Southern Miss Golden Eagles

In 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. But when Clyde Kennard, a black Korean War veteran, attempted to enroll at Mississippi Southern College in the late 1950s, USM President William McCain made major efforts with the state political establishment and local black leaders to prevent it. Kennard was turned down three times. After he wrote letters about educational integration to the local paper, he was twice arrested on trumped-up criminal charges; he was eventually convicted and sentenced to seven years in the state prison.

McCain’s direct involvement in this abuse of the justice system is unclear. He was likely aware that the charges against Kennard were fraudulent, but neither he nor other public officials made any objection.^{[13][14][15][16]} Speaking to businessmen in Chicago on a trip sponsored by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, McCain said: “We insist that educationally and socially, we maintain a segregated society. … In all fairness, I admit that we are not encouraging Negro voting,” he said. “The Negroes prefer that control of the government remain in the white man’s hands.”^[13][14][16] Kennard was finally released on parole in 1963, when he was terminally ill with cancer; he died six months later.

By the early 1960s, national pressure was growing to integrate Mississippi’s institutions of higher learning. McCain was well known to vehemently oppose having any black students at Mississippi Southern. In 1962 James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi, the state’s flagship institution.^[13] His enrollment was accomplished after white rioting and use of federal troops to end the violence.

By the fall of 1965 both Ole Miss and Mississippi State University had been integrated—the former violently, the latter peacefully. McCain, USM, and state leaders recognized that the state needed to integrate to appeal to businesses outside the state. They made extensive confidential plans for the admission of USM’s first two black students. A faculty guardian and tutor was secretly appointed for each to help with the transition. The campus police department was instructed to prevent or quickly stop any incident against the two black students. Student athletic, fraternity, and political leaders were recruited to keep the peace and protect the university from the kind of negative publicity Ole Miss had suffered during rioting against Meredith’s enrollment.

As a result, black students Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong and Raylawni Branch were enrolled without incident in September 1965.^[17][18] In 2018, USM unveiled a Freedom Trail Marker in honor of Clyde Kennard in front of Kennard Washington Hall, named after him and the first African-American doctoral student to graduate from USM, Walter Washington. Shortly thereafter, at the commencement ceremonies in May 2018, Kennard was posthumously awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa.^[19][20] A student in Kennard’s Sunday School class at Mary Magdalene Baptist Church in Eatonville, Mississippi, accepted the honor on his behalf.

Between 1955 and 1965, USM and McCain infringed upon gay and lesbian students’ civil rights. Gay and lesbian students, especially male homosexuals, were targeted and expelled. McCain’s intention was to purge the campus of all sexual impurities.^[21]

In 1969, the Afro-American Cultural Society (AACS) was founded. Alvin Williams, an early member of the organization and professor emeritus of media at the university, called AACS an “instrumental part of student life for black students” attending the university in the late 1960s. The organization was renamed the African American Student Organization (AASO) in the 1990s.^[22]

The transition from the 1960s to the 1970s involved a surge of social activism and major changes at the university. In response to black students’ growing concerns, the university ramped up its efforts to hire black faculty. In 1972, “General Nat” (Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest) was discarded in favor of the Golden Eagles. In 1974, standout football player Fred Cook was voted the first black Mr. USM. The first black Greek organizations premiered in 1975.^[9] By the time McCain retired in 1975, enrollment had climbed to 11,000 students.^[18]

In the years following McCain’s campus transformation, The University of Southern Mississippi continued to expand dramatically. Changes included replacement of the quarter system by semesters, creation of the Polymer Science Institute, reorganization of the university’s 10 schools into six colleges including the College of Nursing, affiliation with Conference USA, the implementation of online classes; and an expansion of the Gulf Coast campus.

In the early 21st century, Southern Miss developed under the presidency of Shelby Thames. His tenure was characterized by a significant increase in the quantity of research conducted at the university. USM was classified as a “Doctoral / Research Extensive” university by the Carnegie Foundation during the Thames era.^[7] According to the National Science Foundation, USM spent $61 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 183rd in the nation.^[30]

Thames’s work to respond to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina brought praise from the community. In October 2005, the Faculty Senate of the Gulf Park campus passed a resolution of appreciation. The Hattiesburg American reported that Thames’s post-Katrina address to the faculty at Hattiesburg was well received. Thames did not lay off any university employees after the storm, although the Gulf Park campus alone sustained over $100 million in damage (By contrast, Tulane University in New Orleans released approximately 25% of its staff and dropped significant athletic and academic programs, including the computer science major and most engineering programs, in retrenchment after closure and damage to the campus.)^{[citation needed]}

The Thames administration gained financing and supervised several campus construction projects, often in partnership with private-sector entities. An addition to the student union houses the second-largest Barnes & Noble store in the southern U.S., which is open to the community. Barnes & Noble pays $1.5 million in annual rent for the facility. Thames also negotiated a food services agreement with Aramark which will donate $9 million to university construction projects. Other enhancements include the upscale Power House restaurant (at a former college power plant adapted for this use); the $15 million sorority village; additions to the football, basketball, and baseball facilities; and urban design elements to make the campus more open, “green,” and pedestrian-friendly.

The university experienced an unexpected, highly publicized drop from “Tier 3” to “Tier 4” in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings in 2004. This roughly coincided with the height of the Shelby Thames controversy, when he fired tenured professors for “dissension”. Several organizations scrutinized his actions’ legality, as tenure is designed to protect academic independence. In 2004, the USM Faculty Senate expressed its grievances to Thames after the allegations were heard.^[31] The Faculty Senate later published a review of the Thames Administration describing its controversies.^[32] After Thames resigned, by 2009, U.S. News & World Report again ranked the university as in the upper portion of “Tier 3.”.^[33] In the 2011 U.S. News & World Report College ranking, USM was in the “Tier 2”. In 2016, USM was ranked by U.S. News & World Report 125th in national public universities and 220th in national universities.^[34]

USM is also ranked highly by Washington Monthly, which has criticized rankings by U.S. News & World Report and developed its own system. These rankings attempt to make a more holistic assessment of an institution’s value; USM ranked 98th out of 245 doctoral institutions, the highest ranking of any school in Mississippi. As of 2018, Washington Monthly ranked USM 235th overall nationally.^[28]

On February 10, 2013, an EF4 wedge tornado tore through the Southern Miss campus, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. It formed in western Hattiesburg and continued into southwestern Alabama, destroying two buildings and damaging six others. As most students were away for Mardi Gras break and there were warnings of the tornado, there were no fatalities and few injuries on campus.

In June 2015 Southern Miss released a statement on the removal of the Mississippi state flag from all USM campuses.^[35]

On October 25, 2015, university president Rodney D. Bennett released another statement announcing that the university would only raise flags that he felt united all students. Since the removal of the state flag, protests to bring it back have become common Sunday occurrences on the Hattiesburg campus.^[36]

The university’s operations on the Mississippi Gulf Coast began in 1947 when Mississippi Southern College first organized classes at Van Hook Hall, on the Methodist Camp Grounds in Biloxi. In 1958, the operation was moved to Mary L. Michael Junior High School in Biloxi. To meet the educational needs of various occupational fields, the university relocated in 1964 to Keesler Air Force Base. In addition, it obtained classroom facilities for night classes from the Jefferson Davis campus of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College. It called this complex the USM Harrison County Resident Center.

In September 1966, Southern Miss extended its offerings by adding the Jackson County Resident Center, located on the Jackson County campus of the MGCCC in Gautier. The Jackson County Center was built for the university by the Jackson County Board of Supervisors. This effort was encouraged by Shelby Thames when he was executive vice president of USM. The center was constructed with the intention of enabling students in Jackson County to complete four-year degrees in several fields through combined programs at MGCCC and USM. In 2009, however, the university decided to close its Jackson County Center and consolidate course offerings at other teaching sites on the Gulf Coast.

The Gulf Park College for Women in Gulfport, Mississippi, opened in 1921. The last commencement was held in 1971 and the University of Southern Mississippi acquired the campus in 1972.^[45] In March 1972, USM moved its Harrison County Resident Center program from the Jefferson Davis campus of MGCCC to the Gulf Park campus, located on Highway 90 in Long Beach. One of the most prominent landmarks on campus is the Friendship Oak. This huge live oak tree on the lawn of Hardy Hall and the Administration Building, dates from approximately 1487. The earliest available reference to the moniker Friendship Oak is found in an article written by Bob Davis, correspondent for the New York Sun. He described the tree in his book People, People, Everywhere (1936).

In July 1972, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning established the USM Gulf Park and Keesler Air Force Base Center as an upper-level degree completion regional campus of the university. It offered programs leading to degrees at the baccalaureate and graduate levels. University development has continued and on August 19, 2002, Southern Miss admitted its first class of freshmen on its Gulf Park Campus. USM is the only comprehensive university in the state with dual-campus status.

In the early 21st century the Gulf Park campus serves as the central campus for several remote teaching centers, including:

• The Stennis Space Center Teaching and Research Site is located in Hancock County on the Mississippi-Louisiana border; it is NASA’s largest rocket engine test facility. Stennis also is home to the university’s Department of Marine Science.
• Gulf Coast Student Service Center Teaching Site: located in Gulfport, this became the interim site of the Gulf Park campus following Hurricane Katrina, from 2005 to 2012.
• Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Teaching and Research Site (GCRL), located in Ocean Springs, is home of the Department of Coastal Sciences, the Center for Fisheries and Research and Development, the Marine Education Center, and the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center.
• Point Cadet Teaching Site, located in Biloxi. The R/V Tommy Munro, a 97-foot research vessel, is a unit of GCRL and docks at Point Cadet.
• The Keesler Center, located on Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, provides courses for military personnel as well as the civilian community.

Other USM units in the Gulf Coast region are elements of the College of Marine Sciences; the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs; the J. L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Point Cadet in Biloxi; the Hydrographic Science Research Center; and the Center for Marine Sciences at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused about $115 million in damage to Gulf Park. Classes were relocated to the Healthmark Center in Gulfport. In 2012, the Gulfport campus was closed and all facilities were moved back to the renovated Long Beach campus.^[46] The Friendship Oak survived this storm as it survived Hurricane Camille and countless lesser storms that have hit the area.

• The Cook Library, located on the Hattiesburg campus, contains the principal collections of books, periodicals, microforms, government documents and other materials which directly support the instructional programs of The University of Southern Mississippi at all levels.
• The McCain Library and Archives houses the Library’s Special Collections and University Archives on the Hattiesburg campus. Collections include the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection as well as Mississippi oral history, manuscripts, and civil war materials.
• The Gulf Coast Library, located on the Long Beach campus, is part of the University Libraries serving the Gulf Coast campuses (Gulf Park, Keesler, and Jackson County campuses). This state-of-the-art library is the only comprehensive university library on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
• The Gunter Library is located at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL), Ocean Springs, MS campus. The Library provides technical information for the research staff, resident faculty and students, and visitors. Included are files of abstracts and reprints, books and journals, expedition reports, dissertations, and reference works. Special book collections support the academic program of the Laboratory.

• The District is located near the intersection of US Highway 49 and Hardy Street. The historic district of campus is anchored by the five original buildings of the campus: Ogletree Alumni House, The Honor House, College Hall, Forrest Hall, and Hattiesburg Hall. It is also the traditional tailgating site for students during football season. It is home to Lake Byron, which has served as a focal point for many university activities and several weddings.
• The Century Gate is a brick and stone wall at the front of the university, between East and West Memorial Drive. It was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the university’s founding in 1910. It displays the university seal, as well as the words “The University of Southern Mississippi.”
• The All-American Rose Garden is one of two All-American Gardens in the state. The garden at Southern Miss was developed by the Hattiesburg Area Rose Society in 1972 through the leadership of the late William Wicht, a Hattiesburg resident who served as the first president of HARS. A memorial to Wicht’s efforts to make the garden a reality is located next to the garden. Since its official dedication in 1974, the Southern Miss rose garden has received numerous awards for maintenance and display. Many a student has tried to impress his sweetheart by picking a rose, which if caught, carries a fine of up to 500 dollars.

The All-American Rose Garden is a rose garden found near Hardy Street on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. The garden has a semicircular form and contains many types of hybrid roses in 32 rose beds. It has existed since 1973 and was accredited the status ‘Public Rose Garden’ by the All-American Rose Selection Inc. in 1975.^[47] Many biologists and botanists come from all over the world to study the roses found in the rose garden.^{[48][49][50][51]} Due to the large number of rare roses in the rose garden, plucking out a rose is against college policy, and getting caught results in a fine of $500.

• The Eagle Walk is found underneath the upper deck of M.M. Roberts Stadium. Two hours prior to football game day, a cannon is fired, which begins the procession. ROTC, The Pride of Mississippi Marching Band, university officials, and football players make a march through this street to the cheers of thousands of fans. Every fall, the incoming freshman give the walls and street a “fresh coat of paint” as they have done for half a century.
• The Dome is a nickname for the Lucas Administration building found at the Hardy Street entrance to campus. It is so named due to the large cupola at the peak of the roof. Originally, it had an orange-copper color, which faded to a dull green over the years. In 2001, a restoration project was undertaken to paint the dome back to its original copper color. The Dome houses the offices of the president, vice president and other supporting staff.
• Shoemaker Square is an expanse of land formed near The Hub and the Walker Science Building Quad. The bricked fountain is focal point of the “Friday Night At the Fountain”, a student-led pep rally prior to Saturday football games. The fountain has been tainted with soap suds by pranksters on many occasions.
• The Little Rock can be found in the historic district of campus. It is traditionally painted weekly and is used to promote various campus athletic, academic and fine art events. Occasionally, it can be found to be painted with logos of secret societies that exist on campus.
• The Eagle Statue, formally named “Lofty Return”, is a massive three-ton sculpture of a Golden eagle, measuring 22 feet tall and 20 feet wide, and resting on an eight-foot-high pedestal. It stands behind Southern Hall, facing Hardy Street. A slightly smaller replica of it was also erected on the Gulf Park campus as a symbol tying the two campuses together.^[52]

The University of Southern Mississippi recently^[when?] began an academic reorganization changing the academic structure at the university and the roles of administrators. This plan reduced the number of colleges from six to four and consolidated traditional departments into thematic schools.^[59][60]

In addition to its academic colleges, The University of Southern Mississippi also offers the following programs:

• George R. Olliphant Honors College^[61]
• Graduate Studies^[62]
• International Studies Program^[63]
• Fully Online Programs in Sport Management (M.S.) and Sport Coaching Education (M.S.)^[64]
• DuBard School for Language Disorders^[65]
• Frances A. Karnes Center for Gifted Studies

The university has 26 Greek organizations on campus, including 14 fraternities and 12 sororities. There are 19 fraternity and sorority houses.^[67]

The University of Southern Mississippi has 13 residence halls, and about 5,000 students live on campus throughout the school year.

• Southern Miss Now is the official news source of the University Communications Office.^[68]
• The Student Printz is the university’s student-run newspaper, published once weekly during the fall and spring semesters.
• The Southerner, the university’s full-color yearbook publication, was discontinued in 2015.
• WUSM FM 88.5 is the 3000-watt Southern Miss public radio FM station, located on the first floor of Southern Hall.
• Mississippi Review^[69][70] is a quarterly published journal that features fiction, poetry, and essays. Gordon Weaver founded it in 1970.^[71] Frederick Barthelme became editor in 1977.^[72] In 1995, it was the first large literary magazine to launch a fully online issue.^[73][74] In 1998, its print version was published twice yearly, the online version, a separate publication, was published monthly except August by Center for Writers at The University of Southern Mississippi.^[71]
• The Drawl is a publication that highlights the traditions and history of Southern Miss. Incoming Golden Eagles are given a copy of The Drawl in their first week of school.
• The Talon is a quarterly magazine for alumni and friends of the university.^[75]
• Gulf and Caribbean Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing marine and coastal ecology, fisheries, and oceanographic studies from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The journal is published in an online only format and is sponsored by USM libraries and the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.^[76]

The University of Southern Mississippi is one of the few universities in Mississippi to allow a two-day holiday each year for Mardi Gras. The university does not hold classes on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many USM students expressed a desire for the holiday. The university is near New Orleans and has ties to Biloxi and Mobile, where Mardi Gras is also celebrated. In 1981, Ken Stribling, president of USM’s student body, organized a student drive to establish an annual holiday on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). The university’s Calendar Committee refused the request, but Stribling appealed to USM President Aubrey Lucas. At an annual Christmas celebration at USM in December 1981, Lucas announced that USM would try the holiday on Fat Tuesday in 1982 to see how it worked. Stribling appealed again in 1982, and Lucas allowed the holiday for Fat Tuesday in 1983. The next year, the holiday for Fat Tuesday was made a permanent part of the university’s calendar.

The university’s student government in 2003 gained addition of the Monday before Ash Wednesday as part of the Mardi Gras Holiday, creating a two-day holiday for the event and a four-day weekend for students. While many USM students attend Mardi Gras celebrations, most use the four-day weekend to prepare for midterm exams or visit family and friends. The novelty of Mardi Gras Holiday has become a recruiting tool.^[77]

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles football program represents the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They play college football in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Eagles are currently members of the Sun Belt Conference and play their home games at Renasant Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

• Independent (1912–1930, 1942–1947, 1952–1995)
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1931–1941)
• Gulf States Conference (1948–1951)
• Conference USA (1996–2021)
• Sun Belt Conference (2022-)

List of Southern Miss head coaches, term, and # of Seasons^[62]

• Ronald J. Slay (1912)–1
• Blondie Williams (1913)–1
• A. B. Dille (1914–1916)–3
• No team (1917–1918)
• Cephus Anderson (1919)–1
• B. B. O’Mara (1920)–1
• O. V. Austin (1921–1923)–3
• William Herschel Bobo (1924–1927)–4
• William B. Saunders (1928–1929)–2
• John Lumpkin (1930)–1
• Pooley Hubert (1931–1936)–6
• Reed Green (1937–1942, 1946–1948)–6, 3
• No team (1943–1945)
• Thad Vann (1949–1968)–20
• P. W. Underwood (1969–1974)–6
• Bobby Collins (1975–1981)–7
• Jim Carmody (1982–1987)–6
• Curley Hallman (1988–1990)–3
• Jeff Bower (1990–2007)–18
• Larry Fedora (2008–2011)–4
• Ellis Johnson (2012)–1
• Todd Monken (2013–2015)–3
• Jay Hopson (2016–2020)–5
• Scotty Walden† (2020)–1
• Tim Billings† (2020)–1
• Will Hall (2020–2024)–5
• Reed Stringer † (2024)–1
• Charles Huff (2025-Present)–1

† Interim

The Eagles have retired three numbers to date. Brett Favre and Ray Guy are the only players inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Announced schedules as of July 28, 2026.^[70]