Quote Originally Posted by the_real_MSU_is_us View Post
It's absolutely insane to say we can compete with top programs on money. The entire athletic department history bears that out: we've often lost players on signing day to LSU etc. why? We didn't have the bagmen they do. We've always had to hire unproven FB coaches (even assistants- remember the Peter Sirmon disaster because we tried to go cheap?). Our season ticket prices are lower than other SEC schools because we don't have the demand to charge more. We've literally lost multiple athletic directors to SEC schools because their higher budgets make it a lot easier to succeed.

We have a small alumni base in one of the poorest states and our majors are relatively unlikely to cause grads to reach "rich" incomes (like law or pharmacy does). On what planet could we have as much money as OM (same state, but produce better degrees for future donations and has always spent more than our athletic department) let alone LSU, TX etc?

I'm not even saying we're "poor" overall, just that we are relative to the top schools in the sports we want to compete in.

There's that Larry Templeton line I've been waiting for!!!

Just off the top of my head we have as alumni: Chip Crane(CEO of FL Crane), Ty Crane(President of FL Crane), Steven Warren(just sold Warren Paving for $700 million), The Howard family(Howard Industries), Tommy Nusz(Chairman and CEO of Oasis Petroleum and has given the athletic dept $20 million in the last 5 years), Richard Adkerson(Chairman of the Board Freeport-McMoran and has given the athletic dept close to $50 million in the last 10 years), George Bishop(CEO of GeoSouthern Energy and worth north of 4 billion), Heath Jenkins(sold his manufactured homes company for over $300 million back in 2023), Harris Brumfield(former CEO of Trading Technologies and worth well north of $100 million)

These are just the names off the top of my head. There's tons more and I probably forgot some big ones. We for so long have believed that tired ass lie that Larry Templeton tried to sell that we were poor and people were mailing him the couch cushion money for donations. Selmon is once and for all ridding us of that lame ass fallacy that was sold for decades. We have doctors and lawyers just like Ole Miss. Hell a majority of the doctors coming out of UMMC are Mississippi State undergrads!! Now, are we ever going to be Texas or A&M or Tech or SMU and have all this oil money? Probably not unless I strike oil out here and trust me, every one of you will know if I do. But we can compete with anyone else. It just takes buy in.