JSU Fires Football Coach Bell

From The Clarion-Ledger

James Bell was fired today as the Jackson State University football coach and will not coach the Tigers in the season's final three games.

Quarterbacks coach Daryl Jones will serve as interim head coach for the Tigers, who play at Alabama A&M Saturday. JSU has won two games and lost six this season and compiled an 8-23 record during Bell's tenure.Bell, 47, was in the final year of a three-year contract that pays him $85,000 annually. He will be paid through Dec. 31.Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which had a 1-6 record, beat JSU 64-36 last Saturday at Mississippi Veteran's Memorial Stadium, matching the most points ever allowed by a JSU team. The announced attendance for that game was 2,831, some 13,000 shy of JSU's season average and about 28,000 less than what JSU averaged in 2001.JSU athletic director Roy Culberson said he he had no regrets about about hiring Bell but realized he wasn't a good fit."While Bell has made significant improvement in the overall football program the past two and half years we believe this decisoin in the best interest of Jackson State, its alumni and its fans," said Culberson at a news conference.Hilliard Lackey, president of the JSU Alumni Association, said three consecutive losing seasons has made a big impact on his organization. "It has derailed us," he said.Bell, 47, was hired in December of 2002 to replace Robert Hughes, who was fired after posting three consecutive 7-4 seasons.Bell had 20 years experience as a college assistant coach but his only head coaching experience was at Chavez High in Houston, Texas, where his team went 1-9 in 2002, his only season there.Before he was hired, Bell said in an interview with The Clarion-Ledger that seven wins per season is not enough."You have to win eight, nine, 10 ball games a year," Bell said in an interview in November of 2002. "And at Jackson State, that's the way it should be."JSU went 2-10 in Bell's first season, then 4-7 in 2004. The Tigers split their first four games this fall, but have lost the last four, giving up a total of 180 points in the process.