Chat with Scott Stricklin

[dawg21]

I just disagree SS is comparable to LT, or GB. Overall he's doing a good job. A bad fire/hire (what some consider) in BB is not a defining moment for an AD. Mal Moore of Bama screwed up a ton of hires in football, not to mention the other sports with a lot more resources and tradition, and yet he was considered a good AD. Scott is pretty open as to what is going on and involving the fanbase. When people find or hear something they don't like they just say "LT 2.0", when they are not comparable. Can you imagine LT and our current football expansion? Tweeting? Fundraising at current levels? Constantly getting the temperature of the fanbase? SS may not do anything with it but at least he "acts" like he listens.

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

I dont think scott is LT 2. He cant be on fundraising alone.

[Dawg61]

If Strick insists on hiring assistants how bout Hubert Davis at UNC? He's going to be a great HC very soon.

[MarketingBully01]

I just disagree SS is comparable to LT, or GB. Overall he's doing a good job. A bad fire/hire (what some consider) in BB is not a defining moment for an AD. Mal Moore of Bama screwed up a ton of hires in football, not to mention the other sports with a lot more resources and tradition, and yet he was considered a good AD. Scott is pretty open as to what is going on and involving the fanbase. When people find or hear something they don't like they just say "LT 2.0", when they are not comparable. Can you imagine LT and our current football expansion? Tweeting? Fundraising at current levels? Constantly getting the temperature of the fanbase? SS may not do anything with it but at least he "acts" like he listens.

Mal hired Saban to save his job. Before that hire, he was on the hot seat at Alabama. Hiring Saban made him safe for life after that but his seat was most definitely hot before the Saban hire.

Scott has done some good things but one of your main jobs as an Athletic Director is to do the hiring and firing. Making a hire like that in a sport we have been competitive in for 20+ years is just plain dumb as a leader of our athletic department.

Saying what he said in the chat is equally as dumb and makes it look like if Ray doesn't work out we will go the Ray route again and I guess hope it works. It does not give me a lot of confidence that given the chance he will make a good hire after this one because it looks like he didn't learn from his mistake in the first place.

[MarketingBully01]

Listening to Bo Bounds this morning, Alabama's AD had a $20 million SURPLUS this year ($120m total). They can't spend it faster than they are making it. That's roughly a third of State and Ole Miss' entire athletic budget.

When Byrne hired Mullen, he distinctly said "we want to hire them on their way up", meaning rising stars in coaching. Not some used up has been, a youthful coach that can relate to the kids and coach well. Mullen had a losing season his first year as our head coach, and he walked in with a 75% full roster. Ray came in after an F5 had already leveled the program. He's had to clean up a lot of issues with personnel that he inherited. Next year is when I start the coaching clock with Ray, he got a two year free pass from me. The team is better, the effort is there, the depth is coming. I think 2014-15 is a chance for the NIT for Ray. The next year should be NCAA's with Ware, Thomas and Chicken all seniors.

Yes, everything is okay. It's normal to take five years to build back a basketball program. Especially when perinial doormats like USC and Auburn make hires like Frank Martin and Bruce Pearl. Yes, both programs which will make if to the NCAA tourney before we will. Yes, everything is fine nothing to see here. While we are at it, let's give Ray a 4 year pass just for the heck of it.

[smootness]

It was the wrong answer. Further proves the working theory that SS doesn't have the Shark mentality. He's a yes man. And that answer contradicts his other statements about how a coach will never get hired away because of more money. So we have the money to keep coaches, but we don't have it to hire them? Doesn't add up.

Hiring assistants looks bush league.

I just think you're reading too much into it. I don't like the phrasing he used because I knew people would run with it, but his statement here is in no way contradictory to saying no one will be hired away over money.

I don't think his overall point was that money will make all of his decisions for him. I think his point was that there is no tried and true method to picking a successful head coach - we have seen numerous 'proven' HC's not have nearly as much success at their new job; and we have seen numerous AC's or guys you've never heard of who have had success right out of the gate.

So rather than spending a lot on a guy who has no greater chance, statistically, than another guy, why not pick the guy you really think is an 'up and coming' name, who you don't have to spend a crap ton for as a tryout? Then, if the guy proves to be a great coach, you pay him to keep him.

I don't think he's saying that we can't or won't spend more than we did for someone like Ray; he's just saying that there isn't anything that says Coach X will be more successful than Rick Ray, and he obviously believes Rick Ray can get it done. So spend less on the front end and wait to see if you made the right hire before throwing crazy money at him. Just like we did with Mullen.

I don't think Stricklin is allowing his hands to be tied with money. He's just trying to use it as intelligently as we can to build the best program. Athletic departments like Florida can throw money around and go get whoever and then if he doesn't work out, oh well, they'll throw money at someone else. We can't operate in exactly the same way and have success over time.

The best chance for State to end up with a great coach, in every sport but baseball, is to get them on their way up, before their name is huge.

[Dawg61]

We could hire Scott Drew for $2 mill a year. He makes $1.8 at Baylor. Baylor just made the Sweet 16 AGAIN under Drew. His third time being there at a school that had a player get MURDERED by another player. Drew has two Elite 8s in those 3 Sweet 16's. He wanted our job when Stansbury got fired. Still haven't seen him get in trouble with the NCAA which is why everyone says no to him. I just see him destroying 3 seeds in the tournament and still playing as of today.

[MarketingBully01]

We could hire Scott Drew for $2 mill a year. He makes $1.8 at Baylor. Baylor just made the Sweet 16 AGAIN under Drew. His third time being there at a school that had a player get MURDERED by another player. Drew has two Elite 8s in those 3 Sweet 16's. He wanted our job when Stansbury got fired. Still haven't seen him get in trouble with the NCAA which is why everyone says no to him. I just see him destroying 3 seeds in the tournament and still playing as of today.

I agree Dawg61. Us not even meeting with him to this day had me perplexed. A hire that IMO would have excited the fan base and not divided it like it still is 2 years after the WTF hire today.

[smootness]

We could hire Scott Drew for $2 mill a year. He makes $1.8 at Baylor. Baylor just made the Sweet 16 AGAIN under Drew. His third time being there at a school that had a player get MURDERED by another player. Drew has two Elite 8s in those 3 Sweet 16's. He wanted our job when Stansbury got fired. Still haven't seen him get in trouble with the NCAA which is why everyone says no to him. I just see him destroying 3 seeds in the tournament and still playing as of today.

I don't know whether any of this is true or not. But I do find it hilarious that you don't realize how insane it is to constantly point to Scott Drew as a great coach while simultaneously saying that it's obvious Ray will never be a good coach.

[smootness]

I agree Dawg61. Us not even meeting with him to this day had me perplexed. A hire that IMO would have excited the fan base and not divided it like it still is 2 years after the WTF hire today.

You know what would keep the fanbase from being divided? The fans not being divided.

[MarketingBully01]

You know what would keep the fanbase from being divided? The fans not being divided.

I get it. So when our AD screws up and throws gasoline on the lighted dumpster fire, we are supposed to say nothing and just watch with glee. That makes total sense. Meanwhile our basketball program becomes completely irrelevant and stays at 14th in the SEC. Gotcha Smoot.

[C222]

Yes, everything is okay. It's normal to take five years to build back a basketball program. Especially when perinial doormats like USC and Auburn make hires like Frank Martin and Bruce Pearl. Yes, both programs which will make if to the NCAA tourney before we will. Yes, everything is fine nothing to see here. While we are at it, let's give Ray a 4 year pass just for the heck of it.

You are using Frank Martin as an example? Yeah, great choice.

[MarketingBully01]

He recruited well, that team will make the NCAA tourney before we will. They already have a signature win over Kentucky as well. USC is a horrible job. Much worse then ours so yes Martin is a good example because he will win there.

[MarketingBully01]

I don't know whether any of this is true or not. But I do find it hilarious that you don't realize how insane it is to constantly point to Scott Drew as a great coach while simultaneously saying that it's obvious Ray will never be a good coach.

Bryce Drew is a better example of Scott Drew then Rick Ray is. Scott was a head coach albeit for a year but still had head coaching experience when he took over at Baylor.

[Political Hack]

the basketball hire is his only defining moment. That said, the program was tanked... he just found a way to make it obvious that it's tanked. If it turns around in the next two years, it'll be because he had the courage to stick it out. If it doesn't, it'll be because he screwed up the coaching search and didn't fix it soon enough.

Football program is on cruise control and he almost screwed that up this year by starting talks about contingency plans.

Baseball program has a top 10 coach and is on cruise control. The only mess up there was not taking more advantage of the CWS exposure and national title series from a marketing standpoint. That's minor though...

The facilities are making progress, but 99% of that was set in stone before he came in. Getting Janet Marie Smith involved with the Dude was pretty obvious and will be successful. he will and should get credit for that. outside of ruining the LFL, which makes the dude the #1 place in America to watch a baseball game, I don't see how it could be screwed up.

All in all though, he's reaping the benefits of GB's work and the SEC's dominance. I hope he exchanges his loafers for some shit kickers soon and takes the athletic department to the next level. We've still got some glaring holes and weaknesses that haven't been addressed, with no signs of having the gonads to address them. The entire department, including his office, should get tremendous pay raises and the people who don't deserve them should be fired. We need top flight sports executives running our $100+ million company... not a list of friends and good ole boys. There's an amazing opportunity in front of us and we'll either take advantage of it, or be left in the dust.

[C222]

He recruited well, that team will make the NCAA tourney before we will. They already have a signature win over Kentucky as well. USC is a horrible job. Much worse then ours so yes Martin is a good example because he will win there.

He took over a roster that was more talented than us and he finished toward the bottom his first two years.

His 2014 class per 247 is 53rd. Better than ours but not great.

His 2015 class per 247 isn't in the top 40. Still early but we are 13th.

Why shouldn't he be fired after two shitty years?

ETA: He did get a couple of good players in his 2013 class so I will give you that.

[MarketingBully01]

He took over a roster that was more talented than us and he finished toward the bottom his first two years.

His 2014 class per 247 is 53rd. Better than ours but not great.

His 2015 class per 247 isn't in the top 40. Still early but we are 13th.

Why shouldn't he be fired after two shitty years?

ETA: He did get a couple of good players in his 2013 class so I will give you that.

Their roster was more talented? That is laughable. Sword was a 3 star, Thomas was a 3 star, and Ware was a 4 star. Those three alone had more talent then USC's roster combined. Martin took over a shittier program in shittier shape then Ray did.

Sure, Martin had more bodies but not more talent. USC is a shifty program. Dave Odem couldn't win there and Eddie Fogler had one great year there. USC is the worst job in the SEC in basketball historically and if Martin can get them to the NIT it would be a miracle. If he gets the talent he keeps getting to go there, they will make the NCAA tourney which is a huge Herculean effort IMO.

[TrueMaroon]

Great answers on DNF, LFL, etc I thought...

He plays the "poor ole MSU" card too much though. Needs a swag and to act like the AD of a top 25, $100 mi athletics dept he's about to be running.

That said, his approach is smart in a fundraising perspective, which is what he does best -- it's just not confidence-inspiring like Byrne was. By pointing to "monetary" situations that actually don't exist for us, he invites and implores people to donate to those causes.

But like I said at the time -- we didn't have huge $$ to spend on basketball at the specific point that the Ray hire was made. When we make our next hire, we will have ridiculous money to throw at it -- and will go get whoever we want within reason...

1. We're not close to that. And we wont be for the foreseeable future.

2. This is a pathetic, stupid approach. And I would tell Scott to his face. We've always been at the bottom of the conference in terms of perception. Permeating that mindset doesn't help.

3. The money was there. It absolutely was. Richard Adkerson and Dampier were waiting and willing. Those two individuals' combined net worth is north of 250 million. Getting extra money for the right guy would not have been a problem.

[Dawg61]

I don't know whether any of this is true or not. But I do find it hilarious that you don't realize how insane it is to constantly point to Scott Drew as a great coach while simultaneously saying that it's obvious Ray will never be a good coach.

You can't seriously be comparing our situation to what Scott Drew was dealt with can you? Baylor was banned from TV and wasn't allowed to play Non-conference games one year. They got put on 7 years probation and had reduced scholarships and recruiting limitations for most of that. They also had an entire team transfer after a player was MURDERED. But if this was 2006 you're correct I would not want Scott Drew for MSU. It's not though. It's 2014 and Scott Drew is playing in the Sweet 16 for the THIRD TIME now. We could have Stansbury and Ray and still not have three Sweet 16's after 48 seasons.

[engie]

1. We're not close to that. And we wont be for the foreseeable future.

Yes we are. We are staring it squarely in the face. Holla back at me in FY2015.

We're at $60-70 mil/yr now.

Stadium expansion will bring in an extra $7-10 million per overall.
New Bowl/Playoff Structure will bring in an extra $5-10 million per.
SECNetwork will bring in in excess of $20mil per for us -- and that number will likely end up going much higher.

You do the math.