USM: Another Reason Why Thames Is a Lame Duck

A key reason that Shelby Thames, the President of the University of Southern Mississippi, has finally become a lame duck is his unique talent for finding those least suited for the job and installing them in positions of responsibility.

I put this particularly story off a couple of times; then it was displaced by the news that the Mississippi IHL Board had finally set a date for Thames to vacate the presidency of USM. But it has yet to get any attention outside of Mississippi, so I will recap it here.

The tale begins, not with the latest of Thames' lieutenants to attain infamy, but with an athlete that Thames gave USM's Athletic Department the go-ahead to sign.

On April 18, stories began running about USM's decision to offer an athletic scholarship to Marcus Raines, a linebacker at Pasadena City College in Southern California. Despite his unquestioned skills on the football field, Kansas State had quit recruiting Raines in early December, and other college football programs had refused to pursue him at all. The reason? In May 2000, Raines had gotten into a fight at a party in Palmdale, California. One of Raines' high school teammates punched Christopher O'Leary in the head, knocking him to the sidewalk. According to at least one witness, Raines then kicked O'Leary in the head, as though he were punting a football. O'Leary died. Raines pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, serving one year in a juvenile facility and two in a boot camp.

Shelby Thames obviously played a significant role in this decision; he interviewed Raines himself.

We can debate whether a university should be recruiting an athlete with Raines' past. In Raines' defense, we could argue that Kansas State and the other schools that passed on him were more worried about negative publicity in the present than about Raines' conduct in the future. Not so debatable is the fact that Thames, who has a substantial following in the thinly populated community of USM boosters and sports fans, and personally chews out coaches when USM's teams lose the big games, has been willing to take major risks in his pursuit of athletic glory. Under Thames, USM had previously picked up a men's basketball coach, Larry Eustachy, who resigned from his last job (at Iowa State) after it came out that he was an alcoholic. Indeed, since Thames has such an unerring knack for generating his own bad publicity, he may have figured that the local media would pay little attention when he green-lighted Marcus Raines.

If that's what Thames was counting on, he was wrong. Stories and editorials about Marcus Raines ran for a solid month in the Mississippi media after the decision was announced. Unless Raines lives up to an exemplary standard of behavior, on and off the field, there will be many more.

In any event, the decision to sign someone like Marcus Raines would have been controversial at nearly any university, not just one with a dysfunctional administration that was no longer getting favorable treatment from the local press.

As might be expected, Raines' signing was the topic of much discussion on EagleTalk, a message board for USM Golden Eagle sports fans. Some posters were critical of Thames for his role in recruiting Raines; more EagleTalkers, however, defended Thames and football coach Jeff Bower.

When the criticisms of Thames for recruiting Raines spilled over into other criticisms of his inept presidency, a regular contributor to the board took strong exception to them. In a post on April 19 (no longer accessible on the Web, except perhaps to EagleTalk subscribers), one Insomniac Eagle launched a ferocious denunciation of any and all critics of Shelby Thames. Having virtually memorized the recent output of Thames' public relations machine, Insomniac Eagle managed to work in most of the false or misleading statements that could be found in the newspaper advertisement taken out by the organizers of the pro-Thames rally at Warren Paving Company.

I want to say how much I resent the two guys in my thread below....... that took a thread about the Raines kid and tried to change it to an anti-Thames thread. Guys, this board is about USM sports. Take your petty and one sided little picayune gossip to the faculty lounge or somewhere where it will be appreciated.

Dr. Thames ran a couple of professors off that probably deserved some jail time. Did you notice how quickly that situation died down once it went before the judge?

He has also committed the cardinal sin of asking the professors to work a full work day. There just isn't any more to it than that.

I have talked with many professors on campus and you can easily tell the difference between the Thames supporters and the Thames detractors. The Thames detractors are consistently lazy, gossipy, and self centered.

The Thames supporters are consistently hard working, open minded, and dedicated to either their research or to educating the students.

I don't know where you clowns come up with some of this unfounded crap, but I'm good and damned tired of it. If you keep up this vicious line of unsubstantiated gossip, I'm going to start attacking your unfounded bull **** with great venom. You'd better do your homework before you start throwing your crap against this wall. I'm sick and tired of you do nothing idiots who continually try to tear everything down.

We have a great university, and the only thing wrong with it right now is that idiots like you think you can run your mouths about anybody you choose with total impunity. Not any more. This crap has to stop.

All you have to do is to come on the campus, get involved and learn first hand what is going on under the Thames administration,,,,.

Insomniac Eagle began to chant the Warren Paving Company litany. More construction projects on campus than ever before. 16,000 students enrolled (really it's 14,000, but Thames keeps double-counting students who take courses on more than one campus because the total sounds more impressive). Soon, according to Thames, that number will swell to 20,000."We've won the battle to be the university of the gulf coast." (Tulane, which has opened a branch campus on the coast, is one of several that would beg to differ.) Then on to the growth of the Honors program (achieved by diluting it), and then a couple of boasts, one of which would surprise the beleaguered Nursing faculty:"Polymer Engineering is one of the tops in the world, and we are developing a world class medical facility on the coast." And, of course, the usual Thamesian reference to USM's Carnegie classification, as though it trumps the 4th-tier ranking that the institution got from US News and World Report, and keeps probation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools from mattering.

Then a little boosterism for USM's programs in the arts that seems out of character, considering the" consistently lazy, gossipy, and self centered" proclivities of nearly every arts professor:

Our fine arts programs are among the tops in the world and the USM Symphony is possibly the best College Symphony Orchestra in the country. The new dance and theatre building is a jewel and one of the best facilities in the country.

Insomniac Eagle concluded with this collegial exhortation:

I could go on and on, but it wouldn't do any good with negative little pipsqueaks like you. Just don't come on these boards running down our school or its administration. We have a lot to be proud of, and you're not going to detract from it.

Apparently this had little effect on the"negative little pipsqueaks." By the next evening Insomniac Eagle wasn't just angry at critics of Shelby F. Thames, he didn't want to hear about Marcus Raines either. Here's his post of April 20 in its entirety:

post one more word about raines, and i'm going to get on.............. top of the administration building with a high powered rifle and start shooting.

So who is this Insomniac Eagle? Some bigoted sports fan with an excessive fondness for draft beer and verbal bullying?

In fact, the Insomniac handle belongs to Robert"Toy" McLaughlin, a USM alumnus who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and runs Inverness Asset Management. He is on the Board of Directors of the USM Foundation, and currently serves as the foundation's president; before that, he was Chair of the foundation's Finance Committee for two years. McLaughlin is also on the Advisory Board for USM's College of Business.

The"high powered rifle" remark brought McLaughlin some unflattering coverage in the Hattiesburg American, and a couple of blistering letters to the editor. He apologized for it on EagleTalk, though why he wasn't kicked off that message board remains a mystery. Although it made the local newspaper, I don't think nearly enough attention was devoted to the spectacle of a major fundraiser for the University of Southern Mississippi running down nearly every professor on campus (at least 80% of the USM faculty is opposed to Thames; most informed estimates put the percentage well above 90%). And the College of Business appears to be 100% anti-Thames, from Dean Harold Doty on down; is McLaughlin resolved not to raise any more money for the College until every professor is replaced and the dean's office lies vacant?

When the moving vans finally arrive at the Dome (USM's central administration buidling) to carry Shelby Thames' belongings back to the polymer lab, the new president will no doubt be looking for some new directors for the university foundation. Until then, Toy McLaughlin will continue to embarrass the University of Southern Mississippi.

May 2007 seems a long way off. Stay tuned.