I have a question

[dawgfan77]

Why are we looked at like a dead end job? I know and understand out history of football, but really there is no reason why you cannot win at MSU. Think about this, Bob Tyler had a wining record at State(take away the probation, what matters is what was accomplished on the field), Bellard almost won the SEC, Felker had a wining season Sherrill won big, hell even the Walrus took us to a bowl.
These yahoo's on the national sites, and message board have no idea what we have at MSU. Take a look around we have very nice facilties, largest enrollment in the state, and a very fertile recruiting ground. To me the main reason we have not been succesful is the lack of good leadership, and a very jealous rival.

Am I wrong to think we are not a dead end job?

 

[DISTRICT DOG]

I agree with you. If you look at the improvements we have made to our campus in just the past 3-4 years you would see that we have made HUGE strides in trying to keep up with everyone else. I mean hell we even have an indoor practice facility...you just dont hear about stuff like that when you think about MSU. We need to hire someone who can come into vegas and change the way people think about not only our football team but our community as well.

 

[LVDog]

These yahoo's on the national sites, and message board have no idea what we have at MSU. Take a look around we have very nice facilties, largest enrollment in the state, and a very fertile recruiting ground. To me the main reason we have not been succesful is the lack of good leadership, and a very jealous rival.

Nice facilities? Maybe 8th-10th in the SEC, which is still the top half in the BCS schools in the country, but not amazing. State's finally catching up with the new academic center, etc. Largest enrollment in the state still ranks 10th in the SEC, above only UM and Vandy. Fertile recruiting ground, sure. Just gotta keep the ones that actually qualify in state. That's rarely been done within the rules. While it's not the worst job on the planet, in the national scope, it's maybe in the top 40. The outside perspective of Starkville doesn't help make it any better.

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

I guess alot of people just think "Hell, it's Mississippi." And that alone is reason for them to think our job is not attractive.
The fact is that our head coach job really is a far better job than some might think. First of all, our coach is very well paid for the size of our school. Further, our AD said that we are going to be competitive in the SEC with our offer. So, while we are not going to pay like OK or some of the top paying universities, our job is a very attractive one, financially, on the national landscape. There are a lot of coaches at smaller schools that are doing a good job that can dramatically increase their pay by coming to work for us.
2nd, there really isn't any reason we can't win. Objectively, there isn't really a whole lot seperating Alabama, OM, and MSU in terms of the ability to win football games or the ability to attract a good coach.
What does hold us back is that some of the people that are thinking like you describe are our own fans. Years and years of inconsistency and prolonged periods of horrible results have caused our fan base to have extraordinarily low expectations with regard to football. The fact is that our fans have expectations in basketball like we SHOULD have in football. And our baseball expectations seem to be even higher than rationale thought says they should. So, in my book, our fanbase has rational basketball expectations, and irrational football and baseball expectations. I know I will get arguments on the baseball. But, then again, our irrational expectations led us to go hire a baseball coach that pretty well matches those expectations.

What if we paid what it took to get a Cohen rated hire in football? We could get one with the money. And our program would get better. Saban comes to MSU and he does at MSU what he would have done at Bama.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

<span>They like the nice quiet Saturday afternoons, happy tailgates with "classy" opponents who pat them on the head, tell them "good boy", and see our team get their *** kicked.

The 1990's were very bad for them.? The loud noises, the broken friendships, and the health-impairing excitement harmed their psyche.? I bet when AJ returned the Pick 6 against Bama last year, they were like Gollum hearing the Orc drums.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4C1NF4c9rSc&rel=1" width="425" height="355" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowScriptAccess="never" ></embed></span>

 

[shaschboy]

Look, there is more business moving into the golden triangle area than any other spot in the state. Add the Toyota facility and it's probably tops in the Southeast. Say what you want, Starkville "ain't" what it used to be 10 years ago. If that entertainment/mall/housing project gets seriously started, we will have the only school with a serious retail establishment at our stadiums backdoor. I'm not buying this crap about MSU being a bottom dweller. We don't take a back seat in baseball or basketball. Byrne is serious about really changing the image of MSU football.</p>

 

[LVDog]

That's why I tell you our facilities aren't that great. The indoor facility is the newest, but many others are still better.

As for the city of Starkville and the surrounding area, I never had a complaint about it in school, being from rural MS. But now that I've been out and lived in bigger places and seen every other SEC campus, I know why people knock Starkville now. Now, I still haven't seen the appeal of Baton Rouge, Gainesville or Auburn, but Starkville is easily the worst as far as entertainment in the league, especially if you consider things within an hour of campus. A new mall and chain restaurants might upgrade it, but again, it'd just be catching up with everyone else.

 

[8dog]

no one is going to choose another school over us b/c of indoor practice facilities or academic centers. They are going to choose others over us b/c of tradition, big crowds, recruiting pitch, and opportunity to win.

Most of these people who comment on State/Starkville either haven't ever been there or havent' been there in 10-15 years. They describe it how they want to see it.

Hell, Starkville's laid back nature usually works in our favor with recruits.

 

[bulldogbaja]

I'm not saying that can't change, I tend to agree that the right coach could be extremely successful. I think LT, "bless his heart," held us back for so long.

 

[shaschboy]

Auburn? Apparantley we've both been to 2 different Auburns. The one I've been to rolls up the sidewalk at 12. Maybe you were in Opelika. Our enrollment is about 5k behind Auburn and Alabama. O.M. is close due to the Med school. We may have passed Ark. by now. I do a lot in the construction industry and most of our products have been going into Northeast Miss. Get the economy out of the ******* and you'll see even more growth. Can't say the same for Opelika.

 

[FlabLoser]

Going back only as far as my time will allow me...

Bellard - hired in the twilight of his career
Felker - wasn't a good hire to begin with
Sherrill - hired in the twilight of his career
Croom - wasn't a good hire to being with

I see nowhere a good coach game in, couldn't make it because "we are M State", and was henceforth considered damaged goods.

 

[bulldogbaja]

Whatever the circumstances, every coach that I'm really familiar with left in disgrace. Of course, these days, that's 95% of coaches. As the saying goes, there are 2 types of coaches: ones who have been fired, and ones who are going to be fired.

 

[patdog]

The last coach to leave MSU and ever be a head coach for a Div. I-A school was Darrell Royal back in the 1950s. If that's not the ultimate dead end job, I don't know what is. That said, I don't think the MSU job has to be a dead end job. If a young coach can do what Bob Tyler or Jackie Sherrill did here without getting us put on probation, they'd be able to springboard that to a job at a Texas or a Florida State (just to throw out 2 random examples).

 

[The Big Slick]

They are great to have, but the idea that a recruit will commit to play football for 4-5 years at school simply because of a large building that will be used, at best 20-30 days per year, is ridiculous.

The IPF at Ole Miss is one of the best in the country. It includes coaches offices, locker rooms, training rooms, practice fields, weight rooms, all under one roof. I'm sure this makes managing practice, trainings, etc, much easier for the Nutt. Unlike our indoor practice facility, it is even facaded in a lovely brick, which no doubt makes it a more attractive building and brings a sense of pride to Ole Miss alums, akin to the pride that Madison residents feel in their unique I-55 overpass. But at the end of the day, does it provide a significant recruiting advantage over Mississippi State? I doubt it. Hell, Georgia, Auburn, Florida do not even have an IPF. Does that give Ole Miss an upper hand when recuriting against those schools? Absolutely not.

 

[8dog]

than ole miss?

the answer: nothing.

They've just made better hires and fires.

And if Sherrill had been younger when he took our job, he'd have been gone after the 92 or 94 seasons.

 

[8dog]

a lot of good that did.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

...the bottom line is the MSU fanbase is its own worst enemy.

When a significant segment of the MSU fanbase is told large scale winning is impossible @MSU, they take comfort in hearing that specific propaganda.

Sometimes the idiocy of the MSU fanbase is greatly reaffirmed like when, this morning, HD6 copied & pasted where some ******* on gene's premium site compared Byrne to Hitler.</p>