December 27, 2007

Two months before my first college visit to Hattiesburg, Jeff Bower led the Golden Eagle football team onto the field for the first time.

The Eagles lost the All-American Bowl that day, but went on to become one of the most respected mid-major programs in America. Their willingness to play anyone, anywhere, any time became a rallying cry. Over the years the Eagles have lost more games against the big boys than they won, but they scored a bevy of upsets.

On Saturday, Bower’s ride ended with a 31-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats. The postgame press area was part surreal, part sadness and mostly quiet. Bower sat at the table talking into a bank of microphones just as he had more than 200 times in the past.

In my experience of covering Bower, he is a grump after a loss. His answers to reporters are usually curt. He is not a flashy guy with headline-stealing quotes. He has never had a huge ego.

But after this loss, there was almost a sense of relief on his face. He answered questions honestly, offering information rather than holding it back. His wife, mother and daughter stood to his left, off camera.

Bower made fun of the officials after he was reminded he couldn’t be reprimanded any more. He joked about life without coaching, a life that includes walking the dog and cleaning the pool. Bower has been out of the house for 17 years, but now his wife will have to learn a new routine, he quipped.

This was a Jeff Bower at peace with his circumstance. It had been nearly a month since he “resigned” his post in Hattiesburg.

Of the theories behind Bower’s departure are a demand for a contract that athletic director Richard Giannini, or the state for that matter, could not honor. Others say he got fired.

Only a select few know exactly what happened in that office, but my money is on Giannini deeming the program to be stale and attendance even worse. Giannini likely saw the stadium expansion and luxury boxes and wondered if fans would come out to fill it up when a team consistently wins, but does not win flashy.

Which takes us back to Legion Field. Dusk is settling in and a winter chill enters the air. Bower recalls the 1997 team that won the Liberty Bowl over Pittsburgh in the same year he buried his teenage daughter following a car crash not far from the Southern Miss campus.

On the covers of newspapers around the state the day after that win were pictures of Bower, arms wrapped around his youngest daughter in the closing seconds of the victory.

He was surrounded by family — his own and the one he built at Southern Miss.

As the press conference ended, Bower rose, hugged the same daughter he did after the 1997 Liberty Bowl win and walked away. He put the Southern Miss family behind him, and embraced a future with his other family.

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Sean P. Murphy is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. E-mail him at

smurphy@vicksburgpost.com