Imagine a guy watching his house burn down screaming when you read the above title.
Tyrone Nix has removed his name from consideration for the job at Southern Miss.
University of South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix confirmed this afternoon that he has removed his name from consideration for the head coaching position at Southern Mississippi, according to Steve Fink, South Carolina's Athletics Media Relations Director.
Nix declined any further comment.
Nix, 35, has worked at South Carolina for the past three seasons. He played at Southern Miss (1990-93) and served on the Golden Eagles staff for 10 seasons from 1995-2004.
Someone decided to take exception to my demands that Tyrone Nix be sent packing. So, I have to school them a little.
Gamecocks defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix and receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. could hear from officials with their alma maters after Southern Miss and Duke parted ways with Jeff Bower and Ted Roof, respectively.
Nix, 35, played and coached at Southern Miss under Bower, whose 17-year tenure included 15 winning seasons and was the fourth-longest stint at one school among active Bowl Subdivision coaches, behind Penn State’s Joe Paterno, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer.
Nix was the Southern Miss defensive coordinator for four seasons before joining Steve Spurrier’s USC staff in 2005. Nix, who was contacted by North Texas, Tulane and UAB about head-coaching positions last year, guided a Gamecocks’ defense that played well early this season before faltering late.
When confronted about the problems with the SC defense, Tyrone Nix (I refuse to call him coach any longer) had this to say:
Tebow passed for a career-high 304 yards without getting sacked once in 32 pass attempts.
“We need to change our habits around here, and that’s my responsibility. So I’m going to get our habits changed around here. But I haven’t done it, yet,” Spurrier said. “We put guys out on the field that don’t play with effort, don’t play their assignment. They loaf. And that’s embarrassing. And I’m going to quit putting them out there.”
I am hoping that includes certain coaches who don't know how to scheme against a run.
Stop sending me emails telling me that I am no better than a Clemson fan because I am calling for Coach Nix's head.
I know I get passionate and I am a little excitable. But, I am a gamecock through and through. I was born a gamecock and I will die a gamecock. I had just one more thing I wanted to say. I have received 4 emails from "Carolina fans" claiming that my calling for Coach Nix's resignation (on the website) makes me no better than a Clemson fan. Well guess what Gamecock Nation, As much as I want puke saying it: RIGHT NOW CLEMSON HAS A BETTER PROGRAM THAN WE DO! As long as we keep making excuses and accepting mediocrity, they always will.
That is the problem with changing the culture around South Carolina. Coaches change and players graduate but the fans are fans for life. As long as the fans put up with this kind of crap, there is no changing the culture. Until the gamecock nation stands up and demands accountability, nothing will change.
This means accountability on all levels. Why do we act like a coach is doing us a favor by coaching the team? The coaches get paid well to do their job and when they fail, they need to be called out. We don't need to sit back and wait for someone to save us. We need to save ourselves. Unfortunately, we would rather make excuses.
Asked if he had confidence in defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix, Spurrier said: “I’ve got confidence in all our coaches. When the season is over and recruiting or whatever, we’ll try to look around and see how we can make ourselves better.”
In other words: Bye Bye Coach Nix. Wish I could say it was a pleasure.
Unfortunately, I only had time to scan one page of it. This sheds a lot of light on many things.
I have managed to obtain a copy of Tyrone Nix's playbook. I will post it over the next couple of days. In the mean time, here is a picture of Nix's ghost defense in action!
Hey Coach... if you need some help trying to figure out how to fix our defense... maybe you should look to the definition of the word NIX.
I know we 0-21. I know we lost to Navy when we were ranked #2 in the country. This has been a gut wrenching, heart breaking, nose bleeding, season.
There is nothing like watching a championship slip through your fingers. There is nothing like watching your team lose to Vandy. There is nothing like watching your team get rolled up for 48 and 51 points in consecutive weeks.
There is nothing like watching Darren McFadden run for more yards than any other sec running back in history, then watch a poor Tennesse team hold him to just over a hundred.
There is nothing like watching Tim Tebow do the same thing over and over and still gain yards. I mean, is it just me? Am I a genius? I called every play Florida ran before they ran it. How is that I can see it and Coach Nix can't?
Sad. I have never been more disheartened as a Gamecock fan.
This is not about the players. We have the players on both sides the ball. The way this team feel apart this season is on the coaches. Coach Nix especially.
And it's not over. We still have to play those troglodytes from the upstate and I do not have faith in this coaching staff to bring home a victory. In two weeks we will be forced to watch another 63-17. Mark my words.
Now before your cry baby, touchy feely, whiny heart fans out there call for my head, I am a Gamecock. I will always be a Gamecock. That does not mean, I am not allowed to be pissed off. I will always support the players. Always. The coaches are a different animal. If Coach Spurrier does not fire Coach Nix, this season will fall squarely on his shoulders and even though he is a great coach, it might be time for us to look somewhere else. You heard me.
