Milo McCarthy (1993) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Milo McCarthy

Induction:
1993

Southern Miss Sports Hall of Famer and long time sports information director Ace Cleveland once said of McCarthy, “a strong little man with a big heart”. And as you review and reflect upon his career here at Southern Miss as both a player and a coach you quickly realize that Ace with that single statement was able to capture the spirit of this man.
   At 5-foot nine and never more than 200 pounds, McCarthy, a fullback, consistently battled bigger and probably better players. But more times than not it was McCarthy and Southern Miss that won.
   His first career start came on October 23, 1965 against Auburn. It was a classic defensive struggle, a game that was going to be won by ball control. And control the ball that day is what the Eagles did behind the hard nose running of McCarthy. Twenty six times he carried the ball that day for just 63 yards. But those hard earned 63 yards helped the team eat time off the clock and beat Auburn 3-0.
   He was the second leading rusher that season with 263 yards and the team won seven of nine games and finished 25th in the country in rushing.
   As a junior he led the team in rushing with 685 yards on 164 carries and scored eight touchdowns to lead the team in scoring as well. Three times that season he rushed for over 100 yards. He had 125 against VMI, 124 against Southeastern Louisiana and 112 against Richmond.
   As a senior the team turned towards a more pass oriented attack, but McCarthy was still the second leading rusher on the team with 292 yards and even caught a couple of passes.
   The three years that McCarthy played the teams won 19 of 28.
   McCarthy returned home to Southern Miss in 1975 after several years as a coach on the high school level. He joined Coach Bobby Collins’ staff in ’75 as tight end coach and later running backs coach. In six years those teams won 48 games, lost 30 and tied two. They played in the first two bowl games for a Southern Miss team in almost 30 years. They ranked as high as No. 7 in the country in 1981.
   McCarthy also spent time as an assistant coach at SMU with Collins as running backs coach, where in five years they won 43 games, lost 14 and tied one, won two Southwest Conference Championships and appeared in three bowl games. In 1982 they were ranked No. 2 and were the only undefeated team in the country.
   When you think of McCarthy you don’t think of the fullback that rushed 309 times in his career for 1,240 yards and 10 touchdowns and you don’t necessarily think of the player that threw the bruising blocks, although he threw his share of them.
   The one constant you think of as you review the accomplishments of McCarthy, both as a player and a coach at Southern Miss, is that he and the teams he was associated with were winners.