"I have known Jon throughout his time at Alabama and Tennessee, and he brings the right kind of vision and leadership that will serve Southern Miss well. See what is being said about Jon Gilbert being named Director of Athletics for the University of Southern Mississippi. For Southern Miss, one potential stumbling block in switching leagues has been the exit fee, long reported to be $5 million. . Also visiting on the show this week are head men's basketball coach Jay Ladner and Brad Smith the athletic . If youre not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and include our website, You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor. Mitchell helped finalize the Universitys first comprehensive apparel deal with Nike valued at more than $2.5 million and helped administer plans for $58 million in facility projects to include a new soccer facility, softball stadium, aquatics center, and upgrades to basketball locker rooms and a basketball court re-design. Southern Miss Athletic Foundation / Eagle Club. Mitchell is a 2001 graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, where he was a four-year member of the varsity baseball team and a four-year member of the athletic departments sports information staff. Under Gilbert's leadership, Tennessee student-athletes averaged over a 3.0 grade point average, and all programs exceeded the NCAA Academic Progress Rate standard. * What We Are Asking of You Gilbert has demonstrated an ability to develop and implement creative ideas; for example, he was instrumental in negotiations for the university to host a football game at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2016. million, including cash and endowments as well as the development of the Circle of Welcome to the Sun Belt," said Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill to Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain and president Dr. Rodney Bennett. Mitchell spent five years at USM after being hired in August 2018 . Experienced Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing And Promotions with a demonstrated history of working in college athletics. . To be sure, TV revenue wont be that much higher in the Sun Belt than it was in CUSA, but TV exposure will be much more broad. A shoulder injury cut short his professional career. Prior to taking the job at Troy, McClain served as USMs deputy director of athletics for three years and was the AD at Delta State for the five years previous to that. detail_page_enabled: true, in February of 2005. HATTIESBURG, Miss. To The Top! University of Southern Mississippi Director of Athletics Richard Giannini announced Mitchell also has assisted in the planning and development of $7.5 million in facility upgrades at Southern Miss including a new 18,000 square foot student-athlete academic center, a new synthetic turf baseball field and state-of-the-art LED lighting system, a new basketball court re-design and state-of-the art LED lighting system, and enhancements to the baseball locker room, the M-Club lounge and kitchen, and the athletics administration building. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). McClain's new four-year deal will keep him under contract until April 30, 2026. During Mitchells tenure at Southern Miss, baseball has advanced to three NCAA regional appearances (19, 21, 22) and one super regional appearance (22) while mens basketball played in the CBI post-season tournament in 2019 and football participated in the Armed Forces Bowl following the 2019 season and won the 2022 LendingTree Bowl. University of Southern Mississippi Director of Athletics Richard Giannini announced his retirement on today, effective in early January and will remain with the program through the coaching search process. While at Ole Miss, Mitchell served as a graduate assistant in the external relations unit and worked with the Ole Miss football and mens basketball programs. During his tenure as athletics director, Dale engineered the school's membership in the Metro Conference. MCEC founder Nancy New, a Southern Miss alum and former athletic foundation board member, has since pleaded guilty to fraud. General nine grandchildren. When Memphis, Houston, Tulane and others left, CUSA went after other large-market schools in belief they would give the league more TV appeal. He briefly attended Mississippi State as a student before transferring to UAB. McGillis, in his fourth year as Golden Eagle athletic director, points toward the beginning of the 2016 calendar year as the genesis for the widespread success Southern Miss is enjoying. friendship and financial support to help change the face of Southern Miss athletics. This. General Giannini and his wife, Gayle, are parents of four daughtersAnsley Stone, Brittney Advertisement. place when I left than when I arrived.. Checks should be made to the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation; Box 15458; Hattiesburg, MS 39494. Please reload the page and try again. I am most grateful to our donors for their : Why Southern Miss baseball will and won't make a deep NCAA Tournament run in 2023. McClain should see a bump in pay back at Southern Miss where Gilbert just recently had a $350,000 base salary compared to McClain's $210,000 at Troy. He invests in the people around him and it shows with how highly people think of him in our building. Field at Roberts Stadium, a new press box and suites as well as an expansion at Pete There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. With a 24-65 record at the time, Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeremy McLain went to bat for Ladner. Our foundation of success is rooted in the mindset of strength, stability, consistency, and toughness. Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. * Elite Student-Athlete Experience After a couple of years in private business, he returned to coaching at Tulane. MCEC founder Nancy New, a Southern Miss alum and former athletic foundation board member, has since pleaded guilty to fraud. Holly Warlick University of Tennessee Women's Basketball Head Coach "Jon Gilbert will be a great leader for Southern Miss and they are very fortunate to add someone of his caliber. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. . Home. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. A memorial service will be held at noon ET, Thursday, Oct. 3 in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian . an ability to build additional links to all areas of campus and focus on We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Make no mistake, Southern Miss has made the correct and probably long overdue decision to exit Conference USA and enter the Sun Belt Conference. The move won't take place until July 1, 2023 . He was the director of athletics for Troy, a . Golden Eagle Basketball Hotline Continues Monday, Feb. 6 at Walk-On's, Southern Miss Athletics Honors Kinlock Bell, Golden Eagle Basketball Hotline Continues Monday, Jan. 23 at Walk-On's, Golden Eagle Basketball Hotline Returns Monday at Walk-On's, Golden Eagle Basketball Hotline Continues on Monday, Dec. 19, Video Platform powered by CBS Sports Digital. News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. Giannini worked in that role for 13 years and Alford is the current athletic director for Florida State University, a position he has held since 2021. 266-6829. Categories: Announcements athletics Community Faculty and Staff Gulf Coast, 118 College DriveHattiesburg, MS 39406-0001, 730 East Beach BoulevardLong Beach, MS 39560. offices, dressing and meeting rooms. Fentanyl Awareness Presentation set for March 8 on Hattiesburg Campus, USM Students Named in Prestigious Graphic Design Magazine's Students to Watch List, Women's History Month Events at USM Begin March 2. Both Louisiana-Lafayette and Coastal finished in the top 15 of the Associated Presss final 2020 Top 25 poll. discovery: { With a 24-65 record at the time, Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeremy McLain went to bat for Ladner. which had a makeover which included an expansion to the men's and women's basketball In return, the Sun Belt provides a much more comfortable and sensible home for Southern Miss. Listen to Wright Waters, who has a history with both Southern Miss and with the Sun Belt. }, Florida in 1966. Also visiting on the show this week are head men's . "I am extremely humbled and honored with the opportunity to be the Director of Athletics at Southern Miss, and I want to thank President Bennett for the confidence he has in me to lead the athletic department," Gilbert said. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services. Coastal Carolina baseball, which won the 2016 College World Series, finished last in its own division last season. We understand there is plenty of work to be done, but myself and our staff are going to work tirelessly to take Southern Miss to new heights." McClain's new four-year deal will keep him under contract until April 30, 2026. Dale began his coaching career with stops at Jones Junior College and Greenwood High School. Jeremy McClain, the Southern Miss athletic director, believes the annual travel expenses for all athletic programs will be reduced between $500,000 and a million dollars. "Southern Miss has lost a legend as Roland Dale was an exceptional man, coach, and athletic director," said Southern Miss Interim Athletics Director Jeff Hammond. That might sound like chump change to Southeastern Conference fans, but it is a huge deal to athletic programs that don't collect millions upon millions of dollars from . He . Jeremy McClain is a Southern Miss guy who shares the values and ambitions of the University of Southern Mississippi., Your email address will not be published. This week on Inside Southern Miss Athletics, John Cox, the Voice of the Golden Eagles, visits with Athletic Director Jeremy McClain and talks about the busy spring season and the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Basketball tournament. When Jeremy McClain took over as the school's eighth Director of Athletics, he knew that he would have to roll up his sleeves and get to work. The success enjoyed during those Metro Conference days was one of the key factors in Southern Miss' membership today in Conference USA. Dale served in this position for two seasons and the school posted a record of 16-3-1 while earning an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl. He had two sports reach the College World Series, including the baseball team that Their son, Carson, is 9 and enjoys playing baseball and basketball. Basketball? A cheat sheet, he called it. }. Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain, left, presents a No. She served as the second head coach in that program's history. He served as assistant sports information director at Florida (his alma mater) from For questions, please contact Dr. Leslie Oglesby, LAT, ATC at 601-266-5495 or at Leslie.Oglesby@usm.edu. The University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation is one of 10 parties the Mississippi Department of Human Services is seeking to sue in an expanding lawsuit that it hopes will recoup millions of dollars of welfare funds lost in the largest public fraud in state history.. Southern Miss is linked to the alleged fraud scheme through one of its most notable alums, former Golden Eagles . Shortly after, athletic director Jerry Spell from a small Catholic school in Bay St. Louis . Mitchell is a respected veteran administrator who . Coach Sadler was formally introduced at a press conference today, May 1 at the Trent Lott Center on the Hattiesburg campus. 3) That all the tools we need to be successful already exist within the Southern Miss family Phone. Southern Miss deputy athletics director Jeff Mitchell is expected to be named Ball State's athletics director, according to ESPN. Mitchell negotiated multi-million dollar deals with The Aspire Group to grow the departments ticketing and revenue generation efforts and with Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment to develop a comprehensive corporate sponsorship and multi-media rights program valued at $5 million. Again, a game against, say, Louisiana-Lafayette or South Alabama is far more interesting for Southern Miss fans than, say, a game against UTEP or FIU. The We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. I recently had the fortunate opportunity to visit and speak with him and his son. Since the announcement of his hiring on April 8, 2019, McClain has done just that. Prior to his experience at Tennessee, Gilbert worked for nearly 17 years at the University of Alabama, serving in multiple roles, including Associate Athletics Director from 2009 to 2011. 266-5017. text: "Promote your event", assistant athletics director at Duke in 1974. Thu, Required fields are marked *, function evvntDiscoveryInit() { "I may be the luckiest athletic director in America today to have Joe return to the . Some stability is badly needed. The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. Butch Jones University of Tennessee Football Head Coach "Jon Gilbert is an absolutely great hire for Southern Miss and their athletics department. HATTIESBURG, Miss. "I would also like to thank the athletic director interview committee for their time and effort throughout the process." Conference USA has become a jet league. I have been fortunate to work with Jon over the past four years and really appreciate everything he has done for the football program. The Golden Eagle athletics director was a track athlete, competing Four years ago I turned 65 the same year I hired Larry Fedora and the same year through the coaching search process. Phone. He has a vision of how he wants to run a department with his top priority always being what's best for the student-athlete. New was well connected with numerous Mississippi officials, including Davis and then-Governor Bryant, and close friends with . That is, sell more tickets. Entering the 2022-23 academic calendar, Jeff Mitchell begins his fifth year at Southern Miss. His role included leadership duties across the department from strategic planning and management, to external operations, academic affairs, and more. Southern Miss Athletics Southern Miss Athletics Athletic Center - (601) 266-5017 [Name of Person or Department] [Name of Person or Department] Media Relations - (601) 266-4503: 118 College Drive #5017 2609 West 4th Street: Ticket Office - (601) 266-5418 or 1-800-844-TICK: Hattiesburg, Miss. He was also director of licensing for the NCAA. The Sun Belt Conference announced the addition of Southern Miss on Tuesday. Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeremy McClain was enjoying his one week of vacation when news broke of Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 Conference and joining the Southeastern Conference. serve on several Conference USA committees and currently is the chairman of the Football A win of the championship would give []. Title. He then went to Ole Miss in 1960 as an assistant under the legendary Coach John Vaught, where he remained for 12 seasons, leaving to be head football coach at Southeastern Louisiana in 1972. You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection. * Where We Have Been Fentanyl Awareness Presentation set for March 8 on Hattiesburg Campus, USM Students Named in Prestigious Graphic Design Magazine's Students to Watch List, Women's History Month Events at USM Begin March 2. The #ToTheTop25 Strategic Plan can be viewed by clicking here. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill, USM President Dr. Rodney Bennett and Southern Miss Athletics Director Jeremy McClain were present for the announcement. He was 81. We believe that it will be in the neighborhood of $3 million, McClain said. Paul will work closely with Southern Miss Athletic Director Bill McGillis, Senior Associate Athletic Director Brian Morrison and the Athletic Foundation's development team in growing Eagle Club memberships and raising funds to support the athletics program.