For those of you who think Stricklin doesn't do a good job...

[PassInterference]

I have to say so far Ricky Ray has looked like a good hire.

No coach could have won with our roster last year. We barely had enough warm bodies to fill a team. And it way too early to pin the roster on Ray.

Despite all that, Ray's team played balls out hard all year long. They played with the intensity that we've craved. And they are getting stronger & more athletic under Ray's watch.

I really don't know how anybody could complain about Ricky Ray.

And RR had the best 1st vine video ever.

[cheewgumm]

Like Maine?

[Hypnodawg]

OSU was a winnable game. Same as Auburn. We just shit the bed twice. LSU would have taken a miracle, but at least we looked like we belonged on the field with an elite team. We are getting better, but would shouldn't need 5 games to get into playing shape in year 5 of a program. If we had been properly prepared, we would be sitting at 4-1 with a quality win. Scheduling was not the problem. Last night was enough to buy Dan some breathing room in my book. Beat Ark, UK, Ole Miss, and BG and we make a crap bowl game without a quality win. Bitching about scheduling OSU is stupid. Life is about opportunities. We had an opportunity to get a quality win. We still have the opportunity to go to a bowl game.

[sbcmortgageman]

In all fairness, he apologized for scheduling a good team... so there's that.

You should never have to apologize for scheduling a game. Never.

[Political Hack]

scheduling Oklahoma state took a ridiculously hard schedule and added a top twelve team to it. That's stupid.

scheduling Oklahoma state before knowing who our SEC east opponent is. that's stupid.

scheduling Oklahoma state when you've only got 3-4 locked in "W's" on the schedule that year. That's stupid.

Risking our bowl streak, something unprecedented in our program history, to schedule Oklahoma state. That's stupid.

[CadaverDawg]

scheduling Oklahoma state took a ridiculously hard schedule and added a top twelve team to it. That's stupid.

scheduling Oklahoma state before knowing who our SEC east opponent is. that's stupid.

scheduling Oklahoma state when you've only got 3-4 locked in "W's" on the schedule that year. That's stupid.

Risking our bowl streak, something unprecedented in our program history, to schedule Oklahoma state. That's stupid.

Exactly.

And to Cheww's point....are you kidding me with the "Maine" comment? Has Mullen been losing to a bunch of teams he is supposed to beat that I'm not aware of that would make Maine a potential loss? That was not a good argument for your "schedule good teams" agenda.

[HoopsDawg]

You should never have to apologize for scheduling a game. Never.

AMEN!

[nsvltndog]

I wish I could remember the year, but Scott elected not to pursue a early season kickoff game with UNC in Charlotte a few years ago that ESPN approached us about. His reasoning was the risk it put on bowl eligibility this early in Mullen's tenure. This was the pre-Fedora era when UNC was playing well and we were trying to get a bowl streak established.

I viewed this as a positive at the time even though I'm sure a trip to Charlotte would have been fun to our fan base.

[EAVdog]

I love how folks say "oh we should have just had another expansion plan ready for Dudy Noble". Stricklin is overseeing two capital campaigns for 100 million dollars, the bond issues related, and the construction process of one of our most aggressive expansions ever. I'm in that field, to a degree, it is complicated and time consuming. And as someone else noted we just finished the basketball practice center. Throw in the expansion of the SEC and the hectic scheduling he had to navigate as well. He's making more positive changes than any other AD I can remember.

Sure we got screwed with the OK State game but I can assure you like Cam Newton the money was just too much. We can't continue to grow until we get the bonds paid off for these projects. And with this much out in bonds it would have been hard for IHL to approve even more fund raising for us.

As for Rick Ray, let it play out. It's not like the team was going anywhere with Stanbury last year.

Everyone just needs to chill the hell out this year and look forward to 2014, better football schedule, maybe CWS again, new Stadium (which looks awesome) is gonna open, Mullen is closing in on another top 25 recruiting class... I mean you'd think Croom and LT were still here the way everyone is acting.

[Percho]

That doesn't change anything regarding the scheduling. We could have scheduled a win.

If we had played as good as we did last night would we have beaten Ok St?

[WinningIsRelentless]

Man you are clueless abour your bball comments. Not saying Ray will be great, but to say otherwise based on 1 year shows 0 knowlwdge of the subject on your part. Sorry

No I'm a realist and can look at things without blinders on. If my memory serves me correct you wanted Stan's gone so you would say that.

[bully99]

Stricklan hasn't announced any thing for Dudy Noble because he doesn't have the money. If he did something would have been announced. As far as Rick Ray is concerned it's too early. Remember Richard Williams was about as low down the totem pole as Ray was. Roy Williams turned the State job down in 1986. He said we had too many Confederate flags on our campus. Never understood where he got that crap from.

[hacker]

Ray a good hire? As Keyshawn Johnson would say C'mom Man. How many games did we win in basketball last year vs what we won the year before?

Wow. GTFO with that shit. You're woefully misinformed.

[Coach34]

If Rick Ray would have had Stands 2012 team- they would have been an NCAA Tourney team

Had Stands coached Ray's leftovers last year- they may have won 5 games at the most

[cheewgumm]

Are we gonna be better in ball thus year? Who do we have for bodies? I think once ray gets some players we are gonna be tough. I see the d style Arkansas teams.... Relentless defense type teams.

[messageboardsuperhero]

My no. 1 problem with Stricklin is how he is handling DNF. I heard him say something on the radio the other day to the effect of "There is nothing wrong with the grandstand and tearing it down would be a waste." I'm sorry, but that's just stupid. He either has terrible standards for what we could potentially have, or he's completely out of touch with how bad the sight lines are down the foul lines. It's probably a little of both honestly. And like Todd said, if the rumors were true about what he wanted to do to DNF, then that just shows Stricklin is totally clueless. Everyone I've heard from who has put serious thought and research into it knows that starting over is by far the best option.

And yes, to all the people who say we don't have the money right now, I know cash is tight. I wouldn't expect us to break ground anytime soon, but this has been a known problem for a very long time. There really should have been an announcement by now for a new grandstand so we could have started fundraising for it with all our momentum from Omaha. I realize it would take time to raise the money, but I'd rather save up for a few years to have something great than do it cheap for something mediocre.

[Quaoarsking]

If Rick Ray would have had Stands 2012 team- they would have been an NCAA Tourney team

Had Stands coached Ray's leftovers last year- they may have won 5 games at the most

This. We were ranked #15 in January 2012. It was inexcusable to not make the tournament that year. I don't know how Stans defenders can just handwave that collapse away, along with the previous years, AND all the off-court incidents.

[mic]

this should answer this thread question..
I went to "The Dude" to see what all was going on and how it was looking Wednesday around lunch. I walked behind home plate where a man that was prob pushing 80 was there.. I walked over and we began to talk about a few things what he liked and disliked about the new turf.
I said I wasn't a fan of the turf baselines and home plate. He agreed.
I then said ,"Well Cohen had to approve this and wanted it but if he didn't we need to fire Stricklin right now." I then said I don't know how you feel about Stricklin but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if we got rid of him anyway.
This 80 year fired this back at me...
"Me and some of my old friends drink coffee together every morning and we all say that we have a PR person in the position of AD. And Stricklin reminds them of a younger LT... "
BOOM...
I almost invited him to be an elite dawg.........

[messageboardsuperhero]

Oh, and if the rumors of Stricklin trying to get rid of LFL are true, then he can take the first bus out of town as far as I'm concerned.

That would just be an abomination. There would be no reasoning or excuse that would make me forgive him for that.

[cheewgumm]

No my point was that we thought we scheduled a win against Maine too and that didn't work out.

Exactly.

And to Cheww's point....are you kidding me with the "Maine" comment? Has Mullen been losing to a bunch of teams he is supposed to beat that I'm not aware of that would make Maine a potential loss? That was not a good argument for your "schedule good teams" agenda.