Let's not screw this up, we have to hire Billy Napier, regardless of the EB result...

[confucius say]

They did hold UM to one of their lowest scoring games. I am not sure if I have a preference.

Yea but that was corral OM. Im not sure they scored on anybody with corral at qb

[KOdawg1]

This year in conference 2 and 38th nationally.

ETA: Memphis is 57th nationally.

ETAA: Napier coached 5 years under Saban. That's a plus in my book.

Damn. Let him bring his staff with him and let's get to work

[Tbonewannabe]

I?m not talking QB. I?m talking his passing offense rankings like above post.

A good bit better than Moorhead's passing offense. If I told you that we could win 10 games normally but we run the triple option, would you want it?

[KOdawg1]

Here's something interesting for recruiting purposes.

He was born in Tennessee, grew up and played football in Georgia, coached with Saban in Alabama for 5 years, and has now been a HC in Louisiana for 2 years. Most of our out of state recruits come from these states.

[confucius say]

This year in conference 2 and 38th nationally.

ETA: Memphis is 57th nationally.

ETAA: Napier coached 5 years under Saban. That's a plus in my book.

He should have recruiting ties in Louisiana and Alabama too, another big plus. And in MS for that matter. I am liking him more and more

[dawgday166]

Damn. Let him bring his staff with him and let's get to work

I still wanna give Shoop a shot under a good HC myself. Otherwise I would probably mostly agree. If Norvell kept Shoop I might go along with that too. If he really steps out like rumors say tho ... not sure that would fly with Shoop although I don't really know. Just the way I take Shoop to be.

[dawgday166]

He should have recruiting ties in Louisiana and Alabama too, another big plus. And in MS for that matter. I am liking him more and more

I kinda like him barring getting someone like Satterfield. I think he works with what he has. I think he'll try to get the passing better over time but before that happens, he'll try to pass effectively and teach his QB to take care of the ball.

Hadn't watched them enough to really judge it well tho.

[KOdawg1]

I still wanna give Shoop a shot under a good HC myself. Otherwise I would probably mostly agree. If Norvell kept Shoop I might go along with that too. If he really steps out like rumors say tho ... not sure that would fly with Shoop although I don't really know. Just the way I take Shoop to be.

I'd like to keep Shoop as well, but it's kind of hard to tell an incoming coach who his staff is. But if Napier and Shoop agreed to work together, I'd be all for it.

[Todd4State]

ULL's run pass ratio is similar to ours this year. Except they're better at passing.

He was a little more balanced at Arizona State than he is at ULL. So, his stats are probably more personnel dependent than anything. Of course adjusting to your current personnel is a good thing.

I like Napier just because he knows how to actually run a college/SEC program because he has basically built a mini version of Alabama's program at ULL. Joe doesn't have a clue how to do this and therefore he doesn't know what to ask of the administration.

[Todd4State]

I'd like to keep Shoop as well, but it's kind of hard to tell an incoming coach who his staff is. But if Napier and Shoop agreed to work together, I'd be all for it.

I'd guess that if Napier left there is a decent chance that his DC, Ron Roberts would be promoted. If that happens keeping Shoop may happen.

[DeviousDawg]

Here's something interesting for recruiting purposes.

He was born in Tennessee, grew up and played football in Georgia, coached with Saban in Alabama for 5 years, and has now been a HC in Louisiana for 2 years. Most of our out of state recruits come from these states.

Don't forget he played college ball in South Carolina and coached at 2 different schools in South Carolina. He knows the Southeast, that's for sure. Personally, I think he could recruit at a level above Moorehead and Mullen, say floor in the 25-27 range and average in the 18-20 range.

[msstate7]

Can't believe I'm typing this, but should we call jim mcelwain? He did a good job at Colorado st, seemed to be doing ok at florida before the wheels came off year 3, and now in his first year there he's improved central Michigan's 1-11 (0-8) last year to 7-4 (5-2).

Improvements from last year to this season in conf...
(12 team conference)
Scoring offense: 12th to 4th
Total offense: 12th to 3rd
Yds/play: 12th to 4th

If he beats Toledo and western Michigan loses to northern Illinois, McE will have taken winless central Michigan last year to a championship game this year. He's been good

[ckDOG]

He?s a great fit. I think there?s little doubt about it.

[Todd4State]

Don't forget he played college ball in South Carolina and coached at 2 different schools in South Carolina. He knows the Southeast, that's for sure. Personally, I think he could recruit at a level above Moorehead and Mullen, say floor in the 25-27 range and average in the 18-20 range.

I think he would improve our recruiting because he has seen how Saban does it. That's what happened at Georgia when Smart took over and copied the same formula. Alabama has a system for selling their program to players- and I'm talking about legally here.

Napier currently has the number one class in the Sun Belt right now. And if ULL can implement his recruiting machine MSU can certainly do it too.

[Todd4State]

Can't believe I'm typing this, but should we call jim mcelwain? He did a good job at Colorado st, seemed to be doing ok at florida before the wheels came off year 3, and now in his first year there he's improved central Michigan's 1-11 (0-8) last year to 7-4 (5-2).

Improvements from last year to this season in conf...
(12 team conference)
Scoring offense: 12th to 4th
Total offense: 12th to 3rd
Yds/play: 12th to 4th

If he beats Toledo and western Michigan loses to northern Illinois, McE will have taken winless central Michigan last year to a championship game this year. He's been good

Personally I wouldn't hate it. Florida ran him off essentially because they wanted Chip Kelly. They screwed it up and ended up with Dan.

[DeviousDawg]

I should say this, if you can get Norvell you take him, but he would have to accept before the end of this regular season, behind closed doors of course, which means he would have already accepted by now in private. You have to keep in mind that we will not be the only school looking for a coach, and while we love Mississippi State, someone with no connections to our school does not view our school and football program the way we do. It is what it is, Arkansas is probably even a better job than ours to a completely non biased observer, I'm not saying it is, just saying it could and probably is viewed that way. We can't sit around and wait for Norvell to try and leverage our offer into a better one somewhere else. If we do that we would not only miss out on Norvell, but also the rest of our top 5 choices.

Here is what I would do if I were Cohen(and its probably already happened), I would offer Norvell his asking price as long as its $6M or less(I would always rather us have to find money to pay a good coach, than save money and have a shite coach. We could pay Mullen $6M, so we can pay someone else at or just below that, the money a good coach would help bring into the program, school, and community as a whole would far outweigh the $2M or so we would save annually by hiring a shite coach, this is the SEC, money should never be the problem, EVER.) Anyway... I'd throw $6M at Norvell, and tell him you are our #1, we would love to have you and be the last job you ever take, however, we are giving you 48 hours to talk to your family and advisors, and give us a decision in writing. If he hasn't accepted within 48 hours, I tell him good luck but we have to move on. If he doesn't accept $6M within a reasonable time from of 48 hours, he was never gonna accept it. I think Cohen has learned this lesson and will give the long shot big name guys atop the list offers, but shot clocks too. We can and will be played by coaches and their agents, its the way it works. It's as simple as this, offer what they want as long as it is let's say $6M or less(we can easily make that work, now is not the time to be frugal), give them no more than a couple days to decide, if they haven't accepted within that time frame, move on. If you dick around trying to get guys out of your league, you end up losing out on a chance with the realistic guys in the middle of your list, and end up settling for someone who wasn't even on the initial list. You see this happen every year over and over again, usually to schools that perceive themselves as a program 2-3 levels above what they are in reality. Yes, I think we are capable of hiring "the guy" type coaches, like top tier coaches, however, I think we have to find them just before they became "the guy". Give Napier a couple years and we might be laughing at the thought of us thinking he would want to be our coach.

When Norvell's 48 hours is up, I would throw $4.5M at Napier with plans to have him at $6M by 2023 if he meets his annual goals, I would then give him until December 1st to decide, with the understanding that other offers may be made between now and then, so if he wants it, the sooner he accepts it, the better, for both parties. This guy would get us back on track, he has shown he has the ability to be (maybe) an elite recruiter, he also has learned to coach from the best and runs the gd football, and at an elite level.

Napier is the right fit in all the places that Moorehead was not. Our program has slid the past 2 years, but luckily our talent level has not as we have recruited at the same or even better level than we were under Mullen. This means the right fit could step in and have us back competing as early as next year. What's even better is that Napier has shown that he can install, and successfully run his offense at a high level in year 1, he has done this everywhere he has been, in year 1. I would be ecstatic if we could pull Norvell, but I do have some questions, whereas with Napier I have less. However, I believe Norvell's ceiling may be a tad bit higher than Napier's, but at this point that's nothing more than a semi-educated guess. Norvell = SEXY pick with a few question marks; Napier = realistic & perfect fit. I'd be more than happy with both, offer both their asking price, with a shorter leash on Norvell. If they both don't accept pretty much on the spot, they never were, so you move on. Cohen is going to get it right this time, I trust him. He's our guy and he is learning from his mistakes, while recognizing what and where it went wrong. I'm pretty confident Norvell or Napier is our next guy, and judging by today's onslaught of "prepare for Moorehead's firing" talking points from MSU's chosen talking heads, it seems like someone has accepted. I am 100% guessing here, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were case. I do feel bad for Joe, great guy, just not our guy. He will land on his feet making 7 digits somewhere as an OC. Some guys just don't have what it takes internally to be a HC, Moorehead is example #1. I can only thank him for bringing in some good recruiting classes, comparatively, and giving us his best shot.

[ckDOG]

Nailing it Devious. While I think Norvell is in a position to get snatched up by a blue blood/upper echelon program in the next 1-2 years, I think you make your best offer and have him take it or leave it in a short time frame. You wouldn?t be doing your job if you don?t make him say no. Even #2 on our list would understand that.

The moment he balks or says no, all hands on deck for Napier. He?s the next best option for MSU.

All other options are pipe dreams, coordinators, or coaches that are a stretch to fit in at MSU.

[ShotgunDawg]

Napier's offensive schemes and philosophy remind me a lot of Malzahns.

Wyatt said it was the same back when we played them.

[ShotgunDawg]

That was 1st game of year. Primadonna was still QB for OM then. RR hadn't yet figured out what he had overall.

Can't believe I'm typing this, but should we call jim mcelwain? He did a good job at Colorado st, seemed to be doing ok at florida before the wheels came off year 3, and now in his first year there he's improved central Michigan's 1-11 (0-8) last year to 7-4 (5-2).

Improvements from last year to this season in conf...
(12 team conference)
Scoring offense: 12th to 4th
Total offense: 12th to 3rd
Yds/play: 12th to 4th

If he beats Toledo and western Michigan loses to northern Illinois, McE will have taken winless central Michigan last year to a championship game this year. He's been good

Oh hell no. He was awful. Don't look at stats on that one. He was awful.

[dantheman4248]

87th in passing, down from 78th when he took over
He?s not balanced offensively at all. Very run heavy. That?s not where football is headed. Cohen was looking to improve our passing game last hire. He?s still going to do that to a point. We can?t win SEC games simply pounding the rock.

We could have thrown 0 passes in 2018 and went 11-1