Coach & hack

[Dawgfan77]

Question. Based on what you two are hearing are the issues we having internally going to keep us from being ultra competitive in football whether it be with dan or hud. I may be biased here but I do think we have more to sell than ever before yet there is a disconnect somewhere. I guess I refuse to believe we cannot win at a high level. I think we have as much or going for us than OM. So where is the issue.

[Political Hack]

leadership IMO. we've got a million things working in our favor and aren't capitalizing on them like we should. We're doing a great job with facilities, but we're leaving a lot to be desired in almost every other area.

Assistant coaches.
Compliance.
Recruiting budget and focus.
Scheduling.
Game day atmosphere.
Student Attendance.
Having any guts with the SEC office.

We graduate more people than any school in state and have a higher starting salary than any school in state. Attendance and fund raising should be second to none in Mississippi, and that should be easy. For whatever reason we've let another MS school become the media darling. People say we do a good job marketing, but we get hammered in the press constantly while there's never a negative word written about the school up north. So, in my mind, we're not doing a very good job marketing the program or controlling the message. We've allowed others to define us and that's inexcusable. Some of that blame goes on us as fans, but mostly that rest with the Athletic Department. CDM brought a new attitude with him when he stepped off that plane, but it's slowly faded after Greg left. Until we get that attitude back in our athletic department we won't realize our full potential.

I like Keenum based on what I hear, but the athletic department needs to be looked at as more than the fund raising wing of the University. If we would truly invest in the football and basketball programs we'd develop a long-term sustainable revenue stream rather than the quick hit, cyclical money maker we've got now. If the losses continue, the kickoff game invites, bowl game revenues, fan donations, updated facilities, etc... will all go away quickly. We need to start investing in things that win games.

[AROB44]

I will add my two cents worth. The "cigar boys" have a great deal of power I our athletics. I know..they give the big $$$$ and therefore should have a say. But ask yourself....how good a job have they done over the last 50 years? Except for the JWS era, I think they have been a miserable failure. That is one of the reasons all this HUD talk bothers me. Sounds like the "boys" are at it again....their propaganda machine is working overtime.

[Coach34]

I totally agree with everything Hack laid out. To add:

Compliance- every other SEC school has former NCAA officials working compliance- but we don't. We have a former HS coach. You can't tell me that we arent at a disadvantage there. We have too much proof otherwise.

AD- fundraising and building shit is only part of the responsibility associated with being AD. And that's all I got to say about that.

Boosters- we like to think that we are just as good as OM here- but we arent. We arent even close. Their boosters are getting it done- and we are standing around with our teeth in our mouth looking confused like we got pick-pocketed. Our recruiting is not a coaching problem at all- it's a booster and town problem. OM has already set their big recruiting weekend. They have fans that have already made reservations to fill hotels and make sure the town is packed with people that weekend. They are throwing a huge party. They give recruits the illusion that Oxford is this great place with a packed town and party atmosphere.

Do we do anything closely resembling that? Hell no. Our big weekend we had players taking recruits to an apartment party to hangout. Until our boosters and fans realize that recruiting is a group effort- we will continue to lag behind. We have to do things differently because of our small town and small population. But we do nothing but sit back and blame the coaches.

Until we get better in these 3 areas, we dont have a prayer of being a top 6 SEC program consistently.

[Political Hack]

we have new cigar boys... some of the old guard still has influence, but it's nothing compared to what it was IMO.

I think the new cigar boys want Hud and I know the old guard wanted Hev & Bracky gone before the season ever started and neither of those things happened. If they can't push out the OL coach I doubt they'll be choosing our next head coach.

[Nucky Thompson]

Money talks and bullshit walks (cliche' I know).

Since the cigar boys have the money, why do they not have influence enough to get rid of Bracky and Hev? Would drawing a line and withholding donations be the tipping point?

[SPMT]

Someone has to organize boosters to assist. There has to be a conduit between booster and football coach or some level admin. Boosters can't assist on an organized recruiting weekend when they aren't informed or lead. Football coaches aren't calling boosters at State saying y'all keep an eye out for these guys at this location, etc.

We have no cigar boys. There's no organized group of boosters like you hear about Auburn having.

[Dawgfan77]

I have thought that maybe we needed a grass roots effort to get the message out. Say what you want about the forward rebels they got shit done. Thanks coach and hack for the info.