MSU Red Cedar Message Board

It's a nice premise but Oregon didn't become "Oregon" because they were willing to wear goofy uniforms every week. They became what they are because the founder and CEO of the largest, hippest, and most influential shoe company in the world is an Oregon alum and built his company in their backyard. Oh and he also donates zilly dollars to their athletic endeavors.

It takes more than jerseys. Look at Oregon st, Arizona st and mizzou. They all got new bad ass jerseys and it doesn't mean shit.

It's all about the facilities. Look at oregons locker room and practice facilities. Might as well build a huge loft on top of the new north side expansion project and call tem dorms and let the football players live there. It's about the highest quality lifestyle while going to school and playin football, jerseys and free merchandise help, but it a small slice of the pie

Didn't work for Maryland.

You really think Nike is going to marginalize Oregon by giving MSU all the same attention? Nike spends a ton of time and money developing the numerous looks for Oregon, simply because the founder of Nike tells them to. Phil Knight isn't going to have the same desire to elevate MSU, and why would he?

what does going Oregon even mean? New "stylish" uniforms? Like Maryland? How is that working out? Now maybe if they can get Kevin Plank to donate like Knight or T Boone Pickens, they might be on to something.

From wiki:

"In 2000, Knight was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame for his Special Contribution to Sports in Oregon.[12] He is believed to have contributed approximately $230 million to the University of Oregon, the majority of which was for athletics.[13] On August 18, 2007, Knight announced that he and his wife, Penny, would be donating an additional $100 million to the University of Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund.[14] This donation is reportedly the largest in the University's history."

Ok St.:
"Pickens' gift remains the largest donation to a university's athletic program in collegiate history. His total contributions to OSU come to over $400 million. Over $265 million, or 66%, of his donations have been towards athletics."

MSU better find a sugar daddy if it wants to be the next oregon. Uniforms alone don't work.

Someone told me this past weekend that the lead guy (or at least one of) in charge of the Jordan brand is MSU alum. That's got to hold some swing at Nike.

I'm hoping that Andy Beal is that guy for us.

By the way, if MSU went full Oregon, then how would we lose to a random Pac-12 team every year to blow a title chance?

Maryland's uniforms are retro and decidedly awful.

We're not talking about one new uniform; we're talking many new uniforms. With my preference being that every damn helmet shine like those Bronze and Silver ones.

And, we're not just talking uniforms, we're talking a whole new approach to the whole darn thing. It has to go beyond gimmicks. It has to be a distinctive way of re conceptualizing Spartan GD Football. MSU is modern; UM is the school your grandpa rooted for.

(Not that uniforms are unimportant, mind you. You think U-M's program hasn't benefited more than a little from those winged helmets)

Missouri the hot bed of football recruiting!

This dude gets it. With a guy like Hollis at the helm, you'd think this would be a no-brainer.

Couple problems with your argument, or potential solution. First, Oregon didn't just slap on some new uniforms and all of a sudden become a national player. They have a world famous, extremely powerful benefactor, who just happens to be one of the most powerful people in sports. He has given literally hundreds of millions to transform their facilities, and to your point, recruiting budget.

You know what you get if you change uniforms and nothing else? Maryland, and they are a laughing stock.

Changing a program perception does not happen overnight. Yes, we can become more edgy, etc., but if you don't have the other stuff to back it up, you won't see results. Look at Oregon when they beat scUM even a few years ago. No one at the time said O was a national power, and they had Nike money pushing them. Takes time to build...

Where I do agree, and where we need to do a far better job, is branding ourselves.

We do have tremendous history that is not emphasized nearly enough. We have seen some changes (NCs in the stadium signage, NCs on the LED boards when the team runs out). This is good progress.

We have a history of toughness and hard nosed players. Emphasize more of that identify. This includes more leg work being done on the PR side so that writers and broadcasters besides Musburger understand and buy into this narrative. How often have you heard about ND and scUM and OSU rebuilding the greatness? Yes, we may be perceived as behind, but that does not mean we don't have great history to be talked about.

Upgrade the stadium and facilities. This is being done. The Duff is great, and the new SS additions will reflect well. Recruiting center, renovation of other side of SS, expansion to over 80k, improving stadium experience so that we can be working to build more mainstream fans that aren't necessarily bought into the program.

Coach D is the perfect fit for this program. Hollis understands these things. This stuff takes time. We might not get the Rivals top10 class every year, but we can identify and get kids who will work. Look at the improvement in the amount of NFL caliber players in the last few years. If you think there are only 150-200 good HS players every yr, yer nuts.

To summarize:
-emphasize history and push return to glory narrative
-find good fit recruits and win some of the big fights
-improve facilities to reflect direction of program

IMO we are doing 2/3 of those things well, and working on the other.

People need to stop being impatient babies, support the work that is being done, and get more people to buy all in

Toss in some Oregonesque cheerleaders, and I'm in.

Also, the OP has a point.