The hiring of Rick Ray

[smootness]

it seems like Ray has had more suspensions that Stansbury..

That is almost certainly not an indication that our coach is still letting things slide; in fact, it's probably the opposite.

[MarketingBully01]

Ahh yes, the multiple free pass guys are back. If this sport were football or a sport the majority of our fans cared about, the Ray experiment would not have been allowed to happen. I just don't get our fans. We have never been this bad since some of you were born and you are laying blame all on Stans for this. Heck, players Stans recruited are the only ones keeping this team from being 0fers and a complete meltdown of a program. We haven't been this bad since the Bob Boyd days in the early 80s.

[engie]

Ahh yes, the multiple free pass guys are back. If this sport were football or a sport the majority of our fans cared about, the Ray experiment would not have been allowed to happen. I just don't get our fans. We have never been this bad since some of you were born and you are laying blame all on Stans for this. Heck, players Stans recruited are the only ones keeping this team from being 0fers and a complete meltdown of a program. We haven't been this bad since the Bob Boyd days in the early 80s.

Are you kidding me? "If basketball was a sport that the majority of our fans cared about"? Yeah -- we care so little that there are what? 10 threads? on the front page of this website about it. Everything you say after this is completely impossible to be taken seriously.

So -- basically -- you want to credit Stansbury for the 3 signees that STUCK WITH RAY when they ALL had other options and could have walked(one DID walk) -- but the tattered shambles of the program that Ray took over were of NO FAULT to the Recruiter? Yeah -- that's a totally logical approach. We got it**

If only we had a fanbase that had taken baseball seriously in 2010, maybe we wouldn't have hired this Cohen idiot -- who ran off all our best playerz and is running a total dumpster fire of a program!!11!1 He's given us the worst 2 years in ANYONE'S lifetimes for MSU baseball!!1!1 Our fans SUCK -- Dudy Noble is a graveyard and will NevAr be the same!!1!1

That's what happens when people jump to conclusions early in a rebuild when a new coach inherits a total dumpster fire. Would you like me to start linking the HUNDREDS of threads on the old yuku SPS giving the blueprint of the fanbase mindset at this exact same point during the baseball rebuild? Because it was identical to this. Yet we never learn from it as a group -- and the same damn thing will happen the next time we let a coach stay 3-5 years too long and drive a program totally into the ground before it gets turned over to a new guy. Hell, I can link one from last year where we had a bunch of our fans saying "8k or less -- our fans don't show up anymore" for SBW that I totally lost my mind in.

[MarketingBully01]

Gotta love your fire here but you are so great at pointing out the Cohen analogy. This would have been like we had hired Raffo. The Raffo/Ray anology works better but since Byrne made a great hire in baseball we can't really compare it because Byrne made the best decision for MSU IMO and it's playing out. Stricklin did not and that will play out as well.

[MadDawg]

And Kodi was gone 2 years before that -- and that was going to fix the damn attitude problem on the team too**

Hopefully one day we'll have a player talented enough to have an attitude.

[fishwater99]

Ahh yes, the multiple free pass guys are back. If this sport were football or a sport the majority of our fans cared about, the Ray experiment would not have been allowed to happen. I just don't get our fans. We have never been this bad since some of you were born and you are laying blame all on Stans for this. Heck, players Stans recruited are the only ones keeping this team from being 0fers and a complete meltdown of a program. We haven't been this bad since the Bob Boyd days in the early 80s.

I blame Stans and Scott. It's not like our AD didn't know what was going on during Stans tenure.
Then Scott made the Ray hire. He is more to blame than anyone for our shitty basketball team.

[engie]

Gotta love your fire here but you are so great at pointing out the Cohen analogy. This would have been like we had hired Raffo. The Raffo/Ray anology works better but since Byrne made a great hire in baseball we can't really compare it because Byrne made the best decision for MSU IMO and it's playing out. Stricklin did not and that will play out as well.

No -- hiring Raffo would have been like hiring Cunningham. Looks like Stricklin WENT OUT ON A LIMB AND DID WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS BEST FOR THE PROGRAM. Whether it was or not -- we will see in time. But to liken hiring Ray to hiring Raffo is a TERRIBLE analogy. They are NOTHING alike.

You are really trying hard to misunderstand the analogy when it is being spelled out for you clearly.

[smootness]

I blame Stans and Scott. It's not like our AD didn't know what was going on during Stans tenure.
Then Scott made the Ray hire. He is more to blame than anyone for our shitty basketball team.

Stricklin was promoted to AD in May of 2010. Stans 'resigned' in March of 2012. So yes, he knew what was going on, and within 2 years he fired him.

It's not as though he could have made a move right when he was promoted; we were coming off our first somewhat down year after 2 straight NCAA Tourney appearances.

Seems to me like Stricklin realized a problem and took care of it. How is he complicit in the issues that happened under Stans' watch?

[C222]

Stans had 4 tourney wins in 14 years. He didn't make the tournament in 2011-12 after starting 12-2 with one of our best lineups ever. Whether Ray is the right guy or not, I'm glad we have an AD who had the balls to get rid of Stans.

[drunkernhelldawg]

Stans had 4 tourney wins in 14 years. He didn't make the tournament in 2011-12 after starting 12-2 with one of our best lineups ever. Whether Ray is the right guy or not, I'm glad we have an AD who had the balls to get rid of Stans.

It is good to have an AD with "balls," but I liked having a competitive basketball team. We may have one again in the future. We may not. But we have an AD with "balls," so I suppose we have to be grateful.

[tcdog70]

Because Stands let it get that way. The Sporting News didnt label us "the most dysfunctional program in America" for no reason. That is pathetic. That is embarrassing. You Stands-Lovers always gloss over that for some reason. "The most dysfunctional program in America"- that's how we were being viewed by outsiders.

You guys are defending that shit because Stands won 1 NCAA Tourney game in his last 7 seasons. 1 Tourney win in 7 years.

here is why I am defending Rick Stansbury

Taking over the helm as the Bulldogs head coach in 1998, Stansbury led his team to post-season tournament play eleven times in fourteen seasons (six NCAA and five NIT tournaments), with five consecutive post-season tournament appearances, the first MSU basketball coach in history to accomplish this feat. His 2001-02 MSU team compiled the most wins in a single season in school history (27). Also achieved the highest National Ranking in school history 2003-04, #2 in the country (finished 26-4). Stansbury also owns MSU's record for consecutive 20-win seasons with four from 2001?05 and again from 2006-10.[5]

Stansbury won more SEC Championships in the last 10 years than any other SEC program except Kentucky 12. Mississippi State 8. (Florida 6) Western Conference Champion: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010. SEC Tournament Champion: 2002, 2009. Overall SEC Champion: 2004. Under the leadership of Stansbury, MSU's teams were always a threat in the SEC Tournament, reaching the finals of the tournament four times, winning twice. His SEC Tournament record is 16-12. [6]

From his days as an MSU assistant until 2012, Stansbury has been a part of over 15 postseason tournament appearances. Prior to his arrival at Mississippi State, MSU had two post-seasons in 27 years (both NIT). He is also 21-8 vs conference in-state rival, the Ole Miss Rebels.

[C222]

here is why I am defending Rick Stansbury

Taking over the helm as the Bulldogs head coach in 1998, Stansbury led his team to post-season tournament play eleven times in fourteen seasons (six NCAA and five NIT tournaments), with five consecutive post-season tournament appearances, the first MSU basketball coach in history to accomplish this feat. His 2001-02 MSU team compiled the most wins in a single season in school history (27). Also achieved the highest National Ranking in school history 2003-04, #2 in the country (finished 26-4). Stansbury also owns MSU's record for consecutive 20-win seasons with four from 2001?05 and again from 2006-10.[5]

Stansbury won more SEC Championships in the last 10 years than any other SEC program except Kentucky 12. Mississippi State 8. (Florida 6) Western Conference Champion: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010. SEC Tournament Champion: 2002, 2009. Overall SEC Champion: 2004. Under the leadership of Stansbury, MSU's teams were always a threat in the SEC Tournament, reaching the finals of the tournament four times, winning twice. His SEC Tournament record is 16-12. [6]

From his days as an MSU assistant until 2012, Stansbury has been a part of over 15 postseason tournament appearances. Prior to his arrival at Mississippi State, MSU had two post-seasons in 27 years (both NIT). He is also 21-8 vs conference in-state rival, the Ole Miss Rebels.

Check out his last 2 seasons. At what point do you make a change? Should we have just let it continue going down hill?

[War Machine Dawg]

here is why I am defending Rick Stansbury

Taking over the helm as the Bulldogs head coach in 1998, Stansbury led his team to post-season tournament play eleven times in fourteen seasons (six NCAA and five NIT tournaments), with five consecutive post-season tournament appearances, the first MSU basketball coach in history to accomplish this feat. His 2001-02 MSU team compiled the most wins in a single season in school history (27). Also achieved the highest National Ranking in school history 2003-04, #2 in the country (finished 26-4). Stansbury also owns MSU's record for consecutive 20-win seasons with four from 2001?05 and again from 2006-10.[5]

Stansbury won more SEC Championships in the last 10 years than any other SEC program except Kentucky 12. Mississippi State 8. (Florida 6) Western Conference Champion: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010. SEC Tournament Champion: 2002, 2009. Overall SEC Champion: 2004. Under the leadership of Stansbury, MSU's teams were always a threat in the SEC Tournament, reaching the finals of the tournament four times, winning twice. His SEC Tournament record is 16-12. [6]

From his days as an MSU assistant until 2012, Stansbury has been a part of over 15 postseason tournament appearances. Prior to his arrival at Mississippi State, MSU had two post-seasons in 27 years (both NIT). He is also 21-8 vs conference in-state rival, the Ole Miss Rebels.

SEC West Championships are about as useful as tits on a boar.

[engie]

SEC West Championships are about as useful as tits on a boar.

I have tits, Greg --- Do you think you could milk me?

[C222]

SEC West Championships are about as useful as tits on a boar.

And I love how they include NIT appearances as some kind of plus to your post season resume.

[drunkernhelldawg]

SEC West Championships are about as useful as tits on a boar.

That was easy to believe when we were in the running for bigger things that we seldom or never reached.

Would you now be in favor of removing the banners that acknowledge those "worthless" championships? We've learned one thing from this disaster: The view from the top beats the view from the bottom every damn time.

[engie]

That was easy to believe when we were in the running for bigger things that we seldom or never reached.

Would you now be in favor of removing the banners that acknowledge those "worthless" championships? We've learned one thing from this disaster: The view from the top beats the view from the bottom every damn time.

The only thing we've learned during this rebuild is that our fans never learn anything -- even when specific instances are cited.

[Coach34]

The only thing we've learned during this rebuild is that our fans never learn anything -- even when specific instances are cited.

+1

[MadDawg]

The only thing we've learned during this rebuild is that our fans never learn anything -- even when specific instances are cited.

We've also learned who doesn't think their shit stinks.

[smootness]

here is why I am defending Rick Stansbury

Taking over the helm as the Bulldogs head coach in 1998, Stansbury led his team to post-season tournament play eleven times in fourteen seasons (six NCAA and five NIT tournaments), with five consecutive post-season tournament appearances, the first MSU basketball coach in history to accomplish this feat. His 2001-02 MSU team compiled the most wins in a single season in school history (27). Also achieved the highest National Ranking in school history 2003-04, #2 in the country (finished 26-4). Stansbury also owns MSU's record for consecutive 20-win seasons with four from 2001?05 and again from 2006-10.[5]

Stansbury won more SEC Championships in the last 10 years than any other SEC program except Kentucky 12. Mississippi State 8. (Florida 6) Western Conference Champion: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010. SEC Tournament Champion: 2002, 2009. Overall SEC Champion: 2004. Under the leadership of Stansbury, MSU's teams were always a threat in the SEC Tournament, reaching the finals of the tournament four times, winning twice. His SEC Tournament record is 16-12. [6]

From his days as an MSU assistant until 2012, Stansbury has been a part of over 15 postseason tournament appearances. Prior to his arrival at Mississippi State, MSU had two post-seasons in 27 years (both NIT). He is also 21-8 vs conference in-state rival, the Ole Miss Rebels.

Everyone already knows all this. I certainly do, and it is the reason I was such a big Stans supporter. As long as the guy was winning like he was, people were crazy to overly criticize him for certain things.

However, the success stopped coming like it had been. Any time a coach has to point back 8+ years in their defense, you know things aren't going so well. Stans had a very good run, and I hope he is ultimately remembered fondly. The stretch from 02-04 was about as good as we've ever been, and he had some other good runs as well.

The thing is, everyone who supported the move to oust him knew all this and wanted to get back at least to where we were. They didn't believe it was going to happen again under Stans, and by the end I was persuaded to agree with them.

Past history is great, but it means nothing for tomorrow. We will always have the 2004 SEC championship, whether Stans is here or not. The question is, what move best ensures we give ourselves a chance at doing that again? Saying, 'we won a championship in 2004' is great, but that doesn't mean the coach who did it is automatically going to do it again at some point.