Let's talk about Lebby's preseason quote...

Bullldawg78

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Lebby has way more institutional respect nationwide than Arnett ever did. We need to listen to non emotional smart people who cover football and be a little patient. Lebby is the right guy if...

1. We show juice recruiting both lines and a CB in the portal.
2. He fires Hutzler Monday.
3. We keep Coleman.

Do these three things and we will get better. Good news is we should know the answer by New Years and in time for season ticket sales. Bad news is if he doesn't do these things, oof.
"Non-emotional smart people" said JoMo was a perfect hire????
 

Mr. Cook

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he said in the preseason "I just want Mississippi State fans to feel like they’ve got the right guy at the end of the season.”

So do we have the right guy?
On the surface, we are a I-AA football program masquerading as and SEC program.

Much like our logo, we are quick to change lanes without much thought for the long run and choose to commit to the present moment.

You ask if we have the “right guy.” The real question is “Do we have the right team?”

In short, there is a critical leadership issue. You can point to individuals, but this is systemic failure. Period.
 

patdog

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Don't understand how we can fire a 1st year coach for going 5-7 and then turn around and justify keeping a guy who's 2-10 (a given) and 0 for 8 in SEC play. This is not about giving him another year it's about giving us a shittastic year like this while getting paid millions of dollars to do just the opposite. Take me back to the 60's, Bubba.
THIS is the real problem. Our young, inexperienced AD who thinks he knows everything made an unnecessary premature panic fire last year so he could hire his inexperienced friend from Oklahoma. And this is why we're where we are stuck with the same bad coaches next year.
 

OG Goat Holder

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On the surface, we are a I-AA football program masquerading as and SEC program.

Much like our logo, we are quick to change lanes without much thought for the long run and choose to commit to the present moment.

You ask if we have the “right guy.” The real question is “Do we have the right team?”

In short, there is a critical leadership issue. You can point to individuals, but this is systemic failure. Period.
Never heard a more perfect explanation of the situation. And once you finally see it (which I did in early 2023), it's hard to unsee it. We all know it, but keep that wool pulled over our eyes for years. I mean we have a poster that said we "have the right offensive system" as if we now have a piece of this thing figured out. What a joke.

I'm not as big of a Keenum hater as many here, when it comes to the school. But I do know he seriously messed up so many things the past few years in athletics, after doing so many things right for a good little while. I have no idea why he hired Jack Salmon, especially when the son of a gun turned the job down initially. And then we go back and beg him. Why, oh Lord, why? I think many speculate........and we know there is nothing new under the sun.
 

LandingDog

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I think he gets a pass for this year. He inherited a mess with no doubt the least amount of talent we have had on defense in 20 years. Been playing a true freshman QB since the 5th game. Played 5 potential playoff teams on the road. I expected to be better than we are but our guys seem to have played hard for him. We keep fighting in games when we get down early which is every game. I think his offense will work at MSU. He has recruited some good offensive players. Hutz - I don't know how much credit he deserves for this defense, he deserves some for sure but we have no talent. Are overall talent on that side of the ball has gone down yearly since Mullen left. Are we better off firing Hutz and searching for someone and starting all over again? Who would we get? What are the chances that he is any better? Might be better off with some continuity and giving the guy a chance. Got to find some playmakers.

We have had 3 coaches in 3 years, which I would assume is unprecedented at this level. We need some continuity. We fired Arnett because he wasn't qualified and deserved it. We were awful last year. Our defense sucked last year too. We made every QB we played look like the Heisman front-runner. I think this years team beats last years by double digits and wins the same 5 games with that same schedule. Probably the only offense out there that our defense this year could shut down.

IMO - we just have to give Lebby time and if he thinks it is best to keep Hutz then I am not excited about it but get it.
 

Dawgbite

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I think he gets a pass for this year. He inherited a mess with no doubt the least amount of talent we have had on defense in 20 years. Been playing a true freshman QB since the 5th game. Played 5 potential playoff teams on the road. I expected to be better than we are but our guys seem to have played hard for him. We keep fighting in games when we get down early which is every game. I think his offense will work at MSU. He has recruited some good offensive players. Hutz - I don't know how much credit he deserves for this defense, he deserves some for sure but we have no talent. Are overall talent on that side of the ball has gone down yearly since Mullen left. Are we better off firing Hutz and searching for someone and starting all over again? Who would we get? What are the chances that he is any better? Might be better off with some continuity and giving the guy a chance. Got to find some playmakers.

We have had 3 coaches in 3 years, which I would assume is unprecedented at this level. We need some continuity. We fired Arnett because he wasn't qualified and deserved it. We were awful last year. Our defense sucked last year too. We made every QB we played look like the Heisman front-runner. I think this years team beats last years by double digits and wins the same 5 games with that same schedule. Probably the only offense out there that our defense this year could shut down.

IMO - we just have to give Lebby time and if he thinks it is best to keep Hutz then I am not excited about it but get it.
I agree with pretty much everything you posted except Hutz, he needs to go. We need an experienced nationally know DC who can give this defense an identity and can attract players from the portal. Find the guy and give him an offer he can’t refuse. I’ve seen flashes of improvement on offense but I’ve seen nothing from this defense to give me any hope for next year. We can’t fire Lebby, the bleeding of coaches has to stop. We really don’t need the optics of firing another DC but I don’t think we have a choice if the university wants any fan support next year.
 

LandingDog

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I agree with pretty much everything you posted except Hutz, he needs to go. We need an experienced nationally know DC who can give this defense an identity and can attract players from the portal. Find the guy and give him an offer he can’t refuse. I’ve seen flashes of improvement on offense but I’ve seen nothing from this defense to give me any hope for next year. We can’t fire Lebby, the bleeding of coaches has to stop. We really don’t need the optics of firing another DC but I don’t think we have a choice if the university wants any fan support next year.
I am good with that so long as we are certain that we can hire someone who fits your description. I am skeptical that we can do that though. I would assume that we will hire another assistant from somewhere...granted I would expect that guy's current role to be DC and not his team's ST coordinator.
 
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RopeDawg

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It really is hard to know right now. Our situation was easily, right now, the worst situation for a new P4 head coach in the country. Hate to say.

I think what happened this year though is he identified his core group of young offensive and a couple defensive guys that he can now start to build a roster around to hopefully in 2 years get us to where we want to be. I think that was his plan for year 1 and that was the smart decision considering the state of the program.

If you knew anything about football going into this season you knew how bad it was going to be. There was absolutely zero talent on this team and the little we did have were freshman and smaller school transfers that had never played in the SEC.

There amount of posters predicting 6-8 wins in the preseason thread was pretty amazing to me at the time. Even after the spring game people were pumping sunshine and I was just thinking what the hell were y’all watching? Undersized and slow.

The plan for year 2 needs to be to figure out who we want to retain on offense to continue developing and get some guys in to help around the core players and get us ready for 2026. And the focus on recruiting and transfer portal needs to be all defense and use 2025 to get that side of the ball on the right track. We need to be building for 2026/27.

And Lebby might not be the answer but with the State of our program and the landscape of CFB now we were not getting any sitting head coach or big time OC/DC to come here without paying way over market value because your career as a HC likely starts and ends here. We are lucky to have even gotten him and likely only did because he is buddies with AD. Just the reality.

And people bitching all year about Hutzler crack me up. He may have been retarded but Saban would have had the same results with this defensive talent. That’s just the truth.

So I bet that is what Lebby’s plan is, and honestly it HAS to be because that is the only way out of this hole. He is seeing the big picture. 6 wins in 2026 should be the goal at this point. You can say “loser mentality” all you want but I’m right.
 

Maroon Eagle

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On the surface, we are a I-AA football program masquerading as and SEC program.

Much like our logo, we are quick to change lanes without much thought for the long run and choose to commit to the present moment.

You ask if we have the “right guy.” The real question is “Do we have the right team?”

In short, there is a critical leadership issue. You can point to individuals, but this is systemic failure. Period.
Is it systemic failure or is it that Leadership expected this season to turn out the way it’s gone during this course of righting the ship for the long run of NIL sports AND knew We can’t handle the truth?

But the problem is We are M-State. We are quick to change lanes.
 

Drebin

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TBD. We’ve got the right offensive system.

We could have nick saban and bill belichick on our staff and still gone 4-8 this year though.
I don't completely agree. Our talent level on defense sucks but with some good coaching on that side of the ball, we could have gotten to six wins. We've had SEC games that would've been really interesting if we could've gotten off the field on third down a couple of times.
 

patdog

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I don't completely agree. Our talent level on defense sucks but with some good coaching on that side of the ball, we could have gotten to six wins. We've had SEC games that would've been really interesting if we could've gotten off the field on third down a couple of times.
I don’t think we could have gotten to 6 wins. But there’s damn sure no excuse or blaming previous coaches or lack of talent that we shouldn’t have won 4. That’s all on Lebby & Mutzler.
 
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Drebin

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I don’t think we could have gotten to 6 wins. But there’s damn sure no excuse or blaming previous coaches or lack of talent that we shouldn’t have won 4. That’s all on Lebby & Mutzler.
I think we definitely could've beaten ASU, Toledo, Florida, and Missouri with any semblance of a pulse on defense.
 

horshack.sixpack

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he said in the preseason "I just want Mississippi State fans to feel like they’ve got the right guy at the end of the season.”

So do we have the right guy? I honestly can't answer it regardless of what happens Friday. I do know I can give a definitive answer of "No" by Monday. It's if he keeps Hutzler. That means he's not willing to make the tough decision for the betterment of Mississippi State football.
If he keeps Hutzler, he will prove he's not ready to make bottom line head coaching decisions.

ETA: If he promises to have bi-weekly meetings with Art to learn how to HC, exclusive of handling non-football related player discipline, we may be OK.
 
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Indndawg

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he said in the preseason "I just want Mississippi State fans to feel like they’ve got the right guy at the end of the season.”

So do we have the right guy? I honestly can't answer it regardless of what happens Friday. I do know I can give a definitive answer of "No" by Monday. It's if he keeps Hutzler. That means he's not willing to make the tough decision for the betterment of Mississippi State football.
No we don't. He should step down and apply at OU for OC. He's not HC material.
 

Indndawg

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We don’t! Mullen should have been our guy. Bring back Mullen, and you immediately get the fan base re energized.
A visceral reaction would say this is stupid, but if you think about it....makes sense. Dan would get us back to par and perhaps a crappy bowl. Love to see Dan hired as HC, get the program turned around and tell him AD is yours. Starkville is yours.
 

85Bears

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Seems like a watered down Lincoln Riley. Can be an OC at OU with five stars playing in the big 12 but way over his head trying to rebuild a program in the sec as HC. nothing against Lebby , ive been pretty neutral on him. Many OC rookie coaches would struggle in this situation.
 

Seinfeld

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I don’t think there’s a thing that Lebby can do during the next week to ensure anyone that we’ve got the right guy.

If he puts an unmotivated, 2-win team on the field Friday that gets beaten by 30, though…. the 2% hope that I have in him eventually turning this thing around will evaporate. If he can’t get a team motivated for that game, I’ll be at a complete loss as to what he actually brings to the table
 

M R DAWGS

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The only sensible answer is that no, we don’t have the right guy. We’re 2-10 and haven’t been close to winning an SEC game.

The defense is laughable, and we look undisciplined. Mullen had us looking well-coached within a few games.

This may be unpopular and I don’t care, but the most reliable way to get this ship righted is to try to bring Mullen back soon. He’s done it before. Every other hiring option caries more risk.

“Rabble rabble, he can’t recruit in this era”

whatever recruiting he could get done would be a dam n sight better than what is occurring now.

Dude is a good coach, has name recognition, and would get good coaches and players to come here. Of course with leaders like Selmon and Keenum I doubt they view this as an option.
As I drink bourbon, I know that “This is the way.”

100%
 
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M R DAWGS

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I agree 100% with bringing Dan back but reality is he wouldn’t touch this program with a ten foot pole.
Money plays

All of this bs money we pay to players with a crappy coach is wasted. Take that money and get a good coach and go from there.

I am not wrong.

He came back to be honored this year and said that his legacy is being known as our coach. He would come back. If I were AD, he’d be back, and there would be an immediate difference.
 
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85Bears

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Money plays

All of this bs money we pay to players with a crappy coach is wasted. Take that money and get a good coach and go from there.

I am not wrong.
Dans a smart guy in this environment, if he coaches again he is going to a program where nil money is not an issue. That excluded us. I agree with you otherwise , get a veteran coach who does not need training wheels and has a blueprint and a vision based on experience.
 

M R DAWGS

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Dans a smart guy in this environment, if he coaches again he is going to a program where nil money is not an issue. That excluded us. I agree with you otherwise , get a veteran coach who does not need training wheels and has a blueprint and a vision based on experience.
If he wins like he has done before, money will not be a problem. Period

Honestly, as soon as he is hired, money will not be a problem. I can promise that.

The problem is that we have a bunch of dumbasses running our university. They live and thrive in the academia world that is not reality.

Making poor decisions is their forte.
 
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LandingDog

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A visceral reaction would say this is stupid, but if you think about it....makes sense. Dan would get us back to par and perhaps a crappy bowl. Love to see Dan hired as HC, get the program turned around and tell him AD is yours. Starkville is yours.
I wanted to bring back Dan instead of hiring Lebby but too late for that. Cannot fire Lebby after one season with what he inherited. I think he’s going to get it headed in the right direction. I don’t think he is a JoeMo
 

85Bears

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If he wins like he has done before, money will not be a problem. Period

Honestly, as soon as he is hired, money will not be a problem. I can promise that.

The problem is that we have a bunch of dumbasses running our university. They live and thrive in the academia world that is not reality.

Making poor decisions is their forte.
True. If you follow the failure it leads to the top
 
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M R DAWGS

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I can't believe people think Dan Mullen would want to come back to State.

Go get Saban for DC too *
Where else can he get a 5-6 million dollar paycheck. I’ll wait for your answer. If you say ESPN, I doubt it.

Dumb 17

I am not wrong, if we somehow miraculously hire him now, we will be relevant again in 1-2 years.
 
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Mr. Cook

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I agree 100% with bringing Dan back but reality is he wouldn’t touch this program with a ten foot pole.
Express Yourself Arts GIF by PBS
 
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Maroon13

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Where else can he get a 3-4 million dollar paycheck. I’ll wait for your answer. If you say ESPN, I doubt it.

Dumb 17

I am not wrong, if we somehow miraculously hire him now, we will be relevant again in 1-2 years.
Well you're right we would be relevant again if he was coach again.

However you're to dumb to comprehend he wanted out here for years and with his best team returning, walked out the door.

Also He could have a variety of college HC jobs and make the same salary and have the same or better nil as state and not have the up hill battle in conference.
 

HumpDawgy

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He would need to clean house on the defensive side for me to feel like he has a chance to be a decent head coach. The only consolation would be if we hired a new DL coach and made him the co defensive coordinator and would call the defense and make Huzler co DC and in charge of filling up the Gatorade buckets.
 

L4Dawg

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Something to remember about Hutzler: I've been told it will cost around 3 million to fire him. The person that told me that usually has good information. He said we are unlikely to fire him.
 

L4Dawg

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THIS is the real problem. Our young, inexperienced AD who thinks he knows everything made an unnecessary premature panic fire last year so he could hire his inexperienced friend from Oklahoma. And this is why we're where we are stuck with the same bad coaches next year.
ADs don't fire football coaches. Neither do university presidents.
 

L4Dawg

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I don't completely agree. Our talent level on defense sucks but with some good coaching on that side of the ball, we could have gotten to six wins. We've had SEC games that would've been really interesting if we could've gotten off the field on third down a couple of times.
We get blown off the ball on defense by everybody we play. We do not have the talent to get anywhere close to six wins.
 

22yardpunt

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THIS is the real problem. Our young, inexperienced AD who thinks he knows everything made an unnecessary premature panic fire last year so he could hire his inexperienced friend from Oklahoma. And this is why we're where we are stuck with the same bad coaches next year.
You are of the thought that changes were not needed last year?
 

GloryDawg

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No and I am worried we will have the same results next season and Selmon will not have the nuts to do what needs to be done and if he doesn't have the nuts unfortunately the guy who should fire him does not have the nuts either.

I hate to think about it but the four current playoff teams we played this season we play again next season. ASU may not be as strong, and we play them at home. The other three will probably be better. I have a feeling Ole Miss will be weakened, and we get them at home. Florida will be better, and we go on the road to play them. MO might be weakened next season, but we go on the road as well. I don't think things are going to be that much easier and we will have the same coaches and based on current recruiting we will have the same G5 style roster.
 
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patdog

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You are of the thought that changes were not needed last year?
It’s funny how many people are saying give a 2-10 1st year coach 2 more years who were so quick to fire a 5-7 1st year coach. I don’t think Arnett was the long term answer by any means. But it’s not like last year was anywhere near the disaster this year is. And we’d be in much better position to make the move now & start with hopefully a good coach instead of being locked in with a clueless staff.
 
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