Rumblings from the athletic office...

[chef dixon]

Will be interesting to see how recruiting goes this cycle

[StarkVegasSteve]

Back the dump truck up to Eric Musselman. Just give them whatever the hell he wants. Musselman Coliseum has a nice ring to it.

[BrunswickDawg]

Would be the most little brother thing ever....especially when it got out that he told us to kiss his ass.

Speaking of little brother moves....
Bryce Drew is available***

[mstatefan91]

Are we back to what was going on when Stands was here?

Let see. Highly recruited players doing what they want. Losing in the first round.

If what you're saying is true, your solution is to rehash an argument that has been had 50,000 times? Ok cool

[Dawg2003]

Honestly this makes a lot of sense. We all talked about his lack of fire and passion, or so it seemed. I know Howland is a good coach because you don't go to 3 Final Fours in a row if you aren't. Maybe he is at a point to where he can't apply it anymore.

He doesn't ever look like he enjoys it. He's made enough money that he's set for life, and both of his kids live in CA. Why would be want to stay in MS and try to get these these ego driven kids to play together? If I were him, I'd go retire in Malibu and spend time with my grandkids. Maybe get into some announcing or volunteer somewhere like Ron Polk.

[BeardoMSU]

Speaking of little brother moves....
Bryce Drew is available***

Lol, maybe he can play point guard for us, too....or at least when we play OM.

[BrunswickDawg]

I'm kind of meh about Howland. If we didn't have another basketball coach on campus who is elite, I'd probably feel better about him. But, you look at Vic and look at Ben it's just obvious who is in it to win it and who isn't.
If Howland retires, I think he will have done his job - which was get us back to a level of respectability instead of the clown show we had from the day Renardo Sidney's name was first mentioned until Rick Ray was fired.

[Johnson85]

With basketball its not just the on court results. Obviously being a 5 seed and making the tourney was a big step for us. But look at the fan base. I don't know one single State fan who is excited about basketball, and we were a 5 seed. What happens next year when we probably don't make the tourney if Howland is here? We need new blood. This was suppose to be the height of our program. A lot of juniors and seniors, two really good freshman. But in and out we are.

There is zero chance Howland is being forced out. We didn't have a great team this year, and something was missing mentally and/or chemistry wise, but we had a solid if disappointing end result and the team wasn't full of players you hate. Weatherspoon finished up a great four year run although playing on mostly bad teams. Nick played hard defense until his suspension. Woodard was fun to watch. Even though Holman and to a lesser extent Peters went into a funk, to me they weren't players I disliked.

And it's not like we're about to drop off a cliff. Woodard and Perry are a good nucleus. Ado and Carter are good pieces. If Nick comes back, that's a strong starting five.

[Jack Lambert]

If what you're saying is true, your solution is to rehash an argument that has been had 50,000 times? Ok cool

I don't know what is true. If so it's ridiculous that it is happening again with Miss State. Where else does this happen? To be clear I don't give a shit about Stans.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

I'll just say I'll be very surprised if Howland isn't the coach next year. I guess he could have a change of heart but I expect him here next year.

[confucius say]

I'll just say I'll be very surprised if Howland isn't the coach next year. I guess he could have a change of heart but I expect him here next year.

And nick w?

[Ifyouonlyknew]

And nick w?

I still haven't heard anything to make me think he won't be back next season.

[StarkVegasSteve]

If this happens, and I for one don't think it will judging from the talks I had with folks last week, I think these would need to be the candidates:

1. Eric Musselman- Has NBA pedigree, and has built Nevada into a powerhouse. Plays an attacking brand of basketball. This should be your number 1 target.
2. Dan D'Antoni- Turned Marshall around and is the brother of Mike D'Antoni. We'd be shooting a lot more 3's.
3. Matt McMahon- Been at Murray St. for 4 years. Seems to be able to recruit pretty well(see Ja Morant). Murray St. has been a breeding ground of good coaches in the past.
4. Kelvin Sampson- Revitalized Houston. Definitely seems to want out. His NCAA baggage is a definite detractor and depending on what Nick's issues are might be somebody we want to steer clear of.
5. Mike Miller- This would be the wild card. He's the assistant at Memphis right now but he knows how to recruit and he'd bring a fun style of basketball with him. Also be wildly entertaining to see him and Penny go up against one another in recruiting. Never being a head coach would definitely be a big question mark though.
6. Russell Turner- Been at UC Irvine for 9 seasons and has really built that program into a contender. Players absolutely love him and if you want a guy just like Kermit Davis then this is the guy.
7. Kermit Davis- people would be mad if I didn't add him. I'm 99.9% sure he'd tell us to shove it, but weirder things have happened.
8. Fred Hoiberg- Was at Iowa St before taking the Bulls job and flaming out. Still very well liked in NBA circles and a lot of people seem to beleive the T'Wolves will hire him, but might be worth it to kick the tires on him.
9. Johnny Dawkins- What he's done at UCF has been incredible. He's really revitalized his career after he flamed out at Stanford. And it obviously never hurts to be picking of the Mike Krzyzewski coaching tree.
10. Steve Jans- Has lit it up at New Mexico St the last two years and I loved the way that team played against Auburn.

[chef dixon]

And nick w?

No inside info but it almost seems obvious to me this aint ending well

[jwells]

And nick w?

Nick is done.

[jwells]

If this happens, and I for one don't think it will judging from the talks I had with folks last week, I think these would need to be the candidates:

1. Eric Musselman- Has NBA pedigree, and has built Nevada into a powerhouse. Plays an attacking brand of basketball. This should be your number 1 target.
2. Dan D'Antoni- Turned Marshall around and is the brother of Mike D'Antoni. We'd be shooting a lot more 3's.
3. Matt McMahon- Been at Murray St. for 4 years. Seems to be able to recruit pretty well(see Ja Morant). Murray St. has been a breeding ground of good coaches in the past.
4. Kelvin Sampson- Revitalized Houston. Definitely seems to want out. His NCAA baggage is a definite detractor and depending on what Nick's issues are might be somebody we want to steer clear of.
5. Mike Miller- This would be the wild card. He's the assistant at Memphis right now but he knows how to recruit and he'd bring a fun style of basketball with him. Also be wildly entertaining to see him and Penny go up against one another in recruiting. Never being a head coach would definitely be a big question mark though.
6. Russell Turner- Been at UC Irvine for 9 seasons and has really built that program into a contender. Players absolutely love him and if you want a guy just like Kermit Davis then this is the guy.
7. Kermit Davis- people would be mad if I didn't add him. I'm 99.9% sure he'd tell us to shove it, but weirder things have happened.
8. Fred Hoiberg- Was at Iowa St before taking the Bulls job and flaming out. Still very well liked in NBA circles and a lot of people seem to beleive the T'Wolves will hire him, but might be worth it to kick the tires on him.
9. Johnny Dawkins- What he's done at UCF has been incredible. He's really revitalized his career after he flamed out at Stanford. And it obviously never hurts to be picking of the Mike Krzyzewski coaching tree.
10. Steve Jans- Has lit it up at New Mexico St the last two years and I loved the way that team played against Auburn.

Hoiberg would be a great choice but he is headed to Nebraska. Think he'll do very well there. I don't like Musselman and the way he coaches his teams. His teams seem fake tough to me.

[msugolf]

From what I have gathered, Ben Howland is contemplating retirement. Nothing has been forced from the athletic department standpoint. He is making this decision on his own. Also, nothing has been decided for sure and he may come back for one more season.

So basically we are in a no-win situation. Let him ride out a couple more years with fan support gaining even more apathy and risk the bottom completely falling out. If he's going to go in a year or two then I'd rather it happen now.

[confucius say]

Nick is done.

Why is he still attending class then? No troll.

[basedog]

I'll just say I'll be very surprised if Howland isn't the coach next year. I guess he could have a change of heart but I expect him here next year.

Wouldn't surprise me to see Ben announce one more year, this would give us time to look around for a Coach and would be a nice way to go around the conference one more time on his retirement. I said the other day at Ben's age makes me wonder if he is fired up to be around much longer. Doesn't help with Peters situation, Nick's situation and even Perry's attitude.

Tough place to win, don't believe me then do some research and explain to me I'm wrong*

[Maroonthirteen]

With basketball its not just the on court results. Obviously being a 5 seed and making the tourney was a big step for us. But look at the fan base. I don't know one single State fan who is excited about basketball, and we were a 5 seed. What happens next year when we probably don't make the tourney if Howland is here? We need new blood. This was suppose to be the height of our program. A lot of juniors and seniors, two really good freshman. But in and out we are.

Basketball has always been the 3rd sport behind football and baseball at MSU.

I remember in 1991 very few people knew we were winning in basketball until the showdown with Shaq. Then we went on to lose the first game of the SECT and NCAA tournament.

1996, we had a midnight madness lined up for a team returning multiple starters from a sweet 16 team, as I was leaving the football stadium, a State fan ask me why everyone was going to the Hump.

On and on and on....