Has a MSU football coach ever fallen out of grace this quickly?

[RougeDawg]

I only have 3 decades of MSU football memories, but cannot think of another head football coach who has fallen so quickly out of grace with almost all of the fan base? This has to be the quickest faceplant for a head football coach in our history.

Some of you more seasoned fans, please chime in and bring some history lessons for us.

[cheewgumm]

No

[Dawg61]

No but Rick Ray lost the fan base an hour after we all figured out who the hell he was. Stricklin can eat permanent shit for that hire btw.

[maroonmania]

No, but we've never had a coach take over a major sports program at MSU that wasn't in really bad shape. Seriously, when before Mullen have we ever lost a football or basketball coach to another top college program because they were successful at MSU? Never in modern times. Mullen literally left a roster on hand that had he coached the following year would have won 10 or 11 games.

[msu15]

No, but we've never had a coach take over a major sports program at MSU that wasn't in really bad shape. Seriously, when before Mullen have we ever lost a football or basketball coach to another top college program because they were successful at MSU? Never in modern times. Mullen literally left a roster on hand that had he coached the following year would have won 10 or 11 games.

Minimum with Dan last year we go 11-2, with a puncher’s chance at 12-1.

[Todd4State]

Not that I can recall and certainly not for football. Not to this extent. I don't think anyone supports him. I've seen some people that feel sorry for him- but that's different than believing in someone.

Felker was a MSU alum and football hero.

Jackie had his group that always felt like he might turn it around because he actually did a time or two. So at least there was some evidence of that happening.

Croom- yeah he lost to Maine but at least he also beat Florida in the same season. That gave enough people a glimmer of hope potentially I guess. But I don't think Croom got to this point that Moorhead is at now until he lost the 2008 Egg Bowl. Interestingly enough I think because of Croom and a lot of our fans remembering what that kind of lack of discipline looked like- I think that's a big factor in why people are reacting the way that they are now.

Dan- no. Probably the closest he ever really got was after he lost to South Alabama but that was after he had several other good seasons to draw back on.

[Dawg2003]

I do agree a lot of the feelings people have for Moorhead are due to remembering the Croom era. People are terrified that might happen again. Dan gave us a taste of what it could be like, so people are not going to accept being bad anymore. People just aren't going to accept that po ole Mississippi State attitude anymore.

[Maroonthirteen]

Unfortunately he is the first UNSUCCESSFUL coach in this era of mass communication and social media and podcast. But you are right..... even the internet guys with media access have seemed to come to the conclusion that JoMo can?t get it done. Which has fueled the fire and got the fans all seeing things one wag.

Even Sherrill and Croom had a few backers to the bitter end.

I can remember ?make Emory a memory? not Long into his last year. Felker.... I can remember a mostly empty stadium and getting killed on the field. I don?t remember much talk of firing him even after 88. But I was a teen at that time and wasn?t paying close attention.

[msbulldog]

No, but we've never had a coach take over a major sports program at MSU that wasn't in really bad shape. Seriously, when before Mullen have we ever lost a football or basketball coach to another top college program because they were successful at MSU? Never in modern times. Mullen literally left a roster on hand that had he coached the following year would have won 10 or 11 games.

Cannizaro went in 1 year! Darrell Royal left us for U. of Washington for 1 year and then Texas.

[Maroonthirteen]

Dbl post Nvm

[timotheus]

The guy runs an offense that will annually struggle to score 10 pts in an SEC game. It matters not who the players on the field are unless he has 5* talent at each position. Just gaze at the 2020 schedule and tell me how many wins we will have at this point in the 2020 season. He is ruining MSU football like water over a cliff.

[Indndawg]

Nope. For MSU in the 80's, Rocky's 1st team in 86 was decent. 1987 was not good but we beat OM 30-20, so he was good for another. 1988 Tech and 10 should have been his undoing. I guess it took 3 consecutive beatdowns in the EB to convince the cigar boys a change was needed

[StarkVegasSteve]

Croom. A lot of people seemed to think we had turned the corner after 07, and then we come out and lay an egg in Ruston. Everybody knew then that 07 was a mirage and this was the real Croom.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

Has any other MSU coach come in with the program setup as good as it was when JoMo arrived?

[timotheus]

No coach has ever come to MSU with as much talent and potential and ruined it this quickly.

[confucius say]

Prob the closest I recall is from August 2011 when everybody on the boards loved Dan, coming off 8-4 and Gator Bowl, dark horse sec west pick per CBS to November 2011 when we were 5-6 and half the board posters, including some we all know, wanted him fired. Which was stupid.

The Dan hate in 2011 was not as high as the Joe hate now though. It was 2016 before the Dan hate got to about this level.

Side note: that 2011 team had 19 NFL guys, 11 of whom were/are nfl starters and several all pro guys. And thats not including guys like nickoe, beckwith, bumphis, Relf, Jameon, and broomfield, etc... Damn.

https://hailstate.com/roster.aspx?roster=76

[Cooterpoot]

No, but we've never had a coach take over a major sports program at MSU that wasn't in really bad shape. Seriously, when before Mullen have we ever lost a football or basketball coach to another top college program because they were successful at MSU? Never in modern times. Mullen literally left a roster on hand that had he coached the following year would have won 10 or 11 games.
Pat McMahan is the closest. We screwed that next hire up too.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Prob the closest I recall is from August 2011 when everybody on the boards loved Dan, coming off 8-4 and Gator Bowl, dark horse sec west pick per CBS to November 2011 when we were 5-6 and half the board posters, including some we all know, wanted him fired. Which was stupid.

The Dan hate in 2011 was not as high as the Joe hate now though. It was 2016 before the Dan hate got to about this level.

Side note: that 2011 team had 19 NFL guys, 11 of whom were/are nfl starters and several all pro guys. And thats not including guys like nickoe, beckwith, bumphis, Relf, Jameon, and broomfield, etc... Damn.

https://hailstate.com/roster.aspx?roster=76

The Dan hate in 2016 was high, but you could see towards the end of the season that we were improving an had a chance to be a good team the next year. Outside of the game at Bama the offense really put it into high gear the last 7 games of the year.

[confucius say]

The Dan hate in 2016 was high, but you could see towards the end of the season that we were improving an had a chance to be a good team the next year. Outside of the game at Bama the offense really put it into high gear the last 7 games of the year.

And that 2016 team had some near misses. BYU, KY, south al, LSU. Defense got worse through the year but offense improved once we went strictly with fitz. I expect the 2019 offense to do the same going strictly with GS, fwiw.

[dawgday166]

The Dan hate in 2016 was high, but you could see towards the end of the season that we were improving an had a chance to be a good team the next year. Outside of the game at Bama the offense really put it into high gear the last 7 games of the year.

In 2013 when we lost to Bama 20-7, I knew that team could be special next year and almost put down a long shot bet to win Natty. But I knew if we did get there, the moment would be too big for us. And it was.

If Mullen/Grantham stay in 2018, I would've made that bet.

[Dawg2003]

The thing about Dan 2016 is that year was an outlier. Most coaches have a dud year in there somewhere. With Moorhead, we can all see that bad years will be a pattern.

[confucius say]

The thing about Dan 2016 is that year was an outlier. Most coaches have a dud year in there somewhere. With Moorhead, we can all see that bad years will be a pattern.

2011, 2013. Arguably 2009 (arguable that was a bowl team). 2011 was prob a bigger dud than 2016 honestly.

[Pollodawg]

2011, 2013. Arguably 2009 (arguable that was a bowl team). 2011 was prob a bigger dud than 2016 honestly.

The 2011 Auburn game still hurts.

[msu15]

The 2011 Auburn game still hurts.
That game was insane from start to finish. Probably took a year off my life.

[BulldogBear]

There was a coach in the 1930s that lasted one year after he trotted us out in red and gold unis. I can't remember his name or the year, but for some reason 1938 is in my mind.

[robert]

Spike Nelson....I looked it up.

[Todd4State]

The thing about Dan 2016 is that year was an outlier. Most coaches have a dud year in there somewhere. With Moorhead, we can all see that bad years will be a pattern.

Most of that hate was because Dan was looking around and it was affecting our program negatively.