Quote Originally Posted by the_real_MSU_is_us View Post
We matched Florida's offer for Mullen, he still left. We matched FLoridas offer for Grantham, he still left with Mullen. We matched waht Bama offered Brian Baker, he still left. We matched what Texas offered Vic, he still left.

At some point we have to accept the fact that AD's are attracted to coaches from big name programs. Or they know it doens't matter, but they think they can sell a hire to the fanbase better if it's a hire from a big name school. "our new HC was the DC at 10-2 Texas" sounds better than "our new HC was the DC at 7-5 Mississippi State", even if the defensive ranking for both teams is the same. Fans are dumb and don't really think about the fact that a 8th ranked D at State is more impressive than an 8th ranked D at Texas due to our lesser talent. Fans think anyone that's coached at a big successful school learned the secret to being a winner while he was there.

As long as that's true, coaches will leave us. Improving our own perception nationally will reduce that incentive, but it will still be there. Money alone can't always make up for the increased HC potential coordinators get by being at big programs
Well the start of improving our perception(other than winning) would be to increase our Athletics budget higher than our in state rival! That would be the first step because like it or not the ?national? perception is and has been that Mississippi is a better program than Mississippi State.