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re: Not many Ms St fans around here. But for the few, how is it looking
Posted on 7/17/25 at 2:38 pm to Captain Falcon
Posted on 7/17/25 at 2:38 pm to Captain Falcon
quote:
They could’ve won the Ole Miss game with Leach possibly, IMO. That game ended 17-7 and was 10-7 going to the 4th quarter
OM was sleep walking in that game. Rumor had it, they all went to the pony the night before, Varsity Blues style.
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Posted on 7/18/25 at 12:53 am to The Winner
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If he loses to USM its over for him. He cant afford another 2 win season and signs point to it not being much better than 4
Who can MSU get to replace him? Place is a pit and they don’t have the NIL to be competitive
Posted on 7/18/25 at 1:13 am to NobodyImportant
You do what Indiana did and hire a successful G5 coach and have him bring most of his team with him. The team generally lacks talent.
Lebby was such a head scratcher. I think he's a good playcaller but just seemed like a very bad time to hire a first time HC. Then the first time HC hires a first time DC. Not firing Hutzler would give me great pause if I were a State fan. They reminded me a lot of the Wesley McGriff defenses at Ole Miss where they were so out of place at times, it was hard to tell what they were trying to do. They should have demoted one of the Co-DCs and hired MacIntyre as Co-DC. I suspect he may be calling plays by the end of the year anyways.
Lebby was such a head scratcher. I think he's a good playcaller but just seemed like a very bad time to hire a first time HC. Then the first time HC hires a first time DC. Not firing Hutzler would give me great pause if I were a State fan. They reminded me a lot of the Wesley McGriff defenses at Ole Miss where they were so out of place at times, it was hard to tell what they were trying to do. They should have demoted one of the Co-DCs and hired MacIntyre as Co-DC. I suspect he may be calling plays by the end of the year anyways.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 7:27 am to Insurancerebel
quote:
quote:They could’ve won the Ole Miss game with Leach possibly, IMO. That game ended 17-7 and was 10-7 going to the 4th quarter OM was sleep walking in that game. Rumor had it, they all went to the pony the night before, Varsity Blues style.
Was that the egg bowl where we did nothing but run the ball?
Posted on 7/18/25 at 8:04 am to Quicksilver
quote:
Lebby was such a head scratcher. I think he's a good playcaller but just seemed like a very bad time to hire a first time HC. Then the first time HC hires a first time DC. Not firing Hutzler would give me great pause if I were a State fan. They reminded me a lot of the Wesley McGriff defenses at Ole Miss where they were so out of place at times, it was hard to tell what they were trying to do. They should have demoted one of the Co-DCs and hired MacIntyre as Co-DC. I suspect he may be calling plays by the end of the year anyways.
I had no problem with the Lebby hire until he brought Hutzler in at DC. The guy had/has zero business getting his first playcalling job at a SEC school. Not only that, but he was given a 3 year million dollar per year guaranteed contract. Horrible decision. The hire made me wonder about Lebby's coaching connections if that's all he could get. My worries were proven correct. Now, I understand this was probably the least talented State defense in the history of the school, but they also looked unprepared and out of position and that's on Hutzler. Then, after the worst defensive season I'm not only MSU history, but maybe SEC history no staff changes were made on defense. He did bring in Rhoads and MacIntyre who have not only HC experience, but both were very successful DC's. Hopefully, they are in charge.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 12:02 pm to msudawg1200
One thing I will push back on is that Arnett was not a freak out hire - It had been known for a bit that Leach wasn't in the best health and succession talks had already started with Arnett being overwhelmingly considered the successor. Arnett didn't want to run the air raid and he had to transition out of it ASAP.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 12:26 pm to Quicksilver
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One thing I will push back on is that Arnett was not a freak out hire - It had been known for a bit that Leach wasn't in the best health and succession talks had already started with Arnett being overwhelmingly considered the successor.
Yeeeaaa no. Absent the circumstances that presented themselves.. Arnett was not going to be outright hired if Leach had simply retired. No such agreement.
There was no AD at the time to even have those discussions and plans with.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 12:56 pm to CleverUserName
There was a strong possibility that Leach was going to retire after the year. He was not in great health.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 1:03 pm to Quicksilver
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There was a strong possibility that Leach was going to retire after the year. He was not in great health.
Yeah, but retirement (or even his death being after signing day) may have allowed our administration to make a non-rushed decision.
We had no athletic director at the time, either.
This post was edited on 7/18/25 at 1:05 pm
Posted on 7/18/25 at 1:11 pm to Quicksilver
quote:
There was a strong possibility that Leach was going to retire after the year. He was not in great health.
Could have. Could not have. Obviously wasn’t in the best health. But some people just hang on until they absolutely can’t. All signs pointed to him returning.
But there was obviously no inside knowledge that the retirement would be that season because it caught everybody on their heels. There was no plan. If he had told the higher ups he was planning on leaving.. there would have been a better solution already in the works. Arnett would have been interim and the successor would have been hired later.
Even if it was an immediate short notice retirement announcement, an announcement after the bowl game would have been much more favorable. That would have reopened the candidate pool as everyone is going into the offseason and gave a chance to install an AD to run the hire.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 2:00 pm to Quicksilver
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succession talks had already started with Arnett being overwhelmingly considered the successor
100% speculation on your part. Leach was obviously in poor health, but his death caught the whole AD by surprise.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 2:05 pm to BCreed1
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Yep. I can see an SEC without a MSU in it if this continues.
Don’t be stupid
Posted on 7/18/25 at 7:06 pm to Quicksilver
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You do what Indiana did and hire a successful G5 coach and have him bring most of his team with him. The team generally lacks talent. Lebby was such a head scratcher. I think he's a good playcaller but just seemed like a very bad time to hire a first time HC. Then the first time HC hires a first time DC. Not firing Hutzler would give me great pause if I were a State fan. They reminded me a lot of the Wesley McGriff defenses at Ole Miss where they were so out of place at times, it was hard to tell what they were trying to do. They should have demoted one of the Co-DCs and hired MacIntyre as Co-DC. I suspect he may be calling plays by the end of the year anyways.
I was beating the Cignetti drum hard when State fired Arnett. Most State people thought he was too old and wanted someone younger. Indiana got an absolute steal. And he immediately showed up to IU taking shots at his rivals…. Sound familiar? State fans would’ve eaten that up just like they did with Mullen 16-17 years ago.
Lebby was not many people’s plan A. I think he was a decent choice with upside but risky. Would’ve preferred a quality G5 head coach myself. We will see how it goes. I do agree that following up Arnett who was in over his head as a HC with someone who had also never been a HC was a bit of a surprising choice.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 7:58 pm to Captain Falcon
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Lebby was not many people’s plan A
Lebby was the easy, lazy hire. Selmon's ties to Oklahoma made him favor what he was being told about him.
When we hired Mullen, the then-Oklahoma DC Kevin Wilson was the "runner-up." He blasted MSU in the media saying no one could win in Starkville. Mullen had us #1 while he was struggling to win 4 games at Indiana. We made the absolute right hire then.
If you look at who was on the radar for State when we hired Lebby, the reported candidates were:
Dan Mullen, television analyst, now at UNLV.
Jamey Chadwell, Linerty, still at Liberty.
Rhett Lashee, SMU, still at SMU
Willie Fritz, Tulane, now at Houston
Glenn Schumann, Georgia DC, still DC at Georgia
Hard to not see Lebby as the 5th or 6th best option on that list. It was a lazy hire. Lebby went 2-10 last year, likely looking at 3-9 this year. He's going to be 5-19 as a head coach - are we going to fire him and start over?
We've had 5 coaches in 8 seasons. 6 coaches in 9 is absurd.
This post was edited on 7/18/25 at 8:00 pm
Posted on 7/18/25 at 8:38 pm to anc
They offered Chadwell a hefty chunk but he was simply not interested. It didn't take them long to get to Lebby once the season ended.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:00 pm to Quicksilver
quote:
They offered Chadwell a hefty chunk but he was simply not interested. It didn't take them long to get to Lebby once the season ended.
Want to say they considered Sumrall and Odom too. I am not going to be remotely surprised if Sumrall is HC at Kentucky six months from now. We will see how Odom does at Purdue, I was kinda meh on him at Missouri but clearly did very well at UNLV. If he took the Purdue job you have to think he would’ve taken the State job had it been offered.
Speaking of UNLV…. There is 1000% going to be a push to bring Mullen back if Lebby flames out.
This post was edited on 7/18/25 at 9:03 pm
Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:07 pm to BCreed1
I bet the over on 3.5, how’d I do? 
Posted on 7/18/25 at 11:22 pm to BCreed1
Well, I think we'll get an SEC win, but I don't think we're going bowling. No one knows though. It all depends on how improved the defense will be and if there are any quarterback issues early on. The offense needs to gell very quickly.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 11:40 pm to TideSaint
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The Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle is booming. Lots of industry there and more coming. It's had 10 billion in capital investments. It's going to boost Starkville and has already allowed GTR airport to attract a second airline.
Posted on 7/19/25 at 1:28 am to Reservoir dawg
People are sleeping on Mississippi and that makes me happy from 800 miles away. 
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