Stricklin needs to start really caring about MSU hoops

[Jacksondevildog]

Alabama said, "Enough of this" and fired Grant.

Auburn made a home run hire for them and hired Pearl who will recruit well and be a tough game for us going forward.

Ole Miss is in their second tournament in three years and about to open a new arena. Fan excitement will be high.

Arkansas had a solid year and are back in the tournament.

Texas A&M was a bubble ncaa team and are bringing in a top 5 recruiting class.

LSU got a 9 seed and have a top class coming in.

Our women's team is drawing more than our men's team.

There is a problem here.

[HancockCountyDog]

Alabama said, "Enough of this" and fired Grant.

Auburn made a home run hire for them and hired Pearl who will recruit well and be a tough game for us going forward.

Ole Miss is in their second tournament in three years and about to open a new arena. Fan excitement will be high.

Arkansas had a solid year and are back in the tournament.

Texas A&M was a bubble ncaa team and are bringing in a top 5 recruiting class.

Our women's team is drawing more than our men's team.

There is a problem here.

At the end of the day, the majority of people that wanted a change three years ago, said they would rather watch disciplined basketball and not be embarrassed by off the court shenanigans. We have achieved that.

When we made a change three years ago, we decided that we didn't want to "play the AAU game" and get involved with "thugs". This is the end result.

I don't see why anyone is surprised or upset with the end result.

It is extremely difficult to recruit top flight talent to Starkville. We don't have a strong talent base, the talent we have is all connected through AAU programs that are dirtier than Jackson city water. If you don't have a coach that knows how to recruit in the mud in MS, well you end up with the roster we have now.

We made a conscious decision to not be relevant, but also not be notorious. This is the end result. Firing Ray would be like hiring a tech guy to come get all the viruses off your PC and then after he has done that, you don't pay him because he didn't convert your PC into a Macbook. Ray has done exactly what we hired him to do. Not get in trouble off the court, run a clean program, and not make any NCAA waves. Well,

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/mission%20accomplished%20banner%2023423423.jpg

We will be a decent team next year, probably win 18-19 games. Craig Sword is a talented player, he will be a senior and should be able to help our team get to .500 in the SEC, which should be good enough for an NIT bid. Which means Ray will definitely get a fifth year, which will be a rebuilding year. This script has played out exactly like it was supposed to. Sure, the administration would have liked more wins, but no one expected them. No one has held Ray's feet to the fire in not landing impact transfers or impact jucos, because those are the types of "thugs" that we don't want representing MSU.

Lets just all break out our copies of the book of Mormon and forgive BYU for screwing us over a decade ago, and root for those mormons to destroy the greys by 20 so that we can focus on something else.

[Coach34]

I think Steve Prohm is the odds on favorite to be Bama's next coach.

[Dawg61]

It's Monday has SS fired Ray yet?

[HancockCountyDog]

I think Steve Prohm is the odds on favorite to be Bama's next coach.

Would make sense, he is an alum and got his start there. Would be interesting to see how he does recruiting since he has no AAU ties. I would assume the Bama network would take care of that.

[msugolf]

Ray won't be here after next year cause he isn't going to take this team to the NIT or any postseason for that matter. The real problem is I don't trust the admin/SS to make the next hire.

[Coach007]

At the end of the day, the majority of people that wanted a change three years ago, said they would rather watch disciplined basketball and not be embarrassed by off the court shenanigans. We have achieved that.

When we made a change three years ago, we decided that we didn't want to "play the AAU game" and get involved with "thugs". This is the end result.

I don't see why anyone is surprised or upset with the end result.

It is extremely difficult to recruit top flight talent to Starkville. We don't have a strong talent base, the talent we have is all connected through AAU programs that are dirtier than Jackson city water. If you don't have a coach that knows how to recruit in the mud in MS, well you end up with the roster we have now.

We made a conscious decision to not be relevant, but also not be notorious. This is the end result. Firing Ray would be like hiring a tech guy to come get all the viruses off your PC and then after he has done that, you don't pay him because he didn't convert your PC into a Macbook. Ray has done exactly what we hired him to do. Not get in trouble off the court, run a clean program, and not make any NCAA waves. Well,

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/mission%20accomplished%20banner%2023423423.jpg

We will be a decent team next year, probably win 18-19 games. Craig Sword is a talented player, he will be a senior and should be able to help our team get to .500 in the SEC, which should be good enough for an NIT bid. Which means Ray will definitely get a fifth year, which will be a rebuilding year. This script has played out exactly like it was supposed to. Sure, the administration would have liked more wins, but no one expected them. No one has held Ray's feet to the fire in not landing impact transfers or impact jucos, because those are the types of "thugs" that we don't want representing MSU.

Lets just all break out our copies of the book of Mormon and forgive BYU for screwing us over a decade ago, and root for those mormons to destroy the greys by 20 so that we can focus on something else.



Still have the same issues that we had before. Players arrested. Players transferring etc. Just add in more than average injuries every year.

[msstate7]

Still have the same issues that we had before. Players arrested. Players transferring etc. Just add in more than average injuries every year.

I think there's a difference in applewhite and Davis transfering than osby, Ervin, hansbrough, and delks.

[MadDawg]

Bravo. I just wished those that wanted this would still act like this is what they wanted.



At the end of the day, the majority of people that wanted a change three years ago, said they would rather watch disciplined basketball and not be embarrassed by off the court shenanigans. We have achieved that.

[RossDawg82]

My worry isn't if he is going to stay because he is. My worry is when we suck at the beginning of next year, that SS wont go ahead and pull the trigger. We will have to endure another full year of shitty basketball with no attendance.

[maroonmania]

At the end of the day, the majority of people that wanted a change three years ago, said they would rather watch disciplined basketball and not be embarrassed by off the court shenanigans. We have achieved that.

When we made a change three years ago, we decided that we didn't want to "play the AAU game" and get involved with "thugs". This is the end result.



At the time I don't think it was the "majority of people" that wanted a change at HC. I think the administration and the majority of fans wanted to see more accountability and discipline within the program but many, including myself, knew that without Stans and staff doing the recruiting our program was on a slippery slope that could go downhill fast. The administration though was to the point that, without changes, they were willing to force Stans out rather than keep status quo. Still questionable whether a majority of fans were to the ultimatum point of clean up things or leave but it was probably at least split down the middle. Anyway, its water under the bridge at this point, the key question now is what is the best path forward.

[Jacksondevildog]

And that will make Alabama better. He's a good damn coach.
I think Steve Prohm is the odds on favorite to be Bama's next coach.

[MetEdDawg]

At the end of the day, the majority of people that wanted a change three years ago, said they would rather watch disciplined basketball and not be embarrassed by off the court shenanigans. We have achieved that.

When we made a change three years ago, we decided that we didn't want to "play the AAU game" and get involved with "thugs". This is the end result.

I don't see why anyone is surprised or upset with the end result.


It is extremely difficult to recruit top flight talent to Starkville. We don't have a strong talent base, the talent we have is all connected through AAU programs that are dirtier than Jackson city water. If you don't have a coach that knows how to recruit in the mud in MS, well you end up with the roster we have now.

We made a conscious decision to not be relevant, but also not be notorious. This is the end result. Firing Ray would be like hiring a tech guy to come get all the viruses off your PC and then after he has done that, you don't pay him because he didn't convert your PC into a Macbook. Ray has done exactly what we hired him to do. Not get in trouble off the court, run a clean program, and not make any NCAA waves. Well,

We will be a decent team next year, probably win 18-19 games. Craig Sword is a talented player, he will be a senior and should be able to help our team get to .500 in the SEC, which should be good enough for an NIT bid. Which means Ray will definitely get a fifth year, which will be a rebuilding year. This script has played out exactly like it was supposed to. Sure, the administration would have liked more wins, but no one expected them. No one has held Ray's feet to the fire in not landing impact transfers or impact jucos, because those are the types of "thugs" that we don't want representing MSU.

Lets just all break out our copies of the book of Mormon and forgive BYU for screwing us over a decade ago, and root for those mormons to destroy the greys by 20 so that we can focus on something else.

Yes most of us wanted to watch more disciplined basketball with a better fundamental approach to the game. The problem is we just haven't gotten that with Ray. We turn the ball over an insane amount. We lose track of guys on the defensive side too much. We don't really play good fundamental basketball on the offensive end. So we didn't get what most of us wanted in Stansbury's replacement. That's why I'm mad. I'm mad because I didn't get what I wanted in a head coach to replace Stansbury.

I don't agree with the approach we took with how the program was going to be run in terms of keeping it squeaky clean, which is why I'm also mad at Stricklin. You have to play the game in basketball. It's a requirement to win and win big consistently and by going away from that mentality we hamstrung ourselves from our potential under Ray. This to me is mirror image of Sherrill - Croom - Mullen. To me the parallels between the way things are going down from Stansbury - Ray - ???? are eerily similar, which means that we are hopefully going to change our basketball mentality towards having the same success Mullen has had in football.

Point is that a change needs to be made. The program is pretty much cleaned up and recruiting is better than three years ago. Now we need a visionary that wants to transform our program into a competitor. We need someone that can take control and implement their way toward sustained success. I don't know who that is, but it's not Ray. That much to me should be very clear by now.

[HancockCountyDog]

And that will make Alabama better. He's a good damn coach.

I will have to see it to believe it.

Anthony Grant was a sure thing when he was hired. A ****ing home run hire. Now he is getting run out on a rail. It is extremely hard to be nationally relevant in the SEC year in and year out.

[Irondawg]

I don't know why this is so hard for people. Yes we wanted disciplined basketball. What we wanted was a talented but well coached team that wasn't a train wreck off of it. Much like every team that made the NCAA field. We thought that any small talent drop could be compensated for with better coaching. We also thought with the money we could pay that finding a good coach would not be a huge problem.

I don't think anybody that wanted a change was happy with Ray but nobody had any clue what we had or didn't have.

I think if you go back even the anti Stan's crowd would have opted to keep Stans over Someone with Rays resume.

We had no idea how toxic our program was viewed in the coaching community which should tell you something about how bad it must have really gotten internally.

Seriously at the time did anybody think we would have trouble hiring someone like Prohm as a worst case scenario?

[Goat from MSU]

After they fired Ray's old boss at Clemson ,which is a good chance in happening .We could all go on the Clemson board and each of us invent 20 different user's names each and lobby for Rick Ray to be their next coach.

[Dawg61]

After they fired Ray's old boss at Clemson ,which is a good chance in happening .We could all go on the Clemson board and each of us invent 20 different user's names each and lobby for Rick Ray to be their next coach.

BRILLIANT!!!! Operation Take Our Ray

[Goat from MSU]

I think Steve Prohm is the odds on favorite to be Bama's next coach.

You do know how to talked some shit .I do not give a shit about Bama Basketball. If we had paid Prohm 2 million 3 years ago . We would not be were we are today. You should start raising hell about Ray ,you got Stansbury gone ,work you magic again.

[gtowndawg]

I know three other Bulldog Club members that emailed him asking why a change has not been made. Scott's not replied to any of us. All Bulldog Club members mind you.

I'm not saying he should drop everything, but it's been a week. The two times I emailed Greg Byrne he responded to me.

Scott's going to let this fester until it's impossible to fix. That's the problem.

[tcdog70]

I think there's a difference in applewhite and Davis transfering than osby, Ervin, hansbrough, and delks.

sure there is a big difference--Ray can't recruit players like them. How can they transfer if you can't recruit high quality players. If you can only recruit the Davis and Applewhites then that is what transfers. DUH. Ervin and the Delks weren't that big of a deal. the Delks couldn't make free throws at the end of games and got their feelings hurt . Osby was mad about playing time and Ben had troubles with His Mother and used no practice facility as an excuse for transferring. So Stans went out and raised the Money for a State of the Art Practice Facility and never got to use it.

[Dawg61]

I know three other Bulldog Club members that emailed him asking why a change has not been made. Scott's not replied to any of us. All Bulldog Club members mind you.

I'm not saying he should drop everything, but it's been a week. The two times I emailed Greg Byrne he responded to me.

Scott's going to let this fester until it's impossible to fix. That's the problem.

Yup! SS is going to end up getting fired because of Rayball. Dominoes already starting to fall.

[bluelightstar]

I know three other Bulldog Club members that emailed him asking why a change has not been made. Scott's not replied to any of us. All Bulldog Club members mind you.

I'm not saying he should drop everything, but it's been a week. The two times I emailed Greg Byrne he responded to me.

Scott's going to let this fester until it's impossible to fix. That's the problem.

That's unusual -- Scott is usually good about a reply, even if it's just "Thanks for your concerns."

[Coach34]

Yup! SS is going to end up getting fired because of Rayball. Dominoes already starting to fall.

In no way shape or form is Ray going to get Strick fired. If Keenum told him to make a change- Ray would be gone tomorrow. Ray has 2 years left on his contract- and it's going to take over $1MM to buy him out. The furniture guys and others need to write Keenum a check.

[thunderclap]

In typical fashion we're just going to sit around and let a coach make as much money as he can while it is obvious that it's not working.

[thunderclap]

In no way shape or form is Ray going to get Strick fired. If Keenum told him to make a change- Ray would be gone tomorrow. Ray has 2 years left on his contract- and it's going to take over $1MM to buy him out. The furniture guys and others need to write Keenum a check.

If we don't have a $1M laying around to buy out this contract then somebody's ass in the accounting department needs to be fired. We aren't in the mother scratchin' MAC.

[HailState39110]

In no way shape or form is Ray going to get Strick fired. If Keenum told him to make a change- Ray would be gone tomorrow. Ray has 2 years left on his contract- and it's going to take over $1MM to buy him out. The furniture guys and others need to write Keenum a check.

I heard through the grapevine this morning that Keenum was on board with making a head coaching change for men's basketball, but Stricklin wants to give Ray one more year without any contract extensions or raises. Ray will be back unless something crazy happens.

Another rumor, I have heard the new baseball park we are wanting to build is on hold unless we can raise some more money. I think they were hoping for Cohen to have a really good year this year to carry some momentum for raising money, and it doesn't look like its gonna happen. By all accounts, there were a lot of grand stands seats available this weekend

[1bigdawg]

My problem is losing the games where we had more talent before the SEC season started. We lost to Arkansas State and USC Upstate. That is not good coaching. That is not making progress. I believe the players are playing hard and are good kids. The fact that we are losing to these schools is the reason he should be gone. In these cases, you cannot blame lack of recruiting or the "Stans train wreck," if you want to call it that. You cannot blame lack of talent, or facilities, or effort. The only thing that is left is preparation and in game coaching and those fall squarely on Rick Ray.

So there is really no hope of significant long term improvement. There is no school pride reason for keeping him. And here's the thing, the thinking that we cannot afford financially to fire him is flawed.

We may not lose $1 million in lost revenue from basketball in the next year but it will be a substantial number and if you consider the follow on effect over the two years that follow, I am pretty sure it will cost over the million to keep Ray.

Future prospects are no reason to keep Ray. Money is no reason. The only reasons I can think of are that Stricklin either feels obligated to Ray to give him another year or that Stricklin was so horrified and damaged by the last Men's BB coach search that he is hesitant to do it again. These are emotional reasons and not looking out for the best interest of the University. He should get over it.

[engie]

Ray has 2 years left on his contract

link?

[Goat from MSU]

Engie : It is true it was reported last week on 24/7 . You can check over there ,it was done after his first season here. It was for a job well done.
link?

[engie]

Engie : It is true it was reported last week on 24/7 . You can check over there ,it was done after his first season here. It was for a job well done.

If Stricklin extended him after year 1, he needs to come up with the extra million for the buyout himself if/when he has to fire him next year...

ETA: I forgot about the bet I lost to not talk about MSU basketball by Ray's shitburger this year. So this will be my last post on the matter...

[Ifyouonlyknew]

I heard through the grapevine this morning that Keenum was on board with making a head coaching change for men's basketball, but Stricklin wants to give Ray one more year without any contract extensions or raises. Ray will be back unless something crazy happens.

Not true. If Keenum wanted to make a change it would be made. Scott doesn't have the final say on this. If Keenum wanted Ray gone he wouldn't be leaving it in Strick's hands.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Engie : It is true it was reported last week on 24/7 . You can check over there ,it was done after his first season here. It was for a job well done.

Stricklin & Ray have a handshake agreement for an extra year. However there is no buyout on that 5th year so if he sucks next year he will be fired & will be owed no money. So basically next year is produce or be gone.

[Coach34]

Not true. If Keenum wanted to make a change it would be made. Scott doesn't have the final say on this. If Keenum wanted Ray gone he wouldn't be leaving it in Strick's hands.

This

Keenum runs the show more than people know

[MetEdDawg]

This

Keenum runs the show more than people know

As it should be too. Athletic director's careers are more on the line with those decisions than a president's job, so a president isn't really in CYA mode or trying to save their job. They can bring a bit more objectivity to the table. A president worth his salt should be able to bring an objective view point into what is best for the university in all facets, including athletics. To this point, I see nothing that Keenum has done that hasn't proven his ability to lead this university towards being the best it can possibly be. So I fully believe if Keenum wanted to make a change, then a change would be made.

[mcdawg]

I think there's a difference in applewhite and Davis transfering than osby, Ervin, hansbrough, and delks.

Yea, some were good players and some were not. I would rather sign good players that might stay then bad players you are hoping with leave to free up scholarships. Let's see - Hansbrough transferred to ND, Delks to Louisville, Osby to Okl, and Ervin to Arkansas. Where did Applewhite and Davis go?