Nobody hates Starkville more than Mississippi State fans. There isn?t another fanbase that hates their city more than State fans hates Starkville. Jesus Christ
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Nobody hates Starkville more than Mississippi State fans. There isn?t another fanbase that hates their city more than State fans hates Starkville. Jesus Christ
I don't think it's hate. I think it's reality realizing that Starkville doesn't have a lot of appeal unless you're a Mississippi State fan or a student at Mississippi State. I mean if you weren't a Mississippi State fan, where would you spend a non gameday weekend? Athens or Starkville? Auburn or Starkville? Oxford or Starkville?
We love Starkville because we're Mississippi State fans. If you have no connection, would you feel the same way? Look a lot of it is simply just perception. For 5 decades, Ole Miss touted The Square, Velvet Ditch, The Grove, etc. They also touted that Starkville was a cow pasture. Starkville and Mississippi State, at that time, never did anything to fight that perception. Now, in today's day and age we are fighting back finally. But Ole Miss has a 50 year head start. I say this all the time and it's true PERCEPTION MATTERS. Our perception is finally changing, but it's not something that will change overnight. This goes back to another thing I continually harp on, we focus too much on in state students. The out of state students, however much you want to make fun of them, have helped Ole Miss change the perception. They spread that message, and it helps Ole Miss with recruits and coaches alike because they're told that Oxford is an amazing place.
Starkville stands out as a great small town. And in this day and age of growth everywhere to the point you cannot breathe, the town is keeping its charm.
But we can be real about any town, when discussing attracting talented people, and then address how to do it. My OP is more about the blind view of the area, as if Coaches make decisions only on the sport they coach. More to it with a family and to consider how happy is momma at the current town and connections.
Like that TV show Love it Or List It if anyone has ever seen. Almost always the couple decides to stay, even if the new place is way better.
Creatures of comfort and hard for families to up and go without several boxes checked.
As Vegas said, we all assume everyone just wants to come here and it means the same thing to them.
Ask the academic side right now how are they doing on recruiting some positions of need?
Decided to do a little investigating. Bored sitting at home while guys close in the patio and build a shed for me.
Population figures as of 2023: without students
Austin- 979,882 Metro area- 2.473,275
Nashville- 681,150 Metro- 2,072,283
Lexington- 320,154 Metro- 517,056
Baton Rouge- 219,573 Metro- 870,569
Knoxville- 198,162 Metro- 868,546
Columbia SC- 142,416 Metro- 858,302
Norman- 130,046 Metro- 1,425,695 (OKC)
Columbia MO- 129,330
Athens- 128,628 Metro- 219,870
College Station- 125,192 Metro- 269,248
Tuscaloosa- 111,338 Metro- 277,494
Fayetteville- 101,680 Metro- 590,337
Gainesville- 97,500 Metro- 332,317
Auburn- 82,025 Metro- 206,337
Oxford- 27,008
Starkville- 25,444
Make of it what you will, but since 1941, the "overall" Athletics Department at MSU has felt the "Small Town" image. Imagine if the Golden Triangle area had a Sam and Bud Walton duo with the same vision. Look at everything that built around Wal-Mart that brought in hundreds of thousands more people. Every major Vendor built a satellite office employing hundreds. A major trucking company, a major poultry plant, a major paper company all built warehouses and distro centers. The NWA Airport is a major hub now. State used to have to fly into Tulsa and bus nearly 2 hours on mostly 2 lane roads to get to UA's stadium. Now they can land Air Force One and its entire Air Support!
Vision! Bryan just didn't have the Vision! Sara Lee Company had the Vision and took his product and closed his plant. Toyota didn't see the Golden Triangle as a better choice than East New Albany! Puhlease!!! Vision!!!
Where is "Metro Tuscaloosa" LOL
Those number's don't include students, by and large. Generally you can add 20-23K to Starkville and Oxford on any given year. Which still puts them well behind any other SEC town.
You are correct though about how important the crowds are to the town. One of my good friends, and pledge brother, owns Boardtown and he says that those Regional/Super Regional crowds generally bring an extra 150-300K worth of revenue, just for a singular business. So multiply it by all the businesses and it's an 8 figure influx that we've missed out on the past 4 years.
My point is that you will never hear me say that Starkville sucks regardless of how I feel. If any other fanbase goes combatant towards Starkville, I am the 1st to defend it. I grew up 35 minutes south of Starkville with a town that doesn’t have a red light. Skate Odyssey was the place to go as a kid. Ole Miss fans think that Oxford is best city in the SEC and it really isn’t that much different from Starkville.
The way to fix this if you think it needs to be fixed is bring jobs to Starkville.
Easier said than done, but all the other development would follow jobs and population growth.
Make gambling legal in Okt Cty and build casinos. Done and done.