Mullen and Co. (LONG)

[Dawgfann1977]

4 Reasons why we are in this positions

1. Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting: Croom left us with nothing on OL, but the fact remains Mullen and his staff have not added any SEC lineman, and after three years we have NO Playmakers at the WR postion.Last years recruitng was an embarrasement.How do you win 9 games including a second straight over your instate rival who only wins 4 andthey still out recruit you? You have one of the best JUCO leagues in country in your back yard, yet your refuse to sign a JUCO unless he gets out in DEC?? They are in JUCO for a reseaon coach, and it aint cause they were all over looked. You have to sign 3-5 JUCO's a year, and who the 17 cares if they get out in DEC or May if there *** can play sign them.

2. Staff: You dont replace a WR coach with a grad asst. at an SEC school, you dont promote a DL coach to DC in the SEC. Mullen has to make some decisions at two postions at the end of year, WR coach, and OC. We need a true spread OC not a washed up OC who we stole from South freakin Alabama. I am sure Mirando will be a good coach in time,but you get promoted from GA to WR coach at a directional schoolthen hired away byan SEC school, not promoted. Have you looked at our recruiting staff ? We have guys from the Northeast recruiting in the Southeast?? WTF?? We need guys who know how to coach and know the area, not some yankee with an arrogant accent.

3. Player development: For all the talking Mullen does about player development, when is this actually going to start kicking in?QB? No, OL? No, WR? No. Fact is a lot of the players we have now are as good as Two stars will ever be. You can only find diamond in the rough so often, this is the SEC, not Bowling Green or Utah. The reason we play close games with the UAB's and LA Tech's is becuase we are playing withcomparable talent. STARS MATTER COACH!! Get off your *** and get some players or you will be talking buyout within the next 18 months. Its aint the X's and O's its the Jimmy's and Joe's

4. In game coaching: You dont fake a punt on your side of the field, you dont continue to run up the middle when you have no success, you dont end the game with all your time outs. Year one Mullen got a pass on this,learning curve and ****, year two was better, but thishe has regressed in year three. Maybe its the loss of Hud and Diaz, but Mullen looks lost sometimes on the side line. Game and time management has been horrid this season.

I will say this, I was on board with Mullen when we hired him, enjoyed last year, but I like a lot of you have become apathic with the product we put on the field. In year three you can only blame the past coach so much for the lack of numbers and talent. Decsions he and his staff made in recruiting years 2 and 3 are now costing him games.

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[Dawgfann1977]

4 Reasons why we are in this positions

1. Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting: Croom left us with nothing on OL, but the fact remains Mullen and his staff have not added any SEC lineman, and after three years we have NO Playmakers at the WR postion.Last years recruitng was an embarrasement.How do you win 9 games including a second straight over your instate rival who only wins 4 andthey still out recruit you? You have one of the best JUCO leagues in country in your back yard, yet your refuse to sign a JUCO unless he gets out in DEC?? They are in JUCO for a reseaon coach, and it aint cause they were all over looked. You have to sign 3-5 JUCO's a year, and who the 17 cares if they get out in DEC or May if there *** can play sign them.

2. Staff: You dont replace a WR coach with a grad asst. at an SEC school, you dont promote a DL coach to DC in the SEC. Mullen has to make some decisions at two postions at the end of year, WR coach, and OC. We need a true spread OC not a washed up OC who we stole from South freakin Alabama. I am sure Mirando will be a good coach in time,but you get promoted from GA to WR coach at a directional schoolthen hired away byan SEC school, not promoted. Have you looked at our recruiting staff ? We have guys from the Northeast recruiting in the Southeast?? WTF?? We need guys who know how to coach and know the area, not some yankee with an arrogant accent.

3. Player development: For all the talking Mullen does about player development, when is this actually going to start kicking in?QB? No, OL? No, WR? No. Fact is a lot of the players we have now are as good as Two stars will ever be. You can only find diamond in the rough so often, this is the SEC, not Bowling Green or Utah. The reason we play close games with the UAB's and LA Tech's is becuase we are playing withcomparable talent. STARS MATTER COACH!! Get off your *** and get some players or you will be talking buyout within the next 18 months. Its aint the X's and O's its the Jimmy's and Joe's

4. In game coaching: You dont fake a punt on your side of the field, you dont continue to run up the middle when you have no success, you dont end the game with all your time outs. Year one Mullen got a pass on this,learning curve and ****, year two was better, but thishe has regressed in year three. Maybe its the loss of Hud and Diaz, but Mullen looks lost sometimes on the side line. Game and time management has been horrid this season.

I will say this, I was on board with Mullen when we hired him, enjoyed last year, but I like a lot of you have become apathic with the product we put on the field. In year three you can only blame the past coach so much for the lack of numbers and talent. Decsions he and his staff made in recruiting years 2 and 3 are now costing him games.

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[thatsbaseball]

nm

 

[jb1020]

I guess Mirando rode the success of the gator bowl to his promotion. Our WR's were pretty decent last year as far as getting separation goes.

I can't remember a wr this year actually being open 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

1) I am tired of the recruiting excuse.


The same 2nd tier MSU recruits that lead MSU to a 9 win season last year are still in our system. If proof exists that you can win 9 games with 2nd tier recruits, the 2010 MSU team is that proof.


If Mullen is winning with 2nd tier recruits, he is a genius. If Mullen is losing with 2nd tier recruits, then suddenly Mullen can't recruit. This is a flaw in logic that renders the recruiting argument a moot point.


2) Staff. I have no qualm with the assistants (not even the WR coach, who is utterly useless at this point). I, however, have a huge qualm with the guy who is getting paid a $2.5 million salary yet is putting a minimum wage product on the field.


3) Player development. Whether you believe in Keynesian economics, or the magic of the free market or if you believe in the return to the gold standard...I don't give a damn what your economic philosophy is: We are not seeing $2.5 million worth of player development.


4) In game coaching. I will not even go there.

 

[Shmuley]

I wonder how much effect Mullens' $2.5 large has on our ability to get and keep a full complement of quality assistants? Seems like there's a major dropoff.

 

[HighPointDawg]

We can't even support our coach that we just signed to a long term contract without being a sheep now.. There are seriously some idiots in our fan-base.

I agree with a lot of the OP but if people can't support Mullen right now then we might as well shut down the football program. Seriously, just shut it down. People want to give $50 a year donations and magically think we're going to be Alabama.

You want Mullen to do better in recruiting... start playing the game. we play it at a WAC school level, out bidding Southern Miss half the time and Ole Miss 20% of the time isn't going to get you that far... we need real boosters to get involved or else we need to understand we will be a program that goes 9-4 every once in a while, 6-6 most the time and 3-9 sometimes.. Mullen is getting us to the "6-6 most of the time", which we have NOT been in a while. I'm tired of being the "3-9 most of the time" school. But you clowns act like we're going to be top 10 every year.

And yes, I'm advocating that if we want to be consistently in the top half of the league we should cheat better/more but the NCAA has proven time and again the reward is worth the penalty.

 

[HighPointDawg]

Did you get 2.5 Million worth of product last year while we paid him 1.2 Million? What exactly is 2.5 Million worth to you. There is ONE difference in this season vs. last season so far and that is a ROAD loss to Georgia. I had UGA as a loss from day one... I did expect to beat Auburn and we should have but really are we that much difference than last year at this point.

Magically paying him 2x's as much money doesn't make Relf go from a 2* to a 5* QB

 

[maroonmania]

.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I think you miss the point. We aren't playing with the same recruits. Last year we had McPhee, Sherrod, Brignone, White, Wright, etc. all graduate and there was nobody in line to take up their slack. <div>
</div><div>You should never be faced with moving a D-Tackle (on an already thin D-Line) to OL in the span of one offseason. How can you reap the benefits of guys like McPhee, Ballard and Chris White and then NOT hit JUCO heavily for 2 straight years? There is no excuse for not signing a JUCO LT, DE and LB last year or this year. </div><div>
</div><div>Outside of JUCO, the HS recruiting hasnt been special either, and that will become more and more evident with each passing year. I dont know what we are going to do next year without Ballard and Relf. As bad as Relf has been at times this year, he is still the best we have by a mile. </div>

 

[JxnDawg39211]

I do agree with most of your points , but here is my two cents:

1) OL and DL recruiting - we were going to be OK coming into the season but paper thin with no depth - Saulsberry getsbanged upat Auburn and is about 80% healthy, Carmon goes down for 2 games, Tobias Smith goes out for the season. Mullen has not been recruiting the big boys up front on either side of the line for the past 2 yearsand we have NO depth. Look at LSU and Bama . They are 2 deep on the DL and OL at EVERY position.Building depth ishow you compete with the big boys, and that begins on the recruiting trail. What if Fletcher Cox or Boyd go down on the DL? Again, no depth and paper thin up front on both sides of the ball.

2) What is Mirando doing ? Why did we hire a grad assistant again? Isnt that what Sun Belt and MAC teams do ? I think Hud was a bigger loss than Diaz just for the point that our recievers cannot get seperation and when they do , they have trouble catching the ball and making plays. Did anyone see that Univ of LA-Layfette is 4-1 now?</p>

3) In game coaching- I thought the play calling was a little better this game, but it is obvious that the staff just doesnt want to get Relf hit every play. The option to the outside looks like it would work , but Relf is starting to wear down and I think the staff just doenst want to knock him out for the season. Where I disagree with most on the board is that Relf is not playing all that bad. I would put more blame on the OL and receiver play than Relf . Where are the trick plays? Where is the tight end screen? Where is the Utah shuffle pass? Besides 2 horid fake punts against Memphis and LA Tech we do not have any creativity.

4) NO big play threat- We do not have a home run hitter on the offensive side of the ball and that kills you when you have to drive 10-15 plays to score. Man I wish we could have gotten Nick BRassell . THat guy is the real deal. I think Singleton is going to be a bust , but Snoop, he is the man.

5) Special teams play - has been much worse this year. We cant kick a kickoff in the endzone. We consistentlyput teams in much better field position . In the first half Georgia had scoring drives of 33, 22 , and 5 yards.THe Auburn game was very similar with starting field position.Punt return needs much improvement </p>

 

[thatsbaseball]

main ones calling Mullen`s *** out. We know what it takes and areprepared to make it happen again. Guess whose holding us back to preserve their lilly white reputation so he can use us as a stepping stone NIMROD. Wake the 17 up and smell the coffee.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

One has to avoid the roller coaster ride and wild emotional swings. Last year Mullen and the team overachieved. The injury monster passed us by and Relf did a marvelous job avoiding turnovers. Dan Mullen did a 2 million dollar job and got paid less than that. This year injuries have devastated our offensive line which in turn has destroyed our running game and thus taken away our team identity. Mullen has made some poor in game decisions and is receiving a 2.5 million dollar salary while giving us a 1.2 million dollar performance. I guess it balances out.

If we want to build a program in the $EC, we must be prepared to pay a nice salary that is north of 2 million a year to the head coach. We can do that. But, we also must be prepared to pay 500k at a MINIMUM for quality offensive and defensive coordinators. If you want to get serious, step up to the plate with 700k for a proven DC. Are we willing to do that? Can we do that and still pay Dan Mullen 2.5 to 2.75 million a year? If we can find the funds to do this, then we can attract good coaches and keep the staff intact for more than 1 or 2 seasons.

Finally, if Dan Mullen wants to compete week in and week out with the behemoths of the SEC, then we must upgrade the quality of our recruiting. There is a reason why we are completely overmatched against many of our SEC brethren and a reason why we struggle with the La Techs and the UAB's on our schedule.

 

[wchsdawg]

There is over 16 o-linemen on the roster. If we can't scrap together 5 that can block we have serious issues. Send them packing. Now georgia was a loss in my book coming into the season, but auburn was the swing game to get seven wins. Might be able to steal the south carolina game who knows to get to seven wins.6 and 6 is prob. the best.

 

[Todd4State]

if his players are being paid under the table or not?

Serious question.

If I'm a booster that is a millionare and I want to pay some kid from Madison Central or whatever to go to MSU, why do I have to get Dan's permission to do so? Just give the kid money, or give his "handler" or whatever the money or however it works.

Do you think all of these Auburn, Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss boosters are getting consent from the head football coaches to give recruits stuff?

What do you think would happen if an Alabama booster went up to Nick Saban and said "I'm going to give this big time QB recruit 100, 000 dollars to come to Bama"- what do you think Saban would say? "Yeah! Do it" Or do you think he is going to say something about it being against the rules like Dan. If Saban has a brain, and he does, he is going to say to play by the rules because that way, if you get caught he can say- "Well, I told this guy not to do it and he did anyway. What do you want me to do?"

If you are ready to play the game- do it.

 

[jacksonreb1]

And NEED to know what's going on. You think a booster smart enoughnto make 100k to give to a high school kid is going to do that without knowing THAT's the QB he wants. Seriously? Plausible deniability is what the coaches want. The booster may not call the HC. But I guarantee you he gets the word from somebody on staff.

 

[TheFireman6]

I dont think after 3 years we can blame lack of depth on the Oline and Dline on Croom. There are a couple of coaches on our staff that are Mullen's boys that have no business being on an SEC staff much less trying to recruit. Hevesy hasn't recruited jack. Sallach, Mirando, and Ouimet are useless. Our last WR coach had head coaching experience. Then took another job as a head coach yet we replace him with a GA with no recruiting experience. Who the hell is Sallach and Ouimet? What do they do? They are wasted positions. Keep the defensive staff and revamp the offensive staff. I think Koenning could be good but he's outnumbered on that side of the ball with Mullen's friends.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

Sallach was instrumentalin landing Gus Walley.

 

[State82]

Listen to thatsbaseball, boys. Because that is the problem.

 

[studentdawg87]

Reed Stringer was a dynamite recruiter. Mullen replaced him with a Sallach, who has yet to land a single recruit of significance. Also, Mullen needs to hire a real f'ing special teams coach.

 

[AllAmericanDawg]

I dont think after 3 years we can blame lack of depth on the Oline and Dline on Croom. There are a couple of coaches on our staff that are Mullen's boys that have no business being on an SEC staff much less trying to recruit. Hevesy hasn't recruited jack. Sallach, Mirando, and Ouimet are useless. Our last WR coach had head coaching experience. Then took another job as a head coach yet we replace him with a GA with no recruiting experience. Who the hell is Sallach and Ouimet? What do they do? They are wasted positions. Keep the defensive staff and revamp the offensive staff. I think Koenning could be good but he's outnumbered on that side of the ball with Mullen's friends.

I would say you nailed it but it's even better. You crushed it...when you hire enough of your buddies, sometimes people won't tell you you're doing the wrong thing.

 

[LR1400]

I dont think after 3 years we can blame lack of depth on the Oline and Dline on Croom. There are a couple of coaches on our staff that are Mullen's boys that have no business being on an SEC staff much less trying to recruit. Hevesy hasn't recruited jack. Sallach, Mirando, and Ouimet are useless. Our last WR coach had head coaching experience. Then took another job as a head coach yet we replace him with a GA with no recruiting experience. Who the hell is Sallach and Ouimet? What do they do? They are wasted positions. Keep the defensive staff and revamp the offensive staff. I think Koenning could be good but he's outnumbered on that side of the ball with Mullen's friends.

Hevesy recruited Dak Prescott.

 

[Todd4State]

to make 100K can pick up the Clarion-Ledger and figure out who is on the Dandy Dozen and start from there.

I would also wager that someone that makes 100K can afford to subscribe to multiple recruiting sites and also figure out who the top players are.

AND I would also wager that someone making 100K is also at least as smart as Rosebowl and Yancy.

It's not like the top players in the state/country are top secret classified info or anything like that.

After all, those are the ones that need to be paid. The players that everyone wants. Guys like CJ Johnson. The "diamonds in the rough" are just thankful to have a SEC offer- there's no reason to pay for them.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

re: OL depth.

behind our preseason starting OL, we had no upper classmen depth. that is largely croom's fault. we have 2 4th year OL and 2 3rd year OL on the roster. yeah the 3rd year guys are half croom/half mullen guys, but given mullen was in transition and coaching florida to a national title, i'll let that class slide.

we have i think 8 or 9 1st or 2nd year players at OL. there are not many OL that are ready to start that early in their career, especially against sec Ds. mullen has been signing guys to restock our OL depth, but they aren't gonna gain the strength and experience needed to be studs immediately. right now we are unfortunately seeing the gap between the end of the croom era which left us with little to no depth and the early returns on the mullen era where we are building some depth, but they are still 1st and 2nd year players. if in 2 years we still have no sec OL, then we'll have a much bigger cause for concern, but for now it's just the harsh realities of trying to build depth in the sec.

and yes, there is a difference between "making excuses" with a negative connotation and giving an explanation of what's going on.