Okay, so serious talk now: Mullen's contract. 2 things:

[TheStateUofMS]

1) Make him a top 10 paid SALARIED coach with big bonuses for top 20 recruiting classes, bowl wins, final 25 rankings, top 10 finishes, conf champiionships, etc, etc.

2) Do something about the law about the length of coaching contracts. Not saying we need to sign Dan to a 10 year contract, but 6-7 isn't a bad thing. Isn't there a law in the state of MS about coaching contracts being longer than 4 years? Change this now or MS itself could get in the way of Miss St keeping the best coach its ever had who's genuinely happy here.

 

[PineGroveBully]

No state employee can have a contract longer than the governor. That wont change.

 

[snoopdog]

On the length of coaches contract....

2) Do something about the law about the length of coaching contracts. Not saying we need to sign Dan to a 10 year contract, but 6-7 isn't a bad thing. Isn't there a law in the state of MS about coaching contracts being longer than 4 years? Change this now or MS itself could get in the way of Miss St keeping the best coach its ever had who's genuinely happy here.[/QUOTE]

I believe something would get changed in legislature if it were pushed. With both State and Ole Miss doing so well, I can't imagine an elected official voting against it.

 

[PineGroveBully]

Its not just coaches that cant have contracts longer than 4 years, NO state paid employee can have a contract longer than the governors 4 year term. Thats why normally every 2 years coaches contracts are just extended back to the 4 year max.

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

^true. But the Bulldog Club (who pays most of the total package) isn't bound by that. Could come up with something interesting.

/I think

 

[TheStateUofMS]

Its not just coaches that cant have contracts longer than 4 years, NO state paid employee can have a contract longer than the governors 4 year term. Thats why normally every 2 years coaches contracts are just extended back to the 4 year max.

Bro, you're missing the point...change the law. Change the law so "every state employee" does not get the same treatment as "a state employee" with the job title 'Mississippi State University Head Football Coach.' (and I guess TSUN's coach too just to be fair)

 

[CoastDawg18]

He's clearly earning his pay. He is well paid but is going to be due a raise.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

He's clearly earning his pay. He is well paid but is going to be due a raise.

I think Dan Mullen is currently being paid well to the tune of approximately 3 million dollars. His contract was recently extended but I do not recall any details of the contract being released. I myself don't like this reactionary call for salary increases. I'm all for giving the head coach a nice base salary and incentivizing the heck out of it based on year to year results. It is possible that Strick is already doing that. With the right incentives in place, Dan could have a top 10 salary right here at little old Missippi State. He is building a program. He is still learning on the job. He has State at number 1 in the nation. Expectations here are building but are still realistic. We can devise a contract that should keep Dan in place without bankrupting us if he strokes out and goes full Cousin Eddie on us down the road.

The assistant coaching salaries is where we are still substantially behind the curve despite a decent effort last year. Our defensive coordinator got bumped to $575,000 this year and has an automatic raise to $625,000 in 2015. That's not bad money, but it really should be moved up to the 700 to 750k range in order to compare to our SEC competition. Keeping the best assistants in place and upgrading where needed should be a high priority for our athletic director and our head coach.

 

[Old Fart Dawg]

Mullen will negotiate his contract when it's appropriate. I bet it hasn't even crossed his mind. BUT, he has assembled a pretty good staff who would be high on the target list of other schools, especially Collins.

I do think Dan is happy here. If he gets an offer that is any less than his absolute dream job, he's gonna stick around, and Stricklands will sweeten the pot just to make sure. just my 2 cents

 

[Crazy Dawg]

If he wins a NC you gotta give him $5mil/year GUARANTEED + show our assistants a little love. Correct me if I'm wrong because this is complete hearsay, but did Leo Seal not leave a large sum of his money just for a situation like this with the understanding that if we found a coach worth it to pay him? I have nothing to go by on this except from what I heard from someone with deep ties to the university.

 

[patdog]

Nope. Mississippi tried that with Tubberville years ago. Tried to sign him to a 10-year contract using that same logic of the Rebel Club (or whatever they call it) as being the entity he was contracting with. They got shot down by the MS Attorney General.

 

[Villagedawg]

No state employee can have a contract longer than the governor. That wont change.

The governor has a contract?

edited to say, I understand now.

 

[MSUDawg25]

Why in the world would you want to get rid of the maximum contract law? Pay Mullen as much as he wants, but the law is working in our favor as it is right now. Four years is a very reasonable contract length for a coach of any sport especially if you are renewing it every year. Those 8 year contracts are how schools end up paying three head coaches for one sport at the same time.

 

[Dogariffic]

Not saying contracts past 4 years is a good idea but no way the legislature approves this while Mullen is doing so well.....now if we had asked for this when Croom was coach..........bet it passes overnight...

 

[TicosTicos]

Tied at 25th highest paid coach currently. Along with Freeze is makig 3.2 million. Current list would mean a raise to 4.5 ties with Les at 6th, 5 million ties for 3rd with Sumlin, 4.0 million ties for 10th with malzhon, spurrier and a whole bunch of people.

http://www.coacheshotseat.com/SalariesContracts.htm

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

I figured I wasn't the first person to think about that.

/but I bet I could figure a way to get it done. Stricklin, call me...

 

[DancingRabbit]

Agree with most of that, but Dan would think "WTF" with one of your bonuses

1) Make him a top 10 paid SALARIED coach with big bonuses for top 20 recruiting classes, bowl wins, final 25 rankings, top 10 finishes, conf champiionships, etc, etc.

2) Do something about the law about the length of coaching contracts. Not saying we need to sign Dan to a 10 year contract, but 6-7 isn't a bad thing. Isn't there a law in the state of MS about coaching contracts being longer than 4 years? Change this now or MS itself could get in the way of Miss St keeping the best coach its ever had who's genuinely happy here.

Probably should scratch the idea of paying Dan for crootin' championships. I think Dan has proved he knows a lot more about talent evaluation than the Yancys and Genes of the world. Of course our season so far will make recruiting easier and we'll have less problems with other programs flipping our commits.

I think it's so awesome that Dan offers Dak as a QB early, Les Miles tries to flip him at the eleventh hour, and Dak honors his commitment. And to have it work out so great for Dak.

 

[dannyripms]

We could definitely pay all of our coaches better. I would like to know the number of increased revenue we are generating with all the buzz around football and baseball.

 

[mstateglfr]

1- 4 years is plenty. You extend the contract time and it only hurts the school. Coaches come and go- and schools get hurt when they commit to much time to a coach. You know all those schools that get made fun of for having 2 or even 3 coaches on salary at once? Yeah, lets not be like them.

2- Bumping salary up after a good year is fine, but its not like he pays the school back after a bad/average year. Coaching salaries have been an arms race over the last 7 years and it is out of control. I for one appreciate that we have managed to hire and retain a talented coach with a salary that is neither outrageous nor insulting.
If he decides to bolt to Florida or wherever after the end of the year, us paying him another 1.5mil/year wouldn't have kept him. He would leave because he either likes the other school more or he wants a different challenge/opportunity.

3- Sure Mullen should get a raise if we make the 4 team playoff, but regardless of if we make it or not, our ASSISTANTS should be compensated. They are the ones working with the players every day. They are the ones recruiting and developing. They are the ones play calling and talking to each group on the sidelines.
They are also the ones that will be potentially poached by other teams come the end of the season.

 

[johnson86-1]

Nope. Mississippi tried that with Tubberville years ago. Tried to sign him to a 10-year contract using that same logic of the Rebel Club (or whatever they call it) as being the entity he was contracting with. They got shot down by the MS Attorney General.

The AG doesn't actually have the authority to shoot that down. If the Rebel Club was truly not a state entity, the AG opinion is completely irrelevant to them. The University administrator isn't even bound to follow the AG opinion, it just opens him up to potential liability if he violates it. If the Rebel Club is truly not a state entity, then the reason they didn't enter a contract with Tuberville to pay him as if he had a long term contract with UM is that the decision makers with the
REbel Club didn't actually want to offer him a long term contract.