Some reference investments such as the new video boards. I agree, those are fantastic, but the BoT would have to have been completely incompetent to not approve them, as they were 100% funded by the athletic department (largely donations) and will easily pay for themselves within a decade (the Huntington Bank contract almost pays for them alone). What is needed are the investments that aren’t hitting the administration right in the face. One good step is the expansion on the north end of the stadium. It will have a recruiting room and new locker rooms which will greatly improve MSU’s ability to sell itself. However, you have to get recruits on campus to see it.

An example would be Montravious Adams. A very highly touted recruit in the 2013 class (some sites had him #1 overall, and all had him in the top 10), who was from Georgia. MSU’s Keith Mumphery had a family friendship with Adams’ family, and it gave Adams interest in our program. He stated he wanted to visit, and he did. He wanted to visit again, but after it fell through he never rescheduled. Why? Because every coach in the SEC that had a remote prayer of landing the kid were at his high school every single day they were allowed. MSU, on the other hand, who had natural interest from Adams from the start, wasn’t able to get down there to help him reschedule his visit. MSU had a legit shot at getting a premier DT on campus, and simply couldn’t afford to make themselves available enough to lock him up. These are the types of recruiting battles that can change programs when won. How many elite players did Auburn need to win a title? I’d say 2 truly elite talents (Cam Newton and Nick Fairley). We landed our best imitation of Cam Newton in Damion Terry, but we missed on the two elite DT’s that we were in on. Who was the other? JuCo standout Kyle Peko, related to the Peko alums of MSU football, as well as Fou Fonoti. Unfortunately, he lives in California, which was a little too expensive for our staff to visit very often. Then there was Antonio Riles, the DE with an SEC offer list that would make any kid absolutely giddy, who was a verbal to Florida out of his hometown in Georgia. He was sold on the program and badly wanted to visit MSU, but when southern coaches are in your ear daily, and MSU coaches can only visit you a couple times per month (if that), it’s going to be extremely hard not to be swayed.

These are the realities of the college football world; you have to spend some money to make money. If the investment isn’t made, yeah you can win some games, but you won’t be an annual B1G contender, and you’ll likely never compete for a national title.

Does our administration truly want to win? If the investment isn’t made, then we have to assume that they don’t. I believe it’s easy to see the value this football program can bring to the university, if the handcuffs were finally taken off.

I’m reminded of a time when I overheard a shorter basketball player say to his friend that he could play as well as the guy he was watching if he were just a little taller. His friend quickly replied “Play with what you got.” So do it, MSU football, “play with what you got” and if you don’t have enough, make yourself better and stop complaining through channels. You will know how seriously Hollis and Dantonio want to win by how they fill the OC job. If it’s handed to one of the position coaches, not much.

Is the only real option for me to get my excel documents and pie charts of comparing recruiting spending across the B1G and hang around Dan Gilbert’s mansion hoping he’ll both A) listen to me and B) be swayed enough to whisper into the right ears?

I still see the money-spent-towards-recruiting a problem that is wasted breath (or kilobytes) to a website dedicated to the normal, middle class fan unless a normal, middle-class solution is given for us to try.

Not trying to be negative, just trying to see the point, ya know?

That being said, I ask the question. What good does knowing that the MSU Admins need to spend more do us, the fan base, if a solution is not offered? Perhaps a more positive ending to this part of your end-of-the-year analysis would have been to offer a solution that we, the fan base, can do so as to influence those same stingy pocketbooks you so bemoan.

Because I, for one, agree with your recruiting assessment. You, however, have a much better grasp on this subject than I, the simple ticket-holder, and I find it depressing to know the problem exists without much of a way to change it.

Am I alone in that feeling?

Yes it hurt losing all those seniors, but I know would’ve called a better “game plan” using my 20 yo high school play book. This offense had enough talent to win 10-11 games again, but had no idea how to use it. Cook should have started seeing meaningful reps against CMU & EMU when they were faltering. And, Caper should have been used more! After reading his post season comments, I’m not buying that he was injured. They just had NO IDEA what to do without Bell.

I would counter that until this season, the offense had just as many playmakers as defense. Everyone is talking like this was our sixth year in a row of only 6 wins. Coach D is stubborn as hell. Saban admitted when he let go of the only one way to run an offense mentality, his teams improved. I agree with those assessments on strategy. But if our administration, and guys like Joel Ferguson still meddling in the affairs, and not enough money to compete then its awfully hard to beat three of the biggest names in football. Lets help get D or any coach the money they need to compete.

The fan evaluation of coaches on here is way off base. Ken Mannie for example is amongst the most highly regarded and accomplished people in the strength and conditioning world. His name would be amongst the top 5 that people in the field would regard as the best. I would like more in-depth from Hondo too, but without cash, nothing else even matters – and that makes absolute sense.

Hondo, I think you’ve been an apologist for a team of coaches who excel in defense, but don’t know their asses from a hole in the wall on offense. I’m starting to think that Cousins provided leadership not just to the team, but to the offensive coaches as well. Without him, they’re lost – no offensive unity, no creativity, and afraid to bump Maxwell out when it was clear he was digressing vs. improving. Please tell us otherwise with a reasoned analysis, and spare us with the belief that with more travel dollars we suddenly have an elite offense.

Kids aren’t as gullible and ignorant as you think. They just want to play for coaches who will give them every edge to win and excel. Winners get noticed. Players with skills get drafted and make lots of money. Dantonio’s unwillingness to trust his players cost us the Iowa and Ohio State games and his unwillingness to reconsider his quarterback decision cost us the entire year. He seems to be perfectly happy to be known as a coach that can get certain skill position players drafted but, to win championships, he needs to recruit and field an entire team of good players and he hasn’t done it yet. His coaching staff is a collection of nice guys who say “Yes” too often and have little or no experience coaching players into the NFL. Kids notice things like that more than trophies and tradition.

Don’t get me started on Dantonio’s decision to stick with the “pro style offense” which will doom MSU to third fiddle behind U of M and Wisconsin (and, possibly, Iowa). Mannie’s wonderful conditioning program was largely responsible for the shoddy performance of the offensive line and the fact that they could not execute a hurry-up offense all year without getting tired and making mistakes or make a play on defense to finish off a game. Special teams were a disaster in 2012 and, with all the young talent MSU is supposed to have, Dantonio stuck with his favorites and they didn’t improve the entire year.

Dantonio may be a nice guy. He may be honest with players and administrators. He may be a man of faith. But he is not a flexible thinker, he doesn’t get the most out of his coaches and players, and he doesn’t understand how to take the program to the next level. The question is; “Does the administration and fan base want it to go there or is MSU a basketball school?”