A meeting of the elders - NIL

[gtowndawg]

If we go 3-9 or 10-2 it will not affect my bottom line dollar unless they make season tickets go up ….. harsh reality to where most people not from Louisiana stand with the current state of college athletics.

I can understand some apathy, being a Miss. State fan is not for the weak, we all know that. But you imply most fans are no longer interested (expect LSU fans). But ticket sales for most everyone (except us) are up. Many SEC schools, including Ole Miss, sold out out of their season tickets. According to Forbes there's been a sharp INCREASE in college football ticket sales going into 2024. Link to that here. So my contention, as stated in my original post, it does seem to be a Miss. State issue compared to our SEC brethren.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I can understand some apathy, being a Miss. State fan is not for the weak, we all know that. But you imply most fans are no longer interested (expect LSU fans). But ticket sales for most everyone (except us) are up. Many SEC schools, including Ole Miss, sold out out of their season tickets. According to Forbes there's been a sharp INCREASE in college football ticket sales going into 2024. Link to that here. So my contention, as stated in my original post, it does seem to be a Miss. State issue compared to our SEC brethren.

It's apathy. Our fans have always been show us success and then we'll show up except for a couple of years in the Mullen era. It's also that our fans are probably more blue collar than the avg fan base. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it generally means they are going to pay cash for almost everything, they are tighter with their money, and they may not have the amt of disposable income as others would have. We also have a large number of in state fans and not many out of state fans. This is another place that hurts us. Out of state fans are generally ones that will donate to this type of stuff because they are not buying season tickets to every sport or travelling to Starkville every weekend. The out of state people are also usually more white collar. They want their teams to succeed so they can go into the office on Monday and brag to that Longhorn or that Volunteer or that a Gator that we got them this year. AKA: They are more willing to give so they can stick their chest out and they are also not being bled dry 19 different directions with going to Starkville every weekend.

[StateDawg44]

I can understand some apathy, being a Miss. State fan is not for the weak, we all know that. But you imply most fans are no longer interested (expect LSU fans). But ticket sales for most everyone (except us) are up. Many SEC schools, including Ole Miss, sold out out of their season tickets. According to Forbes there's been a sharp INCREASE in college football ticket sales going into 2024. Link to that here. So my contention, as stated in my original post, it does seem to be a Miss. State issue compared to our SEC brethren.

Because we've sucked the past few years compared to the success of other teams around us. Primarily due to coaching and evaluations.

Win and I would expect donations to go up. NIL isn't really an investment but you don't typically see investors throwing money at a stagnant sinking ship.

I'm perfectly fine if pnssyfart doesn't approve of my fandom. Bert and several others are spot on. Even if we are winning I still have many other things that come before being held hostage by some random kid like my own child or someone else who may be in need.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Because we've sucked the past few years compared to the success of other teams around us. Primarily due to coaching and evaluations.

Win and I would expect donations to go up. NIL isn't really an investment but you don't typically see investors throwing money at a stagnant sinking ship.

I'm perfectly fine if pnssyfart doesn't approve of my fandom. Bert and several others are spot on. Even if we are winning I still have many other things that come before being held hostage by some random kid like my own child or someone else who may be in need.

And that is why we will struggle in the new era. Our fans don't want to pay. Which is completely fine, no one should tell you how to spend your money, but that is the reason we will have trouble succeeding in the new era. Because something as little as $10/month is too far a bridge to travel over for a bunch of people. And I'm not singling out any specific person that has posted they are against it. Because there are thousands in our fan base that share that sentiment. Again, everyone has the right to spend their money in the way they see fit. But when we get beat 38-17 or 45-21 and you are complaining that we lost, you already know the answer.

[StateDawg44]

And that is why we will struggle in the new era. Our fans don't want to pay. Which is completely fine, no one should tell you how to spend your money, but that is the reason we will have trouble succeeding in the new era. Because something as little as $10/month is too far a bridge to travel over for a bunch of people. And I'm not singling out any specific person that has posted they are against it. Because there are thousands in our fan base that share that sentiment. Again, everyone has the right to spend their money in the way they see fit. But when we get beat 38-17 or 45-21 and you are complaining that we lost, you already know the answer.

I'd much rather save my $120 a year for something meaningful than throw it out the window.

The thought of having to pay to earn the right to complain lol. I understand you aren't pointing a finger or singling anyone out. But, complaining about other people complaining and adding a qualifier that may or may not make that acceptable is laughable.

ETA: I work in Chattanooga and have about 30-40 co-workers and most everyone loves their football teams. We have UT, UGA, Bammers, and I'm the lone MSU alum. Not one single co-worker here donates to their teams collective. All agree it would be a waste of their money and never plan to donate and hate the direction the sport is going. Even with the success of some of their programs. It's not totally unique to MSU fans.

[HancockCountyDog]

I think we have the right HC. We only won 5 in Dan?s first year, but we could see the improvement. If the same thing happens here, I think most of us will be happy. We just need to get the base to contribute. How do we do that? Do we host something? The question is how to organize it for the masses/bring awareness.

I really hate this comparison that our fans always use. People don't go back and look what Croom left Mullen with the greatest recruiting class in our history.

Look at the names:

Johnthan Banks
Josh Boyd
Bumphis
Flectcher freaking Cox
Cam Lawrence
Pernell McPhee
LaDarius Perkins
Deontae Skinner
Darius Slay
Chris White
Nickoe Whitley

Are you freaking kidding me. Plus the following players on the roster - Jamar Chaney, Kyle Love, Derek Sherrod, Quenton Saulsberry, and Anthony Dixon.

Compare that to what Lebby walked into, plus the recruiting class that he was able to salvage. Please stop saying stuff like "Mullen was able to win 5 games in 2009", of course he could - he had multiple pro bowlers on his team. He had a first round pick at LT and one of the best RB's we have had in the last 20 years. If he had gone with Relf from the beginning, he would have won 7-8 games.

[HancockCountyDog]

We just had a couple HCs who destroyed our recruiting and left nothing here. They've been building their program and winning games. You won't suddenly catch up. You can't spend that much or get that kind of talent at one time.

I'm with you, i just think it is hard to tell people you have a big NIL budget and tell people to keep giving more - and then we win 3-4 games.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I'd much rather save my $120 a year for something meaningful than throw it out the window.

The thought of having to pay to earn the right to complain lol. I understand you aren't pointing a finger or singling anyone out. But, complaining about other people complaining and adding a qualifier that may or may not make that acceptable is laughable.

Not saying that you have to pay to earn the right to complain. I lost that fight about two years ago. All I am saying is when you complain, you know the answer 9/10 times.

And I will add this, paying players has always happened. We have done it 100s of times in the past. Jackie was the one that originally got us organized and showed us the way. The difference is now that each and every fan has the opportunity to contribute instead of the top 50 donors.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I'm with you, i just think it is hard to tell people you have a big NIL budget and tell people to keep giving more - and then we win 3-4 games.

And there's something to be said with that when the only quantifiable ROI is wins. The problem becomes what if one of those big boosters we have giving us a ton of NIL funds stops giving one year? Then that big NIL budget is down a mil or so. We need to be able to replace those funds. We can't continue to count on the Richard Adkerson's of the world or the Billy Howard's of the world, or the Richard Rula's of the world to always just fund everything.

[SilentSteel16]

Then get back to States roots. Don’t go for the flashy recruits. Get the ones that hate the guts of the guy lined up across from them. Snot nosed horse collar wearing LBs and DBs not afraid of getting burned but lay the wood on WRs. You could make a contending team with just in state guys that are down in the dirt players. Not the one looking for his next paydays. Believe it or not, those players still exist today.

That is MSU football, get those players and I guarantee you will see more contributions. The guys like Jarrian Jones and the like have sucked the life out of the program. Coaching has not helped either and no matter how much you give, coaching is the answer. FWIW, I do believe Lebby is on the right track just needs to get back to the roots of recruiting. Kids that are overlooked by bigger programs and want to rub that programs nose in it. Hail State.

[SilentSteel16]

If you feel the urge to give them by all means do that. The rest of us contribute in other ways. I guarantee you I have brought more consistent revenue stream to Starkville than any 1 player minus Dak or Simmons.

My seats alone have made 4 other families become season ticket holders. So I will contribute financially a little bit differently than some of you and that is A OK. Hail State

[StarkVegasSteve]

Then get back to States roots. Don’t go for the flashy recruits. Get the ones that hate the guts of the guy lined up across from them. Snot nosed horse collar wearing LBs and DBs not afraid of getting burned but lay the wood on WRs. You could make a contending team with just in state guys that are down in the dirt players. Not the one looking for his next paydays. Believe it or not, those players still exist today.

That is MSU football, get those players and I guarantee you will see more contributions. The guys like Jarrian Jones and the like have sucked the life out of the program. Coaching has not helped either and no matter how much you give, coaching is the answer. FWIW, I do believe Lebby is on the right track just needs to get back to the roots of recruiting. Kids that are overlooked by bigger programs and want to rub that programs nose in it. Hail State.

Defensively maybe you are right. But I mean, Jeff was a flashy recruit and he hated the guy across from him. Wore a horse collar too. Chris was a flashy recruit, he turned out pretty good. Fred Smoot personified the person you say don't recruit....HE WAS A DAWG

Offensively however, you have to sell the flash and recruit it. Kevin Coleman was a flashy recruit, Mario Craver was a flashy recruit. Going back a bit but Chad Bumphis was a flashy recruit and he was pretty damn good too.


The point I am trying to make is that our roots are not what you think they are. Our roots were built on solid evaluating of talent. If a flashy recruit can play, then you do what it takes to get them (Caleb Cunningham). We did sign some underrecruited guys, but it's because we evaluated them and knew what they could bring to the system we were running.

[SilentSteel16]

Fred Smoot is exactly the guy we need to recruit. He was a JUCO guy who just wanted to get on the field and show how good he was. Jones and Simmons are outliers that for perfectly for what we used to be known for. Now what is our defense known for? I guarantee if you put 12 guys that are hard nosed out there and want to prove something you will get better results than 12 guys that are workout combine guys.

[StarkVegasSteve]

If you feel the urge to give them by all means do that. The rest of us contribute in other ways. I guarantee you I have brought more consistent revenue stream to Starkville than any 1 player minus Dak or Simmons.

My seats alone have made 4 other families become season ticket holders. So I will contribute financially a little bit differently than some of you and that is A OK. Hail State

And hey, maybe that's your way. You brought 4 other families in and maybe they donate to NIL. Or maybe they brought someone in who donates. Would we like everyone donating? Absolutely. But I appreciate your candor and you not just settling for I'm a fan and that's enough. You support in other ways and bring others in to the fanbase.

[SilentSteel16]

Spot on, and good day to you. I am holed up at the house with Covid so this has been my entertainment for the past day or so. Have a great one and HAIL STATE

[StarkVegasSteve]

Fred Smoot is exactly the guy we need to recruit. He was a JUCO guy who just wanted to get on the field and show how good he was. Jones and Simmons are outliers that for perfectly for what we used to be known for. Now what is our defense known for? I guarantee if you put 12 guys that are hard nosed out there and want to prove something you will get better results than 12 guys that are workout combine guys.

That's the problem. We tried to live off that DLU moniker too long and stopped going after top tier D line recruits. We had a hell of a pipeline of HIGHLY RECRUITED guys for a while. Cox, Jones, Simmons, Sweat, and even though we haven't seen it yet, Trevion Williams. Those guys were supplemented by the Braxton Hoyett's, the Gerri Green's, the Corey Thomas', and the Kyle Love's. Another problem is that we did not exactly have the best recruiters. Leach openly loathed recruiting outside of one position and Arnett did not know how to open the doors to the facility without Brad Peterson helping him. Joe was a great recruiter but terrible coach. Mullen was really the last good one and people hated how he recruited.

[Rawdawg]

Aside from NIL, one thing we need more than anything is stability. We can not keep changing coaches and administrators. The reason schools like Iowa or UK football are relevant is because of consistency and stability. Poke fun at how their programs are ran, that?s irrelevant. They stayed the course and it has paid off a d when they do both move on from their current coaches the programs themselves are set up for sustainability.

[Lord McBuckethead]

If you have Nick Saban, the coach matters. If you don?t you better have money and lots of it.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Typical bullshit from our fans. We must have the poorest of the damn poor in this base. Can't afford $20 a month or even $10 a month.

Since this was directed at me, I can afford the $20 per month. I choose to spend it elsewhere. I'm currently paying full tuition, room, and food for a friend of my daughter who is attending MSU. Her dad is worthless, and her mom died last year. I told her I would send her to college so she wouldn't have student loans. MSU gets that money from me. So I'm paying for my kid to attend MSU, as well as someone else's kid. I also told her that her end of the deal was to stay out of trouble. Bookie Watson got an NIL deal, then got his dumbass arrested. Flame away if you want to.

[DEDawg]

I really hate this comparison that our fans always use. People don't go back and look what Croom left Mullen with the greatest recruiting class in our history.

Look at the names:

Johnthan Banks
Josh Boyd
Bumphis
Flectcher freaking Cox
Cam Lawrence
Pernell McPhee
LaDarius Perkins
Deontae Skinner
Darius Slay
Chris White
Nickoe Whitley

Are you freaking kidding me. Plus the following players on the roster - Jamar Chaney, Kyle Love, Derek Sherrod, Quenton Saulsberry, and Anthony Dixon.

Compare that to what Lebby walked into, plus the recruiting class that he was able to salvage. Please stop saying stuff like "Mullen was able to win 5 games in 2009", of course he could - he had multiple pro bowlers on his team. He had a first round pick at LT and one of the best RB's we have had in the last 20 years. If he had gone with Relf from the beginning, he would have won 7-8 games.

This is a WILD list and such a good point to make. 1 NFL HoF, another borderline HoF, a 2nd round draft pick, a bunch of NFL UDFAs, and some absolute DAWGS. What a class