Golden Eagle AD setting bar high
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Southern Mississippi’s new athletic director Bill McGillis took a long look out his office window at Roberts Stadium, admired the recently-finished renovations at the 36,000-seat facility, and then plainly laid out his vision for the Golden Eagles.
“Our expectation and aspiration is to win championships and be highly competitive at a conference and national level,” McGillis said. “I believe we can do that. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think so.”
The 50-year-old McGillis took the Southern Miss job in July after six years as an associate athletic director at South Florida. The veteran administrator was also the AD at Evansville from 2002 to 2007.
McGillis has two major challenges in the coming years.
The first is helping resurrect a football program that fell to 0-12 last season, breaking a streak of 18 straight winning seasons. Coach Todd Monken was hired in December by the previous administration.
McGillis said Monken — whose high-scoring offense at Oklahoma State averaged about 45 points per game last season — is a perfect fit for the Golden Eagles. He said Monken’s offensive pedigree is important, but his “CEO qualities” have impressed him most.
“He’s a true football coach in terms of teaching the game and knowing it,” McGillis said. “He’s very straightforward and doesn’t give a lot of coach speak. I really respect that about him. ”
Monken, likewise, had nothing but compliments for his new boss.
“All he’s ever asked is what he can do and what do we need,” Monken said. “He understands the same things I do about Southern Miss. There are no barriers to success here. There are no excuses. If we don’t win, it’s on us.”
DEVELOPMENTS
Gators lose two starters: No. 10 Florida will be without two offensive starters in the team’s season opener against Toledo.
Coach Will Muschamp ruled out running back Matt Jones and right guard Jon Halapio on Friday, eight days before the opener.
Jones has missed all of fall practice following a viral infection. Muschamp says the sophomore, who had been expected to be a starter, will have more blood work done Monday to determine if his immune system is healthy enough for him to start practicing. Muschamp says there’s no timetable for Jones’ return.
Halapio, a senior who has started 27 consecutive games at right guard, has been limited in camp with a partially torn pectoral muscle.
Wildcat transfers: Kentucky redshirt freshman defensive tackle Patrick Graffree has announced via Twitter he will transfer to Eastern Kentucky.
Coach Mark Stoops said after Friday’s practice that Graffree’s decision surprised him but acknowledged that the 6-4, 286-pound Elizabethtown, Ky., native “may not have been happy” about his place in the program when the two talked at the conclusion of fall camp this week.