We’ve cheaped-out on every football coach we’ve
- Thread starter TheBannerM
- Start date
Barry Odom is gonna go 0-9 in year 1 in the BIG
The argument is hiring a proven HC.
As someone else outlined, even a proven HC from ND to G5 didn't work for some.
However I believe Odom would have been a better hire because of his experience and he is defensive coach. States football identity is defense, athlete at QB and play field position. Odom would have brought that.
We have 2 SEC wins over our last 23. Both against Arkansas teams that were 1-7 or 0-7 in the SEC.
If we could hire Gus Malzahn, we need to fire Lebby now.
I just think I would have avoided him as an example since he is doing exactly what Lebby did in year 1 of a total rehab.
Last year is part of Lebby's record. 7-17 (1-15) after the Egg Bowl. It literally cannot get worse than that.
Some of that’s on Lebbys for sure but he inherited a personnel’s dumpster fire. Leach always gets the covid pass for some reason bc he didn’t get a spring. Lebby seems to get no pass for inheriting a roster disaster. And let’s be real. If we had OM or Mizzous schedule we would have 3-4 sec wins
No Covid pass for Leach and no pass for Lebby. Those years are on both of their records for a reason. They're their records.
100% this. You think this year’s season ticket sales were bad? You ain’t seen nothing like what will ensue with Lebby coming back for a 3rd year. If we lose just 5,000 season ticket sales, that’s what…..$3 or $4 million less revenue by itself?
The other thing is that, again, Lebby’s salary and our portal haul / NIL are being bankrolled by the same people. And they are paying a lot more for the players than they are for the coaching staff. Any effort they make to double down on even better players than last year’s haul is absolutely wasted money if the same leadership is in place…..and they know that. So they are either not going to pony up this time and essentially seal Lebby’s fate that way, or they are going to pay for a new staff and maybe take a one year hit on the talent side. But it’s really hard to imagine that they’ll continue to flush money down the toilet with this staff in place.
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I went ahead and edited it for you so you can just use the same line in 2026 when Lebby is 4-8 / 1-8 next year. It sounds just as bad.
Point is, you’re always going to be able to fall back on the same rationale if you are afraid of change. The simple fact is that everyone knows deep down that who we have is not the guy….1-14 in league play, 2-15 against the P4, a 25-point asskicking by Toledo, and a dozen facepalm-worthy in-game decisions that are even more damning than all of the above.
I’m sure he’s the first coach to ever have this problem after the guy before him got fired….
It’s a lot more than just not having a spring. Leach had a 10-game SEC schedule, and zero home field advantage in any game. And he still was able to win three SEC games in Year 1 after also taking over a personnel dumpster fire. Leach “got a pass” because it was obvious that he’d have gone 6-6 in a normal year with that team.
He gets no pass because he did literally nothing to instill hope that he could do more with less, or improve the roster situation. We got clobbered in virtually every loss last season.
We have the #10 SOS in the 16 team SEC. The schedule is not the problem. But I still disagree regardless…..we should have 3-4 SEC wins right now anyway if we had competent coaching.
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Well as Hadad said, if he could win 2 SEC games in 2 years it would be an improvement
You're missing the point - we NEED to open up the purse strings and throw a ton of money at a proven coach, but we won't because WE ALWAYS CHEAP OUT ON FB COACHES. We're not going to overpay to make a spash hiring.
It makes perfect sense if you want to stay in the SEC. When the SEC Grant-of-Rights is up in nine years, you'll see how much more important college football is than a niche sport like baseball.
This is one of the dumbest thing fans say. Lebby is relatively young and it would take him years to get another head coaching job after being fired from State. No one in their right mind would tank their career because they want out. You do the best job you can, call your agent and try to get the best landing spot you can get. The kind of person who would tank a college football season never gets to this position in the first place.
Ive come to terms that the administration, the donor brass and a good majority of our fanbase is okay with trying to be to baseball what Kentucky is to basketball.
I've been told that several of our biggest donors have zero interest in football.
I've been told that several of our biggest donors have zero interest in football.
That's great. We can all celebrate those Sun Belt baseball championships as university enrollment goes into the dumper.
Unless Lebby is looking at next years schedule and has been told what the nil funding is likely to be and sees another 0-8 sec season coming down the pike. He’s then
Looking at a 1-23 sec record and is basically unemployable. It might be smarter longterm to get out of that situation, especially with a golden parachute of a buyout
We're committing athletic suicide with this unhealthy obsession with baseball. We're digging our own grave with that nonsense (and people are excited about it). But it helped Oregon State become a powerhouse in football and basketball so there is some merit to the idea....wait....
Fair point. I just don't think someone who got in this position would have that mindset. Lebby probably thinks we're a few pieces away from competing.
When the story is written about what happened to Mississippi State football, here will be the focal points:
1. The baseball national championship.
2. That summer, NIL goes into effect, most of our fanbase is apathetic toward the idea while our rivals are lining up to create collectives and pay players.
3. This eventually drives our athletic director to leave for a conference rival.
4. Mike Leach dies without an AD in place and the President makes an emotional, rushed hire of a guy that would eventually be caught naked in a Wendy's drive thru.
5. We hire an inexperienced athletic director who makes a terrible hire in Lebby, who hires his buddies and creates one of the worst Power 4 coaching staffs in history.
6. Fans get restless after an 0-8 season, so athletic director takes advice of donors and throws money at baseball and brings back interlocking logo to score internet points.
Seriously. Selmon was dog **** on the internet until he hired O'Connor and brought back interlocking MSU - now the same people are calling him the best AD we've ever had. O'Connor will likely be successful, but he hasn't coached a game yet.
1. The baseball national championship.
2. That summer, NIL goes into effect, most of our fanbase is apathetic toward the idea while our rivals are lining up to create collectives and pay players.
3. This eventually drives our athletic director to leave for a conference rival.
4. Mike Leach dies without an AD in place and the President makes an emotional, rushed hire of a guy that would eventually be caught naked in a Wendy's drive thru.
5. We hire an inexperienced athletic director who makes a terrible hire in Lebby, who hires his buddies and creates one of the worst Power 4 coaching staffs in history.
6. Fans get restless after an 0-8 season, so athletic director takes advice of donors and throws money at baseball and brings back interlocking logo to score internet points.
Seriously. Selmon was dog **** on the internet until he hired O'Connor and brought back interlocking MSU - now the same people are calling him the best AD we've ever had. O'Connor will likely be successful, but he hasn't coached a game yet.
I love the hindsight 20/20 attitude of people predicting a bottom 1/4 of an SEC football program’s coach is not gonna work out.
Guess what? You can do that for every one of those programs over the next 20 years and you will be right 70% of the time.
Hell, can think of 3 examples where coaches were terrible hires, 2 years later they were the best hire ever, then 2 years later they were a terrible hire.
Gene Chizik
Shane Beamer
Sam Pittman
The Belle of the Ball Clark Lea started
2-10
5-7
2-10
And was sitting at 2-2 last year with a loss to a 3-9 Sun Belt team until the beat the number one team in the nation and completely changed the conversation.
If you compiled a list of the top 10 coaches in CFB on 09/01/2025, James Franklin would be on everyone’s list. 8 weeks later he is unemployed.
Do I think Lebby is going to work out? Not currently. Do I think we can spend the kind of money to bring a GUARANTEED winner to State? Absolutely not.
Guess what? You can do that for every one of those programs over the next 20 years and you will be right 70% of the time.
Hell, can think of 3 examples where coaches were terrible hires, 2 years later they were the best hire ever, then 2 years later they were a terrible hire.
Gene Chizik
Shane Beamer
Sam Pittman
The Belle of the Ball Clark Lea started
2-10
5-7
2-10
And was sitting at 2-2 last year with a loss to a 3-9 Sun Belt team until the beat the number one team in the nation and completely changed the conversation.
If you compiled a list of the top 10 coaches in CFB on 09/01/2025, James Franklin would be on everyone’s list. 8 weeks later he is unemployed.
Do I think Lebby is going to work out? Not currently. Do I think we can spend the kind of money to bring a GUARANTEED winner to State? Absolutely not.
Nah Bruh 17 that noise.The black hole part. Our baseball team is gonna give us a break from this most traumatic time of MSU sports in my lifetime. "Ourfinite"resources will pay of.
It will be nice, but football pays the bills. Being in the SEC is one of the best recruiting pitches we have for prospective students and being "good at baseball" won't matter when the Great Sorting happens in college sports.
the only thing I was asserting was that it was bad enough to get conspiracy theories going. The question was rhetorical, in my opinion. I don't think he is intentionally tanking it, but boy is some of the play calling mind numbingly dumb...
And baseball will still lose money. We can't afford a baseball program at such a luxury level in the modern financial environment in college sports. It provides a negative return on investment. It is dragging down the program that pays the bills.