Who is the best coach ever at MSU, regardless of sport?
- Thread starter Hanmudog
- Start date
His pre-MSU accolades are pretty impressive. The fact that College football trumps all other sports (leading to exponentially higher competition) makes his accomplishments even more impressive
Pre-MSU stats:
He's finished the year ranked #2 nationally twice
-6 top 10 teams, 2 more top 15 teams
-3 southwest conference titles
-1981 Walter Camp national COY award
Personally, I think, during his time at MSU, he did the more than was ever though possible considering the resources (of course he cheated thought). Putting MSU on the SEC football map in the modern era is probably one of the more daunting tasks every accomplished in big time college football. I say that because we (MSU) are are at a disadvantage in almost every category I can think of that directly applies to football success (ex., small local population base, small student/alumni/fan base, comparatively paltry atheltic budgets, competing in-state rival) in an conference where Football is a way of life.
He obviously plummeted his last years, but he took us from relative obscurity to within sight of the SEC football apex in '98. It's one thing to do that in baseball or basketball, but SEC football is a totally different beast IMO.
Pre-MSU stats:
He's finished the year ranked #2 nationally twice
-6 top 10 teams, 2 more top 15 teams
-3 southwest conference titles
-1981 Walter Camp national COY award
Personally, I think, during his time at MSU, he did the more than was ever though possible considering the resources (of course he cheated thought). Putting MSU on the SEC football map in the modern era is probably one of the more daunting tasks every accomplished in big time college football. I say that because we (MSU) are are at a disadvantage in almost every category I can think of that directly applies to football success (ex., small local population base, small student/alumni/fan base, comparatively paltry atheltic budgets, competing in-state rival) in an conference where Football is a way of life.
He obviously plummeted his last years, but he took us from relative obscurity to within sight of the SEC football apex in '98. It's one thing to do that in baseball or basketball, but SEC football is a totally different beast IMO.
gets my vote. Forget about his last days, he led us to Omaha six times, he won three SEC Championships, and won the SEC Tournament five times- one was a co-championship. He took our baseball program and SEC baseball to the next level, and now it has become a beast. If you told someone in the 70's that the SEC would overtake the PAC-10, or really what they used to call the 6 PAC- USC, UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona, Stanford, and Cal- they would have said that you were smoking crack. He was one of the first coaches inducted in the college baseball HOF- which is fairly new.
And let's be honest, as much grief as I give him, how many coaches can recruit out of a camp nowadays and pull off a SEC Tournament Championship and get to Omaha when they're washed up as a coach? He has to get some credit for that.
Plus, he saved the MS logo from LT who wanted the M-State logo on the hats.
So, while I don't agree with what he did much of what he did during his second reign, he still deserves a lot of credit for the good things he did, which did outweigh the bad if you take his first tenure into account.
And let's be honest, as much grief as I give him, how many coaches can recruit out of a camp nowadays and pull off a SEC Tournament Championship and get to Omaha when they're washed up as a coach? He has to get some credit for that.
Plus, he saved the MS logo from LT who wanted the M-State logo on the hats.
So, while I don't agree with what he did much of what he did during his second reign, he still deserves a lot of credit for the good things he did, which did outweigh the bad if you take his first tenure into account.
Polk deserves votes.
The Babe has a state wide award in his honor.
I'm not really picking sides.
The Babe has a state wide award in his honor.
I'm not really picking sides.
G
Goat 4 Eva
Guest
Then, Skip Bertman took it to the next level.......Theold fart did run our program in the ground but give credit where it's deserved......
dished out on him over the past years, and he deserved it, he would be the logical answer to the question posed. However, McCarthy would be right there also, in my opinion. Jackie would slide in third. Lot of mediocrity, and worse, would then follow those.
Are we talking about the coach with the most success while @ Miss. State, or the coach that has had the most success overall that passed through Starkvegas?
You can make a strong case for Polk, McCarthy, and even Richard Williams. But Jackie gets my vote.
I also think he is the most <span style="font-style: italic;">important </span>coach in our history.
I also think he is the most <span style="font-style: italic;">important </span>coach in our history.
We just didn't give him long enough.<div>
</div><div>In all seriousness, I'll go with McKeen. We didn't give him long enough either.</div>
</div><div>In all seriousness, I'll go with McKeen. We didn't give him long enough either.</div>