Stans

There are plenty of Mississippi State fans who would like for Rick Stansbury to be fired. If it were not for the great football season State had there would probably be a lot more. The plain fact is, when the football team is winning who really cares about the basketball team. But this year's Mississippi State basketball team has been filled with turmoil and a team with plenty of talent has produced lackluster results.

This is Stansbury's 13th year. And to paraphrase from what I read earlier in the year from Dan Mullen, 'the first two years the fans give you a grace period, then every year after that you lose 10% of the fan base. So the life cycle of a successful coach is about 12 years.' Well if that is true for basketball as well then Stansbury has been around long enough to complete his coaching life at MSU.

Should there be a change at head coach? Let's think about it for a minute. What are some comparable examples from the SEC, where the program fired the successful coach because they were not continuing elite success. Brady at LSU, Tubby Smith at Kentucky, and Godfried at Alabama. Bama is pretty good this year, but those other two haven't panned out too well. Still, if you can hire a proven coach I guess you've got to go with that.

Here are Stansbury's top ten accomplishments: 1. He is the winningest coach in the history of the program. 2. He has taken State to 6 of the 10 NCAA tournaments they have ever been to. 3. He was an assistant coach at MSU for 3 more of those NCAA tournaments including trips to the Sweet 16 and Final Four. 4. The Bulldogs have won 7 western division crowns, he has 5 of them. 5. He has one of the six conference championships in school history. 6. State has won the SEC tournament 3 times, twice under Stansbury. 7. He coached the only first team All-American. 8. He coached the only 3 triple-doubles ever accomplished by an MSU player. 9. Coached the nation's all-time leading shot blocker. 10. 2004 SEC coach of the year.

This year has gotten away from Stansbury. In fact, a lot of years within the last few have gotten away because of the attrition with quiting and transferring. That is frustrating for sure, but take a minute to realize what we have in Rick Stansbury. He is a great recruiter and a solid coach. He's the best coach we've ever had and him and his family are truly dedicated to Mississippi State. Stansbury didn't forget how to be a good coach, he hasn't lost his ability to make players great.

Every single year MSU is competing to the western division championship. Even in a down year like this one, State has the talent to win the SEC tournament and go to the big dance. State is never a cellar dweller, and always competes at a high level. Recognize what we have in Rick Stansbury, a good coach who allows us to stay competitive. He is very capable of bringing us back to '02-'05 status very quickly, just get off his back.

JB