the incoming class are enrolled this summer, except for “about two or three” he said.
A question was asked about the players work in the weight room and how this year’s work will be as important as anything they do. Coach Jones said that, number one, they try to prevent injuries with their offseason strength and conditioning. Number two, they have to develop their athletes. He continued by saying that the other schools they will be facing have been Division-I programs for a long time and that this year will be the Jags first season as a Division-I school. This is their first “Division-I signing class.” They have to develop these players and move them along in the process. “If they’re 260 pounds, they need to be 285. We’ve got to have them at 285. It’s vital if we’re going to have a chance to compete.”
Q: Are you going to plug Jake Johnson (Senior Linebacker) for the Senior Bowl when you talk with Phil Savage (Senior Bowl Executive Director) tonight?
Jones: “No doubt. I certainly don’t make those decisions, but we’re excited about the possibilities of our players having a chance to play in the Senior Bowl.”
Q: What do you think of the changes in the Sun Belt?
Jones: “There’s a lot of shake up out there and everybody is trying to grab and pick, and conferences are grabbing and picking teams here and there. A couple of our teams, FIU and North Texas are going to Conference USA. So, therefore, we’ve gotten Georgia State and Texas State with Dennis Franchione and Bill Curry. With those guys, they’re goign to be good football programs. And with the Atlanta market you would think Georgia State’s going to be a threat down the road and with Franchione out there at Texas State they’ll get going as well. So it’s good to have both of them.”
On the video, which you can view below, he answers the following questions.
Q: Between now and August, what are your priorities and what do you hope to accomplish?
Jones: “First of all, I want our coaches to get away from about a week, this week. The kids came to summer school Tuesday and we made sure they all got settled in and got on the right track. Made sure they got with the people they needed to get with to get in class and got to know the strength coach and that type of thing. Then we have camps. Our goal with the camps is obviously to get as many kids in camp as we can and hopefully as many prospects in camp as we can so we can evaluate them and get to know them personally. Hopefully get to know their parents if they come into town and kind of get an unofficial visit type situation. It’s also a chance for them to see our facilities and see our university and the city of Mobile. We feel like if they come here to Mobile we’ve got a chance to get them. Even though our name is getting out there to households – we went down to Miami and people know us – we’ve still got to get kids on campus and let them see South Alabama. Just the name itself is not what some of the other names are right now, so we need to get them on campus. Once they see that, they see that we’re for real and we have a much better shot.”
Q: What’s your opinion on playoffs to determine the NCAA Football Champion? Do you support a four-team playoff?
Jones: “That’s something I think they needed. It’s something, a four-team playoff, that I always thought would be perfect. I think you have 1 against 4 and 3 against 2 in bowl games or wherever; they may be at home fields or whatever they decide to do – (but) having a semifinal-type situation and later a national championship game a week later, I always thought it would be a great thing for college football and I think that’s going to happen.”
Q: Do you favor playing the games at neutral sites or on campuses?
Jones: “I would vote for on campus. Crowd-wise, that’s going to create a much more electric atmosphere. If you go to a neutral site, sometimes that doesn’t work. So I think the home site would be a much better situation.”
Q: Why do you advocate student-athletes entering school the summer prior to the fall football season?
Jones: “A couple things, it gives the kid a chance to know the campus and to get acclimated academically. Then number two, obviously to get acclimated from a football standpoint. Also with that, get to know our players, over the course of the summer make some friends and get some mentors that they can count on. Lastly, having them in summer school gets them to graduate on time or early. If they graduate early, they can get started working on their masters before they leave here.”
This will be the fourth season for the Jaguars football team, and the second in their two-year transition into full FBS membership.
Latest News About South Alabama Sports
Lady Jaguar Softball Team, Sun Belt Champions
The South Alabama Lady Jaguar Softball team is in Tuscaloosa and will play Georgia Tech today at 3:30 pm in their first ever appearance in NCAA Regional play after defeating rival Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. This will be the first time both schools have faced each other on the diamond. Georgia Tech season record stands at 36-21 overall. Most recently, the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia, No. 19 Florida State and Virginia Tech to become the 2012 ACC Tournament champions to get the #2 seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional. Visit the USAJaguars.com page for links to information about the Tuscaloosa regional and for links to live radio coverage this afternoon.
Coach Joey Jones and the South Alabama Football team announced recently that they have promoted Brendt Bedsole from Director of Football Operations to be an on-field coach. Last month coach Kurt Crain died unexpectedly. Coach Brian Turner will return to coaching the entire defensive line, defensive coordinator Bill Clark will coach the inside linebackers and Coach Bedsole will coach the outside linebackers according to an interview on WNSP’s Morning Sports Show. Coach Bedsole has coached at three Universities before; Samford, Murray State and Auburn as well as Hoover High School before joining the Jaguar staff.
Myles Gibbon takes in Carter-Finley Stadium before the team takes the field for warm-ups.
Myles Gibbon, the Jaguars first starting quarterback, graduated on Saturday and will be transferring to a school closer to his native home in Canada. He has two years of eligibility remaining and can play immediately since he has graduated with his undergrad degree. Gibbon was responsible for the throw to Courtney Smith for the first ever touchdown in Jaguar history against Hargrave Military Academy.
Gibbon started six of the programs seven games in it’s first season, missing the last game with an injury. That season he led the team in total offense with 632 yards, was 29-of-51 passing for 538 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 94 yards and two more touchdowns. He then started the first two games of the 2010 season and played in seven of the Jags 10 games that year, passing for 325 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 68 yards and a touchdown. Last season, however, he played sparingly yet rushing for 105 yards and passing for just 82 yards and one touchdown. His career totals as a Jaguar stand at 865 yards passing with nine touchdowns and ran for 267 yards and three touchdowns, a total offense of 1,132 yards. He was responsible for 12 scores total.
Congratulations on your graduation Myles, you have been an excellent ambassador for the South Alabama program and remain a role model for student-athletes entering the program.
USA Softball Heading To Tuscaloosa For NCAA Regionals
The South Alabama Lady Jaguar Softball team won their first Sun Belt Conference Championship on Saturday when they defeated top seeded, and ranked #6 nationally, Louisiana-Lafayette Rajin’ Cajuns 3-1 in Boca Raton Florida. This was only ULL’s fourth loss of the season.
On Sunday evening it was announced on the national selection show aired on ESPNU that South Alabama will participate in the regionals being held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on May 18-20. The opening game of the double elimination tournament will being at 3:30pm on Friday, May 18 and will feature the Lady Jags (39-15) vs Georgia Tech (36-21) at Rhodes Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama, who is the #2 seed. Alabama will open tournament play against Tennessee-Martin (39-20) at 6pm on Friday night. South Alabama will be the #3 seed in the regional. Alabama is the #1 seed, Georgia Tech is the #2 seed and Tennessee-Martin is the #4 seed.
The winner of the Tuscaloosa regional will play the winner of the Louisville Regional which includes the teams from Louisville, Kentucky, Valparariso and Michigan, in the NCAA Super Regional.
“The biggest thing is how proud I am of our program,” said USA head softball coach Becky Clark. “There’s a lot of work that has gone into to this by a lot of different people. I think one of the biggest things is what a great job they do of representing the university. Our athletic department is about citizenship, graduation and championships and I think of a better group that represents that than our softball team.”
Go Jags!!
Go Vote For South Alabama
As posted earlier, ESPN Gameday will be filming a commercial on a fan selected campus this summer and South Alabama is in a good position to be that campus. Voting is open now and runs through May 10th so spread it to all your friends and family now. Click HERE to vote now! You will need a Facebook account to vote.
Announcement About FIU And UNT Expected Tomorrow
A series of press conferences are expected tomorrow for schools who have been invited to join Conference USA. Sun Belt schools University of North Texas and Florida International are expected to join Charlotte, Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana Tech in announcing their acceptance of an invitation to join Conference USA. Old Dominion is currently studying a possible move to Conference-USA from FCS.
The potential division split in Conference USA could look something like this:
Eastern Division: UAB, Charlotte, East Carolina, FIU, Marshall and Southern Miss
Western Division: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, Tulsa and UTEP
This leaves the Sun Belt with South Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Troy and Western Kentucky. Of those 12 schools, Texas-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock do not have football programs. It was feared that along with FIU and UNT that it was possible that Middle Tennessee and FAU could also leave for C-USA.
So the Sun Belt will continue to look for at least two more schools who have football programs in order to round out a conference membership of 12 football-sponsoring schools in order to have a championship game.
But who are they looking at? Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said on Wednesday that four to six FCS schools within the current Sun Belt geographic footprint have inquired about joining the conference. Those FCS that want to join FBS in 2013 must apply by June 1, 2012 in order to do so. However, Benson cautioned that the Sun Belt would only add schools if they thought it would improve the conference.
Two potential schools looking to move up to the FBS level would be Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. Some rumors going around the internet is that current WAC members New Mexico State and/or Idaho could join the conference. But Benson dismissed those as being “premature”. Denver University is leaving the conference this summer, much to the remaining schools delight, as travel to Denver was exhausting and costly. But adding New Mexico State and Idaho, even just for football, would be equally as detrimental.
A school that is possibly being overlooked for possible expansion is Lamar. Lamar has an enrollment of nearly 15,000 students, however their endowment according to Wikipedia is only $87 Million. But when I visited their campus in 2010 when they hosted South Alabama, it was a beautiful campus with some very nice facilities for the basketball and football programs. It would also give Texas State and in-state rival.
Texas State Joins Sun Belt Conference In 2013
The Sun Belt Conference released a press release today announcing that Texas State Univeristy will join the conference beginning July 1, 2013 and will begin conference competition for the 2013-2014 academic year.
“Texas State University has worked very hard to be ready for FBS competition and joining the Sun Belt Conference represents a new opportunity for our future,” said Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth. “The Sun Belt’s record of competitive success over more than 35 years provides a tradition of excellence that we are happy to join. Our students and alumni will bring a very strong fan base that will welcome these new opportunities. Just as Texas State is the rising star of Texas, we believe that the Sun Belt is also on the rise and we are happy to be a part of its future.”
“On behalf of the presidents and chancellors of the Sun Belt Conference, it is my honor to welcome Texas State University as the newest member of our league family,” said Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee President and Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins, Jr. “We are not the same conference we were 10 years ago. The Sun Belt is strong athletically as demonstrated by the fact that our bowl record over the last eight years is better than five other BCS conferences. We are stronger academically, as 90 percent of our teams have achieved an Academic Progress Rates of 925 or higher. Texas State is an excellent addition to our strong, growing conference.”
Texas State is located between Austin and San Antonio in San Marcos. It is home to over 34,000 students and opened in 1903. They are the only university in Texas to have graduated a US president in Lyndon B. Johnson in the class of 1930.
TSU sponsors 16 varsity programs including football, whom former University of Alabama head football coach Dennis Franchione is the current head coach. Their mascot is the Bobcat and they will play their first season at the FBS level in 2012 and will be eligible to compete for football conference championships and bowl games when they join the Sun Belt in 2013.
“Texas State is a great addition to the Sun Belt Conference as the Bobcat athletic program is destined for success in the Football Bowl Subdivision,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson. “The Sun Belt Conference’s rise to prominence will continue with Texas State as part of our league.”
“We are very excited about becoming a member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2013,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Dr. Larry Teis. “We know that our student-athletes will be eager to succeed in the Sun Belt, and we will enter the conference ready to compete. We look forward to building new rivalries with some Sun Belt schools and renewing rivalries with others. The Sun Belt Conference encompasses eight states from Texas to Florida that are rich in college athletic traditions, especially in the sport of FBS football.”
Texas State’s budget for athletics ranks in the upper half of the current Sun Belt Conference membership, and its undergraduate enrollment ranks near the top of the league’s current membership.
Welcome to the conference TSU!
Vote For South Alabama In The ESPN Gameday Vote
ESPN Gameday will be filming a commercial on a fan selected campus this summer and South Alabama is in a good position to be that campus. Voting is open now and runs through May 10th so spread it to all your friends and family now.You will need a Facebook account to vote.
Memorial Services Announced For Coach Crain
Two services over the next two days have been announced for Coach Crain.
An open memorial is set for Thursday at 4pm in the worship center in Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile. In Birmingham there will be a visitation at 3:30pm followed by a 5:30pm service of celebration at the Southern Heritage Funeral Home on Friday.
A statement was released on Wednesday by the family, “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. Thank you.”
Individuals wishing to assist the Crain family can make a donation to the “Crain Nation Fund” at any BancorpSouth Bank branch which has been established on behalf of his three surviving children.
Update: Local15 news has a video online where they interviewed Coach Joey Jones about Coach Crain’s death. You can view it here.
Remembering Coach Kurt Crain
This is one of the last photos I took of Coach Crain.
It’s easy to write about a game or recruiting. It get’s difficult to write about serious injuries. But it’s very hard to write about someone who has passed away before their time.
This article is one of those articles that are very hard to write.
Tommy Hicks of the Press-Register wrote a very good post about his memory of Coach Crain. While I didn’t know him nearly as well as Tommy, he recognized me whenever he saw me.
I guess he would see me as I watched over their practices in the spring and fall. I try to make as many functions as I can to support the team and my school. Occasionally we would get to a moment to chat so I could congratulate him on his fine work with the players. Ask him about some of the younger guys and how their grades were looking. I always like to ask about grades.
When it wasn’t game time or practice time, he would greet me with a “hey buddy” with his smile. He seemed genuinely happy to chat with anyone when he had the time.
I always liked to watch him coach the linebackers. He was loud and he knew what he wanted in order to make them what they needed to be on the field. They worked hard in practice and he would correct them when they did something wrong. But he was quick to congratulate them when they did something well.
One of my favorite memories was when South Alabama played their first road game in Dothan. Justin Dunn intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. I think the first coach to congratulate him was Coach Crain and I think he was about half way out to the numbers when they met with a slap on the helmet and barking into his ear.
That’s the Coach Crain I remember. A great man always willing to talk, everyone was a friend, knew what he wanted from his players and one of the first to give them a slap on the head and tell them how well they did.
Coach Crain, you will be missed by many.
The Crain family released a statement through the University this evening: “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. At this time no service arrangements have been finalized, but we expect that we will hold a service in Birmingham as well as a memorial service at a later time in the Mobile area. We will provide that information when it is available. Thank you.”
Auburn AD Jacobs Calls Coach Crain ‘Incredible Individual’
Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs called Coach Kurt Crain a “fierce competitor” who would be deeply missed. “The entire Auburn family is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Kurt Crain,” Jacobs said. “He loved the game of football as much as he loved Auburn. Kurt was an incredible individual who I was blessed to be friends with for over 25 years.”
Coach Crain was found dead by Spanish Fort police at his home on Tuesday. “It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson. Vinson also said the investigation into Crain’s death is continuing and that an autopsy will likely be performed Wednesday.
Last season, Crain suffered with prostatitis, an infection of the prostate, which required at least three surgeries during the season. The illness forced him to miss the Jags’ game at North Carolina State and he also missed some practices. Crain, a Birmingham native, had said he lost 32 pounds in the early stages of the disease and the treatment. Most of his prostate had been removed.
No further details on his death were immediately available, according to a USA press release.