Culberson, Mason may have decision on Bell by today

[Dr. Tripp]

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041123/SPORTS030101/411230342/1025/SPORTS

November 23, 2004
Culberson, Mason may have decision on Bell by today

By Mark Alexander
malexander@clarionledger.com

Jackson State fans will likely learn the fate of embattled football coach James Bell today.

"I really feel like we will be ready to make an announcement sometime (today)," Jackson State athletic director Roy Culberson said Monday evening. "No later than Wednesday. We want to reach a decision as quickly as possible.

"But at the same time, we want to make sure we reach the right decision. It takes a little while to complete a thorough evaluation. This is a decision that's going to effect a lot of people's lives, not only the coaches on this coaching staff but the student-athletes, as well."

JSU is 6-17 the past two seasons under Bell, who has guided the Tigers to their first back-to-back losing seasons in more than three decades. The Tigers finished 2-10 in his first season ? the worst mark in program history ? and 4-7 this season. They finished fourth in the five-team Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division.

Each of those seasons ended with losses to rival Alcorn State. The Braves beat the Tigers 16-14 this past Saturday. JSU had beaten Alcorn eight straight prior to Bell's arrival.

JSU is 1-9 at home the past two seasons, with the lone win coming earlier this season against Mississippi Valley State. Of the Tigers' six wins under Bell, only one of those has come against a team with a winning record, at Arkansas-Pine Bluff earlier this season.

Four of JSU's losses this season came to teams currently ranked in the top 20 in The Sports Division I-AA poll: No. 11 Hampton (10-1), No. 15 Northwestern (La.) State (8-3), No. 19 Alabama State (8-1) and No. 20 Southern University (8-2). The Tigers lost to Hampton by 19, Northwestern (La.) State by 8 and were blown out by a combined score of 73-13 against Alabama State and Southern.

Bell, who has one year remaining on a guaranteed contract paying him $85,000 per year, met with Culberson twice on Monday. He also met with JSU president Ronald Mason Jr., who will make the final call, in part based on Culberson's recommendation.

Culberson declined to say what that recommendation would be.

"All I can say is no decision has been made at this point," he said.

Not only is JSU losing on the field, it's losing at the gate. Home attendance has dropped nearly in half over the past four seasons. In an interview with The Clarion-Ledger last week, Mason said he will "evaluate the whole program from grades to facilities to attendance to won-lost records."

Mason and Culberson said they like what Bell is doing off the field to improve the program. The teams' cumulative grade-point average has risen from 2.35 to 2.63, and he has raised $150,000 in private donations to renovate the football complex.

"I think we have improved (this season)," Bell said. "Have we improved in W's? No. Did we improve in athletic execution? Yes. Did we improve in enthusiasm? Yes. Did we improve in character? Yes. Did we improve in areas of understanding how to run this particular philosophy? Yes.

"It takes time. You have to get people that you need to do the things you want to do."

 

[Tigerpride]

I am not saying this because I am a James Bell fan but I think that this is a bad sign for the Bell haters. When we fired Hughes, it was done the first thing that Monday morning after his victory over Alcorn. If they were going to fire Bell for the reasons that most think he should be fired, you don't need 4-5 meetings for that. I think that Bell will be asked to make staff changes as was Hughes after his second year.

 

[SAME OLD G]

He is out.

 

[bluedog]

I am not saying this because I am a James Bell fan but I think that this is a bad sign for the Bell haters. When we fired Hughes, it was done the first thing that Monday morning after his victory over Alcorn. If they were going to fire Bell for the reasons that most think he should be fired, you don't need 4-5 meetings for that. I think that Bell will be asked to make staff changes as was Hughes after his second year.

Did Hughes get hired by his friend?

Was it Hughes friend that had to fired him?

Did Hughes turn one of the proudest college football programs in America to the laughing stock of D-IAA?

Did Hughes ruin the career of the best QB that JSU ever had in one year?

Did Hughes only win one game at home in two years?

Did Hughes lose to Uapb at homecoming?

Was Hughes team at the bottom of the barrel?

Did Hughes go 6-17 in two years?

 

[CurtDog 1971]

I am not saying this because I am a James Bell fan but I think that this is a bad sign for the Bell haters. When we fired Hughes, it was done the first thing that Monday morning after his victory over Alcorn. If they were going to fire Bell for the reasons that most think he should be fired, you don't need 4-5 meetings for that. I think that Bell will be asked to make staff changes as was Hughes after his second year.

After the fiasco of the Alcorn game you are still a Bell fan? Unbelievable!!!!!! :what: :what: :what: :what: :what: :what:

 

[JSU Chad]

Did Hughes get hired by his friend?

Was it Hughes friend that had to fired him?

Did Hughes turn one of the proudest college football programs in America to the laughing stock of D-IAA?

Did Hughes ruin the career of the best QB that JSU ever had in one year?

Did Hughes only win one game at home in two years?

Did Hughes lose to Uapb at homecoming?

Was Hughes team at the bottom of the barrel?

Did Hughes go 6-17 in two years?

That would be TP's buddy James Bell!

 

[Panther88]

Mason and Culberson said they like what Bell is doing off the field to improve the program. The teams' cumulative grade-point average has risen from 2.35 to 2.63, and he has raised $150,000 in private donations to renovate the football complex.

"I think we have improved (this season)," Bell said. "Have we improved in W's? No. Did we improve in athletic execution? Yes. Did we improve in enthusiasm? Yes. Did we improve in character? Yes. Did we improve in areas of understanding how to run this particular philosophy? Yes.

"It takes time. You have to get people that you need to do the things you want to do."

He's not going anywhere (hopefully). Bell didn't "ruin" anything. How can you "ruin" something that's already ruint, so to speak? lol

 

[mighty hornet]

After the fiasco of the Alcorn game you are still a Bell fan? Unbelievable!!!!!! :what: :what: :what: :what: :what: :what:

After the last 2 years of Bell, it's quite obvious that it's nothing he can do to turn TP against him. Running clocks, not crossing the 50, no home wins, losing homecoming, losing to Alcorn, 4th place finishes in the East----none of that matters to TP.

btw Panthro,
I must have missed it, but what gives with you being a Bell fan now?

 

[Tigerpride]

Did Hughes get hired by his friend?

Was it Hughes friend that had to fired him?

Did Hughes turn one of the proudest college football programs in America to the laughing stock of D-IAA?

Did Hughes ruin the career of the best QB that JSU ever had in one year?

Did Hughes only win one game at home in two years?

Did Hughes lose to Uapb at homecoming?

Was Hughes team at the bottom of the barrel?

Did Hughes go 6-17 in two years?

As usual, I don't know where you are going with your comment but the things you posted back up my statement. With all of those negatives, why does Bell need 4-5 meetings to determine his fate. Culberson knew most of that last week. Bell might be gone but I was honestly expecting him to be fired yesteday or not at all.

 

[Blackbear]

As usual, I don't know where you are going with your comment but the things you posted back up my statement. With all of those negatives, why does Bell need 4-5 meetings to determine his fate. Culberson knew most of that last week. Bell might be gone but I was honestly expecting him to be fired yesteday or not at all.

Maybe its taking Culbertson 4-5 meetings to convince Mason to keep his "friend" and....maybe....fight for his own job.

:winkgrin:

 

[Panther88]

After the last 2 years of Bell, it's quite obvious that it's nothing he can do to turn TP against him. Running clocks, not crossing the 50, no home wins, losing homecoming, losing to Alcorn, 4th place finishes in the East----none of that matters to TP.

btw Panthro,
I must have missed it, but what gives with you being a Bell fan now?

Wellllllllll sir... Considering the obstacle of trying to undo what years of neglect had done (even amidst all of those winning years), he and Culberson attempted to right a ship that was headed in a bad direction. Don't let the records over the 90s fool ya'. JState ball is <b>nowhere</b> where it once was and it has nothing to do w/ the HC'ing position. Even the <b>profitability</b> of the program. I'm not a JSU alum so it's not my place to elaborate. I'm not going on hearsay but what I was told directly mano et mano.

It's also my understand that <b>you get what you pay for</b> in the HC'ing position. Bell did alright considering. True, that was horrific play calling that we bore witness too last Sat as well as previously. But, I did/do <b>agree</b> w/ his smash mouth football approach (win the game in the trenches) except that he never adjusted. Was just hell bent on trying to run it down some teams throats. Look @ JSU's schedule from this past fall. Played 4 top 25 I-AA teams and did well against them w/ the exception of a couple of blowouts. As for everybody else? Well...

JSU is in a rebuilding phase and I don't think that everyone understands that it didn't take overnight to cause this and it certainly won't be overnight for a complete fix.

 

[Tigerpride]

Wellllllllll sir... Considering the obstacle of trying to undo what years of neglect had done (even amidst all of those winning years), he and Culberson attempted to right a ship that was headed in a bad direction. Don't let the records over the 90s fool ya'. JState ball is <b>nowhere</b> where it once was and it has nothing to do w/ the HC'ing position. Even the <b>profitability</b> of the program. I'm not a JSU alum so it's not my place to elaborate. I'm not going on hearsay but what I was told directly mano et mano.

It's also my understand that <b>you get what you pay for</b> in the HC'ing position. Bell did alright considering. True, that was horrific play calling that we bore witness too last Sat as well as previously. But, I did/do <b>agree</b> w/ his smash mouth football approach (win the game in the trenches) except that he never adjusted. Was just hell bent on trying to run it down some teams throats. Look @ JSU's schedule from this past fall. Played 4 top 25 I-AA teams and did well against them w/ the exception of a couple of blowouts. As for everybody else? Well...

JSU is in a rebuilding phase and I don't think that everyone understands that it didn't take overnight to cause this and it certainly won't be overnight for a complete fix.

Panthro, you better hush before they call you stupid. They were fooled by the wins we got when Hughes was playing 7 teams a year with losing records or on losing skids. Why else would we fire a "winning" coach if those records were not inflated. Hughes may have won more games than Bell in these past two years if he was still HC but he was not going to win a championship becasue he could never beat a good team. Bell is not where I thought he would be so if he gets fired, it might be well deserved. Some people don't understand the harm Hughes did to the overall structure of the program. I did not think it would be this difficult to turn around though. After evaluating the entire season, we should have been 7-4. The fact that we were not might decide Bell's fate. We were only expecting to be a slightly above average team this year. We did not get there because we lost to three below average/average teams.

 

[mighty hornet]

Bell did alright considering. True, that was horrific play calling that we bore witness too last Sat as well as previously. But, I did/do <b>agree</b> w/ his smash mouth football approach (win the game in the trenches) except that he never adjusted. Was just hell bent on trying to run it down some teams throats. Look @ JSU's schedule from this past fall. Played 4 top 25 I-AA teams and did well against them w/ the exception of a couple of blowouts. As for everybody else? Well...

ummm Panthro,
Last Saturday wasn't the first time that Bell completely lost it on game day. From reading reports, it wasn't the 2nd time, wasn't the 3rd time, it's been happening over and over and over. (not to mention how he's a PR nightmare with his smug, know-it-all attitude, telling the fans to go to L, blaming loss after loss on the players. Just a whole laundry list of things point to that guy not being a good HC)
(and I can vouch for the 2 times that ASU has played against Bell. I can honestly say that Bell was a damn disaster---that awful clock mgmt and playcalling in Jackson, followed up by that awful playcalling and disorganization in Mobile)
None of that has ANYTHING to do with Hughes. NONE of it!!!!!!!!

For goodness sake, this man asked for, or at the least, allowed, a damn running clock in a game against a conference team.
:smh:

 

[Panther88]

LOL. See MH you smacking and I'm trying to be serious.

I only bore witness to this past falls' game vs PV and what I saw on the other side impressed me (again, considering the past). The VERY first thing that I saw and felt was discipline. Next was order. Another thing that I noted was the lack of size that JState ALWAYS had. When I look @ miss st and ESPECIALLY univ of sou miss, THOSE defensive/offensive teams remind me of the old JState of yesteryear. Aggressive/fly-to-the-ball defense coupled w/ an above avg O that got the job done. JState won in the 90s (especially the middle to latter part) based on talent alone. Those were very undisciplined teams. That's why they couldn't get over that Southern hump for a little while before losing recently. Very well coached Southern teams mind you.

As far as clock mgmt goes? lol Well.... One can make a case for and against on behalf of Mr. Bell.

My .02.

 

[mighty hornet]

LOL. See MH you smacking and I'm trying to be serious.

Nope, I was being serious too.

That's why I posted about what happened during JSU's games vs ASU the last 2 years. Cause I saw it with my own eyes.

I would bet that nobody from JSU who was at those 2 games would dispute what I posted about those games.


but hey, if yall think Bell is a good coach, more power to ya!

 

[CEE DOG]

If JSU has this supposedly great rich history, it wouldn't matter who the Coach is Hughes or Bell. Kids would come play for you just because of the name. Maybe your program was never what you thought it is. You can't kill what was never there. Wake up; no HBCU gets the players they got before the 90's. Most of our own alumni send their kids to PWC's before they would a HBCU. Sad but it?s the truth.

 

[SLT]

 

[JSU/99]

I am not saying this because I am a James Bell fan but I think that this is a bad sign for the Bell haters. When we fired Hughes, it was done the first thing that Monday morning after his victory over Alcorn. If they were going to fire Bell for the reasons that most think he should be fired, you don't need 4-5 meetings for that. I think that Bell will be asked to make staff changes as was Hughes after his second year.

This is a totally different situation. The decision to fire Hughes was a no-brainer for several reasons. One, he almost went out of his way taunting the admin to fire him. Two, his contract was up, meaning it didn't coast us anything to fire him. Finally, Mason and Culberson wasn't impressed with the shape of the program(academically and athletically) and was ready for a new direction. This time there is a real conflict, which means they will take more time to reach a decision.

Personally, I say let Bell go or re-assign him elsewhere. Yes I agree with Panthro and TP in that he has done a lot of good off the field. Also, he has partially rebuilt a foundation that was crumbling under Hughes(and under Casron to a lessor extent). But, he still has to win games in the meantime. I might've accepted a 5-6 record this year, but his flaws are of the type that I'm not so sure would be cured over time. He can recruit and develop players well, but his overall game management is so suspect that i'm not so sure he'll ever have complete confidence of the players. Right now we need to find a coach who does the job off the field as well as during the game.

 

[SLT]

Just got here themselves and want to give an opinion.

 

[SLT]

:whatever:

 

[CEE DOG]

Just got here themselves and want to give an opinion.

That was not the point I was making smarty-pants. :argue: TP always degrades every one else program, so I was basically telling him to look in the mirror. Once again the truth hurts.

 

[Nonchalant]

If JSU has this supposedly great rich history, it wouldn't matter who the Coach is Hughes or Bell. Kids would come play for you just because of the name. Maybe your program was never what you thought it is. You can't kill what was never there. Wake up; no HBCU gets the players they got before the 90's. Most of our own alumni send their kids to PWC's before they would a HBCU. Sad but it?s the truth.

Dude, you really sound ignorant as hell. Every GREAT football program has had a slide from time to time. Grambling, Jackson State, FAMU, Florida State, Miami, Penn State, Nortre Dame...the list goes on and on. Talented high school athletes don't want to come and play under someone who can't coach. I'll admit that HBCUs are not getting the type of athletes that we used to have but don't make it seem as if it's a Jackson State problem.

Can you name me any other school in this conference that has been AS consistently GREAT as Jackson State other than Grambling over the past 30 years? Seriously, yo...name me one! Some of you all's jealousy and hatred for our dynasty is :sick: .

...Carry On..

 

[CEE DOG]

Boy you are wet behind the ears. I been following BCF longer than you been living. Go play son.

Dude, you really sound ignorant as hell. Every GREAT football program has had a slide from time to time. Grambling, Jackson State, FAMU, Florida State, Miami, Penn State, Nortre Dame...the list goes on and on. Talented high school athletes don't want to come and play under someone who can't coach. I'll admit that HBCUs are not getting the type of athletes that we used to have but don't make it seem as if it's a Jackson State problem.

Can you name me any other school in this conference that has been AS consistently GREAT as Jackson State other than Grambling over the past 30 years? Seriouse, yo...name me one! Some of you all's jealousy and hatred for our dynasty is :sick: .

...Carry On..

 

[SLT]

That was not the point I was making smarty-pants. :argue: TP always degrades every one else program, so I was basically telling him to look in the mirror. Once again the truth hurts.

Thanks for the compliment. :tup:

Anyhoo....our so called rich tradition as you put it has nothing to do with what is going on now. As Nonchalant has put it so elegantly, can you name another school other that Gram that has had as much success in the SWAC as JSU?

 

[Nonchalant]

Boy you are wet behind the ears. I been following BCF longer than you been living. Go play son.

Well, since you've been following it longer than I have, would you mind answering my question and removing the veil from my eyes? :tup:

...Carry On..