If Sark

[Spiderman]

this process was a disaster.

Hell. if we are that desperate, Rich Rod and Hud are safer, better choices.

And those 2 aren't desperation hires to me. Hell, we should have hired Rich Rod instead of Moorhead in hindsight.

[Dawgology]

this process was a disaster.

Hell. if we are that desperate, Rich Rod and Hud are safer, better choices.

And those 2 aren't desperation hires to me. Hell, we should have hired Rich Rod instead of Moorhead in hindsight.

I still believe that Hud would end up being a great coach at State. I know a lot of people disagree. And it is beginning to appear that someone in administration or a big booster just really doesn't like him. If so, that's unfortunate. I think that Sark could easily lead to another Cannizaro type incident (but with alcohol) and it makes me a little antsy. IF we did cheap out on better candidates and an incident happens then we need to take a long look at replacing Cohen as well.

[msstate7]

Saying definitive statements before 1 game is played is dumb. Sorry, but it is.

[PMDawg]

So true. Sark has a good resume on the surface, but when you dive into it, there is NOTHING that says he should be a head coach. He has close to a .500 record as a head coach and was fired for cause after 1.5 seasons at his last stop. The guy showed up to at least one press conference drunk for Goodness sake! Choosing John Cohen as our athletic director, when he had NO qualifications to be one, is the real decision that set our program back a decade. He can't be gone fast enough.

[bluelightstar]

Florida fans thought their process was a disaster because they didn't get Scott Frost or Chip Kelly. Instead, they got a guy who "had the worst record in CFB history against the Top 25." Just saying it seems to have worked out pretty well for them.

[Spiderman]

Saying definitive statements before 1 game is played is dumb. Sorry, but it is.

The coaching search PROCESS has nothing to do with game 1

[msstate7]

The coaching search PROCESS has nothing to do with game 1

Fair enough. I thought you were declaring sark a disaster already. He may be... I'm certainly not sold on him, but I've been wrong a lot. Apologies

[Coursesuper]

this process was a disaster.

Hell. if we are that desperate, Rich Rod and Hud are safer, better choices.

And those 2 aren't desperation hires to me. Hell, we should have hired Rich Rod instead of Moorhead in hindsight.

The best analogy I have heard for our athletic department is that MSU is run like the ultimate mom and pop operation while the rest of the conference is trying to run their operations like a fortune 500 company.

[Spiderman]

Florida fans thought their process was a disaster because they didn't get Scott Frost or Chip Kelly. Instead, they got a guy who "had the worst record in CFB history against the Top 25." Just saying it seems to have worked out pretty well for them.

Florida fans were idiots. What Mullen accomplished at State was impressive as hell to anyone who knew anything about football.

He wasn't coming to Florida from USC and Washington with a 7 win avg. like Sark. Mullen avg 7 wins at State over a 9 year period.

BIG difference

[PGHBulldogBG]

Would much rather have Hud or Clawson but I guess it’s better than Chizik or some of the other awful people that interviewed. Hopefully Sark does well but I’m not sold. We will just have to let it play out and see how it goes. I hope I’m wrong and he wins big!

[Rayburn8]

Florida fans were idiots. What Mullen accomplished at State was impressive as hell to anyone who knew anything about football.

He wasn't coming to Florida from USC and Washington with a 7 win avg. like Sark. Mullen avg 7 wins at State over a 9 year period.

BIG difference

You?re aware Washington was 0-12 before he got there? He turned them around almost immediately just like Mullen did here.

He walked into a worse situation than Mullen did at MSU and turned it around just as quickly. He built what Washington is today.

[Cooterpoot]

So true. Sark has a good resume on the surface, but when you dive into it, there is NOTHING that says he should be a head coach. He has close to a .500 record as a head coach and was fired for cause after 1.5 seasons at his last stop. The guy showed up to at least one press conference drunk for Goodness sake! Choosing John Cohen as our athletic director, when he had NO qualifications to be one, is the real decision that set our program back a decade. He can't be gone fast enough.

Yeah, nevermind he was dealing with a marriage falling apart an he took over a winless Washington program and took them to 8 wins. Damn guys, context.

[hacker]

Florida fans were idiots. What Mullen accomplished at State was impressive as hell to anyone who knew anything about football.

Mississippi State fans were idiots. What Sark accomplished at Washington was impressive as hell to anyone who knew anything about football.

[Spiderman]

Mississippi State fans were idiots. What Sark accomplished at Washington was impressive as hell to anyone who knew anything about football.

If you think State and Washington are equal jobs, I can't help you. Easier school to win at, with more resources, in an easier conference, with a better winning tradition.

[Santiago]

Someone with a fit for our program and has proven to do more with less is the wish. I guess ok on Sark and see what happens. Leach to me would have taken our 3 stars and an accurate QB and lit up teams.

[TrapGame]

Remember the rumor over the weekend was Sark knocked Cohen's socks off in the interview.

[gtowndawg]

Remember the rumor over the weekend was Sark knocked Cohen's socks off in the interview.

That just came up in a group text of mine. I remember that. FYI: half my State friends are excited and half are underwhelmed. Depending on staff I can get on board.

[PMDawg]

Yeah, nevermind he was dealing with a marriage falling apart an he took over a winless Washington program and took them to 8 wins. Damn guys, context.

Why don't you provide the context for why his marriage was falling apart?

You and Hacker have valid points though. So let me rephrase it - he brings additional risk than most candidates, and his resume is not strong enough to ignore those additional risks.

I stand by my Cohen comments though. Cohen has been getting on the job training for years now, and the events that have transpired since Thanksgiving indicate that he's still not up to snuff as an AD.

[StoneDawg]

Sark is a Homerum hire. Better than Napier and Clawson.

[Really Clark?]

If you think State and Washington are equal jobs, I can't help you. Easier school to win at, with more resources, in an easier conference, with a better winning tradition.

I agree with that, that Washington has a much better history and about $27MIL more in revenue, but Washington was in a worse position than even we were when Mullen took over. And even with building on what Sark has been doing, Peterson still took 3 years to do better than Sark’s 7-8 win seasons. That job had a massive rebuild as well but once it got back, Peterson did what he does as a great coach...until this season anyway. I still think he did a good job getting Washington back on track

[timotheus]

If he can hire a competent staff, I say this is about as good as can be expected.

[Coursesuper]

Remember the rumor over the weekend was Sark knocked Cohen's socks off in the interview.

And that right there is the root of the problem. Last time I know for a fact that when they got back on the plane after interviewing Jovester they couldn't shut up about how awesome the interview and he were. And how did that one work out?

[MedDawg]

Sark has head coaching experience at better programs than MSU and after being Saban's offensive analyst was OC for the Falcons then OC for Nick Saban. So coaching and recruiting experience at 3 big time programs, including Bama. Saban doesn't hire just anyone to be his OC. Sark has a lot more experience than anyone on our list or of any hire this offseason, and he's only 45 years old.

Whether he is a fit for State or not, I don't know, but he was a fit for Saban. Twice.

[smootness]

Anyone who thinks Rich freakin' Rodriguez is a better hire than Sarkisian is insane.

You think Sarkisian should have done better at Washington, but what Rodriguez did at Michigan is acceptable?!

Sarkisian, after being fired from USC, got jobs with the Falcons and Alabama. Rodriguez got a job with...Ole Miss. Sarkisian's reputation is 10x better than Rodriguez's.

[BeardoMSU]

Anyone who thinks Rich freakin' Rodriguez is a better hire than Sarkisian is insane.

You think Sarkisian should have done better at Washington, but what Rodriguez did at Michigan is acceptable?!

Sarkisian, after being fired from USC, got jobs with the Falcons and Alabama. Rodriguez got a job with...Ole Miss. Sarkisian's reputation is 10x better than Rodriguez's.

Agreed. I think this reaction is more to Rich Rod's scheme seemingly fitting our personnel better than Sark's....but as long as Sark adapts, which good coaches do, he's got a ton of upside.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

I like the hire. He had good classes at Washington and USC so I dont think recruiting is a problem. USC fans were optimistic after his 9-3 season there. His playcalling is irrelevant since he'll probably have an OC to call plays, the important thing is will he adapt the scheme and philosophy to our personnel?

He can run a locker room, knows what southern kids and thebSEC is like, and should have good coaching connections.

And hey, if he only gets us 7-8 wins then in 3-4 years well have 23M more monies to play with to truly go get a stud

[Ari Gold]

Washington was 18-53 the previous 6 years before Sark got there..
Usc finished 7-6 Kiffin last full season .( preseason number 1)
Sarks first year at USC they go 9-4

Sarks resume dwarfs that of Huds and Napiers combined.

Some may not like the hire . Thats fine
I doubt he was anyones first choice.
But to think it was Napier or bust is stupid , that guys record against joe Moorhead is 0-1

Whoever the new coach is , we can all agree its an upgrade ..

[smootness]

Sarkisian was certainly not my first choice, but he is a very good choice nonetheless, and as I've said before, nobody really knows anything. It's possible he's actually the best choice.

[gtowndawg]

Sark has head coaching experience at better programs than MSU and after being Saban's offensive analyst was OC for the Falcons then OC for Nick Saban. So coaching and recruiting experience at 3 big time programs, including Bama. Saban doesn't hire just anyone to be his OC. Sark has a lot more experience than anyone on our list or of any hire this offseason, and he's only 45 years old.

Whether he is a fit for State or not, I don't know, but he was a fit for Saban. Twice.

45? Dang, that's only a year older than me. I didn't realize that - seems like he's been around forever.

[TrapGame]

Washington was 18-53 the previous 6 years before Sark got there..
Usc finished 7-6 Kiffin last full season .( preseason number 1)
Sarks first year at USC they go 9-4

Sarks resume dwarfs that of Huds and Napiers combined.

Some may not like the hire . Thats fine
I doubt he was anyones first choice.
But to think it was Napier or bust is stupid , that guys record against joe Moorhead is 0-1

Whoever the new coach is , we can all agree its an upgrade ..

Cohen's not hiring another Joe Moorhead. Sark's resume is better than Moorhead's. We probably would have hired Sark two years ago if he interviewed.

I don't hate the hire but I'm gonna wait and see. Cohen has hitched his wagon let's see where it goes.

[gtowndawg]

Washington was 18-53 the previous 6 years before Sark got there..
Usc finished 7-6 Kiffin last full season .( preseason number 1)
Sarks first year at USC they go 9-4

Sarks resume dwarfs that of Huds and Napiers combined.

Some may not like the hire . Thats fine
I doubt he was anyones first choice.
But to think it was Napier or bust is stupid , that guys record against joe Moorhead is 0-1

Whoever the new coach is , we can all agree its an upgrade ..

I brought up the fact Napier couldn't beat Moorhead at home, with the best team in school history, with 10 players suspended and got roasted for it lol. I would have been happy with Napier but that was always stuck in my crawl.

[dawgday166]

I'm warming up pretty good on Sark. Especially after some more research. And one thing I kinda like ... I believe he really WANTS an opportunity to be HC and show he can be very successful. I believe he may be laser focused and maybe a tireless worker if he were hired here.

His staff will be very important IMO ... especially DC. Would love to have Shoop stay on board with him.

[Mobile Bay]

Hell Bear Bryant was a drunk. Pat Dye is a drunk, Spurrier is a drinker. Perhaps that's what we have been missing.

[ShotgunDawg]

I think Sark is a mystery.

He's obviously extremely talent due the positions he's held, but his career track record is incomplete because frankly & bluntly, he was an alcoholic during his past head coaching days.

We simply don't know how good he'll be. He's very talent & we'd be getting him in his prime

[vv83]

Anyone know about his recruiting philosophy? Now that I’ve heard what BN wanted to do with the full team of analysts and upped budget I don’t want to settle for anything less. I hope Sark brings the Alabama model like BN was planning and Cohen shells out the cash for it

[gtowndawg]

And the other thing he's not a retread. Retreads are good coaches fired for poor football performance. He wasn't fired from USC because of football, he was doing great. He was fired for the alcohol issue. Not saying he can be like the Kang but it has similar parallels. Even the ages are pretty close (when we hired them) and they both came from 2 successful stops. Just off the field issues damaged their reputations.

[GoDawgz]

Sark is a Homerum hire. Better than Napier and Clawson.

I see what you did there.........