Here Are the Facts, Fellas

[William Tecumsah Sherman]

We are Mississippi State University located in Starkville, MS. We have the greatest coach ever 90 miles away. We have an instate rival that prioritizes recruiting with booster influence more than us. We have LSU to our south who will embezzle from a children?s hospital to pay for recruits. What can we do? Do we need to improve our network? Do we need to get a charismatic coach who will blatantly cheat?

OR do we take the route I think is most likely

Hire coaches who can coach. Hire coaches who can find undervalued kids. Find players that are tough as hell with chips on their shoulders. Find players who are smart and fit a system and culture. Find players like Dak Prescott who has too much pride and integrity to bow to an LSU at the last minute and tells them to piss off. These are our options. What can or will we do? Is Leach and Co the staff that can do the above?

[R2Dawg]

That is basically what Mullen did and was successful. I'll throw in the other piece where MSU has had success. We must get the top JUCO talent which we do often. Leach must continue that with our position in other areas as you describe.

[MetEdDawg]

We need to hire coaches who can build a network, develop kids, AND cheat.

If we ever want to be serious about football, we can't be outbid on the eve of signing day every single year.

And for those that think there are other options, go look at the "on paper" recruiting budgets of the schools we lose commits to. Then imagine what their "off paper" budget is. Then imagine us trying to compete with that.

I started stumping on this a couple years ago and some said we just need to find undervalued kids and that we spend plenty of money. Teams don't win championships or compete at the highest level by basing their values on finding undervalued kids. They go get studs. And everyone of them pays to get them.

We don't or we won't at the level others do. That's a fact and it's why days like this happen. Until we wake up as a whole, we will stay at this level. Players win games. There aren't any tricks to it. Getting good players is a prerequisite to competing. Coaching pushes you over the edge. But talent gets you there. And you have to pay to get that talent.

[William Tecumsah Sherman]

I agree with what Mullen did as well. You remain competitive and build until you have a senior-laden class. The. You take your shot. He had two teams in his tenure that could take the shot to win it. I think that?s all we can ask for

[Percho]

We need to hire coaches who can build a network, develop kids, AND cheat.

If we ever want to be serious about football, we can't be outbid on the eve of signing day every single year.

And for those that think there are other options, go look at the "on paper" recruiting budgets of the schools we lose commits to. Then imagine what their "off paper" budget is. Then imagine us trying to compete with that.

I started stumping on this a couple years ago and some said we just need to find undervalued kids and that we spend plenty of money. Teams don't win championships or compete at the highest level by basing their values on finding undervalued kids. They go get studs. And everyone of them pays to get them.

We don't or we won't at the level others do. That's a fact and it's why days like this happen. Until we wake up as a whole, we will stay at this level. Players win games. There aren't any tricks to it. Getting good players is a prerequisite to competing. Coaching pushes you over the edge. But talent gets you there. And you have to pay to get that talent.

Great post. Going down the same path as our country.

I have been a Bulldog fan since around 58,59 and I AM HAPPY to be one.

[Dawgology]

We need to hire coaches who can build a network, develop kids, AND cheat.

If we ever want to be serious about football, we can't be outbid on the eve of signing day every single year.

And for those that think there are other options, go look at the "on paper" recruiting budgets of the schools we lose commits to. Then imagine what their "off paper" budget is. Then imagine us trying to compete with that.

I started stumping on this a couple years ago and some said we just need to find undervalued kids and that we spend plenty of money. Teams don't win championships or compete at the highest level by basing their values on finding undervalued kids. They go get studs. And everyone of them pays to get them.

We don't or we won't at the level others do. That's a fact and it's why days like this happen. Until we wake up as a whole, we will stay at this level. Players win games. There aren't any tricks to it. Getting good players is a prerequisite to competing. Coaching pushes you over the edge. But talent gets you there. And you have to pay to get that talent.

The truth hurts. But most MSU fans seem to want to lose their way than win another way. Apparently, winning doesn’t actually matter to MSU boosters. Whatever. Apathy and 100% set in for me.

[Dawgology]

Great post. Going down the same path as our country.

I have been a Bulldog fan since around 58,59 and I AM HAPPY to be one.

So do you think we don’t pay some recruits something? At all?

[Maroonthirteen]

I'm down with all that. The Mullen way.

Let me know when we hire a coach that can actually coach.

[HoopsDawg]

People aren't asking for a Top 10 Class. Just have to close on players like Strong and MJ. Damn LSU coming in and taking a JUCO LB from MS when the have a top 5 class every year is complete BS. Thanks a lot Ed O.

[KOdawg1]

Can I have all the above? I want a coach who can develop players but can also bring good talent in and can win these battles we need to win.

[HancockCountyDog]

People aren't asking for a Top 10 Class. Just have to close on players like Strong and MJ. Damn LSU coming in and taking a JUCO LB from MS when the have a top 5 class every year is complete BS. Thanks a lot Ed O.

Yeah - people are focusing on the bears - it is LSU that really stuck the knife in this class. I think Strong and Nabors were difference makers for next season. I'm not sure MJ plays for a while, he needs to get bigger;

[Commercecomet24]

Yeah - people are focusing on the bears - it is LSU that really stuck the knife in this class. I think Strong and Nabors were difference makers for next season. I'm not sure MJ plays for a while, he needs to get bigger;

I'm with you on that. Stronger and Nabers were the ones we really needed to close.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Coach Prime at JSU is going to sign more 4 Stars than Leach this year.

[William Tecumsah Sherman]

Of course we all want the best players and coaches. But I think Dans blueprint with a coach that will not sack up in big games is the way to go. Whether or not Leach can do that remains to be seen

[deltadawg99]

All valid points and I believe that one of the reasons Leach was hired was his track record to do more with less.

I do really like the guys that we have signed in this class.

I?m sure this has been answered numerous times, but why aren?t we signing a full class? We have 18 signed right now with what 3-5 guys on the radar for the spring?

[Todd4State]

I agree with what Mullen did as well. You remain competitive and build until you have a senior-laden class. The. You take your shot. He had two teams in his tenure that could take the shot to win it. I think that?s all we can ask for

You're right. Dan's problem was he could only really get a junior-senior laden class once in his career- that just so happened to be 2014. And that was because of his poor roster management. Which is my biggest criticism of his recruiting as a whole. We can't take the next step with a young position group- whatever position group you want to talk about. We can't do that in the SEC and win like we want to- which would be in the 9-10 win range. We have to make sure we fill every position group every year. Sure some will miss but technically when looking at classes we just have to hit at about 50% on every group over a two year period to get a full junior and senior laden team. Even if we hit less than that and go to 40% we still can go the JUCO route or use the portal so we have options.

This is where the early NSD and the transfer portal help us. We know where we stand now and have an opportunity to fill holes. Unlike say- 2011.

[viverlibre]

On a radio show yesterday, they were talking about the tremendous amount of effort that LSU and O put into recruiting every single day. I just can't see Leach putting in the same effort.

[Todd4State]

All valid points and I believe that one of the reasons Leach was hired was his track record to do more with less.

I do really like the guys that we have signed in this class.

I?m sure this has been answered numerous times, but why aren?t we signing a full class? We have 18 signed right now with what 3-5 guys on the radar for the spring?

Are we not? I would imagine that our staff will regroup at this time and:

1. Recruit remaining high school prospects hard.

2. Figure out who is coming back and who isn't amongst the Errol's, Payton's, etc. That's going to be key to figure out where our needs actually are. And probably should be point number one.

3. Fill in the remaining spots using the portal or JUCO's.

If there is a silver lining here we probably now have enough spots to do something like get an impact running back that fits our system, a legit slot receiver, more offensive line talent, and maybe another couple of DB's. If we hit on the right players we may have a pretty quick turnaround.

[Todd4State]

On a radio show yesterday, they were talking about the tremendous amount of effort that LSU and O put into recruiting every single day. I just can't see Leach putting in the same effort.

Coach O is an elite recruiter. Nabors honestly doesn't bother me too much. He's from Louisiana and we can replace him with Kanarius Johnson from Laurel. I'm also about 90% sure they're lying to him about playing receiver- at least long term.

Strong is the one that bothers me. He's a Mississippi kid and could have made an impact for us immediately.

[hailstate88]

We need coaches that can coach, recruit, AND cheat. Cannot get stepped on repeatedly by OM, and Kiffin is for sure cheating, so I think we need all three, respectively