If I were them, I'd join the Sun Belt
Their heyday was around 1980 when they were able to amass enough talent to beat us and Ole Miss and get their prop 48's. Things have changed.
They used to make their living recruiting the Gulf Coast and finding diamonds in the rough like the guy we're getting from Houston- Chris Jones. Now you have Hud at Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama is playing football now, Troy is I-A, and you have programs such as Central Florida and South Florida all taking their talent pool not to mention programs like UAB. The internet recruiting culture and technology has made those diamonds in the rough from Chalk, Ms known to everyone and they are getting found by SEC schools. Our renewed focus of recruiting Mississippi has hurt them a lot too.
Then to top it all off, they go all out after Anthony Alford who is a toxic player and he ends basically being forced to play QB because of promises made to him even though he isn't ready.
It has all kind of come to a head this year after they lost Austin Davis- a really good diamond in the rough.
I don't know how you fix it- a lot of their fans and alumni go to Starkville or Oxford and support one of the in-state SEC schools on the weekend rather than their alma mater and some support both which is not all that good for USM. I can't see them being attractive to a BCS conference and the one that they really want to join - the Big East could die out.
If I was a football coach, I'd try to focus on the local area, Jackson, the Gulf Coast, and the Mississippi Delta as well as Mobile and New Orleans. They're going to have to be a developmental program even moreso than us.
