And also sort of in the arena of recruiting...

[vandaldawg]

How much do you think the perception of Starkville as a crappy town plays into a recruits decision to come to State? Or how much is it used by competing coaches against us for recruits?

And if we think it plays heavily against us, then in the mode of honest self criticism, what does the town of Starkville need to improve in terms of quality of life, entertainment, culture, planning, etc, and how can it - or can it - get there? Now it goes mostly without saying that the majority on this board (including me) love Starkville, and realize how far it has come in the past ten to twenty years (LIGHT years beyond what it was). This isn't a "bash Starkville" thread, but for purposes of discussion, what can be done to make it competitive with some of the better or even best college towns out there?

And yes, I realize it's ridiculous to want to improve your college town for recruiting purposes, but if everybody benefits, then who cares what the motivation is. And if this is a nagging problem for our ability to bringboth ahletic and academic talentto State, why not look at potential ways to fix it.

 

[ckDOG]

Think about who we target in recruiting. It's 90% Mississippi kids. If they have the desire to run off to a big city, Starkville isn't going to appeal to them. If city-life isn't what they are after, Starkville is going to appeal to them just as much as any other town.

These are 17 years olds from po-dunk Mississippi. Starkville looks pretty nice to most of these recruits. I seriously doubt they have as refined tastes as the message board geniuses that rail Starkville on the other SEC message boards...

 

[EAVdog]

I've read some stories from out of state recruits who've mentioned that once they got to Campus and Starkville that they were nothing like they expected, much better than they had imagined. So the perception definitely exists, although the reality is nowhere near the perception. I'm sure it's less of an issue with in-state recruits. A lot of in-state recruits probably come from towns smaller than Starkville so it's a step up.
Being an Alumnus from the 90's I can say that Starkville has made huge strides since I've left. And also the University with the Junction etc... For the longest time Starkville and the University never worked well together. This may have led to the prior severing of the traditional connection on University Ave of Downtown and Campus in lieu of the new entry associated with the old Hwy 25. This led to a major shift in the development of the city toward the 'Strip Center' commercial developement that is still predominate along Veteran's Memorial Boulevard. This did two things, it created unattractive non-pedestrian linear growth patterns and siphoned off investmentfrom the traditional downtown area.Starkville is just now reinvesting in the downtown area. When I was in school I'm not sure there was a restaurant on Main Street except for the small time Portabello's was in the Statehouse Hotel. Well Starkville Cafe was there of course.
To correct this problem someting has to be done with Veteran's Memorial Boulevard/old Hwy 25. It's still an eyesore, now littered with empty strip centers since more development has moved out to the new super Walmart. The new development going in where the old twin cinemas was will be a big step in the right direction. I think the University will have to grow to really solve the problem. More students equals newer and better development. I think the answer has to incorporate slowing down traffic on old Hwy 25, perhaps making it a Boulevard with a planted Isle in the middle and planting zones on both sides. Only for a few blocks initially, with new mixed use zoning to encourage better development. Simultaneaously focus needs to be kept on the Downtown to ensure investment continues to happen.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[mjh94]

is alot bigger than where alot of these Mississippi <1b> come from and are use to... for example: Coldwater, Puckett, Okolona, Tylertown, Scooba, Wiggins, Macon, and on and on and on.

Coming from a "spot in the road" to Starkville that's what 50,000 people? with school in session is a big difference.

The big help is getting them there so they actually know what Starkville is about.

 

[vandaldawg]

with the thought that many of these kids from Mississippi are coming from even smaller towns and hamlets than Starkville, but what about the out-of-state recruits we are trying to attract?

 

[Hump4Hoops]

Every other school that any of our potential recruits visits will have the coaches tell him that Starkville is a dump. It's a stigma that's been around long enough that they'll keep repeating it till the end of time, and making people believe it.

 

[SnakePlissken]

Heck, we've got our own fans already planning to boo if Relf starts despite being our biggest recruiting weekend. We are sometimes our own worst enemy.

 

[DirtyLopez]

Watching this fanbase over the last few years has really opened my eyes. I think half our fans aren't happy unless they have something to ***** and complain about and another quarter of the fans get pissed off if a coach says damnit.

 

[gravedigger]

Watching this fanbase over the last few years has really opened my eyes. I think half our fans aren't happy unless they have something to ***** and complain about and another quarter of the fans get pissed off if a coach says damnit.

and I happen to like it.

just not the part about the coach saying damnit........I personally have only heard the word 17 from Dan and damnit is just a bit romper room for me.

the quarter that get pissed about the cussing arent on this board

The quarter thatdont get pissed andare happy and have nothing to ***** about need toleave this board if they are actually here.