Engie,
Thanks for disecting my post to make your point with some facts and some assumptions. With all due respect, I will reply accordingly:
"But giving this guy a fair chance is somehow different than rationalizing what happened the last half of the last coach's career here? Amazement goes both ways, I guess.
He has been given a fair chance for three years now. As for the previous coach, my post(s) has nothing to do with the last staff but where the program is TODAY and where it is going TOMORROW.
"You don't fire a guy for making a drastic improvement. While still very injured. Is he a year behind where he should be? Sure he is. Doesn't make it a fireable offense at this point in time. Healthy -- we win both of the last 2 games. But your agenda becomes clear later in the post anyway, so I already know you don't want to hear it."
What "drastic improvements" are you citing, it certainly is not in recruiting/developing talent, offensive and defensive stats or the wins/loss column!
12/13 10-22, 4-14
13/14 14-19, 3-15
14/15 12-15, 5-9 (to date)
By my standards, that record(s) does not show any sign of improvement that is going to secure post season play of ANY kind!
"Healthy -- we win both of the last 2 games" possibly but the fact is we still lost both games. So your point about injuries is not relevant unless you are trying to rationalize losing.
"Why do people insist on make-believe hyperbole in attempt to make a point? You lost all semblance of credibility with this BS you just made up.
Year BB Expenses BB Revenue Net
2010 4052623 6914565 2861942
2011 5430979 7002963 1571984
2012 4312955 6744710 2431755
2013 4377759 6571274 2193515
Stansbury's last 2 - Net $4,433,926
Ray's first 2 - Net $4,625,270
http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/"
Thanks for sharing these gospel financial reports. I'm sure they are calculated the same way Scott Stricklin records attendance (surely you know how that is done)!
Understanding that, I'm also sure the financials are improved due to television, Addidas and others but I doubt very seriously they include the
loss incured for giving away free beverage and food in an effort to get students to come to the games free of charge (as well), the loss of Bulldog Club contributions to basketball and the the drop in season ticket sales! So to that end, the net numbers would be that much better if our program was not in the abysmal position it is. Therefore, your point does not disprove anything I said or discredit me!
"First you are talking smack about people not buying tickets(lost revenue). Now you are mad at them for "tolerating" coaches and thus showing up. You are angry about people tolerating his rebuild on the floor -- while you were perfectly happy tolerating NIT runs with sweet 16 talent."
Nice assumption, I don't recall "talking smack" about people not buying tickets. I simply asked a general question of those who post here about how many buy season tickets and have been for the last several years.
I also asked a separate but again general question about those who are comfortable with poor/mediocre standards for Mississippi State but cite other schools/programs and how "they" would not tolerate similar failures.
I don't recall ever making a statement about being happy with any season(s) performance that did not land Mississippi State in the NCAA tournament (basketball or baseball).
"We have shown both -- and if not for injuries would be gearing up for the postseason right now. I get it -- injuries are part of it -- and when you've been injured for 3 years, at some point, that too is on the coach."
Again, the facts are we are NOT gearing up for the postseason and have not for three seasons (now). You seem to be rationalizing losing with the injury bug. How about citing the talent/development (or lack there of) and the excellent coaching job that has occured over the last three years, including the last two games?
"Yeah -- everyone here has an agenda to side with Rick Ray over Mississippi State. While you're probably wearing your aTm hat**"
Thanks for the compliment, I'm a fourth generation graduate of Mississippi State. My loyalty is to Mississippi State, not a coach!
"Play the #18 team in the country to a 4 point game without your starting point guard(or a point guard period if we're being honest) and without what was likely to be your starting PF for the season -- FIRE EVERYBODY.**"
Rationalizing losing again.
"FIRE EVERYBODY",no just one person, it will be up to the next coach to determine who will be on his staff. Hopefully, that individual will be an SEC caliber coach!
"Ray is going to get next year." That's certainly possible.
"He deserves next year -- and even the most agenda-driven of you can see just how close he is to winning at a pretty high clip in a much-improved SEC."
You are certainly entitled to your opinion (which I and many others do not share) but your point is clearly up for debate. Isn't that part of what this message board/thread is about?
"We've got every chance in the world to go dancing next year. If we don't -- then everyone here will be ready to talk about going another direction." Again, that's your opinion and I appreciate your optimism. As for "
everyone here will be ready to talk about going another direction" in case you haven't noticed many are already at that point.
"Another irony -- the pro-Stansbury crowd always doubted our ability to hire a coach. They view the Ray hiring as proving them correct and have boasted about it pretty continuously since the hire was announced. Now, those same people want us to pull the plug on a coach with a drastically improved team in year 3, with alot coming back and alot coming in, in order to restart the same process they belabored from the get-go. So, whose expectations are actually out of whack here? And who is moving the goalposts?"
Well since YOU brought up the post-Stansbury world, Stricklin did go through multiple candidates before he found someone to take the job! Although, that is water under the bridge now, the the crowd you speak of may have been right at the time. Now back to MY point in my post which has nothing to do with Rick Stansbury, it is about where the program is TODAY! Again, your view and my view of improvement appear to be radically different from one another, along with where we go from here!
Engie, let me ask you this, do you really think Rick Ray is an SEC caliber head coach that has the ability and is capable of being the person to lead and build Mississippi State's Basketball program into a consistent SEC and NCAA program winner?
