Mississippi State Bulldogs

Would Scott Stricklin really leave Mississippi State?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Florida has reportedly offered Scott Stricklin their Athletic Director position.

According to the Clarion-Ledger, Stricklin has already turned down Florida once. But now they are back after him again offering as much as $1.4 million per year. They claim he makes “about $500,000” now.

That would be a really big pay raise. Could Mark Keenum match it? I don’t know the details of MSU’s athletic budget, but I’d venture to say we could at least get to $1 million.

Scott Stricklin grew up in Mississippi and graduated from Mississippi State. You would assume this is his dream job. It’s not like he’s never left the state so he would like to venture out – he has worked at Auburn, Tulane, Baylor and Kentucky.

As we all know, he married Bailey Howell’s daughter (Howell came in at No. 3 in our list of the 50 greatest athletes in MSU history). He also has children growing up in Starkville and his family is active in the community.

All those things certainly make you think he would never leave. But you just never know for sure. Florida without a doubt one of the top five athletic programs in the country. They win at everything and have tons of money to work with.

Isn’t that kind of the easy way out, though? Stricklin is building Mississippi State athletics into something it’s never been before. Under his watch we’ve done some remarkable things.

The new Dudy Noble Field could one day be thought of as the house that Strick built. If he leaves before construction begins, you can forget that.

Ultimately, I believe he will stay at MSU. Maybe we’ll get a hometown discount, and I think that’s what we’re waiting on right now as far as announcements.

If we are really “family” as he has so well marketed to us, then surely he will stay on board to hold the highest athletic position at the school where he graduated.