Why are some OM fans so offended about "The Network"?

[ShotgunDawg]

First off, we all need to realize that 99.7% of the Ole Miss fan base is not part of the "The Network" and probably doesn't have any connection to anyone in the "The Network".

However, I do find it interesting that many in that 99.7%, that has no connection to the "The Network", seems to be offended by the mere mention that "The Network" exist.

Therefore, it appears to me that many/most of the Rebel fan base was under some grand delusion that they are actually recruiting well because of a patch of trees, a town square, and a bible thumping head coach. There is something about the reality of the situation that, even while they are recruiting well, doesn't jive with what they were taught and what they want to believe.

Ole Miss fans: The Square, The Grove, etc... they are nice places, but they aren't the reason you are recruiting well. I realize this is opposite of everything you've been taught since you were a cub, but it's actually a credit to the organization, passion, and resolve of your alumni to make sure that Ole Miss has a competitive football team.

Because of this recruiting strategy, Ole Miss should have more talent on the field, but there is also another side of this, and that is coachability, character, and determination. When you acquire recruits through a "Network" type situation, then what are the odds that they show up on campus with no entitlement and coachability? They own you

When Alabama, LSU, and Auburn cheat, they have more success with these types of players because the players respect the program more. The players come into the program with an understanding of the expectations, tradition, and that there are likely better players on the roster that they will have to battle with for playing time.

When they come into Ole Miss, they feel like they are doing Ole Miss a favor by coming, and, with that attitude, comes a snowball of problems. The key to winning big is to get highly rated players that come into the school with a chip on their shoulder and the desire to be a "blue collar" type player that works hard. Due to how Ole Miss is acquiring their players, I wonder how many of those types of guys they are actually getting?

[SignalToNoise]

They are highly offended at the notion that recruits are picking them for cash and incentives rather than their "football heritage", the square, the grove, "pretty girls", or other reasons that their fanbase has spend their life building their self-image on.

[Political Hack]

They are highly offended at the notion that recruits are picking them for cash and incentives rather than their "football heritage", the square, the grove, "pretty girls", or other reasons that their fanbase has spend their life building their self-image on.

I can promise you they aren't picking them because of their "heritage."

[fishwater99]

I can promise you they aren't picking them because of their "heritage."

Boom....

They go to TSUN for one reason... $$

[Saltydog]

I swear, I've never seen more pretentious bastards in my whole life and that includes the demagogue and head hypocrit himself, Freezus..........

[SignalToNoise]

I can promise you they aren't picking them because of their "heritage."

You don't have to promise me anything. I'm well aware. Their fanbase might be in need of some convincing, though.

[maroonmania]

I can promise you they aren't picking them because of their "heritage."

Exactly, they already have a built in disadvantage with players of color due to their "heritage". And whatever reall football success they had is so far back that it isn't relevant to today anyway. Most all of it was before even integration.

[MadDawg]

From what I've seen today on Twitter, they seem to be very proud of the "The Network". Even Ross Bdork is proud of it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[Maroonthirteen]

Where is the screen capture of Leighann Tacoy tweeting Byron Devinner? #thenetwork

[Jack Lambert]

I can promise you they aren't picking them because of their "heritage."

It's their heritage why they have to pay to get recruits.

[BossDawg]

That's pretty much my opinion on the matter, too. I feel like since they push this culture of partying and literally worship these recruits when they visit, they end up getting (for the most part) the egotistical attention whores. They think the heavy duty party atmosphere and borderline pedophiles will hook the big fish, and it does to an extent. But for many of their recruits I think it ends up being more of a distraction than anything.

[yjnkdawg]

Because most of the OM fans have the delusional perception that a potential highly recruited player can not help but love The Grove, the Square, the OM Football Program and just OM in general. A very few are aware of what goes on behind the scenes to draw some of these players. Those in the know, would be your big money recruting boosters, who basically run the OM football program. They did this back when Johnny Vaught was their coach and about the only difference is now, they have to dig deeper in their pockets and up the ante for some of these recruits they are chasing.

[JDog13]

I've not seen "The Network" this mad since "The Help"

[MadDawg]

I've not seen "The Network" this mad since "The Help"

^^^^^^^^^ POST OF THE DAY ^^^^^^^^^

Well played, sir. Well played.

[Tdawg]

First off, we all need to realize that 99.7% of the Ole Miss fan base is not part of the "The Network" and probably doesn't have any connection to anyone in the "The Network". Probably True

However, I do find it interesting that many in that 99.7%, that has no connection to the "The Network", seems to be offended by the mere mention that "The Network" exist. Can you show me some examples of this? All I've seen is Rebel fans making fun of coach and turning this into a big joke.

Therefore, it appears to me that many/most of the Rebel fan base was under some grand delusion that they are actually recruiting well because of a patch of trees, a town square, and a bible thumping head coach. There is something about the reality of the situation that, even while they are recruiting well, doesn't jive with what they were taught and what they want to believe. If, as coach suggested, most/all SEC schools have a "Network", then wouldn't that suggest a relatively even playing field in the gray area that would result in kids that, in the vast majority of situations, choose the school they would prefer to attend?

Ole Miss fans: The Square, The Grove, etc... they are nice places, but they aren't the reason you are recruiting well. I realize this is opposite of everything you've been taught since you were a cub, but it's actually a credit to the organization, passion, and resolve of your alumni to make sure that Ole Miss has a competitive football team. The sooner we can realize that they are doing something right on the recruiting trail, the sooner we may be able to match some of their success. For the life of me, I don't understand why we point to the exact same situations at other schools and admit that it'd be tough to pull a kid from that but we have such a difficult time saying that about OM. And, if the OM alumni Network is making that big of a difference then why the hell are we not doing it? Hell, they aren't any smarter than us and there aren't even as many of them as us. As we've discussed, in MS we have a 3:2 numbers advantage on them, yet we can't turn that into anything resembling domination of the top shelf in state football talent.

Because of this recruiting strategy, Ole Miss should have more talent on the field, but there is also another side of this, and that is coachability, character, and determination. When you acquire recruits through a "Network" type situation, then what are the odds that they show up on campus with no entitlement and coachability? They own you There's good truth to this. Dan is nearing the point of being beyond reproach when it comes to recruiting results. The last thing he has to do is show that he can win in the modern day SEC West with someone other than our greatest QB of all time playing. He gets the credit for Dak, but he needs to be able to put another Dak on the field or show that he can win big with a Bo Wallace/Blake Sims type of QB

When Alabama, LSU, and Auburn cheat, they have more success with these types of players because the players respect the program more. The players come into the program with an understanding of the expectations, tradition, and that there are likely better players on the roster that they will have to battle with for playing time. This may be the most ascinine thing I've ever read on a message board. Players who have the options to go to any school in the country are not going to sign with and walk into a program that they don't respect--regardless of how much we hate OM. Do you honestly believe that ANY high school player is going to sign with, and attend a school for 3-5 years that they don't like/respect? Seriously?

When they come into Ole Miss, they feel like they are doing Ole Miss a favor by coming, and, with that attitude, comes a snowball of problems. The key to winning big is to get highly rated players that come into the school with a chip on their shoulder and the desire to be a "blue collar" type player that works hard. Due to how Ole Miss is acquiring their players, I wonder how many of those types of guys they are actually getting?Enough to whip our ass at the end of the best season in our school's history

It's crap like this that kind of pisses me off about our fans. This is one of the looniest message board posts that I've ever seen but, because you were able to talk bad about Ole Miss, every person on the board is going to fall in line with the crap you just spewed. The Ole Miss fans aren't offended by what coach said. They know there are elements of truth and elements of fantasy to the story. They also know that this is repeated all over the SEC--except I guess here--and it's just the ante to get into the high stakes poker game that is the SEC. Juding by the ass whipping they applied to our best team ever--who is in the 6th year under Dan, and the talent that it appears they are stockpiling (for whatever reason), we would be well-served to start trying to keep up with the Jones'es instead of trying to make fun of them while they move by us.

[Really Clark?]

It's crap like this that kind of pisses me off about our fans. This is one of the looniest message board posts that I've ever seen but, because you were able to talk bad about Ole Miss, every person on the board is going to fall in line with the crap you just spewed. The Ole Miss fans aren't offended by what coach said. They know there are elements of truth and elements of fantasy to the story. They also know that this is repeated all over the SEC--except I guess here--and it's just the ante to get into the high stakes poker game that is the SEC. Juding by the ass whipping they applied to our best team ever--who is in the 6th year under Dan, and the talent that it appears they are stockpiling (for whatever reason), we would be well-served to start trying to keep up with the Jones'es instead of trying to make fun of them while they move by us.

According to a lot fans during recruiting season, they have been about to move by us for a long time. Then we finish higher than them in the standings. Again. Until they match our 5 straight years, how bout we stop with they are moving past us talk.

[MadDawg]

It's crap like this that kind of pisses me off about our fans. This is one of the looniest message board posts that I've ever seen but, because you were able to talk bad about Ole Miss, every person on the board is going to fall in line with the crap you just spewed. The Ole Miss fans aren't offended by what coach said. They know there are elements of truth and elements of fantasy to the story. They also know that this is repeated all over the SEC--except I guess here--and it's just the ante to get into the high stakes poker game that is the SEC. Juding by the ass whipping they applied to our best team ever--who is in the 6th year under Dan, and the talent that it appears they are stockpiling (for whatever reason), we would be well-served to start trying to keep up with the Jones'es instead of trying to make fun of them while they move by us.

No offense, but you would make a great Bearshark fan. You believe all the hype, and tout your cruitin' championships above on the field play.

I'll give you the same chance I give the nimrods on FB. Name me one thing - ONE DAMN THING - other than a crootin championship that Freezus has accomplished that Mullen hasn't. I'll hang up and listen.

[CadaverDawg]

No offense, but you would make a great Bearshark fan. You believe all the hype, and tout your cruitin' championships above on the field play.

I'll give you the same chance I give the nimrods on FB. Name me one thing - ONE DAMN THING - other than a crootin championship that Freezus has accomplished that Mullen hasn't. I'll hang up and listen.

Great post. +1

But....Has Mullen ever stopped up a running stream with a pile of trees he chewed down?*

[Tdawg]

No offense, but you would make a great Bearshark fan. You believe all the hype, and tout your cruitin' championships above on the field play.

I'll give you the same chance I give the nimrods on FB. Name me one thing - ONE DAMN THING - other than a crootin championship that Freezus has accomplished that Mullen hasn't. I'll hang up and listen.

Other than stockpiling talent, he has won more than he's lost head-to-head against our developed talent. He's beaten Alabama. He's maintained continuity of staff at both coordinator positions and only lost 2 position coaches in 3 years. He's increased his win total in each of his first three season, and he did this on the heels of an implosion of their athletic department that was instigated by a complete dumpster fire of a football program that he was left to inherit.

If you contrast this to what we were saying this time 3 years ago, then yeah, there's something worth worrying about. 3 years ago Freeze was a girls HS bball coach who had virtually no legitimate coaching experience, his only tutelage in the SEC was under Ed Orgeron and, quite frankly, the only reason he got that gig was because of a 5-star player he coached. We, on the other hand, were coming off of 3 straight wins over OM--all in dominating fashion, 3 straight bowl games and a program that had passed them by. We have not digressed during that time--in fact, we've gotten better. However, they are closing the gap damn fast.


Look, I said above that Dan's track record lends credibility to his ability to develop unpolished talent. Problem is, for the most part, during his tenure, our success in the SEC West has come against Ole Miss. Well, Ole Miss' talent is beginning to look more and more like all those other teams that have given us so much trouble over the last 6 years. It hasn't happened yet, but it is trending in that direction. And we can't wait for them to pass us before we start doing something

[Really Clark?]

5 straight years we have finished higher than them. And as far as stockpiling talent. Have you really compared the two rosters? I don't care what the rankings say in Feb I mean player vs player. I bet you would be surprised at the talent levels between us. Not to mention that they have "out recruited" us for how many years? 5, 10, 20? Sorry so many of us have been told the "reality" of what is about to happen for so long. Heck this happens nearly every year even under Mullen. They win a recruiting banner and people like you (who are not a true fan or just can't help but to enlighten us) come out to say how we are about to get left behind. I think our fans are getting more and more numb to this line of thinking.

[Todd4State]

I don't think it's because Ole Miss fans think they are awesome. At least the majority. Here's the thing- if your rival knows about your network and even some or ahem...a Lott of the people in the network, there is the potential that the network could get stopped or short circuited. It's like America knowing all of Russia's military secrets.