Please fill me in Debbie Downers!

[BorneDawg]

A lot of you keep downing Starkville. Saying it sucks and that's the reason no one wants to come/stay here. I've also heard (during recruiting seasons) about why would anyone want to come to Starkville..... Well I love Starkville! I live in a tiny town in NE MS in which people complain about it not being big enough or have enough. Well we also don't have to problems that places like Memphis, Jackson,Tupelo,Corinth have either. Any way please tell me specifics on what makes it suck to you..... What does it not have for college kids to do? When I was there it was plenty for me! ( but like I said I'm from a small town who's nearest Walmart is 30 min away) there is movie theater, plenty places to eat,bowling,outdoor stuff, ext..... I don't know about the quality of the schools but do the larger city schools not have the same problems?? Please list out what it needs. Just remember what most people love about Starkville is the small town atmosphere! Where your not afraid to go with your family!

[ShotgunDawg]

1. I love Starkville and think it's an outstanding college town for students.

2. The conversation here isn't about whether people from small town MS like Starkville. The question at hand is how to appeal to families with young children that live in the affluent suburbs of Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, LA, Nashville, etc. how do you sell Starkville long term to those people? No coach has a problem taking a job here, it's just tough to keep them when equal jobs come open larger cities with better schools.

We can keep ignoring it, which will only prolong the issue, or we can acknowledge it and address the issue as best we can. Our head coaches are outstanding hirers but it's difficult to continuely lose quality assistants because of this.

[BorneDawg]

OK I understand that but what exactly do you mean by address it? What can we do to compete with somewhere like Dallas,orlando,nashville we are growing in size but will never be that big or at least I hope not

[Big4Dawg]

Starkville is a shit hole. Let's get real. I had a great time at State but it was more of the friends I made.

Anyone who says "I love Starkville!", I would love to hear your reason and what about Starkville is so great.

Our campus is great but the city has not caught up yet. The town is mapped out terrible. Our one bar area has 5 bars and 1/2 of them have a trouble staying open. Lack of non-chains to eat at. Nothing to do outside of a couple bars & stuff on campus. No shopping. 82 has tons of undeveloped area/empty lots.

For comparison purpose, look at Columbus. I wish Starkville's downtown could be like Columbus. Starkville has one stripe where Columbus has multiple blocks. Would be like a mini-Athens.

[IMissJack]

Biggest problem is the school system. That affects every aspect of where people with families live in places like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, etc. In Starkville, there are no choices but public and private, no matter where you live.

[Johnson85]

1. I love Starkville and think it's an outstanding college town for students.

2. The conversation here isn't about whether people from small town MS like Starkville. The question at hand is how to appeal to families with young children that live in the affluent suburbs of Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, LA, Nashville, etc. how do you sell Starkville long term to those people? No coach has a problem taking a job here, it's just tough to keep them when equal jobs come open larger cities with better schools.

We can keep ignoring it, which will only prolong the issue, or we can acknowledge it and address the issue as best we can. Our head coaches are outstanding hirers but it's difficult to continuely lose quality assistants because of this.

How many schools with good football programs are in nice cities? Places like Starkville and Oxford are slight disadvantages (with Starkville being a little worse off because it incredibly managed to screw up its public schools in a university town with good demographics) as even crappy cities that are decent enough size can offer some things just by their size, but it's not the killer that people make it out to be.

[maroonmania]

Starkville is a shit hole. Let's get real. I had a great time at State but it was more of the friends I made.

Anyone who says "I love Starkville!", I would love to hear your reason and what about Starkville is so great.

Our campus is great but the city has not caught up yet. The town is mapped out terrible. Our one bar area has 5 bars and 1/2 of them have a trouble staying open. Lack of non-chains to eat at. Nothing to do outside of a couple bars & stuff on campus. No shopping. 82 has tons of undeveloped area/empty lots.

For comparison purpose, look at Columbus. I wish Starkville's downtown could be like Columbus. Starkville has one stripe where Columbus has multiple blocks. Would be like a mini-Athens.

Ouch. Would certainly have hated to hear your opinion of the place 30 years ago when I was in school because its come a LONG way since then.

[maroonmania]

How many schools with good football programs are in nice cities? Places like Starkville and Oxford are slight disadvantages (with Starkville being a little worse off because it incredibly managed to screw up its public schools in a university town with good demographics) as even crappy cities that are decent enough size can offer some things just by their size, but it's not the killer that people make it out to be.

Starkville, nor most small college towns, can offer anything close to what big city suburbs can offer BUT Starkville should at least strive to offer what most other college towns do. Things are much better with some of the new leadership but after decades of mismanagement, its difficult to correct things overnight.

[BorneDawg]

What place to eat are you talking about? They have about every type of food you can think of..... I'm not into the bar seen so ..... What exactly you want to do? They have a movie theater, bowling alley, outdoor stuff hunting fishing etc. Workout facilities hiking .....big4dawg

[BorneDawg]

What do other college towns offer? Maroon mania

[BorneDawg]

What does oxfart have to offer that we don't? I keep hearing people say this but none can explain....johnson85

[Johnson85]

Starkville is a shit hole. Let's get real. I had a great time at State but it was more of the friends I made.

Anyone who says "I love Starkville!", I would love to hear your reason and what about Starkville is so great.

Our campus is great but the city has not caught up yet. The town is mapped out terrible. Our one bar area has 5 bars and 1/2 of them have a trouble staying open. Lack of non-chains to eat at. Nothing to do outside of a couple bars & stuff on campus. No shopping. 82 has tons of undeveloped area/empty lots.

For comparison purpose, look at Columbus. I wish Starkville's downtown could be like Columbus. Starkville has one stripe where Columbus has multiple blocks. Would be like a mini-Athens.

I would say that's really the only legitimate complaint that isn't really just a complaint about Starkville being a small town. It would have been hard to layout starkville worse for development. The only city I can think of that did a worse job is Hattiesburg.


If Main street and University Drive ran parallel next to each other, rather than in one long strip, there would be enough of a concentration to I think draw stuff away from 12 and/or 82. As it is, there's not really a way for any area to become dominant.

[Todd4State]

Starkville is a shit hole. Let's get real. I had a great time at State but it was more of the friends I made.

Anyone who says "I love Starkville!", I would love to hear your reason and what about Starkville is so great.

Our campus is great but the city has not caught up yet. The town is mapped out terrible. Our one bar area has 5 bars and 1/2 of them have a trouble staying open. Lack of non-chains to eat at. Nothing to do outside of a couple bars & stuff on campus. No shopping. 82 has tons of undeveloped area/empty lots.

For comparison purpose, look at Columbus. I wish Starkville's downtown could be like Columbus. Starkville has one stripe where Columbus has multiple blocks. Would be like a mini-Athens.

I like what Tupelo has done with their Main St. area.

I think Starkville needs the Cotton District to be more eclectic and bigger where it blends into Main St.- like Magazine St. in NOLA with lots of different types of restaurants. There are too many Bin 112 places. And I like the Bin- it's just that there needs to be more variety.

[Johnson85]

What place to eat are you talking about? They have about every type of food you can think of..... I'm not into the bar seen so ..... What exactly you want to do? They have a movie theater, bowling alley, outdoor stuff hunting fishing etc. Workout facilities hiking ..... Maroonmania

Basically, it doesn't have one place where you can get out and walk around and hit 90% of the best restaurants, bars, and retail. And similarly, none of the nice areas are contiguous to each other. For the most part, the nice residential areas are not next to anything you'd go to while visiting, and most trips you take in town from one place you'd want to go to another will pass through some run down spots. Basically you can go from the campus to cotton district to downtown mainstreet and that's the most you can do without seeing something shitty, and even that is mostly one long street.

[Jack Lambert]

Pay me the money and give me the job security you get at State and I will live in Goodman if that what it took. If I didn't like the school system I would send them to private school and If I liked the night life of Dallas, I would buy me a weekend trip ever few weeks. The coaches we have lost we lost because they wanted to get closer to home or they got promoted.

We were looking when we found them and we will find some more. You got to ask the question how come no Ole Miss coaches never get offered head coaching jobs.

I say it's because they got a bad rap for being cheaters. No body want to bring that crap to their campus.

[Dawg61]

If you're in college and you drink Starkville is fun. Once you graduate though it's time to bounce and let the next students enjoy it.

[Liverpooldawg]

Starkville is a shit hole. Let's get real. I had a great time at State but it was more of the friends I made.

Anyone who says "I love Starkville!", I would love to hear your reason and what about Starkville is so great.

Our campus is great but the city has not caught up yet. The town is mapped out terrible. Our one bar area has 5 bars and 1/2 of them have a trouble staying open. Lack of non-chains to eat at. Nothing to do outside of a couple bars & stuff on campus. No shopping. 82 has tons of undeveloped area/empty lots.

For comparison purpose, look at Columbus. I wish Starkville's downtown could be like Columbus. Starkville has one stripe where Columbus has multiple blocks. Would be like a mini-Athens.

So Starkville is a shithole and you want it to be like Columbus? Me thinks you don't know very much at all about Columbus.

[scottycameron]

If you're in college and you drink Starkville is fun. Once you graduate though it's time to bounce and let the next students enjoy it.

For whatever reason, the exact opposite is true for oxford. Those dipshits cannot wait to move back, if they are forced to move in the first place. It's like a cult. There are some in freakin nashville of all places and have it made there, that dream of getting back there one day. They just have a completely different mindset. Not even a real country club/golf course there. Insane. That is why it's the fastest growing place in the state - not industry job growth etc. it's just alum that want to go hangout at the mothership.

[Dawgcentral]

It's typical small town America. Suits some folks well, others seem to need museums and other entertainment every weekend.
Making six figures in Starkville is a pretty sweet life in my opinion because I don't need a lot of stimuli. There's always a sporting event going on, even if it a pick up basketball game or intramerial soccer. It's a great campus for jogging. You can go out and get great seafood and/or steaks at a number of places. You can buy a fantastic 3-4 bedroom home in a nice location for $300,000.00.
Excellent golf at Old Waverly. Great course and casino nearby.
I don't believe coaches are leaving because of Starkville. I'd rather be there than any place you can name in Louisianna. Baton Rouge? New Orleans? My God.

[Big4Dawg]

So Starkville is a shithole and you want it to be like Columbus? Me thinks you don't know very much at all about Columbus.

Grew up in Columbus. Columbus's downtown>>Starkvilles Cotton district and downtown. Not bar wise but layout and how it looks. If they actually had a demand for bars in Columbus and an extra 15k students, downtown would be x5 that of Starkville.

[gravedigger]

1. I love Starkville and think it's an outstanding college town for students.

2. The conversation here isn't about whether people from small town MS like Starkville. The question at hand is how to appeal to families with young children that live in the affluent suburbs of Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, LA, Nashville, etc. how do you sell Starkville long term to those people? No coach has a problem taking a job here, it's just tough to keep them when equal jobs come open larger cities with better schools.

We can keep ignoring it, which will only prolong the issue, or we can acknowledge it and address the issue as best we can. Our head coaches are outstanding hirers but it's difficult to continuely lose quality assistants because of this.

And you made an idiotic statement about the high school that showed you have no business commenting on it if you cannot take the time to know the truth.

[nsvltndog]

I'm a huge fan of Starkville and love the progress I see every time I visit. We've made staying connected to MSU and Starkville a part of our family identity even though we live almost 1000 miles away. We make 5-6 trips a year into GTR and really enjoy ourselves. For a city the size of Starkville it has a very nice selection of non-chain restaurants. I went to Bulldog Burger, Commodore Bobs, and the Guest Room while in town for the baseball regional and would highly recommend each of them. Those are 3 new restaurants/bars that a lot of Starkville naysayers don't even know exist. I thought it was great that I could find 3 new quality places to try in a single visit.

I believe Starkville will continue to improve, but jump starting public education would be a huge catalyst. From what I hear the schools are probably better than many think, but still have plenty of room for improvement.

[maroonmania]

What do other college towns offer? Maroon mania

In all honesty I don't know enough about the ins and outs of Starkville to know what all it does or doesn't have for people that are actually living there that aren't students. I only visit on game weekends and it has everything I need for those visits. The point I was making was that Starkville should strive to offer the things that you should be able to get in the average smaller college town that has a major university. That should be the goal because obviously Starkville will never able to offer all the things you can get in the suburbs of Dallas, Nashville and Atlanta. No small town can but you also avoid a lot of the negatives involved with bigger areas as well in a smaller town.

[Maroonthirteen]

I grew up in Columbus and disagree. While downtown Columbus may have more area but Columbus has nothing even close to the cotton district. Downtown Columbus is larger because Columbus was a larger town for years and years. It wasn't until just recently that Starkville caught Columbus in population. I imagine that trend will continue. Then oneday, Starkville's entertainment area will far exceed that of Columbus. (It already does in my opinion)

[Todd4State]

Here's the one thing about Starkville and MSU fans that I have never understood and I think is a LOT of the problem.

MSU fans and Starkville residents allow Starkville to be run down by the media. Starkville being better starts with having pride in the town. If someone runs down Starkville, I don't think we should necessarily go off on them but rather talk about the positives in Starkville- say "well, you may not care for Starkville, but have you ever been to the Cotton District? It's a really fun area." When you say that it makes the person running down the town think- "well, maybe I missed something and I should try it out the next time I'm there.

Oxford on the other hand is totally the opposite- all Ole Miss fans do is talk about how great it is, but Coach is right about it. It's Grenada without the lake. It's not THAT great. But you would think it is simply because of how Ole Miss fans talk about it and the fact that they have pride in it. And not that there is anything at all wrong with having pride in the town that your school is in- but it creates perception even if the reality is Starkville and Oxford are not all that much different.

The other thing that having pride in your town does is it creates the feeling that people need to open businesses there which in turn improves Starkville.

But it all starts with us not running down Starkville and having pride in our school's home.

[Maroonthirteen]

Bingo Todd!

[ShotgunDawg]

And you made an idiotic statement about the high school that showed you have no business commenting on it if you cannot take the time to know the truth.

I'm just repeating what I'm told. Your mistake is that you assume I made this all up.

You go tell those coaches that they are wrong. Not me

[Corn Bread]

Starkville today compared to Starkville in 1985 - 1988 is night and day. I will take The Refuge over most anything. Dam fishing is the s(;));t.

[msbulldog]

Damn people ya'll should have been there in 1973, when all we had was a Sonic, a Burger King and Sarges. If you were really drunk you made your way to the Artesia Railroad Cafe. But, we still had fun at Len Lews, it's all what you make of it.

[starkvegasdawg]

I live in Starkville now. Moved back in 2008 after graduating in 1998. My biggest gripe with the town is the traffic flow. Highway 12 can resemble the season one shot of Walking Dead with all the cars stuck bumper to bumper. Been more than one instance where I am trying to turn out of Kroger and can't even with a green light because traffic is backed through that intersection from the red light at Stark Rd over a quarter mile away and traffic is backed up past my intersection so actually further than that. The infrastruture of the town was not designed to accomodate that level of traffic. Not as bad now in the summer, but when August kicks in heaven help us. And instead of looking at ways to address the situation like adding extra lanes to 12, they geniuses are getting ready to start constricting traffic on 12 by putting in medians. I'm not sure what rocket surgeon came up with that idea but he needs to be shot. I also think they need to come up with something to entice new businesses to locate somewhere other than Highway 12 and maybe some major incentives for some of the major businesses already on 12 to relocate somewhere else. Maybe down Highway 25 somewhere. I've heard talk of putting in a bypass from 25 to Blackjack (I think), but that will have very little effect because most people go down 12 because that is where all the businesses are. Very few are leaving from the east end of town and just going straight home. They have to go get groceries or go to Wal-Mart or something. When you have your biggest retail center, both grocery stores, majority of your restaurants and gas stations all within 4 miles of each other on one road then that road is going to be a travel nightmare. At least that is one resident's take. We're a town of 15,000 with the traffic congestion of a town of 200,000.

[mic]

there is no doubt that it's harder for us to keep coaches at Miss State than UMiss is because basically every coach on their staff is from Miss or the surrounding area or has ties to that shit hole university
Head coach in Football and Basketabll.. From Miss
Basically the whole football staff is from miss or has ties to UMiss.

There may be a reason not many coaches on the UMiss staff ever leave there, its probably because no one really wants them..

Starkvegas is leaps and bounds better than it was just 10 years ago..

[TeddyRoosevelt]

Starkville is laid out poorly because it was an old railroad stop on a hill. That's the problem with the congruence downtown. That railroad is in the way.
Starkville City management was also a hindrance to development downtown because of their attitude toward growth. I sat in on a city development meeting almost twenty years ago. In that meeting, it was said out loud, "We are Starkville. Not Mississippi State." I was shocked. That was the prevailing attitude at the time and prior to that. There existed for 100 years some sort of aversion to embracing the university. I truly believe that attitude hurt the town. Think about it; the high school is black and yellow Yellowjackets. The Academy is orange and blue Volunteers. The water tower was painted blue for heaven's sake.
The good news is that all has changed in the last decade. I see the new city leadership embracing the university. We have the shuttle system, maroon decor, city officials embracing maroon Friday's. Developing University Drive and Main Street in an attempt to improve that corridor onto campus.
I'm bullish on Starkville. So much so, that I have invested in downtown. My old roommate has to. We have literally put our money where our mouths are.

[TUSK]

Yall need a Krystal's and some more Live Oaks, IMO.....



Seriously, Vegas today is a gazillion times better than it was ~20+ years ago... And, when class is in, there's more/funner* stuff to do than in Columbus...

Columbus is a great lil town, but it's certainly not the last bastion of entertainment...

[starkvegasdawg]

Yall need a Krystal's and some more Live Oaks, IMO.....



Seriously, Vegas today is a gazillion times better than it was ~20+ years ago... And, when class is in, there's more/funner* stuff to do than in Columbus...

Columbus is a great lil town, but it's certainly not the last bastion of entertainment...

The one time I got shot at I was at the Krystal's drive thru in Starkville back at its old location where Starbucks is now.

[Big4Dawg]

Yall need a Krystal's and some more Live Oaks, IMO.....



Seriously, Vegas today is a gazillion times better than it was ~20+ years ago... And, when class is in, there's more/funner* stuff to do than in Columbus...

Columbus is a great lil town, but it's certainly not the last bastion of entertainment...

Again - i agree. But if you put State in Columbus, Columbus's downtown>Starkville's downtown and wouldn't be close.

[HSVDawg]

For whatever reason, the exact opposite is true for oxford. Those dipshits cannot wait to move back, if they are forced to move in the first place. It's like a cult. There are some in freakin nashville of all places and have it made there, that dream of getting back there one day. They just have a completely different mindset. Not even a real country club/golf course there. Insane. That is why it's the fastest growing place in the state - not industry job growth etc. it's just alum that want to go hangout at the mothership.

This is true to an extent, but where Oxford is really ahead of Starkville is on drawing in retirees. This is because Oxford was able to effectively sell itself as a retirement destination about two or three full decades before Starkville even thought about doing so. If you're wondering who is living in those antebellum homes on Lamar Avenue that are priced at 1.5 million on average, I'll give you a hint. It's never a 30 something couple with a few kids that are trying to relive their college days. It's folks that are cashing in there entire nest egg to get to where they want to spend the rest of their days. If you ever look at the median home prices for Starkville vs. Oxford, it is absolutely staggering how much higher it is in Oxford. This isn't because there are more or better jobs in Oxford because there aren't. It's because people who have done relatively well for themselves are using their life savings to buy a palace there. This demand the city has created drives up property values significantly, which funnels tons of money to the city and county (via increased property taxes) that can be used for public schools, beautification projects, and tax breaks to attract new industry to the area. Then you add on top of that the fact that they got a jump start on the condo market for game weekends that brings in even more tax revenue, and its easy to see how they got where they are.

As for Starkville, it has made TREMENDOUS strides in the last 15 years. The problem is that Starkville in the year 2000 was about where Oxford was in 1975 (at that time, there were no USA Today articles ranking it in the top 10 small towns in America, trust me). Thats when Oxford started revitalizing its downtown area and started marketing itself as a retirement community / vibrant college town rolled into one. Starkville is getting there, but is still about 10 or 15 years away from starting to reach its full potential. A lot of what needs to happen is a change of policy from the city government, which unfortunately requires a lot of the old "get off my lawn" crowd to start dying or moving. These are the people that are the constituency of the aldermen who continue to block progress on things like striking down ordinances that block alcohol sales from being within X feet of a church (which prevents a lot of potential restaurants and bars from opening in promising locations downtown), and also leads to things the rescinding of the "equality resolution" which was designed to present Starkville as a progressive community in order to attract new industry to the area. These people don't want Starkville to change by getting bigger or by getting more nightlife / eating out friendly. Progress will come at some point, but it will come a lot sooner without these people and their elected officials blocking the doorway.

[Liverpooldawg]

Grew up in Columbus. Columbus's downtown>>Starkvilles Cotton district and downtown. Not bar wise but layout and how it looks. If they actually had a demand for bars in Columbus and an extra 15k students, downtown would be x5 that of Starkville.

Been there lately? I all but grew up there.

[Taog Redloh]

Don't get me started, but here goes:

1) Starkville SHOULD have been in Meridian, with a north MS campus, not the other way around.
2) Traffic engineers made a decision t pump high speed traffic via highway 12 and divide the campus from Starkville, which prevents an Auburn-like campus/downtown mix.
3) The public schools have a race ratio that keeps people away. I didn't say it was right, I just said that's the way it is. You have upper class white people and poor black people. Not only do you have race, but you have the class/culture going on.
4) The expansive clay wreaks havoc on the roads.
5) State of MS has ZERO sense of unity. 2 major schools in North MS bears that out.

Now that the negative is out there, how do we fix this?

1) Embrace being rural. That won't ever change, at least not enough. Goal should be a population of around 50K. Accept this and roll with it. The Refuge should be a big selling point.
2) Unite the area as the 'Golden Triangle'. No more fighting with West Point and Columbus for residents. The GTR Airport area and the Link has done a great job of bringing industry in. Old Waverly should be considered 'local' to Starkville. No more small time thinking. People who have been outside MS can attest to this.
3) Attitude, as someone said earlier. I enjoy being in Starkville, and I talk it up.
4) MSU people, in general, need to start asking themselves what they can do for MSU and Starkville, not the other way around. We have entirely too many sh*theads who think MS is all there is and that it's their playground to do whatever they want. Step outside the state borders and see the competition we're up against.

I don't know how you fix (realistically) the schools. I suggest shutting down SA but it's not happening. I guess you just accept the private schools and move on. Same with the layout of Starkville and the roads. It is what it is. I suggest more walk-bridges from campus to the Cotton District area, and more sidewalks everywhere. And incentives to develop in the downtown areas, rather than way far out.

[maroonmania]

Don't get me started, but here goes:

5) State of MS has ZERO sense of unity. 2 major schools in North MS bears that out.



The reason North MS has the 2 major universities is because in the mid-1800's that is where the vast bulk of the population of MS lived. Pretty sure back 150+ years ago that a large part of south MS was just pine forest.

[LC Dawg]

This past spring I drove from campus to the Cotton District one night and I noticed the addition of street lamps that provided a ton of light presumably for students walking from campus to the Cotton District. Little things like this are huge to me because it is something that is tying campus to the town. I would love to see the Cotton District, the new cotton mill area, and downtown all tied together. I like all three of those areas and better access from campus would be a plus. I like the idea of shuttles to downtown but people don't seem to embrace them. Starkville will never be for everyone but they seem to be embracing the university more than they used to.
Also, does anyone have an idea of how many students of faculty attend public school vs. private?

[HSVDawg]

Also, does anyone have an idea of how many students of faculty attend public school vs. private?

Children of faculty (along with children of non-faculty) attend the public schools by an overwhelming margin. SA only has about 700 students PK-12 (average of only 50 kids per grade). Starkville public schools average around 250 to 300 kids per grade. There are currently around 4,700 faculty at MSU, so even if only half of them have one child (which is a very conservatively low estimate), there is no way that more than a small percentage could be enrolled at SA.

[Taog Redloh]

The reason North MS has the 2 major universities is because in the mid-1800's that is where the vast bulk of the population of MS lived. Pretty sure back 150+ years ago that a large part of south MS was just pine forest.

That and the black prairie soil. I get all that. I'm just trying to put it out there so we don't make the mistake again, of not looking into the future.

[starkvegasdawg]

Children of faculty (along with children of non-faculty) attend the public schools by an overwhelming margin. SA only has about 700 students PK-12 (average of only 50 kids per grade). Starkville public schools average around 250 to 300 kids per grade. There are currently around 4,700 faculty at MSU, so even if only half of them have one child (which is a very conservatively low estimate), there is no way that more than a small percentage could be enrolled at SA.

Not arguing your point as it is valid. Just pointing out there is also Starkville Christian School in Starkville and Hebron Christian School just outside Starkville. I have no idea what the enrollment numbers are at those schools and where they pull from, but there are other private school options in and near Starkville. Not enough to skew the numbers very much, admittedly, but some perhaps.

[HSVDawg]

Not arguing your point as it is valid. Just pointing out there is also Starkville Christian School in Starkville and Hebron Christian School just outside Starkville. I have no idea what the enrollment numbers are at those schools and where they pull from, but there are other private school options in and near Starkville. Not enough to skew the numbers very much, admittedly, but some perhaps.

Hebron and SCS have 353 students from PK-12 combined. So, there are about 1,053 students total over 14 grade levels in all three of the area's private schools. By comparison, there are 30 more students than that just at Starkville High School.

[LC Dawg]

Children of faculty (along with children of non-faculty) attend the public schools by an overwhelming margin. SA only has about 700 students PK-12 (average of only 50 kids per grade). Starkville public schools average around 250 to 300 kids per grade. There are currently around 4,700 faculty at MSU, so even if only half of them have one child (which is a very conservatively low estimate), there is no way that more than a small percentage could be enrolled at SA.

Thanks. I assumed that but I didn't know for sure. I met some faculty at The Guest Room one night and we talked about the challenges of getting people to want to come work for Mississippi State. They said the main thing working against Starkville is it's size and lack of things to do compared to larger urban areas. They all were complimentary of the progress that Starkville has made and is making and they all pointed to The Guest Room as an example. That place is expensive and not for everybody but everybody doesn't want to go to The Landing for $5 all you can drink Schaefer. None of these guys brought up the school system but I'm sure it has some bearing on faculty choosing to come to State.
I don't buy that faculty and/or coaches are looking at the black/white ratio in the public schools very much but I will agree that the lack of choices in education may influence some decisions.
I hope Starkville continues to progress and actually progress faster but we will always have some issues with being a small college town that is not close to any city.

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

Most of this has to do with tearing down Dorman. not really but why is that building still there?

We need to continue the complete transformation of Starkville that began about 20 years ago. If we make as much progress in the next 20 years as we did in the last 20, Starkville will be a destination. The more Starkville grows in population, the more profitable it is for a business to survive through the summer months when most of the students are gone. The last 5 years are night and day better than it was when I was in school up there.

Keep buying condo's and spending money. Most of the less favorable areas can (and are currently) be cleaned up as people continue to invest more and more into the city. We also need to work on our local leaders to pass building codes that will be good for the city. But that comes as the money flows.

[bulldogcountry1]

Starkville just isn't for everyone. It has grown leaps and bounds since I was there 15 years ago.

It would be nice if they could re-pave a road in town. Any road. Just pick one.

[Taog Redloh]

Starkville just isn't for everyone. It has grown leaps and bounds since I was there 15 years ago.

It would be nice if they could re-pave a road in town. Any road. Just pick one.

Need to do more than that. Need to reconstruct them and cement-treat the clay. Or pave them with concrete. New paving would last a year, maybe 2.

Of course, this is a chronic problem all over MS. Especially in Jackson.

[Matty Dispatch]

Spend in a week in Madison. Then spend a week in Starkville. Big difference.

It's fun when you're in college because you aren't there for the long term so you overlook a lot.

[MSUDawg99]

Here's the one thing about Starkville and MSU fans that I have never understood and I think is a LOT of the problem.

MSU fans and Starkville residents allow Starkville to be run down by the media. Starkville being better starts with having pride in the town. If someone runs down Starkville, I don't think we should necessarily go off on them but rather talk about the positives in Starkville- say "well, you may not care for Starkville, but have you ever been to the Cotton District? It's a really fun area." When you say that it makes the person running down the town think- "well, maybe I missed something and I should try it out the next time I'm there.

Oxford on the other hand is totally the opposite- all Ole Miss fans do is talk about how great it is, but Coach is right about it. It's Grenada without the lake. It's not THAT great. But you would think it is simply because of how Ole Miss fans talk about it and the fact that they have pride in it. And not that there is anything at all wrong with having pride in the town that your school is in- but it creates perception even if the reality is Starkville and Oxford are not all that much different.

The other thing that having pride in your town does is it creates the feeling that people need to open businesses there which in turn improves Starkville.

But it all starts with us not running down Starkville and having pride in our school's home.

I'm told by someone who went to both schools (but is a State fan & claims them, not UM) & works in the entertainment industry said that Oxpatch has more to appeal to the age group after college--young single adults & not just college kids & it's because the city & the school have worked together. Hence the reason those yuppies want to move back to Oxpatch. I know it's been mentioned before but that is one of the probs. The town & the univ need to work together.

[MSUDawg99]

I live in Starkville now. Moved back in 2008 after graduating in 1998. My biggest gripe with the town is the traffic flow. Highway 12 can resemble the season one shot of Walking Dead with all the cars stuck bumper to bumper. Been more than one instance where I am trying to turn out of Kroger and can't even with a green light because traffic is backed through that intersection from the red light at Stark Rd over a quarter mile away and traffic is backed up past my intersection so actually further than that. The infrastruture of the town was not designed to accomodate that level of traffic. Not as bad now in the summer, but when August kicks in heaven help us. And instead of looking at ways to address the situation like adding extra lanes to 12, they geniuses are getting ready to start constricting traffic on 12 by putting in medians. I'm not sure what rocket surgeon came up with that idea but he needs to be shot. I also think they need to come up with something to entice new businesses to locate somewhere other than Highway 12 and maybe some major incentives for some of the major businesses already on 12 to relocate somewhere else. Maybe down Highway 25 somewhere. I've heard talk of putting in a bypass from 25 to Blackjack (I think), but that will have very little effect because most people go down 12 because that is where all the businesses are. Very few are leaving from the east end of town and just going straight home. They have to go get groceries or go to Wal-Mart or something. When you have your biggest retail center, both grocery stores, majority of your restaurants and gas stations all within 4 miles of each other on one road then that road is going to be a travel nightmare. At least that is one resident's take. We're a town of 15,000 with the traffic congestion of a town of 200,000.

They need to clean up Hwy 12 also. It's so aesthetically displeasing to the eye.

[MaroonBelle]

Most of this has to do with tearing down Dorman. not really but why is that building still there?

We need to continue the complete transformation of Starkville that began about 20 years ago. If we make as much progress in the next 20 years as we did in the last 20, Starkville will be a destination. The more Starkville grows in population, the more profitable it is for a business to survive through the summer months when most of the students are gone. The last 5 years are night and day better than it was when I was in school up there.

Keep buying condo's and spending money. Most of the less favorable areas can (and are currently) be cleaned up as people continue to invest more and more into the city. We also need to work on our local leaders to pass building codes that will be good for the city. But that comes as the money flows.

I was in Starkville for school 20 years ago and never lacked for entertainment. My parents retired to SV from Tuscaloosa about 12 years ago and I just moved back to work for the University from Mobile 3 months ago. The growth since I was here before has been tremendous but it didn't sneek up on me as I have been coming up for games for years. Biggest drawbacks for someone like me is the lack of a nighttime scene that is more adult (25 to 45 yo) friendly, the fact that real-estate is overpriced and taxes are high and the only new construction is over 200,000 (I'm a professional with a degree and work for MSU but not a professor and took a paycut to move here. Everything associated with working at State is more expensive than my job at USA in Mobile where I also was able to buy a home in Midtown, from the parking decals, to insurance, to the tag for my car, MS is more expensive with less to offer as a town outside of sporting events). While 250,000 condos are great, the people who actually live here have no new affordable construction. And as older home pop up under 150,000 they are bought up by agencies that rent to students. And I realize as a board dominated by men this goes overlooked but there is NO shopping. It's at least a one hour drive to a decent department store (nothing in Columbus counts).

I say all this to point out some definite needs here. Would also like to say that I love Starkville and love working for this University. I moved here to be close to my parents as they age and to be a bigger part of MSU. This was my first baseball season since I was in school to have the opportunity to participate in a full baseball season and I think I missed 7 homes games total and what an initiation. I am looking forward to many wonderful years here and watching Starkville grow in to its potential.

[Virgil Caine]

I live in a Chicago/NY/LA/SF city and work in a white collar job. All of the professionals here that make a family income of 300k+ want their kids going to ~ top 500 HS's in the nation where if they do well they are a shoo-in to a top 50 university. Obviously if the kid is talented in something like competitive cheer or some other niche area, they cater to the kids needs. I do not see why it would be any different for coaches making a lot of money.

I think Starkville is a great town, and I had a wonderful time there for college. I think it's a great college town, but maybe not a great upper middle class parent town.

[MaroonBelle]

Having to go to a liquor store to buy wine instead of being able to buy it at the grocery store really blows and if I had known that was a thing before I moved here I might have stayed in Mobile.

[Liverpooldawg]

There are some interesting posters in this thread.

[MSUDawg99]

I was in Starkville for school 20 years ago and never lacked for entertainment. My parents retired to SV from Tuscaloosa about 12 years ago and I just moved back to work for the University from Mobile 3 months ago. The growth since I was here before has been tremendous but it didn't sneek up on me as I have been coming up for games for years. Biggest drawbacks for someone like me is the lack of a nighttime scene that is more adult (25 to 45 yo) friendly, the fact that real-estate is overpriced and taxes are high and the only new construction is over 200,000 (I'm a professional with a degree and work for MSU but not a professor and took a paycut to move here. Everything associated with working at State is more expensive than my job at USA in Mobile where I also was able to buy a home in Midtown, from the parking decals, to insurance, to the tag for my car, MS is more expensive with less to offer as a town outside of sporting events). While 250,000 condos are great, the people who actually live here have no new affordable construction. And as older home pop up under 150,000 they are bought up by agencies that rent to students. And I realize as a board dominated by men this goes overlooked but there is NO shopping. It's at least a one hour drive to a decent department store (nothing in Columbus counts).

I say all this to point out some definite needs here. Would also like to say that I love Starkville and love working for this University. I moved here to be close to my parents as they age and to be a bigger part of MSU. This was my first baseball season since I was in school to have the opportunity to participate in a full baseball season and I think I missed 7 homes games total and what an initiation. I am looking forward to many wonderful years here and watching Starkville grow in to its potential.

You & I could be good friends. Ha. I feel ya girl! I agree on everything you said. If I were offered a job there that paid what I make now I'd move in a heartbeat but with the housing being so much more expensive there than where I live it would essentially be taking a pay cut. So I'd have to be making a lot more in small town Stark than in a metropolis where I live. Ain't happnin. But I feel ya. I love coming up for games & love getting out & about with the single adult 25-45 yo age group too. It's limited in where you can go. The Guest Room is cool but it can be overcrowded if you're there on a game wknd & they're at max capacity...you're standing in an alley way waiting to get in. But it's a start. Need more places like that that appeal to the young prof's & such. I plan to try & have a condo there sometime in my next phase of life so I can have a place to stay for game wknds & hoping when that happens that it will have grown even that much more.

[MaroonBelle]

I'm told by someone who went to both schools (but is a State fan & claims them, not UM) & works in the entertainment industry said that Oxpatch has more to appeal to the age group after college--young single adults & not just college kids & it's because the city & the school have worked together. Hence the reason those yuppies want to move back to Oxpatch. I know it's been mentioned before but that is one of the probs. The town & the univ need to work together.

To your point about the University and school working together to improve the townext, the Unerversity in conjunction with the City of Starkville are working together now on a planning project and in fact just sent out surveys to university employees last month asking for feedback on what Starkville needs to grow and attract professionals.

[IMissJack]

I have already posted on this subject, but here goes some more...

My Dad went to S'ville High School, and my grandparents had a farm in Oktibbeha County. I really loved coming to Starkville when my parents lived close enough by that I could stay with them and still go to games and visit the attractions. However, now that my grandparents have died, and my parents moved to TX, it is difficult to come in for a ballgame when hotels have jacked up rates and have a minimum stay too. Starkville is nice if you have plenty of family there, but I can see where someone not from there could find it somewhat challenging. But, now I usually stay with friends in Louisville.

[Engine]

I live in a Chicago/NY/LA/SF city and work in a white collar job. All of the professionals here that make a family income of 300k+ want their kids going to ~ top 500 HS's in the nation where if they do well they are a shoo-in to a top 50 university. Obviously if the kid is talented in something like competitive cheer or some other niche area, they cater to the kids needs. I do not see why it would be any different for coaches making a lot of money.

I think Starkville is a great town, and I had a wonderful time there for college. I think it's a great college town, but maybe not a great upper middle class parent town.

I think we can do fine without having to rely on the $300,000 + crowd. We're not going to be ****ing Manhattan.

[Engine]

I don't know how you fix (realistically) the schools.

Beef up an alternative school and enforce a tough discipline plan. 3 strikes and you're out of the regular school. That'd fix shit real quick.

[Virgil Caine]

I think we can do fine without having to rely on the $300,000 + crowd. We're not going to be ****ing Manhattan.
The point is Starkville can't compete with some place like Miami, Austin, Athens, being so close to Atlanta, etc, and UMC parents can't provide their kids anywhere near the academic foundation in Starkville that they can in those places. Also while 300k is an arbitrary cut-off, our coaches are absolutely in that group.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

Ran across this today. All of these type rankings have some valid/some not so much things in them each time.

https://local.niche.com/rankings/places/best-places-to-live/s/mississippi/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=RankingsList&utm_term=RLP