Bell's seat already warming
By Mike Christensen
mchristensen@clarionledger.com
If there is a bright side today for Jackson State, it would be this: It can't get any worse. Can it?
The Tigers finished their most awful season ever with an awful loss at home to their archrival.
Alcorn State's 49-25 victory Saturday before 45,000 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium dropped the Tigers to 2-10.
They finished 2-5 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They lost their last seven games. Alcorn hadn't beaten the Tigers in nine years, not since Steve McNair's senior season.
Mercifully, this nightmare is over for first-year Tigers coach James Bell.
Or is it just beginning?
There is no grace period for coaches anymore. Fans and administrators want to win and they want to win now.
Bell, who took over a program that had posted nine straight winning seasons, has been on a hot seat almost from the start.
The howling of the wolves, including some in the media, was at a fever pitch by the time the Tigers hit 0-3 and has abated little in the weeks since.
"It's not what I expected,'' Bell said of this season. "It's less than I expected. There are some things that you can't control, and you try to adapt.
"I work on the things I can control.''
Maybe there is lesson in what has transpired at Alcorn over the past four years.
Johnny Thomas' third team on the Reservation went 0-11. His record at that point was 8-24. Fans and media called for his head.
But Alcorn's administration stayed the course, and Thomas has now posted three straight winning seasons.
"I never did have a monkey on my back,'' Thomas said. "When you're rebuilding a program, there are growing pains.
"It's not original to me. It's something everybody goes through. You have to bring in people who can get the job done according to your philosophy.''
Judging by Saturday's game, Bell has much work to do in that area. The Tigers were bad in just about every phase.
Robert Kent, the school's career passing leader, went out with a whimper. He was 17-for-39 for 194 yards with three interceptions, though to be fair, he was hounded virtually every time he tried to throw.
The running game that Bell has tried so hard to establish managed 117 net yards, 44 of that coming from Kent's scrambles.
Granted the Tigers' defense has been weakened by injuries. But Alcorn thoroughly embarrassed them with an imaginative attack spawned by ex-JSU quarterback John McKenzie, the Braves' offensive coordinator.
The Braves used reverses and flea-flickers but also plain, old-fashioned, up-the-gut running plays. They ran for 366 yards, passed for 259.
"We pretty much did what we wanted on offense,'' Thomas said.
But Thomas wasn't gloating. He said he and Bell are on friendly terms and he empathizes with what the JSU coach is experiencing.
Bell loses Kent and receiver Tim Manning, both pro prospects, among others.
Bell's first recruiting effort yielded just eight players, only two of whom played this fall. He'll certainly need a more significant haul in February.
In the crypt-like JSU interview room beneath the massive stadium Saturday, Bell promised better things next year: "We'll be bigger, stronger, faster."
That's all well and good, but it had better translate to more wins on the field. JSU's administration may not have the patience Alcorn's showed with Thomas.
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/23/tmike.html
:bawling: :eek2: :bawling: :bawling:
