Jackson Free Press

It's official. Jackson State football coach James Bell is an idiot. Throughout his reign of error, Bell has blamed members of the news media for his team's failures on the field, specifically WLBT-3 sports anchor Rob Jay and Clarion-Ledger reporter Mark Alexander. Bell's attempts to freeze these two men out has failed, just like everything else the coach has done at JSU. In fact, Jay is now the radio play-by-play man for the Tigers.

Of course, Bell is hardly the first coach to use the media as a scapegoat. But Doctor S thinks Bell reached a new low after the Tigers' 20-14 loss to Southern University on Saturday. The Jaguars, who are normally a passing team, rushed for a season-high 183 yards on 55 carries against the Tigers, who have the SWAC's worst rushing defense. After the game, Bell was asked if he was surprised that the Jaguars ran it so much. His reply: "Nope. I would run it, too, after you put all those stats in the paper."

The article in Thursday's edition of The Ledge told how lousy the Tigers have been against the run in the last three season. Ironically, one of JSU athletic director Roy Culberson's reasons for hiring Bell was Bell's experience as a defensive coordinator at two Division I-A schools. Culberson is probably on his way out at JSU, too.

Somehow, Doctor S doubts that SWAC coaches are basing their game plans on what appears in The Ledge. They don't need a newspaper to tell them that the Tigers' defense sucks. All they have to do is watch game film or look at the SWAC statistics. The real problem is that the Tigers were in a position to win a game against one of Southern's worst teams in years and didn't get it done. And Bell, as coach, is ultimately responsible. Bell's actions toward and statements about the media show that he's not focused on his main job: Preparing his players to win games. But Bell has done lots of stupid things at JSU. Why should we expect him to change now?

Previous Comments

ID

118178

Comment

ok this story should have gotten more views and comments...if anyone cared about the jackson state program. Bottom line is they have a stadium that is waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy to big for the crowd that shows up there. jackson could have a u2 concert and it still would not fill up that bowl. wasteful to me.

Author

*SuperStar*

Date

2005-10-28T11:42:24-06:00