What things made our athletics programs (as a whole) successful in the 90's...?

[mbbramuc]

I was curious what few things everyone felt were the most importnat in State's success in the 90's. Here's my take:

1. good recruiting (and cheating, depending on your take)
2. good coaches (especially concerning number 1 above)
3. the pieces just, for whatever reason, finally pieced together for awhile

Thoughts?

 

[cowbell9]

nm

 

[patdog]

Football = Jackie Sherrill. End of story.

Basketball = Richard Williams was a good coach, but the pieces all fell together for our 95-96 successes.

Baseball = We really weren't all the successful (by our standards) in the 90s. We did have a good 2-year run in 97-98, but overall the decade was a disapointment.

Any other sport = who really gives a ****?

 

[mbbramuc]

I agree....I considered him in number 1 and 2 (along with R. Williams). And as a clarification, did not want to imply that we excessively cheated. Just meant that we caught up with everyone else...

 

[Todd4State]

1. Baseball- we were coming off of our golden decade, and Ole Miss and USM weren't even factors for the first seven years for the most part- although USM did have a couple of Regional teams in the early 90's. We had the #1 recruiting class in 1994, and that class made it to Omaha twice. Even then, Polk didn't have the fire to win a NC, but it was nowhere close to what it was this decade. I think the baseball program would have continued to have success, and probably even more had we simply not brought Polk back- whether we hired Manieri or not. I think baseball was a case of bringing in the wrong coach with the wrong attitude and LT using our laurels to rest on as far as the stadium. It was getting to the point where the only people showing up were the croonies and the loungers.

2. Football- Jackie took Rockey's recruits and won with them, because he's a good coach. When things started going down in the middle of the decade and Sherrill was starting to get on the hot seat, he brought in Joe Lee Dunn and really started to exploit the JUCO's, which was an untapped source of talent, and we used that combo to win the SEC West and go 10-2. In this decade, I think our problems were because Jackie didn't know when to quit, and we didn't have an AD that was willing to do what needed to be done. Then he made another poor hire with Croom.

3. Basketball- This sport was in the worst shape of the three in the 90's. Williams put together a really good team with Dampier, Dontae, and Super D, and they got hot and made it to the Final Four. Then that team basically left, graduated, or got arrested, and we struggled for a couple of years until Richard hooked up with a cheerleader/pom squad member and knocked her up. Then we brought in/promoted Rick who started to rebuild the team in the late 90's, and by the end of that decade, things were looking like they were headed in the right direction, and sure enough he has built a pretty solid program.

 

[TheBigDA]

.

 

[futaba.79]

we won the SEC in '91, so I'm not sure it was in the worst shape of the three. </p>

Rick recruited the team that went to the final 4. </p>

 

[AROB44]

TheBigDA wrote: LT _________________________________________________ .

You jest of course.

 

[Dawgbreeze]

anybody in their right mind would not think Lonnie Tinkle.

 

[mbbramuc]

I def think basketball (i.e. Williams) was critical to our success. I also think better TV exposure of the entire conference (from 80s and 90s) helped State (along with all of the teams in the conference).

 

[Coach34]

hiring better coaches....

Football?? King Jackie came in and coached the recruits Rockey was unable to. He also brought in some pretty good ones himself..Having a competent leader that was able to recruit makes a tremendous difference. Jackie brought Mississippi State from the depths of SEC Hell to being a competent QB away from an SEC title in 1998 and a possible NC in 1999.

Basketball?? Richard Williams started building and upgrading the SEC's worst basketball program and by 1991 had an SEC title. Williams was an outstanding basketball coach, but hated recruiting. Adding Kirby and Stansbury to his staff was what the man needed to help recruit for our big run in 95 and 96. Then Stansbury taking over after Williams helped transition the program. While Stansbury is obviously not as good of an X's and O's guy as Williams, he has been able to recruit much more steadily to help the program level out and be more consistent.

Baseball? I think we took a downturn until Mac took over and breathed some life back into it. Its a shame we lost him so quick

 

[mbbramuc]

I agree on Mac (which was not very popular at the time becasue of his supposed fan unpopularity...i was a fan of winning). No matter what though, we couldn't have kept him between the money and the homecomming.

 

[Todd4State]

was that he was not Ron Polk. I really think that's why he left. He got tired of hearing about what Ron Polk would or wouldn't do.

I think the being closer to parents was a "nice" excuse for leaving, because it wouldn't be very tactful to come out and say, "Ya'll are a bunch of nuts. Here's Uncle Ron back, have fun. Oh, and you're welcome for the SR appearances and the 2001 SEC Tournament Championship".

Our fans are incredibly stupid to the point of pissing me off. We had to bring Polk back to kill the program so we could move forward. And hell, I'm sure there are at least a few that would take him back in a heartbeat.

 

[patdog]

Baseball? I think we took a downturn until Mac took over and breathed some life back into it. Its a shame we lost him so quick

For all the hell he catches from almost all MSU fans, McMahon's coaching tenure at MSU was the most successful consecutive seasons we've had in our history. And when he left, he left Polk with a group of players that 2 years later became the most players we've ever had drafted in our history. He's easily the most underrated coach we've ever had in any sport.

 

[patdog]

Pat McMahon wasn't Ron Polk. He was an upgrade over Ron Polk. It's not a coincidence that our program, which had foundered in the early 90s came back to life when Polk re-hired McMahon from Old Dominion. </p>

 

[HD6]

but wasn't McMahon the chief recruiter for that 94 class.

If we could get a class like that aGAIN, the damage we could do.

 

[Todd4State]

but I don't think he had much to do with that class because he came back after the 1994 season, and those players signed in 1994, if my media guide is correct. I guess Steve Smith was the guy who was responsible for most of that group.

Steve Johnigan and Raffo probably helped some to.

McMahon may have helped bring in Van Johnson and I'm pretty sure he got Brett Wheeler to transfer in from Old Dominion, so he did have a little impact on that group.

That class was a combination of Mississippi having a really good year as far as baseball talent, UM and USM being down, and a bunch of players that wanted to play for "The Legend" before he bowed out. Word on the street even before he hired McMahon was that Polk was going to retire soon.

 

[mbbramuc]

I agree with everything being said about Mac.... From another standpoint however, his leaving could have signaled the start of our current downturn. Can you imagine anyone leaving such a solid program...even if it is Florida. I wish we could return to the days where Mississippi State WAS a golden destination. That's part of the reason I was so excited about JC returning. The fact that we could draw away a coach who was really building a solid program (even though it wa at UK) and get them here. I just felt it was our program really flexing its muscles, though I am not sure how much longer we can do that...the chairbacks look emptier and emptier every passing year.

 

[Mjoelner]

<span style="font-weight: bold;">"...the chairbacks look emptier and emptier every passing year" </span> and fewer and fewer people in the outfield are even aware that a baseball game is going on.

 

[Todd4State]

think Florida has a better program than MSU. For starters, they're third in their own state in baseball behind Miami and FSU. They don't draw nearly as well- look at their SR against USM, much less have the same type of atmosphere that we do. And as far as paying for a coach- baseball is the one sport we could probably outbid Florida for a coach.

Another thing- Cohen was also an assistant at UF. Both MSU and UF had job openings while Cohen was at UK. I think it's pretty obvious which one he finds more appealing.

The only thing that they have over MSU is that they have a better talent pool to draw from, but they never seem to take advantage of it as much as they should. Probably because of Miami and FSU. And even then, MSU has had as much or more success than UF historically in baseball.