How does Strick play it?

[JackShephard]

jeez guys, i know and agree with these points you all are making. see my response to coach.

BUT - coach saw that stans was becoming a problem waaaaay earlier than most of us did; to his credit. My whole thing is that there are some concerning things that, if you look at objectively, could be early signs. Fan bases are not usually objective though. And those concerning things all have fairly easy solutions. The real question is if Danny Two Gloves will see them and fix them or if he will let his ego and/or friendships be his downfall. As I've said 100 times, next year and the following year will tell us a lot in that regard. If we still have these questions or if we still have the same problems after the 2014 season, THEN AND ONLY THEN should we start thinking about going in a new direction. The problem we have had in the past is ignoring the symptoms and then waiting until it's become obvious that a change is required (Jackie, Polk, Croom, Stansbury). Dan has us in great shape as a program, we don't need to fall asleep at the wheel and wait until it's gone to crap before we start looking for solutions. I know a lot of you will misinterpret this whole post, so let me state - as of now, I still have hope and faith that Mullen can and will fix some minor things and make us even more competitive over the next two years. I'm just saying, let's not pretend like things are absolutely perfect just because we beat 8 bad teams this year. Building a program is a continuous process, and if you're not improving, you're moving backwards.

 

[TheBigDA]

Bump for relevance

 

[thatsbaseball]

I think he bows up and changes uniforms

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

One year extension. No raises other than those included in the deal worked out after Dan Mullen's second season at the helm. Wasn't there at least four years' worth of increasing salary in that extension? Can someone revisit the terms of that contract? I think it started at 2.2 mil and increased every year up to around 3 million.

I would like to see ANY additional money spent on coaching salaries go toward upgrading our coordinators and assistants. Dan Mullen is paid incredibly well already.

 

[blacklistedbully]

We won 8 games for just the 10th time in the last 65 years
we are playing in a NYD bowl game for only the 3rd time since the 1940's
By our standards- we just had one of the best seasons in school history

We ARE more competitive than we used to be. We no longer lose to La Tech, Houston, Maine, and so many other of the crap teams that have beaten us over the years.



Mullen will get his extention and then he will make the staff adjustments he seems necessary

Product of our weak schedule. We looked like crap in wins and a helluva lot worse in losses. Dan has said we need to expect more. I agree. Would be one thing if we were just losing to better teams, but Dan has too often demonstrated a complete lack of common sense with game-day coaching. Today was my turning point. Prior to today, I was a huge supporter despite the obvious coaching gaffs. But his refusal to take TR out today just makes me think he's got some serious screws missing. And I've become further convinced he tries too often to get cute with play-calling and call plays that haven't worked because he thinks it's the last thing the other team will suspect. Josh Robinson busting off big runs? Let's definitely NOT give him the ball anymore. The other team would NEVER suspect we'd do that!

As far as us now beating the La Techs, Maines, etc, that's not good enough. It was good enough as a first step, but only if we continued to improve. But we have taken big steps back the past 2 years. At what point do we decide he's perhaps reached his zenith?

 

[Indndawg]

Coach th at dog won't hunt

we struggled against some very easy teams. Blown out by better teams. Hardly seems like progress

 

[diddog]

we are in better shape than when Croom was fired in 2008?

Sure, we just won 8 games against horrible competition. Here is the honest, cold reality truth - in 2007 we beat two teams in Sagarin's final top 20 rankings. In 2008 - the year Croom was fired - we suffered (by far) the most (nation-leading) underclassman off the team due to the shooting incident and injuries. Our top 7 of 9 underclassman were out that season. We played a brutal schedule -- YET, even under those circumstances - in 2008, we beat a higher ranked Sagarin team than we did IN THE PAST TWO YEARS (2011 and 2012). Unlike when Croom was hired, we were competitive talent wise against top competition.
In the past two years, what is our best win - our highest rated win - in 26 games? Louisiana Tech.
Yet in 2007, and again in 2008, we were recruiting extremely well because we had great talent evaluators on staff. I was the first to say that when Woody McCorvey was originally hired that he was a bad hire by Croom.
Yet when Croom was fired in 2008:
1. Our recruiting was better (at least two first round draft picks from the 2008 class in Banks and Cox). We were constantly in the conversation with some top nationally ranked program changing players. Sorry, these 3 star HS players that are now 4 stars JC players are getting junior college recruiting service grade inflation.
2. Our staff was better with the notable exception of McCorvey (who Croom was replacing with Al Borges).
3. in 2007 and 2008, we managed to beat better teams than in 2011 and 2012.
4. Mullen, due to Croom's staff's recruiting, has had much better talent to work with than Croom did when he arrived in 2003. It is not even close.

Mullen hasn't lost to the poor teams that Croom did. That is due to his better offense and his better inherited talent.

We are just not that good. It's hard to take. The only way for MSU to ever get great in football is recruiting and talent evaluation.

This is a lot like Stans, who in his last years would start the season 13-0 against a cupcake nonconference schedule. Yet Stans still had talent to beat some good teams too.

 

[CadaverDawg]

No extension, no raise. If he stays, he knows what is expected...if he leaves, we call Hudspeth.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

You know your argument is weak when you have to keep making excuses over and over.

 

[patdog]

Agree on 1 year extension, no raise. Strongly disagree about telling him what he has to do with his coordinators. If you think you have to tell a coach who he should hire or fire, you should just go ahead and fire the coach and hire someone you can trust.

 

[tenureplan]

Mullen hasn't lost to the poor teams that Croom did. That is due to his better offense and his better inherited talent.

********. Croom had just as much inherited talent but decided to Rick Ray it away.

 

[patdog]

No, it's not realistic to expect MSU to have a top 20 offense most years. But it's not unrealistic to expect us to have a top 50 offense most years.