Do we credit Mullen partially for Howland?

[sbcmortgageman]

He has helped somewhat change the national perception of Starkville. Five years ago we wouldn't have lured anyone away from Santa Barbara.

[blacklistedbully]

Nope, not at all. We got Bob Boyd out of SoCal in 1982 when our overall facilities sucked. He had plenty of money, so could have lived in SB if he wanted.

[Drugdog]

Several things helped. Imo.
1. Football program being Number 1. Proved you can win here.
2. Baseball Program playing for a National Championship proved you can win here.
3. ESPN money.
4. Lack of depth in SEC.
5. Nice fat salary.
6. Overall improved National perception based on TV exposure, etc.

[Mjoelner34]

Several things helped. Imo.
1. Football program being Number 1. Proved you can win here.
2. Baseball Program playing for a National Championship proved you can win here.
3. ESPN money.
4. Lack of depth in SEC.
5. Nice fat salary.
6. Overall improved National perception based on TV exposure, etc.

Especially #4. Kentucky and the 13 dwarfs. As long as you're the biggest dwarf, you're probably in.

[Hypnodawg]

Dan definitely helped change the national image of MSU, which certainly plays a role in peoples decision making. Wasn't it Pearl that said he wanted to go to a school that had won a championship in one of the big 3? Being ranked #1 isn't a championship, but it puts you inside the room. Cohen being successful adds another leg to the stool as well. The image we now have is that MSU is competing for championships, which plays into 6. And Dan and Cohen are a big part of that.

[TXDawg]

I think our relationship with Adidas helped too. Some on here might bitch about the uniforms, but there's no doubt that Adidas has put a lot of time, effort, and money into positioning MSU as one of their top tier schools. The increased exposure and improved national image from that is immeasurable.

Add in the obvious Howland-Adidas ties and it's pretty much undeniable that Adidas played a large role (not necessarily directly) in the hiring of Howland.

[MetEdDawg]

I credit Mullen and Cohen some for sure. The perception around our school as a whole has changed because those two have elevated the expectations of the fan base in their respective sports.

But, and as much as it will pain some on here to do, we HAVE to give some credit to Rick Ray. Think about how long it took Ben Howland to take this job after Ray was fired. 48 hours. That's nuts and that is virtually unheard of, even if there was mutual interest before Ray's firing. This was a good enough job for him to take and I think we have to give some credit to Rick Ray for cleaning up the program and bringing in enough to make it appealing to a guy like Ben Howland.

We can criticize him for what happened on the court and we can certainly say that he didn't live up to what we wanted. But the fact that we hired Ray 3 years ago (mostly because he was the best we thought we could get and we got turned down by others), then were able to get Ben Howland 3 years later shows me that we were able to make some strides in turning this program back into a desirable job. I'm sure Howland could have waited and a bigger school would have come calling. But he didn't. He thought he could win here and I think we at least have to give Ray some partial credit for that.

[War Machine Dawg]

I credit Mullen and Cohen some for sure. The perception around our school as a whole has changed because those two have elevated the expectations of the fan base in their respective sports.

But, and as much as it will pain some on here to do, we HAVE to give some credit to Rick Ray. Think about how long it took Ben Howland to take this job after Ray was fired. 48 hours. That's nuts and that is virtually unheard of, even if there was mutual interest before Ray's firing. This was a good enough job for him to take and I think we have to give some credit to Rick Ray for cleaning up the program and bringing in enough to make it appealing to a guy like Ben Howland.

We can criticize him for what happened on the court and we can certainly say that he didn't live up to what we wanted. But the fact that we hired Ray 3 years ago (mostly because he was the best we thought we could get and we got turned down by others), then were able to get Ben Howland 3 years later shows me that we were able to make some strides in turning this program back into a desirable job. I'm sure Howland could have waited and a bigger school would have come calling. But he didn't. He thought he could win here and I think we at least have to give Ray some partial credit for that.

Ray was basketball Croom: terrible coach who did the necessary job of cleaning the program. Anyone who doubts what he inherited from Stands needs to go listen to the segment where Gary Parrish discusses the hire. No one was going to succeed following Stands. But like Croom, Ray laid a foundation of discipline and hard work that can be built upon pretty easily.

[MetEdDawg]

Ray was basketball Croom: terrible coach who did the necessary job of cleaning the program. Anyone who doubts what he inherited from Stands needs to go listen to the segment where Gary Parrish discusses the hire. No one was going to succeed following Stands. But like Croom, Ray laid a foundation of discipline and hard work that can be built upon pretty easily.

I've drawn comparisons between the two before so I absolutely agree with you. Ray wasn't going to succeed. There was too much of an uphill battle and the emotion around the program was very negative. Not only did many not like Stans being gone, but many didn't like that we followed him up with Ray. Plus with what we had on the roster there was really no way for him to do much better than he did with what he was given.

I think in a sense though, Mullen and Cohen hurt Ray's ability to be here a 4th year. They've had such high levels of success that it's hard to have one of your big 3 hang around the bottom of the conference as long as we have. Had they not had the level of success they have had, I think Ray gets at least a 4th year. But they've raised the bar as to what we are willing to accept as a university in sports and it seems like we were just ready to make a change and go after something new. It was the right decision I think for sure.

[missouridawg]

One of Howland's biggest missteps at UCLA was changing his recruiting strategy from "locally grown, hard working, fit-for-the-program" type players... to national recruiting. He'll get back to what he was successful at here at State, hopefully... as Mullen has shown you can win with that strategy at State.