The good and bad. Well bad is obvious but the good in this is that any good up and coming DC knows he can come thru Starkville and up his stock. We may not be the final destination but while they are here we are still good.
Printable View
We need to just pony up and pay top end money to keep coordinators. Money is the great equalizer and while Texas has more of it than us I bet we are willing to pay more to keep Arnett. Or, at least, I hope we are. The issue in the past has largely been that we didn?t have an administration (or boosters) willing to pay top dollar for coordinators.
We need to pay a coordinator enough that they are willing to stay and only leave for HC positions.
According to an article by the Long Horn Network, Muschamp declined the job and Barry Odom is their next target along with a chance of Ash staying. The article doesn’t even mention Arnett.
We matched Florida's offer for Mullen, he still left. We matched FLoridas offer for Grantham, he still left with Mullen. We matched waht Bama offered Brian Baker, he still left. We matched what Texas offered Vic, he still left.
At some point we have to accept the fact that AD's are attracted to coaches from big name programs. Or they know it doens't matter, but they think they can sell a hire to the fanbase better if it's a hire from a big name school. "our new HC was the DC at 10-2 Texas" sounds better than "our new HC was the DC at 7-5 Mississippi State", even if the defensive ranking for both teams is the same. Fans are dumb and don't really think about the fact that a 8th ranked D at State is more impressive than an 8th ranked D at Texas due to our lesser talent. Fans think anyone that's coached at a big successful school learned the secret to being a winner while he was there.
As long as that's true, coaches will leave us. Improving our own perception nationally will reduce that incentive, but it will still be there. Money alone can't always make up for the increased HC potential coordinators get by being at big programs
They have more resources- no one is debating that. But just because somewhere has more resources doesn't make it a better situation. A lot of bluebloods have internal issues. See Auburn.
With all of their resources- look at the kind of coaches that they are pulling. Herman came from Houston and we pulled Leach from a P5 school. Charlie Strong? And the guy that they just hired was a candidate for our job and we chose Leach over him.
I'm saying that sometimes it's better to wait than just jump at the first opportunity especially as a DC because those jobs come open much more frequently.
Arnett bought a farm here.
Then call him an idiot. Texas has internal issues and he doesn't want any part of it, per people inside the building. He may be filling us full of shit but he's telling his peers here he isn't interested, just like Odom told them he wasn't interested and just like Muschamp told them he isn't interested. We upped his salary to 7 figures. Of course Texas could pay him more if they really wanted to but they aren't going to pay a DC ten times more than the going rate that is as inexperienced as Arnett. They will just move on to the next guy.
No ... This makes a lot of sense. Alcoholics can fall back at any time - it's a constant struggle for them. One screw up is enough to get him fired and where does that leave his staff..... The guy screwed up and never even got to coach a game at USC before he was canned. Maybe working under Saban helped him but now he is back on his own with an incredible amount of pressure on him and the temptation is real. Very valid point or consideration
Arnett is definitely the first MSU coach I have ever heard call out his neighbors by their names as being great people in a press conference. He even mentioned them helping him with a stuck zero turn. Of course, my first question is, can't we just pay someone to cut his grass? But some people find it relaxing I guess.....
He is definitely a perfect cultural fit for Mississippi State....straight shooter, hard edge, guys would run through a brick wall for him. That being said, foolish not to think their are other jobs he might find very enticing.
I hope he stays, but let us also not forget that Arnett had been Syracuse's DC for all of 11 days before he accepted our offer.