If state could increase the overall athletics budget overnight..

[SignalToNoise]

Let's say we woke up Monday and had a budget comparable with LSU (I always hear their budget is much, much bigger than ours).

Where would you want the money to go?

Coaches salaries? I've heard some compelling arguments for assistant coaches to make more.
Facilities? We all want to see some work done to Dudy Noble.
Recruting? Maybe host a rager at Rick's for all the 'croots.

What are your thoughts?

[messageboardsuperhero]

If we had LSU's budget, this wouldn't be an either/or thing. We'd probably already have or be in the process of getting all of these things.

But, for arguments sake, if it was limited to one or two of these things, I'd start off giving the assistants raises then use whatever was left to get started on a new, state of the art baseball stadium and not cut any corners with it. That's not to say that we should cut corners now on a new stadium, even with our limited funds, but it would be a hell of a lot easier with LSU's kind of money.

I don't know if the school funds recruiting parties like that. We do need to get the whole town more involved in recruiting though, that's for damn sure.

[missouridawg]

Paying a guy like Brewster to stay would've been so clutch. He's a dynamite recruiter and would most likely be creating enough excitement to calm the masses on all the nonsense going on with OM's recruiting this summer.

[Homedawg]

Paying a guy like Brewster to stay would've been so clutch. He's a dynamite recruiter and would most likely be creating enough excitement to calm the masses on all the nonsense going on with OM's recruiting this summer.
Money wouldn't have kept Brewster. He thought our staff was disfuctional. Too much griping from within. (I.e. Melvin, Chris from Mullen etc.) Second, he thinks, knows fsu is a better chance to win and him get back up the ladder, ever how far that may be.

[archdog]

Why don't our students get together to "host" the recruits? Doesn't seem like it would be that hard for our frat guys and sorority girls to get organized. Beats the hell out of whatever else they are organizing.

Then the Greeks would actually contribute something for our university other than the number of DB's on campus.

[missouridawg]

Why don't our students get together to "host" the recruits? Doesn't seem like it would be that hard for our frat guys and sorority girls to get organized. Beats the hell out of whatever else they are organizing.

You know nothing about fraternities and sororities if you think hosting recruits would the best of their planning/organizational events over the course of a year. It would, most likely, be near the bottom of the list... right beside having parties that you could never get into.

[ckDOG]

Let's say we woke up Monday and had a budget comparable with LSU (I always hear their budget is much, much bigger than ours).

Where would you want the money to go?

Coaches salaries? I've heard some compelling arguments for assistant coaches to make more.
Facilities? We all want to see some work done to Dudy Noble.
Recruting? Maybe host a rager at Rick's for all the 'croots.

What are your thoughts?

We've done an outstanding job with our facilities with what we have. They can be nicer, but I won't pick on those. I would target assistant coach salaries to attract and retain the best coaches available and I would quadruple the recruiting budget. I'd also have a giant staff of former coaches in admin/non-coaching type positions doing the stuff the position coaches physically don't have time to do and to essentially recruit every allowable day of the year.

[Demdawgs]

If we had LSU's budget, this wouldn't be an either/or thing. We'd probably already have or be in the process of getting all of these things.

But, for arguments sake, if it was limited to one or two of these things, I'd start off giving the assistants raises then use whatever was left to get started on a new, state of the art baseball stadium and not cut any corners with it. That's not to say that we should cut corners now on a new stadium, even with our limited funds, but it would be a hell of a lot easier with LSU's kind of money.

I don't know if the school funds recruiting parties like that. We do need to get the whole town more involved in recruiting though, that's for damn sure.

A NEW stadium? Surely you mean renovated.

[Coach34]

1. we need to invest in Sville and make a party area for the college age people and also something that would attract the older crowd. This would help recruiting and improve the town.

2. New baseball stadium

Those are our biggest needs

[engie]

A NEW stadium? Surely you mean renovated.

Pretty sure he meant what he said. This topic has been beaten to death here and elsewhere...

If we're content with being the 4th - 5th best stadium in the SECwest -- then we renovate. No way we can make it elite again without starting over from scratch on the grandstand structure.

[Demdawgs]

Pretty sure he meant what he said. This topic has been beaten to death here and elsewhere...

If we're content with being the 4th - 5th best stadium in the SECwest -- then we renovate. No way we can make it elite again without starting over from scratch on the grandstand structure.

I just dont see how with an increased athletic budget your second highest priority would be to tear down (not renovate and improve) but replace the most special place to watch a game in College Baseball.

[Coach34]

I just dont see how with an increased athletic budget your second highest priority would be to tear down (not renovate and improve) but replace the most special place to watch a game in College Baseball.

It's special because of the Left Field Lounge- not that terribly designed hunk of concrete with chairbacks on it

[War Machine Dawg]

It's special because of the Left Field Lounge- not that terribly designed hunk of concrete with chairbacks on it

Nailed it. Don't know why that's so hard for some to understand. "If you build it, they will come."

[Demdawgs]

Nailed it. Don't know why that's so hard for some to understand. "If you build it, they will come."

It's not hard for people do not understand, its that they disagree with you. No one believes the stadium is perfect but I do not think it is damaged beyond repair. Its not a "if you build it, they will come" that is not a problem here.

[engie]

Its not a "if you build it, they will come" that is not a problem here.

Yes it is. And the fact that you think it isn't just shows how disconnected from the reality of the current concrete structure that you are right now.

Who "comes"? Amazing what a single tremendous regional does to erase the stigma of the first 40 games at the Dude -- or hell, the last 1500 games there or however many it's been since those godawful bleachers were added -- where "those that would come" are stuck in the worst seats in all of baseball -- and without comparison the worst in the SEC for 5 innings before they can migrate into decent seats in the empty grandstand. These same people would buy season tickets if the grandstand didn't sell out every year(plus about 1500 season tix in the outfield). NO ONE is buying season tickets to sit in those bleachers -- or without vested interest in LFL. What could we do with an extra 2k chairbacks? Sell 2k more season tickets -- that's what. Please don't throw out the line about putting chairbacks down the foul lines -- I've shown in great detail why that's a bad idea and why the sightlines would still be terrible if you'd search it.

Our grandstand structure is simply beyond repair. IF we ARE the Jones's in baseball like we think we are, we've got to start over from scratch. The fact that you think "renovating it will be fine" simply shows a lack of perspective telling me you haven't visited very many of the new ballparks around the league and country. Been to LSU? Been to Baum? Been to Carolina Stadium? Hell, even Trustmark Park or Autozone? Those are the Jones's now. And they are built on an ENTIRELY different and better concept than Dudy Noble is or can be replicated with the current grandstand structure in place.

[Demdawgs]

Yes it is. And the fact that you think it isn't just shows how disconnected from the reality of the current concrete structure that you are right now.

Who "comes"? Amazing what a single tremendous regional does to erase the stigma of the first 40 games at the Dude -- or hell, the last 1500 games there or however many it's been since those godawful bleachers were added -- where "those that would come" are stuck in the worst seats in all of baseball -- and without comparison the worst in the SEC for 5 innings before they can migrate into decent seats in the empty grandstand. These same people would buy season tickets if the grandstand didn't sell out every year(plus about 1500 season tix in the outfield). NO ONE is buying season tickets to sit in those bleachers -- or without vested interest in LFL. What could we do with an extra 2k chairbacks? Sell 2k more season tickets -- that's what. Please don't throw out the line about putting chairbacks down the foul lines -- I've shown in great detail why that's a bad idea and why the sightlines would still be terrible if you'd search it.

Our grandstand structure is simply beyond repair. IF we ARE the Jones's in baseball like we think we are, we've got to start over from scratch. The fact that you think "renovating it will be fine" simply shows a lack of perspective telling me you haven't visited very many of the new ballparks around the league and country. Been to LSU? Been to Baum? Been to Carolina Stadium? Hell, even Trustmark Park or Autozone? Those are the Jones's now. And they are built on an ENTIRELY different and better concept than Dudy Noble is or can be replicated with the current grandstand structure in place.

Interesting that you said the last 5 years. Im sure this has nothing to do with the product that has been put on the field during that time. Wow.

[Will James]

God not this topic again. Those with knowledge know we need a new baseball grandstand. Go sit a few games in the bleachers and say otherwise.

[Will James]

Interesting that you said the last 5 years. Im sure this has nothing to do with the product that has been put on the field during that time. Wow.

A Super, a SEC tourney champion, and a National Championship contender?

[engie]

Interesting that you said the last 5 years. Im sure this has nothing to do with the product that has been put on the field during that time. Wow.

Where did I say a damn thing about the last 5 years? Oh -- I didn't. My timeframe was all-inclusive. EVER SINCE THE DAMN BLEACHERS WERE ADDED. Not sure when that was -- but they were certainly there when I first visited DNF in 1998. ETA: On further inspection, it appears they've been there ever since the concrete structure was initially added.

Are you just trying hard to simply be argumentative on this without bringing a damn bit of perspective to the table? Is it not obvious that a whole bunch of us have put a whole lot more thought into it than you have at this point? Do you not think we would be in favor of a renovation if it could feasibly be accomplished while making us ELITE again?

The simple fact is that LFL IS DUDY NOBLE FIELD -- and we aren't talking about touching it. What you see behind the plate is an average college baseball grandstand that's impressive in no way -- It's been matched or surpassed by MANY teams around the country. Hell, it's 6th in the division -- and Bama is about to spend $30 mil on Sewell Thomas.

[Demdawgs]

Yes it is. And the fact that you think it isn't just shows how disconnected from the reality of the current concrete structure that you are right now.

Who "comes"? Amazing what a single tremendous regional does to erase the stigma of the first 40 games at the Dude -- or hell, the last 1500 games there or however many it's been since those godawful bleachers were added -- where "those that would come" are stuck in the worst seats in all of baseball -- and without comparison the worst in the SEC for 5 innings before they can migrate into decent seats in the empty grandstand. These same people would buy season tickets if the grandstand didn't sell out every year(plus about 1500 season tix in the outfield). NO ONE is buying season tickets to sit in those bleachers -- or without vested interest in LFL. What could we do with an extra 2k chairbacks? Sell 2k more season tickets -- that's what. Please don't throw out the line about putting chairbacks down the foul lines -- I've shown in great detail why that's a bad idea and why the sightlines would still be terrible if you'd search it.

Our grandstand structure is simply beyond repair. IF we ARE the Jones's in baseball like we think we are, we've got to start over from scratch. The fact that you think "renovating it will be fine" simply shows a lack of perspective telling me you haven't visited very many of the new ballparks around the league and country. Been to LSU? Been to Baum? Been to Carolina Stadium? Hell, even Trustmark Park or Autozone? Those are the Jones's now. And they are built on an ENTIRELY different and better concept than Dudy Noble is or can be replicated with the current grandstand structure in place.

You are talking about our stadium being "simply beyond repair" and a new one is an absolute necessity. You do realize this whole waking up tomorrow with an LSU type budget is purely hypothetical right? We are sticking with our "simply beyond repair" stadium and our budget with hopes that we have renovations soon. Sorry but we are not tearing it down and putting it elsewhere (where?).

I am sure glad you are not in the athletic department with your deep connection with reality. Playing with monopoly money will not get you far there.

[Demdawgs]

God not this topic again. Those with knowledge know we need a new baseball grandstand. Go sit a few games in the bleachers and say otherwise.

Oh the not beyond repair metal bleachers?

[Demdawgs]

A Super, a SEC tourney champion, and a National Championship contender?

More talking about the years when we did not set attendance records. I completely agree the bleachers are a mess. Have you ever refused to go to the game because of how terrible the infrastructure the grandstands are

[engie]

You are talking about our stadium being "simply beyond repair" and a new one is an absolute necessity. You do realize this whole waking up tomorrow with an LSU type budget is purely hypothetical right? We are sticking with our "simply beyond repair" stadium and our budget with hopes that we have renovations soon. Sorry but we are not tearing it down and putting it elsewhere (where?).

I am sure glad you are not in the athletic department with your deep connection with reality. Playing with monopoly money will not get you far there.

You've already made it ABUNDANTLY clear that you are disconnected from all matters associated with the baseball stadium and have no clue what you are talking about. By all means -- keep talking though. It gets more and more hilarious.

$20 mil to renovate and still have the 5th best stadium in the west(if we're lucky). If we spend less, we will be stuck in a dead heat for last with Auburn(Plainsman is already MUCH nicer than DNF -- just smaller). OR we spend $30 mil to build brand new and have the best in the country.

Wait -- you must be OK with Ole Miss having a much better, nicer stadium than us -- with more asses in seats -- in a sport we laugh at them in in EVERY way traditionally?

Fact -- when it comes to baseball, baseball funding, earmarked money for baseball money, alumni interest, alumni pockets, overall fan support, etc... WE ARE THE MF JONES'S. DO I NEED TO REPEAT MYSELF? We take a backseat to NO ONE.

NO ONE built those baseball stadiums with "monopoly money". They are all on sustainable business models to PAY FOR THEMSELVES -- guess what -- EXACTLY like a new Dudy Noble would be. But hey -- keep forcing people that want to come to games and "don't have the hookup" to sit in those god forsaken bleachers -- and I can GUARANTEE YOU that the next generation of MSU fans won't be NEARLY as great as the last from a support standpoint -- hell, that's ALREADY visible.

Now, go to bed and get to work on actually making us a decent f'n schedule, Larry.

[engie]

Oh the not beyond repair metal bleachers?

WTF are you talking about? Is this gibberish?

[engie]

More talking about the years when we did not set attendance records. I completely agree the bleachers are a mess. Have you ever refused to go to the game because of how terrible the infrastructure the grandstands are

You have NO semblance of touch with reality do you?

Season ticket holders have GRANDSTAND seats. EVERYONE ELSE is forced to buy general admission and sit in the bleachers for 5 innings before they are allowed to sit in an EMPTY ASS grandstand if they don't have a hookup in the lounges. Those bleachers are terrible beyond belief. Understand?

Yes -- I will NEVER sit in those bleachers at an MSU baseball game again for any reason. My neck still hurts from my college years sitting in them when no one I knew was in the 2 lounges I had access to. I can be in Starkville -- and I will go watch the game at a bar on tv before I sit in those. Yes, it is that bad.

And you are COMPLETELY missing the point on the grandstand problem. But at this point, I'm not sure that you are smart enough to understand it when presented to you. NO ONE is saying that there is a problem with the current seats in the grandstand(yes-- the press box sucks ass and the skyboxes are half ass). The point is that we NEED MORE grandstand seats and MORE premium seating opportunities for MORE SEASON TICKET SALES -- which is where the important numbers are counted. It's impossible for us to expand the current stadium without the sightlines being totally terrible in those seats -- making it questionable if you can sell season tickets for them any better than you can for the God-forsaken bleachers. Understand now?

Here's the "attendance record" you are bragging about. Do you enjoy looking upwards at the in-state rival? You must.

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/12222/m_20130713-ie2l-76kb.jpg

[Demdawgs]

You've already made it ABUNDANTLY clear that you are disconnected from all matters associated with the baseball stadium and have no clue what you are talking about. By all means -- keep talking though. It gets more and more hilarious.

$20 mil to renovate and still have the 5th best stadium in the west(if we're lucky). If we spend less, we will be stuck in a dead heat for last with Auburn(Plainsman is already MUCH nicer than DNF -- just smaller). OR we spend $30 mil to build brand new and have the best in the country.

Wait -- you must be OK with Ole Miss having a much better, nicer stadium than us -- with more asses in seats -- in a sport we laugh at them in in EVERY way traditionally?

Fact -- when it comes to baseball, baseball funding, earmarked money for baseball money, alumni interest, alumni pockets, overall fan support, etc... WE ARE THE MF JONES'S. DO I NEED TO REPEAT MYSELF? We take a backseat to NO ONE.

NO ONE built those baseball stadiums with "monopoly money". They are all on sustainable business models to PAY FOR THEMSELVES -- guess what -- EXACTLY like a new Dudy Noble would be. But hey -- keep forcing people that want to come to games and "don't have the hookup" to sit in those god forsaken bleachers -- and I can GUARANTEE YOU that the next generation of MSU fans won't be NEARLY as great as the last from a support standpoint -- hell, that's ALREADY visible.

Now, go to bed and get to work on actually making us a decent f'n schedule, Larry.


Wow.. all pros, no cons. Its a miracle our guys in the athletic department who get paid a lot of money to make these decisions havent thought of this yet but you have saved us! Clearly by simply renovating the stadium they are completely content with having the 5th best stadium in the west (if we're lucky).

I wish you would lay out your sarcastic yet well thought out opinions and send them to Scott Stricklin so he can squash this before any idea of renovation and perhaps extending of the chair backs goes any further. I am beyond certain that he has not considered each and every one of your ideas and you could save the athletic program a ridiculous amount of money by not pursuing this awful idea.

As far as the metal bleachers go you cannot seem to grasp that we are in complete understanding with their terribleness. I also believe it could be a correlation between Ole Miss out drawing us ON AVERAGE this season.

Yet in the end; would i think a brand new, first class, #1 in the world, college stadium be great? sure. But to finally go back to our original topic of: would it be number 2 thing I would do with a bigger budget? absolutely not

AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED HOW UPSET I AM THAT WE DREW THE 3RD HIGHEST TOTAL IN COLLEGE BASEBALL THIS YEAR.

You're welcome. Love, Larry T

[Demdawgs]

WTF are you talking about? Is this gibberish?

Sorry that was terrible grammar. It was a worse use of the english language than WTF, possibly.

[DiligenceDawg]

To me- major renovation is required for the school to show it cares about baseball.

A whole lot more than just renovating needs to be done to show the school cares about being the traditional baseball power.

Seeing as we won't be spending monopoly money, Id vote we not waste money on putting a bandaid on a broken leg. Time to start the process of a new stadium.

[engie]

To me- major renovation is required for the school to show it cares about baseball.

A whole lot more than just renovating needs to be done to show the school cares about being the traditional baseball power.

Seeing as we won't be spending monopoly money, Id vote we not waste money on putting a bandaid on a broken leg. Time to start the process of a new stadium.

Exactly

[engie]

AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED HOW UPSET I AM THAT WE DREW THE 3RD HIGHEST TOTAL IN COLLEGE BASEBALL THIS YEAR.

You're welcome. Love, Larry T

You are really going to even try to skew this number by looking at total instead of average? Wish I could say I was surprised.

This was the most attended MSU baseball season in history in terms of paid attendance -- and it came in 5th. What does that mean? Our CEILING in the current situation is 4th -- well behind an Ole Miss team/fanbase that has never seen Omaha -- has had several "down" years now -- and is ready to fire a coach. And that's IF we surpass South Carolina -- who has triple the ACTUAL attendance that we do -- but is limited by an 8k ish capacity.

While we're at it, both Baum and Box are expanding yearly from a premium seating point of view.

I'm NOT content with being 6th in the SECwest when I grew up with 1st in the country -- and I'll invest everything I can into seeing that reality return. There are thousands if not tens of thousands MSU baseball fans who feel just like me out there -- including several of the real money people at MSU -- and the idea that "we can win a title in this sport and be a dynasty" is back on the table after being shelved for almost 25 years(coincidentally the day that John Cohen walked off the field in Rosenblatt in 1990). Notice how Strick has gone silent on his renovation ideas? That's because after our little run in Omaha, the baseball team/stadium now has the full attention of our money people -- and believe it or not, most of them notice and understand the same problems we're pointing out here -- and also are well-travelled enough and have enough perspective to understand the reality of where we now fall in the pecking order after 20 years at the top -- and the shortcomings of trying to renovate within the current structure...

Trustmark Park's MSU baseball experience is 10x as good as Dudy Noble experience if you aren't in the lounges. And it was built on a completely new site for $28 million -- with completely new infrastructure.

[Todd4State]

I honestly don't understand the people that want the grandstand to stay? I mean, we're talking about building something potentially way better that those people would probably like better.


My only guess is somehow along the way our priorities as a program and what makes MSU baseball MSU baseball got off with some people. MSU baseball was not and is not all about Ron Polk and a grandstand that was once the best in it's day but isn't anymore. Heck, Smith-Wills Stadium was once one of the most state of the art baseball stadiums in the minor leagues, but now it has pretty much become the butt of all kinds of jokes about what a craphole it is. NO ONE in the Jackson metro area that is sane and isn't named Con Maloney would want the Mississippi Braves to play there and would take Smith-Wills over Trustmark Park. Heck, one of the very few things I've ever seen State and Ole Miss fans unanimously agree on was moving the Governor's Cup to Pearl. Anyone in Memphis want to ditch Autozone for Tim McCarver? Heck, the Yankees left the House that Ruth built. I don't see any of their fans complaining.

Maybe some people are scared of change?

I see some people say that it's just putting a band aid on the situation and the money could be spent elsewhere- but trust me, this is a very big investment and a worthwhile investment into our baseball program.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I leave the board for a day and we're back to beating this damn dead horse again.

It has been discussed time and again why we need to tear down the grandstand and take out the bleachers. The people in the bleachers have a terrible experience, but we can't just extend the grandstand because the sight lines are horrible and it's an out of date structure anyway. We simply must start over. It will be so much easier that way. I know I'm pretty much repeating what many have already said, but it isn't the the grandstand or the bleachers that make DNF unique, it's the LFL. And NOBODY is talking about touching it. We just want to make the other parts of the park the best that they can be.

We can spend $25 mil to renovate and still have a mediocre structure, or we can spend $30-$35 mil and build the best damn college ballpark in America, all while keeping the parts that make DNF so unique and special. We will have about 2-3 times the skyboxes if we build a new stadium, and I guarantee you the demand is there for more skyboxes. How much more money are we leaving on the table right now in skyboxes alone? With all that revenue, plus all the extra season tickets from the people who just buy single game grandstand tickets, this thing will pay for itself eventually. No doubt about it. We have a chance to be a top 5 baseball program in the country. Why settle for something other than the best?