(11-27-2018 02:04 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:40 PM)TTT Wrote:  Pirates’ AD search zeroing in on Southern Miss’ Jon Gilbert
https://nsjonline.com/article/2018/11/pi...n-gilbert/

This would be great news for USM fans. Many feel he really hasn't done jack since he took the job a few years ago. Gave Hopson an extension prior to this season after doing absolutely nothing. Gilbert has been wayyyy too patient with Doc Sadler who just lost AGAIN to NAIA William Carey in basketball. Many USM fans are crossing fingers that he leaves.

This is pretty odd. Why are they hiring him? What good attributes did they see?

Breathing and maybe wants the job.

Our entire administration is a dumpster fire right now.

I think Gilbert would be a better fit at ECU than Southern Miss. He appears to be a CPA type and is very good at analysis as well as dotting i's and crossing t's.

He is not a fundraiser or marketer and those are the 2 biggest needs at Southern Miss right now. I assume that ECU is in a much better place financially than Southern Miss is, and Gilbert would be a good AD at a place for he is more of a money manager than money seeker.

(11-27-2018 01:49 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  ECU fan here, I wanted to wait until it was official before asking but since a thread has already started I wanted to see what USM fans think of Gilbert? It appears from the OP he wasn't thought highly of which is concerning. I know in ways ECU and USM are similar institutions so my hope was it would be a smooth transition. Also rumors float that it might be a "package deal" so to speak with Butch Jones as coach.

Anyways curious to hear thoughts such as strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks!

Have always had great respect for ECU. I enjoyed many a USM/ECU game since the 70's. That said, all I will say is thank you. Gilbert has been a total bust at USM. His strength is working at a school like Tennessee with unlimited resources. He hasn't done jack for our program. Plus, thank goodness I won't have to listen to him at one of our baseball games when he sits in with announcing crew. He is nice man, but USM sports doesn't need a nice man. We need an innovative man who sees outside the box and can put a plan in place to rebuild USM athletics.

(11-27-2018 04:34 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 03:10 PM)GCEagle Wrote:  Some of you have ridiculous expectations

like beating William Carey?

Well, the 4 other individuals on the court with Mr. William Carey probably also factored in the outcome. :)

(11-27-2018 07:43 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 04:34 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 03:10 PM)GCEagle Wrote:  Some of you have ridiculous expectations

like beating William Carey?

Well, the 4 other individuals on the court with Mr. William Carey probably also factored in the outcome. :)

Actually, I think William beat them single handidly.

BTW, we've got an AD we don't need if anyone's interested.

Gilbert is out to lunch.
This is good news.

Maybe this will encourage an ECU/Southern Miss football game to be added to the schedule in the future?

If he was so bad why didn't ya'll fire him? I know he made a questionable decision when he extended the women's bball coach, but it's women's bball so...who cares really? There wasn't any cause to fire any of the major sports coaches.

Was it a disconnect between he and the fanbase? Was he just a pretentious prick or something? Some have asserted that he is lacking in fundraising skills. That's concerning because despite having more than twice the budget than USM, ECU needs to raise a lot more money to compete in the AAC. Hopefully, the new tv contract will help in that regard but we need all the help we can get at this point.

Personally, I think that he is set up for success simply due to the current state of the program and the totality of the circumstances. Our fanbase is so beat down due to past leadership incompetence that we are ready to come together and support someone new. He has ties to our former AD (the one from our glory days) so ECU fans will give Gilbert the benefit of the doubt here. I think ECU fans that stopped giving due to frustration are ready for a reason to start donating again and new leadership in conjunction with a new head coach will be the galvanizing factors. We are finishing a $60+ million stadium renovation project and we need to sell tickets.

We didn’t need to fire him because you were so kind to hire him away from us. Thanks again!...and good luck...

(11-28-2018 10:23 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  We didn’t need to fire him because you were so kind to hire him away from us. Thanks again!...and good luck...

Glad to be of assistance ole pal!

(11-28-2018 10:16 AM)B easy Wrote:  If he was so bad why didn't ya'll fire him? I know he made a questionable decision when he extended the women's bball coach, but it's women's bball so...who cares really? There wasn't any cause to fire any of the major sports coaches.

Was it a disconnect between he and the fanbase? Was he just a pretentious prick or something? Some have asserted that he is lacking in fundraising skills. That's concerning because despite having more than twice the budget than USM, ECU needs to raise a lot more money to compete in the AAC. Hopefully, the new tv contract will help in that regard but we need all the help we can get at this point.

Personally, I think that he is set up for success simply due to the current state of the program and the totality of the circumstances. Our fanbase is so beat down due to past leadership incompetence that we are ready to come together and support someone new. He has ties to our former AD (the one from our glory days) so ECU fans will give Gilbert the benefit of the doubt here. I think ECU fans that stopped giving due to frustration are ready for a reason to start donating again and new leadership in conjunction with a new head coach will be the galvanizing factors. We are finishing a $60+ million stadium renovation project and we need to sell tickets.

He extended both the Mens B-ball coach (the one that just lost to the crosstown NAIA team for the 2nd time in 4 years) and the football coach as well.

Gilbert has not been good at all at firing up the Southern Miss base, communicating with fans, generating interest, improving attendance, or any type of fundraising.

His strengths are behind the scenes, and Southern Miss is in dire need of a strong vocal leader who has expertise in fundraising and creating excitement.

I hope he has learned from his mistakes in H'burg and will be a better fit and bigger hit in Greenville.

(11-28-2018 10:16 AM)B easy Wrote:  If he was so bad why didn't ya'll fire him? I know he made a questionable decision when he extended the women's bball coach, but it's women's bball so...who cares really? There wasn't any cause to fire any of the major sports coaches.

Was it a disconnect between he and the fanbase? Was he just a pretentious prick or something? Some have asserted that he is lacking in fundraising skills. That's concerning because despite having more than twice the budget than USM, ECU needs to raise a lot more money to compete in the AAC. Hopefully, the new tv contract will help in that regard but we need all the help we can get at this point.

Personally, I think that he is set up for success simply due to the current state of the program and the totality of the circumstances. Our fanbase is so beat down due to past leadership incompetence that we are ready to come together and support someone new. He has ties to our former AD (the one from our glory days) so ECU fans will give Gilbert the benefit of the doubt here. I think ECU fans that stopped giving due to frustration are ready for a reason to start donating again and new leadership in conjunction with a new head coach will be the galvanizing factors. We are finishing a $60+ million stadium renovation project and we need to sell tickets.

ADs are kind of like HCs, they get a couple year grace period before they would ever get fired. Gilbert is still operating in that grace period.

If ECU does a lot of discounted FB tickets, then you guys will likely see your attendance drop, not go up. Gilbert will stop discounting tickets. Maybe that will be offset by a new HC and excitement around that hire.

Gilbert would have been at USM 2 years in Jan 2019. The only 'accomplishment' I see he made was a building for our volleyball team, which could be argued poor spending of what little cash we have. Most of his decisions have been viewed as poorly made by our fan base. Maybe he'll do a great job at ECU, but I don't see anything from his track record that would indicate so. It just seems he happened to 'know somebody' and that appears to have gotten him the job.

I do wish ECU the best and hopefully Gilbert works out really well for you guys.

Certainly appreciate the feedback given. I did see he hired the first full time nutritionist in C-USA which is big to me because ECU needs a training table so my hope is that he would be an advocate of one. The other thing I hope he is good at is scheduling, it looks like he scheduled a few series for you guys so my hope is he can get some good games lined up for us.

Whoever we get for AD needs to figure out WTF we're gonna do w/ the basketball program and RGC. What's the easiest path to renovation? Fundraising? Selling the rights to the city or Coca-Cola or someone? We need to start having events/concerts there. It's just sitting there rotting away with an incompetent coaching staff.

It's a damn shame that when we built the payne center we didn't just incorporate it in/around RGC and renovate the whole damn thing.

Not a done deal apparently?

https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/stor...um=twitter

(11-28-2018 12:39 PM)B easy Wrote:  Not a done deal apparently?

https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/stor...um=twitter

Judy is sneaking in now for sure!

(11-28-2018 11:45 AM)TTT Wrote:  Whoever we get for AD needs to figure out WTF we're gonna do w/ the basketball program and RGC. What's the easiest path to renovation? Fundraising? Selling the rights to the city or Coca-Cola or someone? We need to start having events/concerts there. It's just sitting there rotting away with an incompetent coaching staff.

It's a damn shame that when we built the payne center we didn't just incorporate it in/around RGC and renovate the whole damn thing.

It's against state law to give naming rights to government buildings, that includes stadiums and arenas unfortunately. It's probably to stop the travesty of PornHub Pavilion.


But yes, something has to be done.



To the ECU fans, it's not that he's a bad guy, it's just that he hasn't really done anything. He's not a vocal leader in a time when we desperately need one. He's never even given a real vision for our athletic program, just constantly asked what the fans' visions were. Just felt like when you talked to him, it was falling on deaf ears. That may be all him, or it may be his inability to get things done due to other circumstances outside his control, but nothing happened at all in a time where we need things to happen.

(11-28-2018 12:56 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  

(11-28-2018 11:45 AM)TTT Wrote:  Whoever we get for AD needs to figure out WTF we're gonna do w/ the basketball program and RGC. What's the easiest path to renovation? Fundraising? Selling the rights to the city or Coca-Cola or someone? We need to start having events/concerts there. It's just sitting there rotting away with an incompetent coaching staff.

It's a damn shame that when we built the payne center we didn't just incorporate it in/around RGC and renovate the whole damn thing.

It's against state law to give naming rights to government buildings, that includes stadiums and arenas unfortunately. It's probably to stop the travesty of PornHub Pavilion.


But yes, something has to be done.



To the ECU fans, it's not that he's a bad guy, it's just that he hasn't really done anything. He's not a vocal leader in a time when we desperately need one. He's never even given a real vision for our athletic program, just constantly asked what the fans' visions were. Just felt like when you talked to him, it was falling on deaf ears. That may be all him, or it may be his inability to get things done due to other circumstances outside his control, but nothing happened at all in a time where we need things to happen.

Can't we just sell the building all together with the caviet that basketball/graduation is allowed?