How do we fix things?

I think the lack of continuity in not being able to develop players in this new era has killed us and these 1 year contracts are just unsustainable for everyone. Yeah teams can accumulate talent quicker but you sacrifice development and continuity no matter what.

I woudlve thought in 2026 this wouldve been resolved but it looks like something radical will happen instead

It doesnt help that we've spent too much on baseball for really a lack of return. Time will tell on O'Connor for sure but this could easily turn into Jimbo too. But I think we will have success there but being good in baseball and mediocre in basketball and football won't cut it.

I think it doesnt help lebby is a terrible coach and will be fired this year. Im not down on jans and I like him but the era of having to rerecruit everyone is killing him like everyone. SEC has money but theres a lot of other basketball schools that do too and some only have to invest for 15 players instead of including 100 football players.

I think our athletic department as a whole is on the right track. I like what Selmons done but the eyes will always be big when football isnt good.

Basketball isnt bottom of the barrel. Football is tho

Our secret for success in basketball and football has always been to be a blue collar and grind it out type of team. Basketball hired the right coach for that then he either decided or someone decided for him that we needed to pursue offense and it bit us.

Football went with a finesse coach starting with Moorhead and has tanked ever since, with the exception of Leach coming in and slowing the downward spiral. He had that old school toughness about him, but even so we still tended toward more finesse type players.

quote:

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How do we fix things?

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Go back in time

Lather
Rinse
Repeat

Paying players
Super conferencs
Academic sidestepping
Media money
Gambling
Cheating

This is not new, you just need to go back to a time before most all of you were born. It got so bad the POTUS and Congress had to put their oar in the water to save it. The first wave dealt with paying players and conferences getting too big. NCAA was formed to actually do good by being the regulating body to stop Congress and POTUS from going farther. SIAA / So Con got fractured and the major parts would form the ACC (east of the mountains when rail dominated travel), the SEC (west of the mountains), and the SWC for the states west of the SEC.

Since the NCAA dictated revenue payouts and media deals, it controlled the content at a single source and all teams were members. This would be crippled after World War II when the Beyers dictatorship entered in the early 50's and continued to the end of the 70's (roughly 30 years) that reward the B1G and PAC at the expense of all the other children.

Same with the gambling scandals in the 1950's where it was not cheating between schools paying players but organized crime paying players to influence games. Since Rupp was so furious at the NiT (the postseason championship in college basketball), he would not take his teams back to Madison Square Garden and sent his teams to the NCAA tournament instead. With the rise of ESPN starting in the late 70's they exerted too much control of college sports and the ACC and Big East prospered at the expense of the other children.

My thoughts (and I will not live long enough to see)

#1 College sports goes the way of boxing and equine sports to obscurity as entrance becomes based on wealth, and the REALLY wealthy, not just say wealthy folks in Mississippi.

#2 Government steps up and creates a new "NCAA" that goes back to their roots at least a century ago. Conferences get shrunk to more regional opponents and closer rivals. NIL goes away and academics is returned to student athletes, not farm teams for the NFL and NBA. Venues are returned to local fans and their families and corporate influence (especially from out of state) is diminished. Media takes in less revenue so Presidents and AD's have top back to being old time Scottish Bankers and spend their money with thrift and a long term operational window.