Interesting article on the Dan Mullen tenure from Althon

[STATELAW]

Nothing earth-shattering here, just the basic antithesis of Barrett Sallee's piece. I stand firm, that for the most part this debate should be tabled until after the egg bowl.


nevertheless http://athlonsports.com/college-foo...dan-mullen-detailed-breakdown-coaching-tenure

 

[Seinfeld]

A fairly written article, and I happen to agree with most of it, but I have a question about the author's final comment

As long as the Bulldogs make bowl games and continue to narrow the gap with the top teams in the SEC West, Mullen should be employed in Starkville

What has Dan done in the last two years to make anyone think that we're narrowing the gap in the SEC West? We're still getting out-recruited every year, their programs are still generating twice as much annual revenue as us, and at the end of the day... we're still getting beat by all of the better teams. Every single one of them. So we played kept the game within 13 pts of Bama this year? Yeah, with a 4-1 TO ratio, home field advantage, and the fact that Bama played about as conservatively as they typically do against us. Saban knows that he'll win 999 times out of 1000 against State if they just don't screw up.

I agree that Mullen's not going anywhere as long as he keeps taking us to bowl games, but we've been in a rut for the better part of three years and I don't want to hear about how he needs more time. We're closing in on the beginning of year 6, so get it done or get out

 

[paindonthurt_]

Thats what you people don't get. Consistently winning and going to bowl games is narrowing the gap b/t where we were and where we want to be.

We have never consistently fielded winning teams. We have never consistently went to 3 bowl games in a row and more. NEVER. So doing that is narrowing the gap b/t where we were and want to be.

 

[Seinfeld]

I'll concede that Dan has, without a doubt, narrowed the gap during his tenure here... but you're not going to convince me that he is continuing to narrow it(which the author implied) by essentially repeating the same season three years in a row. It's not substantially helping with recruiting like some had prognosticated, it's not helping us win games against quality opponents, and ticket demand is going in the wrong direction.

When we actually beat one of the better teams in the league at some point in time, I'll be fine with saying that he's taken the next the step

 

[Dawgtini]

You're seeing what you want to see. Recruiting is better. Still 12thish in the SEC but consistently top 30 plus in the nation. 3+ straight bowl games is infinitely better than 6 straight losing seasons with no bowl. The positives are there and they are many. You do have to want to see them.

 

[was21]

This is a perfect example of a professional, objective, mature writer who has done his research as opposed to a hack like Sallee.