Well...how time flies when you are changing the culture of MSU's fanbase!!!! I couldn't believe it when Dawgstudent messaged me this morning to remind me the significance of today. 20 years and a few weeks ago, we sat in the old George Street Grocery, enjoying a nice po-boy and talking about the ****** state of our football program. Having just come off a 3-9 season (one that Rosebowl earned his name by predicting a trip to Pasadena on the backs of the ****** Arizona Juco players). At the time, Genespage was taking off and The Swan thought he could keep a lid on the opinions of the fanbase and stay in good graces with LT. Up until this moment, they had controlled the small-minded narrative of "poor little Mississippi State", making our fans feel lucky to sell home games to the likes of Florida and be grateful we made bowl games once every 30 years. I predicted that if I said "6-6 is the best I think MSU will do this season", all hell would break loose, and it did! Gene went on a bender, banning everyone who dare questioned the state of our football program.
And so it started - after a few miserable weeks / months of a thousand daily emails back and forth, Dawgstudent figured out how to start a message board and eventually opened it up to the public. And this began a Rennaissance within our fanbase. No more was the narrative completely controlled by Gene and dweebs like David Murray (what is that guy doing these days anyway....no never-mind...I don't really care). People began to openly question why we were led by someone as ****** as LT, who had never left the GTR in his life and would sell MSU out to be "liked" by other ADs in the conference. Questions surfaced like - Why did he skimp so much on our baseball stadium expansion? He was really too cheap to move the light poles - that can't be true? Why did he skimp on our football renovation? He really thinks our fanbase can only afford 5 or 6 homes games? Why did we have to settle for a career NFL assistant coach who had never proven anything, other than being passed over by Alabama? Why can't we pay our assistant coaches halfway reasonable salaries? I really think this cultural shift, along with a slightly crazy streak, gave General Folgesong to cover he needed to end LT's contract and usher in the modern era of our athletics at MSU with the hiring of the Ninja - Greg Byrne. Think about the chain of events and what was avoided by LT being gone: Byrne hiring Mullen (who is an *******, but absolutely the best coach we have ever had) and not the next Alabama reject/retread, Byrne telling Polk to get lost and not hiring Raffo (will get to our current state of the baseball in a second). And on and on......
Post Byrne has really been up and down for MSU sports. We hired two AD's, both alumni, who were in over their heads and really had no business getting hired. And in true MSU fashion, both jilted their school for other SEC schools and should never feel welcome back on campus, ever - period!!!! We had some success here and there, women's basketball almost got it done, but don't worry, Cohen ran that coach off. Can't say enough about MSU's baseball Natty. And if you believe my story, it all started a little over 20 years ago in George Street, because without the 6-Pack, we don't fire LT and never hire Cohen back as our baseball coach and on and on. So - you are welcome for the bravery we had back in the day!!!!
Now to where we are today - only at MSU, would we win a Natty, OM win the next year, while we completely fall apart as a program. Let's be clear, Foxhall has sucked since he got here (our pitchers regress from their freshmen year on). Lemonis has proven he isn't really a good coach without Jake, Will, Tanner, Rowdy, Landon, etc. Don't forget, he was a complete letdown hire by Cohen, who promised someone different. I am glad he somehow won a Natty, but his time is done. And no - Bus Driver, we are not spoiled!!! Your opinion doesn't matter and no one really gives a **** what the bus driver for MSU thinks, so be quit go to the old folks home with LT. I hope our new AD does great, but this is a message for him - Zac Selmon, YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK!!!!! We will set a record that will be hard to break with the number of run-rule losses this year, so you better be working to change things soon! And, as far as other sports, we all with the best for Zach Arnett and hope he leads us into a new era in MSU football, but we deserve to be competitive. Give him the resources he needs (the recruiting budget and NIL is deplorable).
So - with that, I will end this with a parting thought. Never underestimate the impact of a lunchtime ******** session with your friends, as it can truly change the culture of an entire fanbase!!!!
Hailstate!!!!!!
-Squintdawg
PS - Oh - and my original prediction that started all this **** was optimistic, as we went 2-10 that year!
Go to hell LT!!!!!
And so it started - after a few miserable weeks / months of a thousand daily emails back and forth, Dawgstudent figured out how to start a message board and eventually opened it up to the public. And this began a Rennaissance within our fanbase. No more was the narrative completely controlled by Gene and dweebs like David Murray (what is that guy doing these days anyway....no never-mind...I don't really care). People began to openly question why we were led by someone as ****** as LT, who had never left the GTR in his life and would sell MSU out to be "liked" by other ADs in the conference. Questions surfaced like - Why did he skimp so much on our baseball stadium expansion? He was really too cheap to move the light poles - that can't be true? Why did he skimp on our football renovation? He really thinks our fanbase can only afford 5 or 6 homes games? Why did we have to settle for a career NFL assistant coach who had never proven anything, other than being passed over by Alabama? Why can't we pay our assistant coaches halfway reasonable salaries? I really think this cultural shift, along with a slightly crazy streak, gave General Folgesong to cover he needed to end LT's contract and usher in the modern era of our athletics at MSU with the hiring of the Ninja - Greg Byrne. Think about the chain of events and what was avoided by LT being gone: Byrne hiring Mullen (who is an *******, but absolutely the best coach we have ever had) and not the next Alabama reject/retread, Byrne telling Polk to get lost and not hiring Raffo (will get to our current state of the baseball in a second). And on and on......
Post Byrne has really been up and down for MSU sports. We hired two AD's, both alumni, who were in over their heads and really had no business getting hired. And in true MSU fashion, both jilted their school for other SEC schools and should never feel welcome back on campus, ever - period!!!! We had some success here and there, women's basketball almost got it done, but don't worry, Cohen ran that coach off. Can't say enough about MSU's baseball Natty. And if you believe my story, it all started a little over 20 years ago in George Street, because without the 6-Pack, we don't fire LT and never hire Cohen back as our baseball coach and on and on. So - you are welcome for the bravery we had back in the day!!!!
Now to where we are today - only at MSU, would we win a Natty, OM win the next year, while we completely fall apart as a program. Let's be clear, Foxhall has sucked since he got here (our pitchers regress from their freshmen year on). Lemonis has proven he isn't really a good coach without Jake, Will, Tanner, Rowdy, Landon, etc. Don't forget, he was a complete letdown hire by Cohen, who promised someone different. I am glad he somehow won a Natty, but his time is done. And no - Bus Driver, we are not spoiled!!! Your opinion doesn't matter and no one really gives a **** what the bus driver for MSU thinks, so be quit go to the old folks home with LT. I hope our new AD does great, but this is a message for him - Zac Selmon, YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK!!!!! We will set a record that will be hard to break with the number of run-rule losses this year, so you better be working to change things soon! And, as far as other sports, we all with the best for Zach Arnett and hope he leads us into a new era in MSU football, but we deserve to be competitive. Give him the resources he needs (the recruiting budget and NIL is deplorable).
So - with that, I will end this with a parting thought. Never underestimate the impact of a lunchtime ******** session with your friends, as it can truly change the culture of an entire fanbase!!!!
Hailstate!!!!!!
-Squintdawg
PS - Oh - and my original prediction that started all this **** was optimistic, as we went 2-10 that year!
Go to hell LT!!!!!
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