I'm a Dan Mullen Fan...

[Thirty-Two Dive]

Flame away, kids. This is low hanging fruit for a lot of you.

But, I'm more concerned that the University administration "doesn't have his back." (i.e. - GET OUT OF THE WAY)

 

[olblue.sixpack]

Flame away, kids. This is low hanging fruit for a lot of you.

But, I'm more concerned that the University administration "doesn't have his back." (i.e. - GET OUT OF THE WAY)

Im not a Mullen fan, but I think it is incredibly stupid to be calling for his head. Actually, it's beyond incredibly stupid.

 

[Shmuley]

^^^ This is correct. ^^^

 

[DirtyDog]

What He Said....

I am a Dan Mullen fan because he is has restored our interest in football. Do I think he acts pompous sometimes...yes. Do I think he is stubborn....yes. Do I think he can make better in-game adjustments...yes. Do I think I can out-coach Dan Mullens....Hell No. Do I see things watching the games that he and the staff should see and correct...yes. However, his only losing season was our first year and he has restored our program to at least a decent status (it's not Croom Painful). We have room to improve significantly.

This board in my opinion has become so incredibly negative that I read it less and less. I am open-minded enough to enjoy good discussion from opposing views, but the endless rants without substance get tiresome.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Exactly.

There's plenty to be upset about with Mullen but I too think its not smart to be calling for a coaching change at this point.

 

[dawgatUSM]

Im a Mullen fan but we really need to increase our assistants budget by about a million. (Not even joking)

 

[olblue.sixpack]

There's plenty to be upset about with Mullen but I too think its not smart to be calling for a coaching change at this point.

Its a waste of time to even be talking about it, much less calling for it.

 

[121Josey]

Do I think I can out-coach Dan Mullens....Hell No. Do I see things watching the games that he and the staff should see and correct...yes.

I'm not seeing the difference in this quote here. Plus, if we're noticing it, don't you think the opponents are noticing it? And on top of that, we all have the same rewind function on the game tape.

Dan and others always default to what happens in practice. Well, I don't see practice and what the hell does it matter what they do in practice if they can't do it when it counts.

"

and he has restored our program to at least a decent status.

What happens when every other SEC school restores their program to a decent status?"

it's not Croom Painful

 

[Faustdog]

Im not a Mullen fan, but I think it is incredibly stupid to be calling for his head. Actually, it's beyond incredibly stupid.

You nailed it, blue. We have some really, really stupid fans.

 

[skb124]

You must not remember Croom. Or else you are just an insufferable tool. I vote the latter.

 

[DerHntr]

Im not a Mullen fan, but I think it is incredibly stupid to be calling for his head. Actually, it's beyond incredibly stupid.

Agree as well.

Now, whether or not the AD should be extending his contract to the full 4 years is a much more legitimate discussion and way less trigger happy.

 

[KurtRambis4]

If you think

the past 5 years have been "croom" painful, then I just cannot take anything you post with any degree of seriousness.

 

[olblue.sixpack]

Agree as well.

Now, whether or not the AD should be extending his contract to the full 4 years is a much more legitimate discussion and way less trigger happy.

Good point. These automatic extensions for "recruiting purposes" are bad business.

 

[engie]

Agree as well.

Now, whether or not the AD should be extending his contract to the full 4 years is a much more legitimate discussion and way less trigger happy.

His buyout is $1.4mil either way.

 

[DerHntr]

His buyout is $1.4mil either way.

I'm not concerned with the buyout. I'm concerned with the message it sends to the coach.

 

[engie]

I'm not concerned with the buyout. I'm concerned with the message it sends to the coach.

Does it really send a message if it doesn't affect his pocketbook in any way though? I could see it being a big deal to him if it was structured like Nutt's and essentially took us off the hook for $2.7mil...

 

[natchezdawg]

I'm not sure it matters...

I am not convinced that Mullen wants to the play the game, or even knows how. I don't think he has ever been associated with a program where he had to learn. Florida has, by all accounts, been a consistently clean program. I doubt recruiting in Utah works the same way it does down here. Keenum, Strick, and Bracky can "get out of the way" all they want, I'm not sure much will change.

 

[121Josey]

[h=2]If you think[/h]the past 5 years have been "croom" painful, then I just cannot take anything you post with any degree of seriousness.

That's just stupid that you think that I would think that. The (changed) quote was a response to my question.

My problem is not the past five years. It's the five years 2000-2004.

We we're a couple of plays from returning to Atlanta for 2 out of 3 years.
2000 8-4
2001 3-8
2002 3-9
2003 2-10
2004 3-8

Oh, did I mention that State tried the "staff changes" approach in there somewhere? But the Kang had brought us to respectability. And he brought us out of respectability.

What happens when you lose all your SEC games? A 4-win ceiling. We're competing with UPig and TSUN for the bottom of the West (again). How long before UPig turns it around? Can we keep up with Vandy the next two years? Then we'll get UF and UT. Let's hope UK doesn't put it together anytime soon. As of now, the all-time UK-MSU series is at 20-20.

If you can't recruit with 8 wins a year, what makes it possible with 4 wins a year.

 

[DerHntr]

Does it really send a message if it doesn't affect his pocketbook in any way though? I could see it being a big deal to him if it was structured like Nutt's and essentially took us off the hook for $2.7mil...

With the size of the ego of college coaches, yes, it matters even if not in his pocketbook.

 

[Chesusdog]

I am a Dan Mullen fan too. I just want him to find a way to improve as a coach and a recruiter. We had a lot of positive momentum in the first three years but that seems to be coming to a halt. Most of you knew coming into this year that it wasn't going to be pretty considering the schedule, who we lost to graduation/draft, etc. I do think that the next couple years have a chance to trend back upwards and that there are still winnable games on our schedule this year. Honestly, aside from A&M and Alabama we have a realistic shot against all the others. If we can pull out at least three of those remaining six and not just roll over and take it from the Aggies and Tide I'll feel okay about this year. That said if we don't have better results in the next couple years then I'm all aboard the Hudspeth train. Also if he gets any form of contract extension after this year I might be calling for Strick's head.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I cannot

read your mind, only what you write. You copied his quote "It's not croom painful" and struck out "not", leaving "it's croom painful." How's one to read that, other than someone comparing the two?

 

[thatsbaseball]

Funny thing about us "stupid" MSU fans. Many of us saw where the program was headed under Jackie 2 years before the inevitable happened and many many saw where the program was headed two years before the inevitable happened to Croom. Now who was more stupid in those situations ? The fans who called it correctly when they saw what was happening or the administration who let the program sink until they were forced to react ? Straight up, who was more stupid...the fans (at least the non-sheeple fans) or the administration ?

 

[00Dawg]

Now who was more stupid in those situations ?

Depends on if you were also calling for Jackie's head in 1993, 1995, or through November 15, 1996.

 

[Beretta.sixpack]

Really? Didn't realize that. That makes me fell a lot better....

His buyout is $1.4mil either way.

I was hoping it wasn't something ridiculous that we were stuck with.

I like Dan as:
Player Developer
A guy who can draw up plays 'in the dirt'

I can't stand Dan as:
In game coach i.e...adjustments, play calling
Recruiter


Dan said it best himself, "Each year as a head coach, you will lose 10% of your fan base." This is year five. Would you agree he has lost 50%?

 

[thatsbaseball]

I`ll type slower. Were the "stupid" fans or the administration more aware of where the program was headed 2 years before Sherrill`s and Croom`s eventual firings and could we be in the same situation now ? What exactly did we get out of prolonging each of those debacles that extra time it took for the administration to awaken from their slumber. Mullen has half of this season left and can change the course of his program dramatically...but that doesn`t mean our fans are stupid for not wanting to repeat the same mistakes we`ve made on our last two coaches.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

No way he is fired this year. Next year's schedule guarantees a bowl. Therefore the absolute earliest exit would be the year after that, and more likely it would take 2 consecutive non-bowl years. That means the 2017 season would be the first one under a different coach, assuming we continue this "decline."

Hud will be long gone, and if he isn't, it's because the wheels feel off at LL. So start dreaming about who the next realistic candidate will be, cause it aint Hud.

BTW The bears are actually pulling for Dan to stay. They're convinced he will be perennially be Freeze's ***** in recruiting in-state, and worry someone with more southern ties could run that gravy train off the tracks. They hope Dan struggles to the Tidy bowl or some other pitiable venue every other year just so he will continue to hang on. Not kidding.

I think he rights the ship, and they regret those hopes. He is a mediocre recruiter, but only a key assistant--like Brewer-- away from stepping it up. I think he's a hell of an Xs and O's guy.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Dan said it best himself, "Each year as a head coach, you will lose 10% of your fan base." This is year five. Would you agree he has lost 50%?

10% of the initial fan base or 10% of the remaining? So 50% or 65%? Not sure either is accurate to tell you the truth. Too high.

Mullen might have lost a precious few after 2009, but anyone who jumped ship on him at that point was unlikely to be satisfied with anything reasonable. I can't see anyone bailing after 2010 and the Gator Bowl win. In 2011 though, with the losses to Auburn and South Carolina, no showing for UGA and Arkansas, giving up basically against LSU, and being dominated physically against Bama, I think that was the first year a significant number of people started to lose faith. Call it 10% with another 10% on the fence.

Last year's 7-0 start might have been in some part due to a weak schedule, but most realistic State fans know that we would have found a way to lose one or two of those in the past. The end of the season was a massive failure though. The only thing that saved us from total disaster was Arkansas, and that was only because they were in the midst of a full on implosion worse than ours. So those who were on the fence after 2011 crossed over, and another 10% or so took their place.

This year has done nothing to convince the fence riders to hang with Dan, but nor has it been bad enough to grow that number a lot. Maybe a few but not a lot.

So maybe a fif of our fan base is done with Dan, and another 10% wouldn't fight it if we tried to get rid of him. The rest, I think, are supportive, but in my opinion the next month is very important for Dan Mullen's long term future at Mississippi State.

 

[Beretta.sixpack]

Spot on......especially this...

"....in my opinion the next month is very important for Dan Mullen's long term future at Mississippi State."


totally agree and bad part is

we won't blow out UK tonight (vegas isn't stupid)
we may very likely get 70 hung on us at aTm
USCe on the road
Arky is terrible, but we don't play well historically in Ark (i know we have a tie, but i don't think a win dating back to 92)
UM is better coached than we are and if we are winning at half, know Freeze will adjust, and Dan does nothing. IF we lose to Ark, UM may very well beat us by 3 TDs on our own field.


This is the scenario that is very important to Dan's long term future. Glad I'm not him. I'm on the fence, for him, but for this season, I've lost a lot of hope, if not all.

 

[was21]

Not sure the "southern ties" has much to do with the recruiting aspect....think it's a combination of other things....agree with the rest of your post.

 

[RocketDawg]

Not sure the "southern ties" has much to do with the recruiting aspect....think it's a combination of other things....agree with the rest of your post.

Exactly. Is anyone actually that shallow?

 

[Strike.sixpack]

Wouldn't you say though it was kind of easy to see the writing on the wall with the end of Sherrill and the Croom years? There were a lot of three win seasons during that time. Really wasn't that hard to see change needed to be made. And if it wasn't for the anomaly of Crooms fourth year then he wouldn't have gotten a fifth year if he had kept the same pattern.

 

[engie]

10% of the initial fan base or 10% of the remaining? So 50% or 65%? Not sure either is accurate to tell you the truth. Too high.

Mullen might have lost a precious few after 2009, but anyone who jumped ship on him at that point was unlikely to be satisfied with anything reasonable. I can't see anyone bailing after 2010 and the Gator Bowl win. In 2011 though, with the losses to Auburn and South Carolina, no showing for UGA and Arkansas, giving up basically against LSU, and being dominated physically against Bama, I think that was the first year a significant number of people started to lose faith. Call it 10% with another 10% on the fence.

Last year's 7-0 start might have been in some part due to a weak schedule, but most realistic State fans know that we would have found a way to lose one or two of those in the past. The end of the season was a massive failure though. The only thing that saved us from total disaster was Arkansas, and that was only because they were in the midst of a full on implosion worse than ours. So those who were on the fence after 2011 crossed over, and another 10% or so took their place.

This year has done nothing to convince the fence riders to hang with Dan, but nor has it been bad enough to grow that number a lot. Maybe a few but not a lot.

So maybe a fif of our fan base is done with Dan, and another 10% wouldn't fight it if we tried to get rid of him. The rest, I think, are supportive, but in my opinion the next month is very important for Dan Mullen's long term future at Mississippi State.

The actual statement is that you get a 2 year reprieve -- then you lose 10% per year. At least, that's the one he gave us in Mugshots one night**

I'd say he's easily lost 30% right now... with a 10% week-to-week fluctuation...

 

[DawgatAuburn]

The actual statement is that you get a 2 year reprieve -- then you lose 10% per year. At least, that's the one he gave us in Mugshots one night**

I'd say he's easily lost 30% right now... with a 70% week-to-week fluctuation...

FIFY

 

[patdog]

I'd say tonight is a pretty crucial game for him. If we have another Bowling Green or God forbid, lose, he's going to lose a lot more than 10%. He really needs to not only win, but actually look good doing it.

 

[UIUCDog]

It's a unique situation because there is a coach who many feel would be a significant upgrade, and who we pretty much know would really want the job badly.

It's kind of like if you had a girlfriend, and you knew she wasn't the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. But she was decent looking, she was cool, she wasn't a crazy *****, she treated you well, she didn't cheat on you, you got along and had fun together, etc. But maybe it was getting a little boring/stale, not really going anywhere.

With no other option immediately at your fingertips, you might be prone to stand pat in that sort of situation for a while. But if some smoking hot chick all of a sudden started pursuing you, it'd be tempting. Would you be an ******* if you ditched the gf and went with the new chick? Maybe you would, but a lot of people would at least think real hard about it.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Pat - I tweeted this earlier. <s>@</s>DawgatAuburn <small class="time"> 2h </small> Tonight's game is a big one for Mississippi State, but it is much bigger for Dan Mullen.

 

[KurtRambis4]

This doesn't seem

many many saw where the program was headed two years before the inevitable happened to Croom

right, remember back mosts posters stance on him. I'd say a great majority on here weren't ready to get rid of him until some oint towards the end of the last year. The blowout loss to OM was the nail in the coffin. I caught hell from most for suggesting he sucked even in year three (on here).

 

[engie]

I'd say tonight is a pretty crucial game for him. If we have another Bowling Green or God forbid, lose, he's going to lose a lot more than 10%. He really needs to not only win, but actually look good doing it.

Agreed.

But I fully expect him to win convincingly tonight, before ripping hearts out for those that began to have hope in Columbia. It's the script at this point.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

No way a 17 year old kid is shallow.** Actually, I was thinking more of how he relates to HS coaches who often have a huge influence on players. I strongly believe Mullen's irascible yankee personality has hurt him there. I know it has with at least one coach here on the Coast. Enough to matter? WHo knows--I'm kinda hoping it's something he can't control (where/how he was raised) instead of something ingrained (he's a dick).

 

[thatsbaseball]

It`s been even easier to see the change that Mullen went through at mid-season last year. Maybe he can turn it around but these last 12 games presented several opportunities to do that and he`s just not getting it done. ALSO you cannot always be in the bottom three in this league in recruiting and expect success. To be in his fifth year things just don`t look good to me.