How Dan Mullen changed MSU FB....
- Thread starter Tripper123044
- Start date
Great article that every State fan should read.
We can never let the "Aw shucks" boys back in charge of the football program.
This article is no more than 50% about Mullen to me. It's as much about just how sorry Crxxm was. A freaking expensive, failed publicity stunt. Dan did a good job but half the people on this board could have at least improved the program after that buffoon.
Croom did suck and was terrible. However, croom was pretty much par for the course for MSU. Prior to Mullen, our best run was a .500 record for about 13 years under Jackie. You guys that act like what Mullen did was no big deal blow my mind. If you can’t see Mullen changed the game for state then you’re not paying attention. Look at MSU before Jackie.
I will give Mullen credit for this....he changed the work ethic of the players and of the administration around him. Work ethic and effort, more than talent and anything else, shows up on game days. We won because our players bought into the hard work.
That said, I also think Mullen came along at the right time. It's easier to go to bowl games than it used to be.
2014 was a special year for us, but it ended with a dud. Too many seasons (like this one) ended with a dud, and more often than not it corresponded with his name being floated for every coaching job in the country. For all his bravado about relentless effort and hard work, he really didn't do that himself on the recruiting trail, nor did he hold certain coaches accountable for that, either.
Dan Mullen was great for Mississippi State, but Dan Mullen had a ceiling here and he hit it. When Hev starts running off recruits and Mullen starts talking about being a developmental program, while his special teams suck and he's running through DCs, his seat is going to get hot pretty quickly.
I personally think we've upgraded in just about all facets. I won't take anything away from Dan and his ability to develop QBs. But I'm fired up about Moorhead, moreso than any other new coach we've had in any sport.
Its all about leadership. We were fortunate enough to get Sherrill only because of the leadership of Pres. Zacharias in spite of Larry Templeton but after that had some really weak Presidents. And I know the General (Fogelsong) was a controversial President but HE was the guy that started this whole wave of improvement in MSU athletics in general by ousting Larry "the good ol' boy" Templeton and hiring Greg Byrne. Without that NONE of the dominos would have fallen that led to Cohen getting the baseball job, Mullins getting the football job, Schaefer getting the women's BB job, Cohen getting the AD job, Cannizaro getting the baseball job, etc., etc. It ALL got started when Doc made the tough call to STOP the good ol' boy 'aw shucks' network and get serious about our athletics department. And yes, he may have personally killed every daffodil within a 50 mile radius of Starkville and painted every building the wrong color but what he did for our athletic department can never be underestimated. Thanks Doc. And to add on to that Dr. Mark Keenum has continued on with the commitment to athletic excellence as well.
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The only thing I’m will ing to give Marler is that he made the program more attractive to a real coach like Moorhead. Now let’s see why he can do.
Mullen did a good job but have any of you Mullen worshipers ever noticed that when we've hired decent coaches we've had decent results ? Mullen didn't work any "miracles" at State , he was here at the right time, he worked hard and had a damn good administration behind him. AND here's the shocker for you......IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN if all those elements are put back into play AND coach Joe can hold up his end of the deal.
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Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think Mullen is a miracle worker or the best coach in America. I think he’s the best coach we have had to date. I think he was the right person at the right time for the job. Make no mistake, I expect our new coach to at a minimum maintain what Mullen started. Going backwards shouldn’t be acceptable to state.
I'm afraid Don has evolved on this front.
I believe he found a guy in Grantham that (a) already had the age and resume that proved he was a top notch defensive coach; and (b) had the stones to tell Mullins to stay the 17 out of the defense.
It's really the perfect fit, as we all saw. Now Don can focus on offense because he has a guy he can trust on the other side. I think the main reason all those other guys bolted was because he didn't trust any of them, so working under him and having him publicly call them out and second guess every decision was a f'ing nightmare.
Grantham chose to follow him to UF, which tells me things have changed. I hope I'm wrong and we can witness a trainwreck, but I don't think a DC carousel is going to happen anymore. Florida is getting the benefit of our pain.
It's like I remind my second wife all the time: the second rat gets the cheese.
I believe he found a guy in Grantham that (a) already had the age and resume that proved he was a top notch defensive coach; and (b) had the stones to tell Mullins to stay the 17 out of the defense.
It's really the perfect fit, as we all saw. Now Don can focus on offense because he has a guy he can trust on the other side. I think the main reason all those other guys bolted was because he didn't trust any of them, so working under him and having him publicly call them out and second guess every decision was a f'ing nightmare.
Grantham chose to follow him to UF, which tells me things have changed. I hope I'm wrong and we can witness a trainwreck, but I don't think a DC carousel is going to happen anymore. Florida is getting the benefit of our pain.
It's like I remind my second wife all the time: the second rat gets the cheese.
Exactly, Mullins did a GOOD job for us, not great. Averaging winning 6-8 games per year in the regular season was not great when you consider for most of the time he was here we had 4 OOC wins pretty much sitting on the table for us. Mullins had a winning record in the SEC ONE year out of 9. Granted we weren't in a great situation when he took over but there is nothing extraordinary about what he accomplished at MSU. The best thing he did was keep us competitive every year and for that I will give him credit. The only thing that might make it a little harder on Moorhead (or any future coach) is the fact that now we have to play one P5 OOC team EVERY year going forward. I mean we went to bowls THREE times under Mullins with either a 5 or 6 win regular season. That would have never happened back even 15 years ago.
It's gonna be a train wreck eventually. Dan and Todd butted heads occasionally this past season, but Dan usually backed off and let Grantham do his thing. That will change when the heat ratchets up at a place like Florida.
I would feel better about Drake Mallard if he hadn't shat the bed so many times in the Egg Bowl. He had a prime opportunity to bury them after Nutt was fired and their program was way down, but he didn't do it. He took over for a coach who was a lazy recruiter and became a lazy recruiter. Now he has to re-learn how to recruit or he will be a short-timer in the swamp.
And on this one from the article - "In fact, the Bulldogs had only one season with more than 8 wins since 1981." I'm sitting here thinking, and now we have TWO.
I know they are probably throwing in bowl wins as well (which are really exhibitions if you aren't playing for a national title) but in terms of regular seasons, Mullen only added one to that total for something they are trying to point out as a big negative for us.
I'm not only a State fan from birth to present, but I went to school there as well. And Dan Mullen wasn't even the 3rd best coach in State history. It just took him longer to get hired elsewhere than some of the other coaches (Warmath, Royal).
You never saw Mullen explode on TG on the sideline like he was prone to do with the others. That tells me one thing.
He was scared shitless of him. There were times TG deserved to get lit up on the sideline and Muffins just put his head down.
He was scared shitless of him. There were times TG deserved to get lit up on the sideline and Muffins just put his head down.
Ultimately I think we'll find out that we got off better in the long term, especially if Moorhead works out. We got rid of a mediocre athletic director, and he facilitated a coaching change that was probably going to happen anyway.
If Moorhead works out, I'll forgive Stricklin. Right now, could care less about him.
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Mullen did a lot of great things for our program and reputation and I greatly appreciate it. I'm also glad that he left us in a good place when he did.
That being said I am glad that he moved on. It was time to shake things up. It looks like we made a solid hire that should give us a big boost of excitement with the offensive philosophy Coach Joe brings.
It was time. That's all I'm really trying to say. I'm sure we will have some bumps and missteps, but I really think it opens the door for new growth.
That being said I am glad that he moved on. It was time to shake things up. It looks like we made a solid hire that should give us a big boost of excitement with the offensive philosophy Coach Joe brings.
It was time. That's all I'm really trying to say. I'm sure we will have some bumps and missteps, but I really think it opens the door for new growth.
I just wanted Mullen to leave - if he was going to leave - after next season. Next year had a chance to be special. So short term - I'm not sure we are better.
We aren't better short term because of all the change and players needing to adjust as well as Don Merkin taking most of the coaching staff and coming after a lot of the recruits. I'm glad JoeMo took the challenge and look forward to his system being put in place. Its a nervous excitement and anticipation though.
Nope. Stricklands turned his back on his alma mater when he left us and underscored the betrayal by poaching our football coach. Now we might one day indeed be happy that both of these happened but does not erase the actions. As far as I am concerned Loafers is dead to our State.
All of you are shitting on Croom but he put a lot of talent into the NFL. Yeah, he wasn't the best play caller but I thought he recruited better than most give him credit for. We all know he was a hell of a guy and didn't put up with any ********. He was straight forward and generally loved. Can't say that about our last coach. Donny Moppins loved to pump the sunshine. I respected Croom because he kept it real. We also were on probation....so it's not like we could just go around slanging $$$$ and loaner cars. Croom was handcuffed pretty tight.
But that's all behind us.
Joe seems to be the perfect combination of the two. He has Dan's vision, offensively, which is an obvious positive moving forward. We will score points. However, Joe is closer related to Croom as a down to earth person. Very personable. He was summed up perfectly as "a ball coach". Not the first African American coach in SEC history and not a marathon, shoe collecting used car salesman....Joe is going to be refreshing. I, for one, am excited and very proud of how we handled the entire situation. Realistically, we out did ourselves.
But that's all behind us.
Joe seems to be the perfect combination of the two. He has Dan's vision, offensively, which is an obvious positive moving forward. We will score points. However, Joe is closer related to Croom as a down to earth person. Very personable. He was summed up perfectly as "a ball coach". Not the first African American coach in SEC history and not a marathon, shoe collecting used car salesman....Joe is going to be refreshing. I, for one, am excited and very proud of how we handled the entire situation. Realistically, we out did ourselves.
I agree that next year would have been the year it would have made more sense for Mullins to leave. I guess, on the bright side, seems anywhere Moorhead has been (UCONN, Fordham, PSU) they have all immediately improved over what they had been doing the year before.
Lettuce, nothing personal but don't know if Crooms was generally loved. He had to be begged several times to take the job and admitted that the only reason he accepted it because his daughter thought it was a good idea...once a bammer always a bammer. Hopefully Coach Joe is nowhere near him in the thing that matters: coaching.
I don't take anything personal here.
I know it doesn't change our points much but the word I should have used was beloved....as in "We suck but we will all suck together" love. Loved like a big harmless walrus.
Im happy with Joe. Just listening to him talk makes me think about this famous movie line:
I know it doesn't change our points much but the word I should have used was beloved....as in "We suck but we will all suck together" love. Loved like a big harmless walrus.
Im happy with Joe. Just listening to him talk makes me think about this famous movie line:
- Now, wait a minute. I'm not an answer to your prayers.
- I'm not a savior or Jesus Christ,
- Martin Luther King, or the Easter bunny.
- I'm a football coach, that's all.
- Just a football coach.
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