I am going to preface my reply with the fact that I supported Rick Stansbury throughout his whole tenure, including his last year as HC of the Mississippi State Men's Basketball program. Okay, now that I have that out of the way. Rick Stansbury had little control over his team during his tenure. Players, in the later years, used drugs routinely before games and showed little to no respect for him. The discipline showed as the season went on for his teams. Now am I saying that Rick Stansbury is a bad person? No. Was he a great recruiter? You're damn right. Was he a great coach? Not necessarily. He was definitely a product of his recruiting, which most of the time was high quality. Now let's take a look at his last few years as HC.

We all remember the Brawl in Paradise (Hawai'i) between Elgin Bailey and the prodigal son Renardo Sidney. Elgin was kicked off the team and Sidney went on to have a very lackluster career here. Stansbury did have some bright spots and bright players: Bost, Varnado, Powers, etc. But his teams as a whole never produced. No Sweet 16 appearances during his 14-year tenure at the helm. He may be the winningest head coach in MSU history, but he didn't nearly meet the expectations that his teams were presented with, and that can be placed solely on the shoulders of Rick Stansbury whether you want it to or not.