Football Media Team Fired

[Dawgology]

I didn't see it posted here. Looks like the entire team was fired yesterday afternoon. It sucks that it's right before the holidays for those families, but hopefully, they got a good severance. But, honestly, the content and engagement has been bad. No creativity on the creative team. Hopefully, this is a sign that certain people in the administration are beginning to realize they may have to go ahead and evolve or retire.

[DEDawg]

I hate to see anyone lose a job but man this was needed. We seem to be getting serious about modernizing our program and that?s refreshing to see

[StarkVegasSteve]

Mob mentality got them fired. It is a bad look.

[Dawgology]

Mob mentality got them fired. It is a bad look.

What, from a creativity and social media engagement standpoint regarding the football team has stood out to you this year?

[StarkVegasSteve]

What, from a creativity and social media engagement standpoint regarding the football team has stood out to you this year?

Despite the fact that we were 2-10 I always thought the pregame videos were good. I thought they were very active on both Twitter and Instagram. I really don't know what you were wanting them to do. I mean was there something they were not doing that I missed? The stuff yesterday wasn't a misstep. We just have a fan base that doesn't know how to use social media. The stuff they did was really cool. The grid of the entire player was something I haven't seen another team do.

I also am a tad bit biased because I know one of the guys let go, Bryce Mitchell, and think really highly of him and his talents.

[Dawgology]

Despite the fact that we were 2-10 I always thought the pregame videos were good. I thought they were very active on both Twitter and Instagram. I really don't know what you were wanting them to do. I mean was there something they were not doing that I missed? The stuff yesterday wasn't a misstep. We just have a fan base that doesn't know how to use social media. The stuff they did was really cool. The grid of the entire player was something I haven't seen another team do.

I also am a tad bit biased because I know one of the guys let go, Bryce Mitchell, and think really highly of him and his talents.

Why were they let go from Alabama? Or they chose to leave Alabama Football to work at Mississippi State?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Why were they let go from Alabama? Or they chose to leave Alabama Football to work at Mississippi State?

DeBoer wanted to bring in his own team from Washington is what I was told. Then again, I don't know this new guy that was hired. Bryce was here under Arnett and Leach. He graduated from State.

[Dawgology]

Despite the fact that we were 2-10 I always thought the pregame videos were good. I thought they were very active on both Twitter and Instagram. I really don't know what you were wanting them to do. I mean was there something they were not doing that I missed? The stuff yesterday wasn't a misstep. We just have a fan base that doesn't know how to use social media. The stuff they did was really cool. The grid of the entire player was something I haven't seen another team do.

I also am a tad bit biased because I know one of the guys let go, Bryce Mitchell, and think really highly of him and his talents.

I will say this: I'm a State fan. I've been a State fan my whole life. This past year (even actively tracking signing day yesterday) I saw more engaging videos and graphics from Alabama and Ole Miss while searching for State's insta and twitter. That's a problem. Additionally, we have NO presence on TikTok while Ole Miss has a TikTok profile with 250,000+ followers with branding/shop endorsements built in. This is a biiiiiiiiiig oversight. The 15-25 year old bracket is THE section that uses TikTok, Insta and snapchat and State is basically non existent on those platforms. This is what I mean with an overall strategy. The football program doesn't have one and what is there is incredibly antiquated.

ETA: you want to see why State is falling behind in the modern era of college football go to Ole Miss's TikTok and watch some of the fire they post. Then try to find Mississippi State of TikTok. We don't even have an official account. That is laughable.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I will say this: I'm a State fan. I've been a State fan my whole life. This past year (even actively tracking signing day yesterday) I saw more engaging videos and graphics from Alabama and Ole Miss while searching for State's insta and twitter. That's a problem. Additionally, we have NO presence on TikTok while Ole Miss has a TikTok profile with 250,000+ followers with branding/shop endorsements built in. This is a biiiiiiiiiig oversight. The 15-25 year old bracket is THE section that uses TikTok, Insta and snapchat and State is basically non existent on those platforms. This is what I mean with an overall strategy. The football program doesn't have one and what is there is incredibly antiquated.

And there you go. I think we are really active on Instagram, which apparently was a problem yesterday since our fan base doesn't know how to use Instagrams, see what I did there, and we just need everything on Twitter. I think TikTok is probably the same. We'd have oldheads complaining that they don't know how to use that. I agree we need to be more active on TikTok, but it seemed like yesterday's problem was that they were active but just not on the social media site for old people, which is Twitter.

[Dawgology]

And there you go. I think we are really active on Instagram, which apparently was a problem yesterday since our fan base doesn't know how to use Instagrams, see what I did there, and we just need everything on Twitter. I think TikTok is probably the same. We'd have oldheads complaining that they don't know how to use that. I agree we need to be more active on TikTok, but it seemed like yesterday's problem was that they were active but just not on the social media site for old people, which is Twitter.

Maybe? But why do we not have posts going out on Insta, snap, TikTok, facebook and Twitter (interesting occurrence many late Gen-Z kids are turning back to facebook). I ran marketing for a very small company and there are relatively cheap software solutions that allow you to post on every single social media platform out there all at once. You can schedule stuff, do interactives, all kinds of things. Plus, engagement on these platforms are incredibly important. You can't just drop a post and disappear for a day or two. You have to interact with people who comment. You have to go to competitor profiles and interact, you have to find hot/trending posts and get your brand on them. Soooooooo much that we aren't doing. It's a VERY full time job and it has to be treated as such.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Maybe? But why do we not have posts going out on Insta, snap, TikTok, facebook and Twitter (interesting occurrence many late Gen-Z kids are turning back to facebook). I ran marketing for a very small company and there are relatively cheap software solutions that allow you to post on every single social media platform out there all at once. You can schedule stuff, do interactives, all kinds of things. Plus, engagement on these platforms are incredibly important. You can't just drop a post and disappear for a day or two. You have to interact with people who comment. You have to go to competitor profiles and interact, you have to find hot/trending posts and get your brand on them. Soooooooo much that we aren't doing. It's a VERY full time job and it has to be treated as such.

We don't need to be interacting with any fans who comment on our stuff. Go read the comments on any of our posts. It's "this team 17 sucks". "Fire Hutzler". "I'm pulling my donation". Etc. I do agree that we need to troll a bit more, but it's kind of hard to troll at 2-10.

[Tater]

And there you go. I think we are really active on Instagram, which apparently was a problem yesterday since our fan base doesn't know how to use Instagrams, see what I did there, and we just need everything on Twitter. I think TikTok is probably the same. We'd have oldheads complaining that they don't know how to use that. I agree we need to be more active on TikTok, but it seemed like yesterday's problem was that they were active but just not on the social media site for old people, which is Twitter.

Why were they limiting themselves to one forum when different demographics use different forums.

You don't grow and maintain the fanbase by only trying to grow the fanbase or only trying to maintain the fanbase. You do both. We weren't doing both.

[Dawgology]

We don't need to be interacting with any fans who comment on our stuff. Go read the comments on any of our posts. It's "this team 17 sucks". "Fire Hutzler". "I'm pulling my donation". Etc. I do agree that we need to troll a bit more, but it's kind of hard to troll at 2-10.

Being 2-10 makes the trolling soooooo much easier you just have to be witty with it. And you absolutely have to interact (to a degree) with those commenters...even the haters. Any type of engagement is good engagement.

Heres a strategy I'll give MState for free: You start an argument with a hater and go hard at them and it causes a stir...which gets you on Barstool's Twitter and TikTok (by leveraging your connections there), which drives people to your profile and gets you followers not directly invested in the team but wanting to watch the drama...you build followers. Then, one day, you have a good season, get a big win, and you post the kickass video and all those people go "ok, hail state, we see you". This is "How to Build A Brand 101" and in 2024 we aren't even trying to do it. We aren't even on the field of play.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Why were they limiting themselves to one forum when different demographics use different forums.

You don't grow and maintain the fanbase by only trying to grow the fanbase or only trying to maintain the fanbase. You do both. We weren't doing both.

Oh I agree. Like I said, we could've been more active on TikTok but we were really active on Twitter and Instagram. The main gripe I saw yesterday was that people didn't know how to use the QR codes that would take them to Instagram. Again, I don't necessarily think that yesterday was the sole reason they were fired. It was probably just a myriad of things and yesterday was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I hate that it happened because those guys will be tough to replace. Those are low paying jobs and it's hard to get people to move to Starkville already. We should've never let Joe Williams leave. He was incredible with the baseball stuff in 2021, but of course our shit for brains AD at the time let him walk out the door to NC State. Now he's the Director of Creative at Miami. So chances of getting him back are ZERO.

Cohen screwed that whole dept. when he took over. We had one of the best marketing depts in the country under Stricklin and Byrne and Cohen killed it in 90 days. I mean we had Bob writing and he could've easily transitioned to podcasts, which he was doing at the time anyways. We had Derek Cody on the video side and, politics aside, he was damn good. We had Leah Beasley basically running creative, Cohen moved her to baseball specific. I mean he legit gutted the dept.

[Walkerhill]

Maybe? But why do we not have posts going out on Insta, snap, TikTok, facebook and Twitter (interesting occurrence many late Gen-Z kids are turning back to facebook). I ran marketing for a very small company and there are relatively cheap software solutions that allow you to post on every single social media platform out there all at once. You can schedule stuff, do interactives, all kinds of things. Plus, engagement on these platforms are incredibly important. You can't just drop a post and disappear for a day or two. You have to interact with people who comment. You have to go to competitor profiles and interact, you have to find hot/trending posts and get your brand on them. Soooooooo much that we aren't doing. It's a VERY full time job and it has to be treated as such.

Exactly. There is a difference between active and good (or even leading edge). Objectively, would you have guessed we had a 4-person full time media team based on the output? A strong suspicion is our media team was more experienced and weighted towards old media and we are re-calibrating towards new media. And we have to overperform as an organization to level the playing field on limited resources.

I hate to see people lose jobs, especially State grads and true State fans. But this is a big business and the fans can?t have it both ways - you can?t demand top results and also put constraints on the program that it serve as a country club jobs program.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Exactly. There is a difference between active and good (or even leading edge). Objectively, would you have guessed we had a 4-person full time media team based on the output? A strong suspicion is our media team was more experienced and weighted towards old media and we are re-calibrating towards new media. And we have to overperform as an organization to level the playing field on limited resources.

I hate to see people lose jobs, especially State grads and true State fans. But this is a big business and the fans can?t have it both ways - you can?t demand top results and also put constraints on the program that it serve as a country club jobs program.

We had leading edge. Cohen fired it.

[Tater]

We had leading edge. Cohen fired it.

Sounds like we're thinking about rebooting it. Change was needed. I'm skeptical that we're changing in the right way though.

[Dawgology]

Exactly. There is a difference between active and good (or even leading edge). Objectively, would you have guessed we had a 4-person full time media team based on the output? A strong suspicion is our media team was more experienced and weighted towards old media and we are re-calibrating towards new media. And we have to overperform as an organization to level the playing field on limited resources.

I hate to see people lose jobs, especially State grads and true State fans. But this is a big business and the fans can?t have it both ways - you can?t demand top results and also put constraints on the program that it serve as a country club jobs program.

This. THIS. And so MANY of the jobs in the athletic department have been treated with the good ol' boy friend of a friend approach for so long. We need 3-4 full-time employees on just football and then finance an annual contract for the run-of-the-mill posts. You can hire a firm to post daily content that is more cookie-cutter while your creative team works on engagement and algorithm-boosting content.

[Dawgology]

We had leading edge. Cohen fired it.

Derek Cody would come back for the right amount of money and football media would be well served to have him. As well as Bob Carskadon. Dude can write.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Derek Cody would come back for the right amount of money and football media would be well served to have him. As well as Bob Carskadon. Dude can write.

Bob will never come back and neither will Derek. Derek is at his dream job in his home state. Bob is kind of doing his own thing. I don't think he wants to get back into athletics again. He talked about how jaded it made him towards sports.

[HoopsDawg]

Mob mentality got them fired. It is a bad look.

There were a lot of mistakes yesterday

[Todd4State]

Bob will never come back and neither will Derek. Derek is at his dream job in his home state. Bob is kind of doing his own thing. I don't think he wants to get back into athletics again. He talked about how jaded it made him towards sports.

He seems happy in Tampa.

[StarkVegasSteve]

He seems happy in Tampa.

He's very happy there. I like Bob a lot and got to know him pretty well when I was in school. You could tell living in a college town started to wear on him. I mean he was making ok money, decent money for a college town, but you could just see in those later years that stuff would really bother him. The beard stuff, for folks who remember, was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back.

[gtowndawg]

Despite the fact that we were 2-10 I always thought the pregame videos were good. I thought they were very active on both Twitter and Instagram. I really don't know what you were wanting them to do. I mean was there something they were not doing that I missed? The stuff yesterday wasn't a misstep. We just have a fan base that doesn't know how to use social media. The stuff they did was really cool. The grid of the entire player was something I haven't seen another team do.

I also am a tad bit biased because I know one of the guys let go, Bryce Mitchell, and think really highly of him and his talents.

I agree. We have problems but social media is down the list. The IG grid they did yesterday that showed the players names on jerseys was great. My 17 year old son brought be his phone and said "did you see this?" - He loved it.

edited: I mean, we fire the social media team but retain our do-nothing football coaches? Really? We signed four 4 stars yesterday, Ole Miss signed 14.

[BorneDawg]

Im a GenX'r and not that great at every aspect of social media but this is one area we are falling so far behind on. That when added to other smaller things......are huge when we already struggle to compete with the blue bloods! Social media these days are king! If you're not on TikTok + SnapChat + Instagram + Facebook + X ...... not 1...2 ... 3 but all of them and not just periodically but constantly you are left behind in todays game..... Then add in Stadium lights....Sound System.....Pregame stuff....ect..... all these together make a huge difference to todays players and youth!!! Do I or many older fans like it....No but if you want us to compete going forward ..... you better get on board or left behind!!!! I cant stand the run out or warm up music at my kids High School games but its something I have to tolerate ... simple as that! Same thing here you gotta get over it! We had a kick ass media team once but didn't have Admin that embraced it enough and willing to pay for it. Just like losing the soccer coach... or caring about softball, tennis, golf, or whatever "small areas" many here call them. All these small things added together make a HUGE difference to Mississippi State University as a whole (Brand)! Those areas bring in new people from all ages and interest areas! Like him or not thats why Kiffin has been so successful at tsun is he embraced this from the start (hell his dogs social media presence is better than most of ours).

[BeardoMSU]

I didn't see it posted here. Looks like the entire team was fired yesterday afternoon. It sucks that it's right before the holidays for those families, but hopefully, they got a good severance. But, honestly, the content and engagement has been bad. No creativity on the creative team. Hopefully, this is a sign that certain people in the administration are beginning to realize they may have to go ahead and evolve or retire.

Twitter thread here....

https://twitter.com/jonathanvking/status/1864670532001501266

[DEDawg]

Twitter thread here....

https://twitter.com/jonathanvking/status/1864670532001501266

Wow. How unprofessional. I feel for the guy, I hate to see anyone lose their job but this is not a good look for him. Remember guys, never get on social media when you are feeling emotional.

[Santiago]

And there you go. I think we are really active on Instagram, which apparently was a problem yesterday since our fan base doesn't know how to use Instagrams, see what I did there, and we just need everything on Twitter. I think TikTok is probably the same. We'd have oldheads complaining that they don't know how to use that. I agree we need to be more active on TikTok, but it seemed like yesterday's problem was that they were active but just not on the social media site for old people, which is Twitter.

With age demographics set aside, isn't X now the largest social media platform? But yeah, our university should ignore the largest platform.
Is there a reason our media group decides to focus on one, and not hit all media platforms?

Just asking the questions as it seems you say fans are too dumb to use the platform the media group choses.
Maybe it is a little of everything, and not because MSU has old fans. That just seems a lazy defense.

If you are right and that was the sole reason, then heck yeah it is dumb to fire over an outrage day. But it seems lack of knowing your audience also.

[DEDawg]

With age demographics set aside, isn't X now the largest social media platform? But yeah, our university should ignore the largest platform.
Is there a reason our media group decides to focus on one, and not hit all media platforms?

Just asking the questions as it seems you say fans are too dumb to use the platform the media group choses.
Maybe it is a little of everything, and not because MSU has old fans. That just seems a lazy defense.

With the enterprise level automation tools available these days, there is no reason we shouldn?t be on all social media platforms. Someone also mentioned earlier that interaction is a big part and I agree that we severely struggle there. These teams should also be working constantly with alumni athletes, friends of the school, celebrities, etc and that?s another area I see we have zero presence. There?s just a lot of basic things we were not doing that directly hurt us. Idk maybe they were working on it in the background, but these guys have been here 10 months now.

[viverlibre]

Twitter thread here....

https://twitter.com/jonathanvking/status/1864670532001501266

If he couldn't figure out why he was fired, that's a huge issue with his self awareness.

[viverlibre]

I don't know who is in charge of our "State to NFL" videos on the jumbotron, but they've been pretty much unchanged for as long as i can remember. Meanwhile, Texas is using action footage from the players' previous week's game in their video.

[EdwardDrayton]

So the creative team got fired for subpar performance.

Our football staff went 0-8 and 2-10.

Tell me again who got fired?!!?

[StarkVegasSteve]

With age demographics set aside, isn't X now the largest social media platform? But yeah, our university should ignore the largest platform.
Is there a reason our media group decides to focus on one, and not hit all media platforms?

Just asking the questions as it seems you say fans are too dumb to use the platform the media group choses.
Maybe it is a little of everything, and not because MSU has old fans. That just seems a lazy defense.

If you are right and that was the sole reason, then heck yeah it is dumb to fire over an outrage day. But it seems lack of knowing your audience also.

I don't really know tbh. Like I said, I don't think it was just yesterday. I think it was just not getting the desired reactions and then yesterday being slow on some of the announcements because of the graphics. Again, we're still building that side up after Cohen nuked it. It will take some trial and error. And X may be the largest social media platform but stats show you that 18-49 year olds drastically use Instagram over X. That's who you're trying to impact. Not 60 year olds who don't know how to use a QR code. To put this into perspective, LinkedIn is more used by 18-49 year olds than X.

[bulldogcountry1]

And yet Hutzler still has a job.

[gtowndawg]

I don't think them being let go has anything to do with creative throughout the year, something happened yesterday that did not sit well. Here's a comment I just read about the Tyler Lockhart drama: "Before the night was over, Lockhart and his mother signed the necessary documentation to make him a Mississippi State signee. The reversal of fortune sent shockwaves throughout the college football recruiting world. Social media postings from the Mississippi State official football account caused some confusion. Fans of both schools wanted to know what happened."

I'm thinking that was the reason for the immediate firing. Selmon and Lebby didn't just wake up this morning and go "you know, I don't think our uniform reveals on social media were not clever enough this year." There's more to this story, we just don't know the details.

[Santiago]

I don't really know tbh. Like I said, I don't think it was just yesterday. I think it was just not getting the desired reactions and then yesterday being slow on some of the announcements because of the graphics. Again, we're still building that side up after Cohen nuked it. It will take some trial and error. And X may be the largest social media platform but stats show you that 18-49 year olds drastically use Instagram over X. That's who you're trying to impact. Not 60 year olds who don't know how to use a QR code. To put this into perspective, LinkedIn is more used by 18-49 year olds than X.

I am early 50's and that is a blow to my ego , thinking I am younger in my mind than my age.
My question is really curious, as to how marketing strategies go in an NCAA program. Seems to almost have to be similar to a politcial machine, where you reach all ages, all platforms, but you do target the younger groups, in their formative years headed to college.

LinkedIn - I have tried to dodge it all my years, and I run a company and still tried to dodge using it. I really am a get off my lawn guy realization here, in that I don't use LinkedIn and never saw a big need for it.

Edit: I am an X person, only because it is easier to see some mix of sports news faster in my day. So for that, and an alumn, there should be no excuse for a marketing team to not also easily hit across all platforms for messaging and branding.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I don't think them being let go has anything to do with creative throughout the year, something happened yesterday that did not sit well. Here's a comment I just read about the Tyler Lockhart drama: "Before the night was over, Lockhart and his mother signed the necessary documentation to make him a Mississippi State signee. The reversal of fortune sent shockwaves throughout the college football recruiting world. Social media postings from the Mississippi State official football account caused some confusion. Fans of both schools wanted to know what happened."

I'm thinking that was the reason for the immediate firing. Selmon and Lebby didn't just wake up this morning and go "you know, I don't think our uniform reveals on social media were not clever enough this year." There's more to this story, we just don't know the details.

Take it with a grain of salt because even the guys who got fired don't know why, but my best guess is that it had to do with us having 6 signings in the boat before there was a tweet out. I think that was just the straw that broke the camels back. I think it's been a combination of stuff. We're going to have to really spend to get that dept up to SEC level because after Cohen gutted it, we basically had GAs doing everything.

[Santiago]

And yet Hutzler still has a job.

We showed him. Fired all the media to teach him a lesson ***

[Santiago]

Take it with a grain of salt because even the guys who got fired don't know why, but my best guess is that it had to do with us having 6 signings in the boat before there was a tweet out. I think that was just the straw that broke the camels back. I think it's been a combination of stuff. We're going to have to really spend to get that dept up to SEC level because after Cohen gutted it, we basically had GAs doing everything.

I am glad you mentioned Cohen gutting it. What was his ego thinking ? Save money to go to baseball?

[StarkVegasSteve]

I am early 50's and that is a blow to my ego , thinking I am younger in my mind than my age.
My question is really curious, as to how marketing strategies go in an NCAA program. Seems to almost have to be similar to a politcial machine, where you reach all ages, all platforms, but you do target the younger groups, in their formative years headed to college.

LinkedIn - I have tried to dodge it all my years, and I run a company and still tried to dodge using it. I really am a get off my lawn guy realization here, in that I don't use LinkedIn and never saw a big need for it.

I didn't see a use for it until I found myself looking around for a new job in March. I had used the usual stuff(Monster, Indeed, etc.) without much success and was finally convinced to use LinkedIn and had a job within a week. It's all about connections really. It's really for that 22-40 crowd to make connections in the business world as their starting out.

[Santiago]

Speaking of signing day , and starting the day early.
Anyone remember a couple of decades ago, Bama had the attractive girl running the fax machine, and had live video.
All I remember was people talked about Bama, and it worked.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I am glad you mentioned Cohen gutting it. What was his ego thinking ? Save money to go to baseball?

He didn't know how to be an AD and didn't think we needed that many people. And also save money to go to baseball, but he even skimmed money there because Joe Williams(our videographer in 21) wanted to stay but we wouldn't match what NC State was offering.

[Really Clark?]

He didn't know how to be an AD and didn't think we needed that many people. And also save money to go to baseball, but he even skimmed money there because Joe Williams(our videographer in 21) wanted to stay but we wouldn't match what NC State was offering.

We've been conservative with our finances in the athletic department for a long time. Byrne and Stricklin did a nice job balancing conservative spending, fundraising and getting our standards up all across athletics. Cohen just cut in a lot of places for the sake of cutting budget with no vision of how to handle the revenue sports. Especially football. The non-revenue sports he did ok with but those were monies he was ok working with.

[StarkVegasSteve]

We've been conservative with our finances in the athletic department for a long time. Byrne and Stricklin did a nice job balancing conservative spending, fundraising and getting our standards up all across athletics. Cohen just cut in a lot of places for the sake of cutting budget with no vision of how to handle the revenue sports. Especially football. The non-revenue sports he did ok with but those were monies he was ok working with.

Almost sounds like another former AD we had....but who?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Well as I expected, we are getting thoroughly raked over the coals for how we handled the firing. Kind of saw this one coming. Does not mean it was not the right decision at the end of the day, honestly with how the head handled I am not sure we did not ultimately make the right decision. This playing victim BS is exactly that, BS. But we probably could have handled it better, or at least given a reason we were firing them.

[DEDawg]

Well as I expected, we are getting thoroughly raked over the coals for how we handled the firing. Kind of saw this one coming. Does not mean it was not the right decision at the end of the day, honestly with how the head handled I am not sure we did not ultimately make the right decision. This playing victim BS is exactly that, BS. But we probably could have handled it better, or at least given a reason we were firing them.

Unless Academia is different from the corporate world, we did the right thing. Employment is at will and you can be terminated at any point. Giving reasons, unless you spend money with the lawyers, just opens you up to litigation. Nobody does that unless you go through a formal PIP process in which EVERYTHING is documented in writing by both HR and management. And if we went the lawyer route, the language would be so covered it would be the same outcome. HR findings being the exception. This will blow over in a day.

[EdwardDrayton]

Unless Academia is different from the corporate world, we did the right thing. Employment is at will and you can be terminated at any point. Giving reasons, unless you spend money with the lawyers, just opens you up to litigation. Nobody does that unless you go through a formal PIP process in which EVERYTHING is documented in writing by both HR and management. And if we went the lawyer route, the language would be so covered it would be the same outcome. HR findings being the exception. This will blow over in a day.

You don't have to give reasons if using even a standard performance improvement process. There are interim expectations and periodic reviews over a shorter than normal timeline. With ultimate stated consequences if not met. There are no surprises if done properly. From the outside looking in, does not seem this was done. APPEARS to be a kneejerk decision. If so, it's poor leadership.

[MBDawg601]

Twitter thread here....

https://twitter.com/jonathanvking/status/1864670532001501266

https://twitter.com/jonathanvking/status/1747057461872210251

[Dawgology]

You don't have to give reasons if using even a standard performance improvement process. There are interim expectations and periodic reviews over a shorter than normal timeline. With ultimate stated consequences if not met. There are no surprises if done properly. From the outside looking in, does not seem this was done. APPEARS to be a kneejerk decision. If so, it's poor leadership.

Dude. We have ZERO presence on TikTok. ZERO. We don’t even have an official certified account. It is THE primary social media platform foe Gen Z and young millennials. The football DOESNT. eVEN. hAVE. AN. aCCOUNT. This by itself is a fireable offense for a “creative team”. Meanwhile out in state rival has a TT account with a quarter million followers, branding, and associated shop. Hell, Lane’s dog has more followers than our X account….and you don’t see why they were fired??!? You can say it isn’t as important as X’s and O’s and winning on the field but perception is reality so it actually is almost as important. Same thing with the game day atmosphere. You can scream “get off my lawn” all you want but if we don’t change completely and evolve in the age of NIL then we might as well just lock the doors at Davis Wade because it’s over.

[Coursesuper]

Dude. We have ZERO presence on TikTok. ZERO. We don’t even have an official certified account. It is THE primary social media platform foe Gen Z and young millennials. The football DOESNT. eVEN. hAVE. AN. aCCOUNT. This by itself is a fireable offense for a “creative team”. Meanwhile out in state rival has a TT account with a quarter million followers, branding, and associated shop. Hell, Lane’s dog has more followers than our X account….and you don’t see why they were fired??!? You can say it isn’t as important as X’s and O’s and winning on the field but perception is reality so it actually is almost as important. Same thing with the game day atmosphere. You can scream “get off my lawn” all you want but if we don’t change completely and evolve in the age of NIL then we might as well just lock the doors at Davis Wade because it’s over.

Perception is reality. Can?t continue to be seen as stale.

[1eyedog]

del

[The Federalist Engineer]

Seems right, you are the worst team in the SEC, you fire the media team.

A good media team would have won the Toledo game for MSU

[EdwardDrayton]

Seems right, you are the worst team in the SEC, you fire the media team.

A good media team would have won the Toledo game for MSU

It's clear some folks have never been in a leadership role, or otherwise should not be in one.

[MBDawg601]

Seems right, you are the worst team in the SEC, you fire the media team.

A good media team would have won the Toledo game for MSU

To be fair, our media team was about as bad as the Toledo loss and is very important for off season/season opening hype. It is our only way to advertise our brand outside of game time.

Winning is numero uno, but marketing is also important. We don't have the image that Bama, UGA and the other perenial powers do. We have to stand out.

[Coursesuper]

It's clear some folks have never been in a leadership role, or otherwise should not be in one.

Yup.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

I didn't see it posted here. Looks like the entire team was fired yesterday afternoon. It sucks that it's right before the holidays for those families, but hopefully, they got a good severance. But, honestly, the content and engagement has been bad. No creativity on the creative team. Hopefully, this is a sign that certain people in the administration are beginning to realize they may have to go ahead and evolve or retire.

If they got fired for not doing their job up to the standard then they shouldn?t get a severance and who cares that the holidays are coming up.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

And the fact that the fired employee is airing dirty laundry on social media shows he probably deserved to be fired. This is very unprofessional.

[DEDawg]

And the fact that the fired employee is airing dirty laundry on social media shows he probably deserved to be fired. This is very unprofessional.

Did the same thing when Bama fired him too. I think the university has handled this excellently and not given it any attention.

This was a huge need for us and I hope we get the right team in place. It?s embarrassing how much Ole Miss has lapped us in this

[Dawgology]

Seems right, you are the worst team in the SEC, you fire the media team.

A good media team would have won the Toledo game for MSU

If you don’t understand at this point you never will.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Did the same thing when Bama fired him too. I think the university has handled this excellently and not given it any attention.

This was a huge need for us and I hope we get the right team in place. It?s embarrassing how much Ole Miss has lapped us in this

Yep. I don’t care that it’s Christmas and he has a family. I told my boss that it is his job to search every day for somebody better than me. It is my job to make sure no such person exists. Too many people come to work and go through the motions. They don’t come to compete. I’ve fired plenty. Some have been fired for cause and others have simply been fired because they are good but I can find someone better. Do your job better than anyone in the country and you won’t have to worry.

[CaptainObvious]

Yep. I don’t care that it’s Christmas and he has a family. I told my boss that it is his job to search every day for somebody better than me. It is my job to make sure no such person exists. Too many people come to work and go through the motions. They don’t come to compete. I’ve fired plenty. Some have been fired for cause and others have simply been fired because they are good but I can find someone better. Do your job better than anyone in the country and you won’t have to worry.

Have you ever thought about throwing your hat in the ring for Mississippi State University President? You seem immensely qualified!

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Have you ever thought about throwing your hat in the ring for Mississippi State University President? You seem immensely qualified!

I don’t think I would be a good university president. Part of being great is knowing who you are. Nick Saban knows he’s not a cardiologist, so he doesn’t try to be one. He sticks to a role where he could compete, thrive, and excel.

[The Federalist Engineer]

It's clear some folks have never been in a leadership role, or otherwise should not be in one.

I'm sure you were a fine assistant night shift manager at some gas station in Winona. Kept the Coke machine optimally carbonated. Pure leader.

[maroonmania]

He didn't know how to be an AD and didn't think we needed that many people. And also save money to go to baseball, but he even skimmed money there because Joe Williams(our videographer in 21) wanted to stay but we wouldn't match what NC State was offering.

Yep, just another that didn't know how to do the job because he had never done it before. We hire a lot of those types at MSU.

[parabrave]

I'm sure you were a fine assistant night shift manager at some gas station in Winona. Kept the Coke machine optimally carbonated. Pure leader.

Hey that job paid for my college, well also ROTC, but it was 7-11 in Gulfport.

[KentuckyDawg13]

Seriously, this is some bullshit.

[Pancho]

Seriously, this is some bullshit.

the fun conversation here or the folk who were let go ?

[EdwardDrayton]

I'm sure you were a fine assistant night shift manager at some gas station in Winona. Kept the Coke machine optimally carbonated. Pure leader.

Ha! Was attempting to piggyback onto your comment in agreement Fed! Obviously it did not come across that way. My bad! And a perfect example of why I much prefer in person dialogue!

And not that creds matter but leadership roles on my rez in two Fortune 100 companies. And I incorporated in 2013 the startup I founded in 2009. I have 100% equity and thus have final say on all leadership decisions.

I will also add: if organizations and their leaders have strong frameworks in place when selecting candidates for positions, they will rarely have employees on PIPs or have to let them go. Leaders must be well versed in targeted selection to compete effectively and be successful with their organizations.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Mob mentality got them fired. It is a bad look.

What do you mean?

[Walkerhill]

I do not see what mob mentality had to do with this at all.

It says everything you need to know that the only content this entire season anyone noticed from this media team was the social media posts about being fired. End of story.

[Gutter Cobreh]

I do not see what mob mentality had to do with this at all.

It says everything you need to know that the only content this entire season anyone noticed from this media team was the social media posts about being fired. End of story.

Excellent point! Rep. given.

[Santiago]

I can see after the guy posted on social media as he did, why MSU would not get into specifics with him. If they had, he would have spilled all that on social media as well.
Just giving benefit of the doubt as to why they did not give reasoning, in that they may have known emotionally would spill onto social media.

[Santiago]

And there you go. I think we are really active on Instagram, which apparently was a problem yesterday since our fan base doesn't know how to use Instagrams, see what I did there, and we just need everything on Twitter. I think TikTok is probably the same. We'd have oldheads complaining that they don't know how to use that. I agree we need to be more active on TikTok, but it seemed like yesterday's problem was that they were active but just not on the social media site for old people, which is Twitter.

Nothing against your thoughts on it, but I find it interesting the guy posted on Twitter about being fired. Was he trying to tell old people about his firing?
It is telling of itself right there.

[Duckdog]

The guy getting on Twitter crying about being fired shows a lot about him. Yes, it sucks but its not like he didn't see it coming. As for some of the people defending it on twitter as lame as hell too but whatever

[DEDawg]

I can see after the guy posted on social media as he did, why MSU would not get into specifics with him. If they had, he would have spilled all that on social media as well.
Just giving benefit of the doubt as to why they did not give reasoning, in that they may have known emotionally would spill onto social media.

Thank you. And he did this at Alabama too. I can?t believe anyone is even defending this. The lawyers who have shit a brick if they found out Selmon went in there and gave that guy a list of reasons he failed at his job. Nobody does that anywhere anyway, you go on a PIP and have a defined plan in which HR documents everything, or you are let go usually effective immediately. Btw this guy knows for sure why he was fired.

[Santiago]

The guy getting on Twitter crying about being fired shows a lot about him. Yes, it sucks but its not like he didn't see it coming. As for some of the people defending it on twitter as lame as hell too but whatever

yes, and I am thinking " oh ...now he goes on twitter"

[MBDawg601]

The guy got fired twice, in the same year, from the same job at two different universities and posted about both firings on Twitter. He needs a bit of self reflection if he cannot figure out why. Lucky enough for him, he should have plenty of free-time.

[gtowndawg]

So there must be different media teams for each sport, or at least for the major sports? I noticed on a basketball IG post yesterday Josh Hubbard's Dad commented how great our social media team was. I think that post was clearly a show of support for that group?

[StarkVegasSteve]

So there must be different media teams for each sport, or at least for the major sports? I noticed on a basketball IG post yesterday Josh Hubbard's Dad commented how great our social media team was. I think that post was clearly a show of support for that group?

Correct. That is under the umbrella of the marketing dept. Football actually had its own team. Like they did not work on anything else but football. Apparently we poured a bunch of money into it so expectations are higher. They were making considerably more than what the average videographer or social media person makes. So therefore the expectations were different. I think we could have handled the firing better, but at the same time all the people bitching and moaning by him and about him and how great the guy is makes me glad we got rid of him. I saw one person say he was hand picked by Saban to run that dept at Bama and that is why we made a mistake. I mean if the guy was so great, then why did DeBoer bring in his own team?

[gtowndawg]

Correct. That is under the umbrella of the marketing dept. Football actually had its own team. Like they did not work on anything else but football. Apparently we poured a bunch of money into it so expectations are higher. They were making considerably more than what the average videographer or social media person makes. So therefore the expectations were different. I think we could have handled the firing better, but at the same time all the people bitching and moaning by him and about him and how great the guy is makes me glad we got rid of him. I saw one person say he was hand picked by Saban to run that dept at Bama and that is why we made a mistake. I mean if the guy was so great, then why did DeBoer bring in his own team?

Makes sense

[BorneDawg]

SVS can you explain to us un-tech savy folks on here how do you scan a QR code on your screen when the camera is on your phone?

[sandjunky]

You should see the different AD Departments
We?ve got things like
Creative Services
Event Mgt and Game Operations
Fan Experience
Athlete Experience
Marketing
Probably 15 or so more

[StarkVegasSteve]

SVS can you explain to us un-tech savy folks on here how do you scan a QR code on your screen when the camera is on your phone?

So it was done through Adobe. And it was augmented reality. You would need to go to twitter on your laptop, or tablet and use your phone to scan the code. It would take you to Adobe Aero and show it to you. It was actually really cool and pretty innovative. Direction for how to do it was not good. They should've explained to people how to work it instead of just leaving it up with nothing. But if you took time to go look at it, it was very cool.

[Dawgology]

So it was done through Adobe. And it was augmented reality. You would need to go to twitter on your laptop, or tablet and use your phone to scan the code. It would take you to Adobe Aero and show it to you. It was actually really cool and pretty innovative. Direction for how to do it was not good. They should've explained to people how to work it instead of just leaving it up with nothing. But if you took time to go look at it, it was very cool.

It was cool but poorly executed. That lack of “dotting I’s” and “crossing T’s” has been a trend. And if anyone wants to know why our game day experience team needs to be fired as well I can send you a video that will piss you off.

[StarkVegasSteve]

It was cool but poorly executed. That lack of “dotting I’s” and “crossing T’s” has been a trend. And if anyone wants to know why our game day experience team needs to be fired as well I can send you a video that will piss you off.

Now that dept, yea every one of them needs to go. Our game day is 15 years behind every other SEC team.

[TheLostDawg]

I hope the new group brings back the relentless videos