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Southern Miss Athletics Sees Successful First Year in Sun Belt Play
In 1996, Southern Miss Athletics became one of six schools to join and create Conference-USA. Nearly 26 years later, Southern Miss became the first original member to leave the conference. Due to conference realignments in the 2021-22 school year, the Sun Belt Conference extended invitations to Conference USA members Southern Miss, Marshall, Old Dominion, and James Madison at the FCS level. All four schools accepted.
To start off, Southern Miss football saw a great season under second-year head coach Will Hall. In preseason polls, Southern Miss was predicted to finish in fifth place in the West Division. Following wins against rivals Tulane and Louisiana, the Golden Eagles found new foes in Arkansas State, Texas State, and Coastal Carolina. Despite losses against Georgia State, Troy, South Alabama, and Coastal Carolina, the Golden Eagles finished with a win-loss record of 6-6, and 4-4 in conference play. The Golden Eagles received their first invite to a bowl game since the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl (in January.) The Golden Eagles were sent to the LendingTree Bowl to take on the Rice Owls of Conference USA. Things didn’t go the Owls’ way, as the Golden Eagles took the LendingTree trophy back to Hattiesburg, USM’s first bowl win since 2016. Runningback Frank Gore, Jr. even set a school record for most rushing yards in a single game, as well as an FBS record for most rushing yards in a bowl game. The Golden Eagles would go to finish the season with 7-6 record, placing third in the Sun Belt West.
Going back about 30-40 years, Southern Miss ruled the Metro Conference in basketball. Recently, in Conference USA, however, the Golden Eagles have fallen in men’s and women’s basketball. However, in the change to the Sun Belt, this changed in the 2022-23 year. Led by fourth-year head coach Jay Ladner, the men’s team achieved their first regular season conference champion title since the 2000-01 season. The Eagles then lost the conference tournament but earned an invitation to the NIT tournament, where they lost to UAB in the first round. The Golden Eagles finished the season with a final record of 25-8, and 14-4 in Sun Belt play. The Lady Eagles had similar success. Under 19th-year head coach Joye Lee-McNelis, the Lady Eagles won their first regular-season conference title since the 1993-94 season, and also had one of their most successful seasons under Coach McNelis. The Lady Eagles grabbed over 20 wins for the first time since the 2016-17 season, and Coach McNelis caught her 300th win as the coach of the Lady Eagles against ULM in January of 2023.
Along with football, Southern Miss has also been proud of its baseball program for many years. This year, Southern Miss head baseball coach Scott Berry announced his retirement would go into effect following the 2023 season. Coach Berry led the Golden Eagles from 2010-2023, finishing the 2023 season with a total record of 528 wins, 255 losses, and one tie. He also led the Golden Eagles to seven straight 40-win seasons (the longest streak in the country), seven straight NCAA Regionals, and two consecutive NCAA Super Regional Hosts. In the 2023 season, Coach Berry led the Eagles to victory in the Auburn Regional, defeating Auburn, Samford, and Penn to win. They would then host the Tennessee Volunteers in Hattiesburg, with crowds for each game totaling close to 6,000**. All good things come to an end however, as the Golden Eagles fell to the Vols and missed out on yet another trip to Omaha.
The Golden Eagle Athletic team is looking forward to many more successful years in the Sun Belt and is also looking to keep the success growing. The Sun Belt has grown to be one of the top conferences for smaller schools in the Southeast U.S., putting Southern Miss right where they need to be. The Sun Belt also helps the Golden Eagle fanbase, with more local schools that make traveling easier. In Conference USA, our farthest team to play was over 1,000 miles away in El Paso, Texas. In the SBC, the farthest is 838 miles in Virginia. Here are the distances from Southern Miss to other schools in their divisions in Conference USA and the Sun Belt (football stadium to football stadium, straight line distance):
- Sun Belt West
- South Alabama (Mobile, Alabama): 80 Miles
- Troy (Troy, Alabama): 202 Miles
- Arkansas State (Jonesboro, Arkansas): 321 Miles
- Texas State (San Marcos, Texas): 521 Miles
- ULM (Monroe, Louisiana): 181 Miles
- Louisiana (Lafayette, Louisiana): 179 Miles
- Conference USA West
- UAB (Birmingham, Alabama): 211 Miles
- LA Tech (Ruston, Louisiana): 212 Miles
- North Texas (Denton, Texas): 476 Miles
- UTSA (San Antonio, Texas): 562 Miles
- Rice (Houston, Texas): 379 Miles
- UTEP (El Paso, Texas): 1,013 Miles
*In 2009, under the late Corky Palmer, the Golden Eagles achieved their first appearance in the Men’s College World Series, where they lost in the first two matchups. They have not been since.
**Attendance for each Super Regional Game:
Game 1 Attendance: 5,820
Game 2 Attendance: 5,822
Game 3 Attendance: 5,809
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