Jeff Bower
Linda Martin, our Acting President subbing for our Missing in Action President David Lee (actually, we do know where he is) welcomed all to the September 25, 2017 meeting of the Gulf Coast Athletic Club. She said she had attended the Mississippi State game and obviously the team that played so well the week before, didn’t show up and the MSU team seemed to know she was there.
Visitors were introduced, one of which was Coach Blake’s father. The parents of this week’s Student Athletes were also introduced.
Membership Chairman David DeMeyer reported we are up to 87 members for the current year.
Mrs. Martin reminded the club that RSVPs are absolutely necessary as we turn in a guarantee on Friday afternoon. We had more than 20 people show up without RSVPs tonight, which creates food and seating issues.
The Office Football Pool is going great with 23 participants. Leading the pack at this point is Dale Sumpter. The winner at the end of the season will split the $25 per person entry fee with the Club.
Coach Blake’s Gulf Shores High School Dolphins won their first game of the season, breaking a 15 game losing streak. Homecoming is Friday against Faith Academy (Ed. Note - they won again!!) Coach Blake brought a very important visitor, GSHS Principal Cindy Veazy, who said she is completely supportive of Coach Blake and all the male and female athletic teams.
Dr. Gaylon McCullough presented our first Student Athletes, both who will be eligible for GCAC scholarships at year’s end. He also thanked Dec McLelland for getting info and students for this.
The first is Erin Corcoran, daughter of our very own Kevin Corcoran. Erin is a Senior with a 4.17 GPA and an ACT score of 25. She is President of the Student Government and also went to Girls State. She has been on the Volleyball team for 4 years and is also on the Bowling Team. She hasn’t picked a college yet, but wants to be a Nurse Practitioner.
Our second is John Corbitt, who has a 3.89 GPA and an ACT of 25. He is a three year starter in both football and wrestling. He wants to play college football and study engineering.
Dec then led the Team Reports and handed out the Crying Towel to none other than acting President and Mississippi State fan Linda Martin.
Dr. McCullough then introduced our Speaker, Jeff Bower, former Head Football Coach at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is from New Jersey, but played ball in Georgia, and won State championships in Football, Basketball, and Baseball.
He and his wife, Debbie, a former Miss USM and a Miss Mississippi USA, actually have lived in Orange Beach for the past two years. Jeff is known as the “Face of Golden Eagle Football”, and won the Johnny Vaught Coaching Award. He coached Brett Farve, but said Reggie Collier was his most dominating player during his years there.
Coach Bower is a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, which he loves. He spoke of the difficulty of the rankings and the immense amount of details available to them each week. Each member is responsible for two conferences, he has the PAC 12 and the MAC. He said the committee meets 7-8 times a year, weekly starting in late October.
Although he couldn’t give details of exactly how the system works or reasons why one team or another was chosen or not, he was most complimentary of all the committee members. He said no member can wear any college logo to any meetings. They watch each of the Championship games together and maintain a calm decorum during the selection process. Important criteria includes: 1) the team record; 2) wins against Playoff 25 teams; 3) strength of schedule, and a few other key factors.
Before answering questions, he said they got the Final Four right and he and Debbie got to go to the Championship Game. He said the playoff will remain at 4 teams for the near future and picking the top 10 teams is easy, but difficult to narrow to the four. Margin of victory really means very little. He noted about 75% of the Final Four teams have returning Quarterbacks.
After Coach Bower’s presentation, the 50-50 was drawn and awarded, and given back to the Club.
Acting President Martin adjourned the meeting at 8:35pm
