What in the holy hell did Scott Stricklin do to some of you?

[Goat Holder]

I swear I see so much damn vitriol thrown at the man and I don't think he deserves any of it. Most of it seems directed to the Rick Ray hire. For one, NONE of you know a damn thing that went on with that hire. We could have gotten turned down 10 times. And that wouldn't surprise me, since we had just fired what the country considered a successful coach (although we knew it had to be done). Shit, does no one give him credit for finally pulling the plug on Stans? And how do we know Rick Ray sucks? I think his coaching is OK, but just like every other coach, recruiting makes or breaks him. He needs three years at minimum.

Some of you bitch about the baseball stadium. He's doing EXACTLY what all you wanted....he's examining ALL options to find the best one. He's completely aware of what should be a priority and what shouldn't. How is that bad?

Some you bitch about scheduling. This is the FIRST year we've played a hard OOC schedule (although we all know that La Tech and others are tough games). That's 1 out of 5, since 2010. And last time I checked, it was GREG BYRNE who scheduling f*cking Southern, not Stricklin.

Fund raising is at an all time high. Our athletic programs are literally in the best shaped they have EVER been in, as a whole. Oh, and I didn't mention Vick Shaeffer and the women's softball coach, two GREAT hires made by Stricklin. I guess I just don't get it. Some people just love to hate. We have too many ignorant blow-hards in our fanbase who think their opinion should always be heard, no matter how ridiculous.

Why this thread, you say? The 'Rick Ray hire' thread set me off.

[Coach34]

Only problem I have with him is that he went to Prop- my HS rival. (since MC was built, the rivalry moved to JA for Prop though)

I'm giving Ray a chance- but he does need to start recruiting better. Much like the Mullen and Cohen situations, they will eventually play themselves out. Fans jump the gun all too often- this situation may not be any different. The Croom hire being so bad and still fairly fresh has people skittish of no-name assistants that are unproven. Time will tell.

[Will James]

1. He had to be walked back from the DNF facelift.

2. Football gameday atmosphere problems not taken care of

3. Rick Ray hire

4. Apologizing for scheduling

5. Compliance problems. A powerful AD should have the pull to drop an old PE coach, no matter the flow chart.

Softball and Women's hoops are a blip on the radar. Meaningless when comparing the big 3.

[Pollodawg]

Already been said. The Dawgzillatron is a disaster. Instead of hyping the crowd at critical times, we get commercials and corny games. I know we have to pay for the thing, but come on......In general, basically every school in the SEC has a cooler gameday feel than we do.

[BeastMan]

I think overall he has done a great job. There are things he needs to improve like Will Janes says. This is the thing about the internet complainers. They get on here and complain incessantly and don't realize you can freaking talk to Scott. Call his secretary and schedule a call. I'm an under 30 who should be an absolute nobody on his radar. I scheduled a call and we talked for a while about all types of topics and he candidly addresses everything. He will listen to your input and tell you that he appreciates it.

Without getting into details, there have been issues I've been critical of MSU on. He answered my concerns with more insight than I deserved and it gave me a view of how he's handled some things and I walked away with an appreciation for Strick.

I'm sure there will be things in the future that I won't agree 100% how MSU handles it. There is nothing wrong with that and it's inevitable. That said, Strick isn't some bumbling fool as some folks have imagined in their brains. I have faith in him to get the job done effectively the vast majority of the time.

[Goat Holder]

Complaining about the AD over the 'tron is just silly. Have to pay the bills. Perhaps he should hire some more technical people behind the scenes, but damn.

[FlabLoser]

Complaining about the AD over the 'tron is just silly. Have to pay the bills. Perhaps he should hire some more technical people behind the scenes, but damn.

Ole Miss's use of their jumbotron crushes us. Their screen isn't an infomercial-for-rent like our's is.

We have more revenue than OM does, yet they exist without killing the atmosphere for commercials.


My beef with Strick is 1) Compliance, 2) Compliance, 3) Compliance, 4) Commercials. Call it the 4 C's.

I don't hold OSU against him. We shit the bed, he didn't. We play like that against a CUSA team and we lose. Maybe y'all should be glad we lost to a top 10 team instead of having a signature loss.

[BeastMan]

On the jumbotron stuff, we were locked into a bunch of contracts. He's heard the feedback. Wait till the opener to say he hasn't done anything. I'd be willing to bet the house it will be 100x better next year

[bully99]

I have problems with some of the things stricklan does but the video board debacle should be laid at the feet of Greg Byrne. Byrne said when he paid 6 million dollars for it that it would be paid for through ads. That's what's happening. But too many people don't want to criticize their beloved Gregory. Should have hired Joe Dean jr.

[FlabLoser]

On the jumbotron stuff, we were locked into a bunch of contracts. He's heard the feedback. Wait till the opener to say he hasn't done anything. I'd be willing to bet the house it will be 100x better next year


1) Its gotten a lot worse under Scott's watch.

2) Scott says no commercials next year except for between quarters.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Regarding the baseball stadium- When was the last time anyone complained about that? I haven't said anything about it since the listening sessions, when it became obvious that we were moving in the right direction.

My biggest problem with that is it took quite a few big boosters pushing him in the right direction for him to get the ball rolling. There are times when it seems like he needs someone to tell him how to do his job. Don't worry though- I will give him credit after everything is built.

[CooterDavenport]

I have problems with some of the things stricklan does but the video board debacle should be laid at the feet of Greg Byrne. Byrne said when he paid 6 million dollars for it that it would be paid for through ads. That's what's happening. But too many people don't want to criticize their beloved Gregory. Should have hired Joe Dean jr.

I mean, damn, learn to spell the man's name.

[Pollodawg]

Fine, I'll come up with a legitimate gripe. I think we should do away with basketball and give that money to football and baseball. I'll be mad if Scott doesnt do that. **

[maroonmania]

5. Compliance problems. A powerful AD should have the pull to drop an old PE coach, no matter the flow chart.



The AAU issue in basketball that apparently made it tough to hire a coach and has seemingly limited our recruiting ability in the sport IS the reason that I believe Strick and Keenum are truly backing Bracky and want our football compliance run the archaic way it continues to be run. I'm starting to think basketball is a lost cause if we insist on this naive notion of doing it the "right way". Basketball is the dirtiest of all the sports in recruiting land so if you refuse to play the game at all you are a total non-factor and that is what we've become and will likely stay until some attitudes change.

[Todd4State]

1. He had to be walked back from the DNF facelift.

2. Football gameday atmosphere problems not taken care of

3. Rick Ray hire

4. Apologizing for scheduling

5. Compliance problems. A powerful AD should have the pull to drop an old PE coach, no matter the flow chart.

Softball and Women's hoops are a blip on the radar. Meaningless when comparing the big 3.

1. He almost screwed that up, but I have to give him credit for not being hard headed and listening and for now going forward and doing the right thing. It takes years to build a stadium, and we are only in the beginning phases. The baseball stadium issue is complicated by the lifetime seating licenses and the LFL. My guess is those two things were big reasons why he wanted to just renovate what we had to start with.

2. If he pulled the ads, it would have been a financial disaster for us. If I buy an ad for 100K for Todd4State baseball bats to be shown on the jumbotron and then they decide after much complaining about the large amount of ads from fans to pull my ad- MSU is going to owe me some money. And every other business that has ads on the jumbotron. It sucks that we all had to sit through that this year, but I understand why they weren't pulled other than that Hardee's ad with AJ McCarron's girlfriend. If it isn't better next year, then I will complain. I heard Slive wasn't real happy with the AdTron either.

3. We'll see how the Ray hire plays out. I bet our team improves as the year goes along. Maybe he could have done better there. I'm expecting 15-15 this year and then maybe the NIT next year.

4. That was a dumb PR move on his part even if it was a mistake and his fault.

5. Agree totally.

[engie]

2. If he pulled the ads, it would have been a financial disaster for us. If I buy an ad for 100K for Todd4State baseball bats to be shown on the jumbotron and then they decide after much complaining about the large amount of ads from fans to pull my ad- MSU is going to owe me some money. And every other business that has ads on the jumbotron. It sucks that we all had to sit through that this year, but I understand why they weren't pulled other than that Hardee's ad with AJ McCarron's girlfriend. If it isn't better next year, then I will complain. I heard Slive wasn't real happy with the AdTron either.

Those ads go for $15k per 30 second ad for the entire season... or about $2k-$2500 per ad... According to DS when he inquired about grabbing some ad space for SPS "This music is brought to you commercial-free by SPS"...

[Todd4State]

Those ads go for $15k per 30 second ad for the entire season... or about $2k-$2500 per ad... According to DS when he inquired about grabbing some ad space for SPS "This music is brought to you commercial-free by SPS"...

That's really cheap. Or at the very least a lot less than what I would expect an ad to be.

[engie]

Regarding the baseball stadium- When was the last time anyone complained about that? I haven't said anything about it since the listening sessions, when it became obvious that we were moving in the right direction.

My biggest problem with that is it took quite a few big boosters pushing him in the right direction for him to get the ball rolling. There are times when it seems like he needs someone to tell him how to do his job. Don't worry though- I will give him credit after everything is built.

Exactly. NO ONE is bitching about the stadium now that we know it's going in the right direction and all the correct steps have been taken to assure that happens. Our bitching appears to have been heard loud and clear by the athletics dept on the front end -- and they gave us exactly what we wanted.

[Political Hack]

he told the coaches association to screw off during the middle of a basketball coaching search. That's stupid and it cost us.

everyone is happy with fundraising, facility improvements, etc... but there are a few areas he needs to improve on. When you make a few big time mistakes as an AD in the SEC it's going to be magnified.

[MarketingBully01]

Yep, the entire coaching search in basketball made us look amateurish and like we did not know what we were doing. IMO, if he didn't have someone lined up that was a sure thing he shouldn't have fired Stansbury at that moment. If he had let Stansbury stay one more year and fall flat on his face at least it looks better on the outside. Stansbury almost had 300 wins for goodness sakes. The whole situation was handled poorly.

[Outside Dawg]

I swear I see so much damn vitriol thrown at the man and I don't think he deserves any of it. Most of it seems directed to the Rick Ray hire. For one, NONE of you know a damn thing that went on with that hire. We could have gotten turned down 10 times. And that wouldn't surprise me, since we had just fired what the country considered a successful coach (although we knew it had to be done). Shit, does no one give him credit for finally pulling the plug on Stans? And how do we know Rick Ray sucks? I think his coaching is OK, but just like every other coach, recruiting makes or breaks him. He needs three years at minimum.

Let me preface this by saying that I have zero inside knowledge about anything, but living in Memphis, I listed to Gary Parrish in the afternoons on the way home from work. Gary is the lead college basketball journalist for CBS Sports. He was discussing Ray a month or two ago and said that he received several phone calls from coaches during our search asking whether they should pursue or return interest in our job. He told every one of them to a person that they shouldn't touch it because it had hit rock bottom and the next coach would have a nearly impossible time being successful. Those were his words as spoken on his radio show...

All of that to say, I don't know who we could have gotten, but he steered multiple candidates away because of where we had let the program get to (*Gary Parrish's own words).

[The Croom Diaries]

Stricklin has already publicly addressed the video board, admitting it got out of hand and he regrets letting it go that far. He said there will be NO MORE COMMERCIALS during game play (meaning only pre-game and during halftime). All the sponsors will come from [silent] ads on replays, stats, etc. But no more commercials and dumb games during timeouts during the game. He said the only time we may still have to have commercials is between the 1st & 2nd quarter. If this comes to fruition, I'm very happy about it. You have to give the man credit for listening to people, admitting he was wrong, and making sure it gets fixed. We've yet to see that last step, but I'll commend him for the first two and give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise on this issue.

[codeDawg]

So here it is. We're not getting Byrne back, but that guy set us in a direction that MSU had never seen before and did it quickly. Most of what we have going on right now is a direct result of that momentum. Stricklin has not proven to me that he is someone that is not only going to maintain our current momentum, but someone who can help us take the next step.

What we are seeing now are obvious steps. DNF renovation is a no-brainer. How to pay for it and the logistics of everything is going to be interesting, but doing it is obvious. It's the same across the board. I shouldn't have to be excited that I don't have to piss on the floor at Davis Wade anymore. Come on.

My gripes:

1. Compliance. HUGE PROGRAM LIMITING PROBLEM in multiple sports. It might not be his call, but he is accountable.

2. Marketing and Communications. I thought we were trending upward here under Byrne but we are at near LT levels again. I can write an entire entry on this alone.

3. Game day atmosphere. Everyone else has gone trough this.

4. Basketball hire. I love Ray, but you can't disenfranchise the guys that make the program and expect to be successful.

5. Failure to manage Mullen when this season was on it's heals. I'll give Mullen and Stricklin credit for turning it around, but it was obvious from day 1 this season that something was up. Mullen was out there looking like a guy that hated his job, his boss, and his life. Something happened getting ready for Alabama that turned a switch on. The results may have been the same, but it looked to me like half the season was conceded. Mullen has not been the same since Byrne left. It's rumored that he and Strick do not get along. If I had to choose between the two, I'll take Mullen.

6. Leadership. I know people manage differently, but Strick is an operational guy. He executes plans. The world needs great operational guys. I'm one. People are not drawn to me and I do not inspire great visions, but I am extremely effective at execution and I get things done on time, under budget, and with more features than I am asked. I would be a really shitty athletic director.

[dawg21]

Job of an AD:

1. Raise money- Scott gets an A
2. Facilities- A-....for people to think just throwing up million dollar expansions for all three sports in less than 5 years is feasible, are you serious?
3. Hire/Fire coaches- B- (pending)- for all the crap he gets for hiring Ray...the same people said "he don't have the balls to fire Stans" and this year "he don't have the balls to fire Mullenz"...ITS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH BALLS...the internet makes us all stupid sometimes. You have to look at the whole situation. Like others said earlier, Strick has made great hires in some of the other sports. The Ray hire is still pending.

Other thoughts:
Byrne was awesome because Templeton was so bad. Stricklin is not Byrne, but so what. He's doing a good job. I wish people would quit comparing the two. It doesn't matter.

The more Stricklin opens himself up for input...the more criticized he's going to be. That's part of being transparent. Its not like it makes his job easier.

I think he's learning the ropes some as a AD. But hey, you had Mal Moore at Bama hire 14 coaches (exaggeration) before he got to Saban. That AD at Florida has hired more duds than winners in the last 20 years. I just think people need perspective from time to time about how far Mississippi State has come in the last 10 years. There's a ton of positives.

I do wish he would slow down on the twitters and the Redmond situation pisses me off.

[Coach34]

Let me preface this by saying that I have zero inside knowledge about anything, but living in Memphis, I listed to Gary Parrish in the afternoons on the way home from work. Gary is the lead college basketball journalist for CBS Sports. He was discussing Ray a month or two ago and said that he received several phone calls from coaches during our search asking whether they should pursue or return interest in our job. He told every one of them to a person that they shouldn't touch it because it had hit rock bottom and the next coach would have a nearly impossible time being successful. Those were his words as spoken on his radio show...

All of that to say, I don't know who we could have gotten, but he steered multiple candidates away because of where we had let the program get to (*Gary Parrish's own words).

Exactly. And too many of our fans just cant seem to understand this.

[Political Hack]

he's listening to the fans and making changes when needed. outside of two or three glaring mistakes he's been pretty solid. If he'll continue to learn and grow as an AD, that would be the best situation for State. I don't see him leaving regardless of his level of success and I don't see us firing him barring someone walking in on him and Bracky playing kissy face in the weight room.***

[Goat Holder]

All the complaints here are a bunch of speculation. It's like I figured....no real reason to hate him, just want to complain. Thanks for the insight.

[HailState39110]

SS has done a good job with a lot of things . Fundraising , 4 straight bowls , baseball NC appearance , marketing etc . My 2 biggest beefs are compliance and the basketball hire . I don't think he is on the hot seat or anything .

[Political Hack]

All the complaints here are a bunch of speculation. It's like I figured....no real reason to hate him, just want to complain. Thanks for the insight.

a lot on this thread is not speculation... however I do agree that there's no reason to hate him.

[Goat Holder]

Bracky Brett has been our Head of Compliance since 2002, Stricklin's only been AD since what, 2010? Brett is not Stricklin's fault completely.

[smootness]

2. Marketing and Communications. I thought we were trending upward here under Byrne but we are at near LT levels again. I can write an entire entry on this alone.

Pretty sure this was Stricklin's primary focus under Byrne so it's going to be tough spinning it that way.

[Goat Holder]

I take it the mistakes are:

-Rick Ray
-Oklahoma State
-Redmond/Sidney/Thomas/etc.

Rick Ray is yet to be decided. And as I've said before, I don't think anybody wanted our job. Stans was considered successful. Similar to Ole Miss and Cutcliffe. Oklahoma State ended up OK, we are bowl eligible and everybody knows we earned it against a Top 10 sked. And again, it's one big game out of 5 years, maybe longer. Most of our AD thinks the Redmond situation worked out well. Sidney obviously turned out to be a joke. Fred Thomas, the European guy, who the hell really knows. Again, compliance is compliance and was there long before Stricklin was the head man. Bottom line, it would have happened to anyone.

And everyone talking about how our campus and AD treats recruits....it sure doesn't seem to be hurting us in baseball. Fact of the matter is, most recruiting is done by the sports program itself, not the girls, hosts, etc.

[codeDawg]

Pretty sure this was Stricklin's primary focus under Byrne so it's going to be tough spinning it that way.

It doesn't matter if he did a great job then, it's awful now. As a leader and as the accountable person he should get someone competent into the role or take on more of the responsibility until he can. That's what being the man the man in charge is about.

[codeDawg]

Bracky Brett has been our Head of Compliance since 2002, Stricklin's only been AD since what, 2010? Brett is not Stricklin's fault completely.

Inherited problems are still your problems.

[codeDawg]

Job of an AD:

1. Raise money- Scott gets an A
2. Facilities- A-....for people to think just throwing up million dollar expansions for all three sports in less than 5 years is feasible, are you serious?
3. Hire/Fire coaches- B- (pending)- for all the crap he gets for hiring Ray...the same people said "he don't have the balls to fire Stans" and this year "he don't have the balls to fire Mullenz"...ITS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH BALLS...the internet makes us all stupid sometimes. You have to look at the whole situation. Like others said earlier, Strick has made great hires in some of the other sports. The Ray hire is still pending.

Other thoughts:
Byrne was awesome because Templeton was so bad. Stricklin is not Byrne, but so what. He's doing a good job. I wish people would quit comparing the two. It doesn't matter.

The more Stricklin opens himself up for input...the more criticized he's going to be. That's part of being transparent. Its not like it makes his job easier.

I think he's learning the ropes some as a AD. But hey, you had Mal Moore at Bama hire 14 coaches (exaggeration) before he got to Saban. That AD at Florida has hired more duds than winners in the last 20 years. I just think people need perspective from time to time about how far Mississippi State has come in the last 10 years. There's a ton of positives.

I do wish he would slow down on the twitters and the Redmond situation pisses me off.

The job of an AD is to lead the entire athletic department. Those three things are a few responsibilities that fall mostly on the AD. The AD is accountable for the success of the entire portfolio.

[smootness]

The job of an AD is to lead the entire athletic department. Those three things are a few responsibilities that fall mostly on the AD. The AD is accountable for the success of the entire portfolio.

Well, then he's doing a darn good job right now. Our overall athletic department is in very good shape, better than we've ever been before.

[codeDawg]

Well, then he's doing a darn good job right now. Our overall athletic department is in very good shape, better than we've ever been before.

I agree, we could do worse. I would give the entire department a solid C right now. It's not inspiring work, but it's not dark days, depressing.

Realize that LT had us in the Final 4, and winning the SEC West at one point in his career. There is more to it than W's and L's. You can't just sell W's, especially at MSU. You have to keep the boosters and fans engaged when things aren't going your way. You have to keep everybody rowing in the same direction. That's leadership. Otherwise, you are just managing a program.

[smootness]

I agree, we could do worse. I would give the entire department a solid C right now. It's not inspiring work, but it's not dark days, depressing.

Realize that LT had us in the Final 4, and winning the SEC West at one point in his career. There is more to it than W's and L's. You can't just sell W's, especially at MSU. You have to keep the boosters and fans engaged when things aren't going your way. You have to keep everybody rowing in the same direction. That's leadership. Otherwise, you are just managing a program.

I just don't get how we can say it's only sitting at a C right now.

Is the football program in a place that it has rarely, if ever, been before? Yes. The foundation is there, we have taken a big step to a perpetual bowl program, now we're in position to take another step forward.

Is the baseball program in a phenomenal place? Yes.

Is the basketball program in a good place? No. But Stricklin made the move that an overwhelming majority of the fanbase wanted. Tough to now criticize him for that. Sure, the jury is out on the Ray hire, but it's hard to imagine any hire would have had us in great shape right now.

Are the other sports in a good place? By and large, yes. We look like we're about to start competing well in softball and women's basketball. The track program is pretty good. Tennis and golf seem to be in good shape.

Our revenues are increasing at a faster pace than you would expect. We are making proactive steps in improving the quality of our facilities and I feel safe in saying that at no point in our history have we competed as well in this department with the rest of the conference, especially once the baseball stadium is built. Is SEC money crazy right now? Yes, but we're doing what we need to with it and the rest of the conference still dwarfs us in revenues.

Our marketing is definitely better than it has been in the past. Some seem to believe we were better here under Byrne, but I'm not sure why. It's pretty much the saw strategy we had then.

And this is all happening at Mississippi State, whose athletic history has sucked. It just is what it is, and it is relevant. I can't think of any time in our history that we've been in as good a place overall. How is that a C?

[MarketingBully01]

Gary Parrish who has ties to Ole Miss. Any idiot coach who was seeking advice from him and expecting it to be objective is down right stupid. The bottom line is Stricklin did not have a solid plan to replace Stansbury and it buried our program so to speak. In hindsight, I think most of our fans would have rather had one more year of Stans had we known that Strick was going to take a blow torch to our already burning program. You don't force out a coach who had a 24-12 record the previous year when you don't have a solid plan to replace him and by that I mean already have an MOU in place and immediately announce your next hire a day after Rick retired. Was just bush league amateurish and made us look like idiots. Especially, when a dumpster fire program like USC got Martin.

[ScottH]

1. He almost screwed that up, but I have to give him credit for not being hard headed and listening and for now going forward and doing the right thing. It takes years to build a stadium, and we are only in the beginning phases. The baseball stadium issue is complicated by the lifetime seating licenses and the LFL. My guess is those two things were big reasons why he wanted to just renovate what we had to start with.

2. If he pulled the ads, it would have been a financial disaster for us. If I buy an ad for 100K for Todd4State baseball bats to be shown on the jumbotron and then they decide after much complaining about the large amount of ads from fans to pull my ad- MSU is going to owe me some money. And every other business that has ads on the jumbotron. It sucks that we all had to sit through that this year, but I understand why they weren't pulled other than that Hardee's ad with AJ McCarron's girlfriend. If it isn't better next year, then I will complain. I heard Slive wasn't real happy with the AdTron either.

3. We'll see how the Ray hire plays out. I bet our team improves as the year goes along. Maybe he could have done better there. I'm expecting 15-15 this year and then maybe the NIT next year.

4. That was a dumb PR move on his part even if it was a mistake and his fault.

5. Agree totally.

1. Let's see where we end up. There are going to be significant changes. Some you wont like. Realize the seating issue isn't going away. It may change but it'll still have it's warts if I recall your objections correctly. Even if seat licenses are reworked, the new seating will be based on on Bulldog Club points. 5500-6000 seats dont go very far if you can buy 4-8 tickets depending your giving level. Better be well inside #2000 or so or have a buddy who is. The real divisive issue The LFL is going to be re-imagined. No ifs ands or buts.

2. You would be surprised how little the ads cost. The problem is the extent Learfield controls not just the Jumbotron but ALL things gameday.

3. Agreed. But damn it's going to be an uphill climb.

4. It wasn't meant as an apology BUT everyone in the frustration of the loss took it as one. Therefore, it takes a life of its on as an apology. Bottom line, Scott might need a Twitter filter.

5. Agreed in spades and squared to the 10th power.

[Political Hack]

Learfield is awful.

[FlabLoser]

I believe Alabama uses Learfield.

My aunt says Ford is awful. She got bad deal at a Ford dealership.

Maybe its in the negotiatin'.

[DownwardDawg]

He has fought for the cowbell. He gets credit for that!

[maroonmania]

Bracky Brett has been our Head of Compliance since 2002, Stricklin's only been AD since what, 2010? Brett is not Stricklin's fault completely.

Here is the deal, if the internet chatter is to be believed, it was SS who decided that our basketball program's recruiting tactics had to be "cleaned up" (even though we have had NO NCAA issues). LT didn't decide that, GB didn't decide that, apparently SS in all his wisdom decided that. So this is an issue of compliance putting us behind the 8 ball to try and compete in the sport of basketball but doesn't even directly link to Bracky. Whatever Stans did to attract players he did the whole time with Bracky as the compliance director so, for basketball, Bracky is NOT the primary issue.

[smootness]

Here is the deal, if the internet chatter is to be believed, it was SS who decided that our basketball program's recruiting tactics had to be "cleaned up" (even though we have had NO NCAA issues). LT didn't decide that, GB didn't decide that, apparently SS in all his wisdom decided that. So this is an issue of compliance putting us behind the 8 ball to try and compete in the sport of basketball but doesn't even directly link to Bracky. Whatever Stans did to attract players he did the whole time with Bracky as the compliance director so, for basketball, Bracky is NOT the primary issue.

I think, 'if the internet chatter is to be believed' is the primary statement in this post.

We either have some of the most well-connected people in the State athletic department posting on State message boards all day, or we have rumors and conjecture that has been allowed to run wild and has now been perceived as fact that can not be questioned.

Well, I question it. I don't know who anyone is on any of these boards, and I'm certainly not well-connected, so I will remain skeptical of any statement that is made on these boards as coming from 'inside knowledge'. I'm not saying it's not true, but there's no way for me to know, so I'm going to make my judgements on what I see, not what an anonymous person tells me is true.

[maroonmania]

I think, 'if the internet chatter is to be believed' is the primary statement in this post.

We either have some of the most well-connected people in the State athletic department posting on State message boards all day, or we have rumors and conjecture that has been allowed to run wild and has now been perceived as fact that can not be questioned.

Well, I question it. I don't know who anyone is on any of these boards, and I'm certainly not well-connected, so I will remain skeptical of any statement that is made on these boards as coming from 'inside knowledge'. I'm not saying it's not true, but there's no way for me to know, so I'm going to make my judgements on what I see, not what an anonymous person tells me is true.

Well I'm with you there, I certainly can't definitively say what's true and what's not true relative to our basketball hire either. What I CAN say is that so far Ray's recruiting has been lackluster at best. Is that because of the "recruiting philosophy change"? I don't know, I just know that if our recruiting doesn't significantly improve we can pretty much write off basketball as a sport we can be competitive in.

[Goat Holder]

if the internet chatter is to be believed

Come on, buddy.

Then you go off on Ray's recrootin in your next post. Agenda much? Just stop, you're embarrassing yourself. Many people in this thread are.

[Goat Holder]

He fights all the time on MSU's behalf, and does it very diplomatically. Some of your are either too young or too stupid to realize this. Sure, it sounds cool for our AD to go to B'ham and punch Slive in the face, but it doesn't work that way. Stricklin does a great job of standing up for MSU while keeping us in cahoots with the SEC. You have to play the game to an extent.

[maroonmania]

Come on, buddy.

Then you go off on Ray's recrootin in your next post. Agenda much? Just stop, you're embarrassing yourself. Many people in this thread are.

So I need an AGENDA to state that Ray's recruiting has been lackluster at best? Buddy, I don't really know what to say for you other than wake up and look at where we are with the situation. I want Ray to succeed but he has to have some players to do it.