A retrospective thought on the last 2 days.....

[howboutthemdawgs]

Every form of media and social media has been overflowing with wonderful stories about CML. How great of human he was, how much of an amazing innovator and teacher, and all the coaching tree success, etc etc.....
Are we ready to admit as a fanbase and a message board community how this is a quintessential example of you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone??

So many posts and tweets from angry fans about fire him this and he's checked out that....... Now everyone is saying how his best games and biggest wins were ahead of us and he left us so young. Say all that to say....the next time we have "mississippi state level" success, that we count our blessings and show a little more grace to the coaches and players out there busting their a$$ so that we can send bragging tweets and pour celebratory bourbons at the junction and be proud of ourselves for our fandom.

 

[BrunswickDawg]

I texted some friends last night that I felt like too many people didn't appreciate what we had in Leach because we had become bitter from Dan leaving/JoMo flopping and that Leach didn't immediately get us back to a 2017/28 level. People were too quick to call Leach's system "simple" when the track record showed it needed some time and the right players to reach full potential. I still think Leach gave us more of an opportunity to win every week then we have had since Jackie's heydays - even if we didn't win some that we could have.

 

[G-Dawg]

 

[rockydawg1013]

This all day. I’m guilty. I lost my inner bulldog/pirate. I took Leach as just a quirky ball coach and paid far too much attention to the W’s and L’s.

I did recently text my brother discussing the DJ scenario saying, I’m with Leach on this one, and I think we’re moving in the right direction. I was super excited about next year already….

It’s humbling now understanding that Leach chose the maroon and white, the bulldogs, and Mississippi state.

I’m glad he was a Bulldog and I’ll work to appreciate the teams, coaches, and games I attend a bit more moving forward.

 

[She Mate Me]

Every form of media and social media has been overflowing with wonderful stories about CML. How great of human he was, how much of an amazing innovator and teacher, and all the coaching tree success, etc etc.....
Are we ready to admit as a fanbase and a message board community how this is a quintessential example of you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone??

So many posts and tweets from angry fans about fire him this and he's checked out that....... Now everyone is saying how his best games and biggest wins were ahead of us and he left us so young. Say all that to say....the next time we have "mississippi state level" success, that we count our blessings and show a little more grace to the coaches and players out there busting their a$$ so that we can send bragging tweets and pour celebratory bourbons at the junction and be proud of ourselves for our fandom.

Many of us fully appreciated him while he was with us and could not understand the misery others put themselves through 2nd guessing everything.

I've long ago given up on changing how people see things, but I will let them know if they're ruining my experience of life.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

I knew about Leach and his system being just a high school coach I had always heard about the Air Raid. I hated hearing all the 3 yards and a cloud of dust morons come out beating their chest about how the system was too simple or CL was checked out. Anybody that ever listened to him or followed him knew that was crap. Now we have the same guys going on and on about how we need to get away from the Air Raid. I, for one, want to keep it and build on it. Sure we can get a younger more modern Leach disciple that maybe runs a more updated version that mixes in the run more. But if the plan is to go back to 3 dives and punt then I am out. We had literally 100 years of football trying to be a power run team and, what did we accomplish? One trip to Atlanta and a five week span at number 1. That is it. Those things are great, but I want to stick with something different than the old here comes dive and get the punt team ready.

 

[Dawgzilla2]

I have always found Mike Leach annoying, but I'm discovering how much of a minority I am. I would rather not speak negatively about him right now, but I was disappointed when we hired him and expressed why on the old board.

I'll admit I'm kind of stubborn, and I didn't want to start liking him just because he was coaching my favorite team. That seems too homerish to me. But with all the eulogies and stories over the last couple days, I probably shouldn't have been so hard on him.

Still don't like his offense, though.

ETA: Despite the above, I never wanted him fired. Once I came to grips with him being our coach I decided to strap in and see what happens. Give him a fair opportunity to succeed. Defended him and the team several times here. Never even considered wanting him fired until about halfway through the 2d quarter on Thanksgiving.

 

[She Mate Me]

I have always found Mike Leach annoying, but I'm discovering how much of a minority I am. I would rather not speak negatively about him right now

Why not just make this a personal policy going forward.

 

[dawgstudent]

As frustrated as I would get with a Leach offense, we should never fire a coach for winning 7+ games. And I would even argue 6.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Many of us fully appreciated him while he was with us and could not understand the misery others put themselves through 2nd guessing everything.

I've long ago given up on changing how people see things, but I will let them know if they're ruining my experience of life.

 

[Ranchdawg]

I love the passing game in college football so I was ecstatic when we hired Leach. I knew that the only way we were going to compete with the Alabama's and LSU's long term was to rely on an unorthodox method of football which the Air Raid fit. I have continued to support Mike Leach through his 3 years and was looking forward to next season as more of "his type players" came into the program. I've debated with many of you that had issues with him not to change your mind because that is impossible I've learned. The reason for the debate was to support those like me that wanted to see Leach successful at Mississippi State. I didn't want people that visited this board to think that we were all missing out on the wonderful coach that was leading our team. I am really sad that we didn't get to enjoy what could have been over the next 3 years. I honestly believe that with Arnett as DC we would have eventually beat Alabama. Now we will never know and that makes me sadder.

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

As frustrated as I would get with a Leach offense, we should never fire a coach for winning 7+ games. And I would even argue 6.

I as well could and did get frustrated, a lot of times it was on the QB or OL or even receivers dropping balls, not necessarily always the play calling, but come on DS, … 6 ????
7 should be a minimum and the sometimes outlier of a 10 win regular season shouldn’t be too high of a goal to strive for.
Usually happy with a 8 win season especially if one is OM.
I can look back on this year and say 10 wins wasn’t out of reach at all and I think most would say we should have had 10 W’s

 

[She Mate Me]

I as well could and did get frustrated, a lot of times it was on the QB or OL or even receivers dropping balls, not necessarily always the play calling, but come on DS, … 6 ????
7 should be a minimum and the sometimes outlier of a 10 win regular season shouldn’t be too high of a goal to strive for.
Usually happy with a 8 win season especially if one is OM.
I can look back on this year and say 10 wins wasn’t out of reach at all and I think most would say we should have had 10 W’s

Georgia and Alabama on a 12 game schedule and you say...

"we should have had 10 W's"

With fans like you who needs enemies??

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

Georgia and Alabama on a 12 game schedule and you say...

"we should have had 10 W's"

With fans like you who needs enemies??

If you don’t think 10 wins was for the taking then who WANTS fans like YOU!!
Dumb take there on your part sport!

 

[She Mate Me]

If you don’t think 10 wins was for the taking then who WANTS fans like YOU!!
Dumb take there on your part sport!

I'm gonna say programs run by people with a brain in their head want fans who are realistic rather than ridiculous.

 

[Captain Ron]

And the weird thing is, I read all of this and it is still hard for me to realize is he isn’t there (here). Won’t be at a press conference, on the sidelines, at Captain Tony’s. It all goes by so fast friends.

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

I'm gonna say programs run by people with a brain in their head want fans who are realistic rather than ridiculous.

I can tell you’re of the old school, woe is Lil ol Miss State.
Let’s stay in our lane where every school outside Vandy has us as a W on the football schedule every single year.
You go be that person and downplay State like you always have.
17 that!!

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

As frustrated as I would get with a Leach offense, we should never fire a coach for winning 7+ games. And I would even argue 6.

I think a lot of people's frustration with the offense is the hot and cold. Sometimes it would be majestic for a quarter or two or the second half at Auburn. And then it would just pure suck for long periods of the game. But it was getting to be less of the latter and people like me( sunshine pumper) saw the beauty and hoped one day it could be 4 quarters of that. Also let me remind you fan is short for fanatic

 

[She Mate Me]

I can tell you’re of the old school, woe is Lil ol Miss State.
Let’s stay in our lane where every school outside Vandy has us as a W on the football schedule every single year.
You go be that person and downplay State like you always have.
17 that!!

You're kinda thick aren't you?

That's an old school word. Google it junior.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I can tell you’re of the old school, woe is Lil ol Miss State.
Let’s stay in our lane where every school outside Vandy has us as a W on the football schedule every single year.
You go be that person and downplay State like you always have.
17 that!!

Sir, this is a McDonalds. We don't serve Whataburgers no matter what you think we should be able to make you at this time. If you want it right away might I suggest the Wendy's across the street from here. DQ shakes and are pretty good too

 

[turkish]

Every form of media and social media has been overflowing with wonderful stories about CML. How great of human he was, how much of an amazing innovator and teacher, and all the coaching tree success, etc etc.....
Are we ready to admit as a fanbase and a message board community how this is a quintessential example of you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone??

So many posts and tweets from angry fans about fire him this and he's checked out that....... Now everyone is saying how his best games and biggest wins were ahead of us and he left us so young. Say all that to say....the next time we have "mississippi state level" success, that we count our blessings and show a little more grace to the coaches and players out there busting their a$$ so that we can send bragging tweets and pour celebratory bourbons at the junction and be proud of ourselves for our fandom.

I’m pretty ashamed of our fan base over CML’s tenure, tbh.

 

[Cantdoitsal]

I'll just leave this for the hell of it. Those who preached we didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell at tsun and picked us pre-season for 6 wins can kiss my A$$. Y'all that fall in that group are pathetic fans.

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

I liked his system. And I thought he was infinitely better at managing a program than Jo Mo, and somewhat better than Merlinz. The truth is, I think he's the most well rounded coach in my lifetime.

 

[drummerdawg]

I almost started a similar thread about this. I think the fan base definitely took CML for granted. The lack of overall support for the man and his teams at State are embarrassing. Our fans give more excuses to not buy into a program than any other. We had a great thing here. We had a winner and one of the most beloved coaches in the entire country and many of our fans wanted something else. He deserved much better than what we gave him.