Joseph enjoying success with MC
Published 12:00 am Friday, December 11, 2009
Mississippi College football coach Norman Joseph got to share tales from his days as a quarterback at South Vicksburg High School, as a college football recruiter at San Jose State and then bask in his Choctaws’ success this season as American Southwest Conference champions.
Joseph was back in his native Vicksburg on Thursday to speak to the Vicksburg Rotary Club.
“It was a great turnout and I was just hoping they would get a laugh at my stories,” Joseph said.
This fall, Joseph enjoyed his finest season as a college coach. In his fifth year at Mississippi College, Joseph directed the Choctaws to a 9-3 record, the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, and their first American Southwest Conference championship since 1997. He was named the ASC and Division III Region 3 Coach of the Year.
“With the season we had, by extending ourselves into the playoffs, our program is pretty well received right now. Recruiting is going really good,” Joseph said.
When Joseph took over in 2005, Mississippi College was coming off a 1-9 season and went 2-8 in his first year. The Choctaws are 27-15 since then.
“I felt a big thing was to improve our attendance. Since then, we’ve led our conference in attendance and have been ranked in the top 10 nationally. It was important for people to see our product,” Joseph said.
That will help with recruiting, too — and Joseph will need some help on that front. He’ll have to replace the ASC’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, quarterback Adam Shaffer and former Vicksburg High linebacker Quartez Ashmore.
“Its going to be hard to replace two conference MVPs. We just have to go out and find folks. We found Quartez in the junior college ranks and we’ll be hitting that trail again. You have to at our level,” Joseph said.
Before updating the Rotarians on the status of his program, Joseph and his former South Vicksburg teammate Mark Buys shared stories from his playing days.
Buys, in introducing Joseph to the group, told of a 1973 clash between North and South Vicksburg to the Rotarians.
“There were 10 guys who played in that game who went on to play at least Division I football, including Norman, who was our quarterback, kicker and punter,” Buys said.
Joseph went on to play at Mississippi State, serving as Rocky Felker’s backup. Also playing in the game were future NFL players Richard Blackmore (Philadephia Eagles) and James Jones (Dallas Cowboys).
Joseph told the story of the season opener against South Natchez.
“We played in this real old stadium and it was always hot and with a lot of mosquitos,” he said. “They beat us and after the game an old woman came up to me. It was a tough crowd back then, so I just said ‘No offense, ma’am.’ And she replied, ‘No defense, either.’”
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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com