So what is TN obsession with Mullen?

[Commercecomet24]

Boys $7M is about to be the norm in the SEC. Get used to it. College football is about to go to hell.

I?m afraid you?re right. It?s an arms race now.

[Commercecomet24]

Disagree. We should match Tennessee's offer no matter what. It would be a huge positive news story for us if we suddenly bumped him up to 7.5 million or whatever. All the talking heads would be discussing what a great commitment to winning we have as a program. Would be good press for Starkville too.

Right. It would prove how serious we are and not the same ol poor mstate. And it would shove it right up the behind of all those in the media who talk about our ?lack of resources? screw em all!

[MetEdDawg]

If you don’t pay it your ass better have an option that will be equal to where Dan is now in 3 years. We are win now job because of the young experienced talent on roster. You willing to hand this team over to a group of 5 HC Or a low end P5 coach or a flash in the pan one good year coach? I’m not.

You pay Mullen. He wants to be here. But he’s going to go where he’s got the opportunity to be successful. We want to be a big time team? Time to shell out the big time money. We need Dan at MSU to continue building the brand. We’ve still got a long way to go and I think for the next 5-7 years we would be stupid to not think he’s the guy to lead it and that he’s just replaceable.

[civildawg]

So I?m just curious, you?re ok with paying Mullen basically a Saban salary and getting half the results? I just don?t think that?s the smartest thing to do but I will back whatever Cohen decides for now

[msstate7]

If we pay 7 million, what can we pay assistants? Does it affect baseball, MBB, and WBB?

[msudawg1200]

Asking in all seriousness, can we pay 7M? Where does this money come from?

[Jack Lambert]

Asking in all seriousness, can we pay 7M? Where does this money come from?

Bull dog club, Athletic department, boosters and State money. Not so much state money. I think there is a limit.

[msstate7]

With all the big jobs open, $7M might not be top 5. Mullen already makes $6M with everything included. He needs to push for a larger recruiting budget. Ours is the smallest in the SEC.

And if salary goes up, that could mean less recruiting budget or less for assistants.

[dawgday166]

Mullen's record as a ranked team:
2010 4 - 2 beat UAB by 5, KY by 7, a 3-8 OM team by 8, and waxed an unranked 7- 5 Michigan team in bowl game. Beat OM as ranked team.
2011 1 - 2 Started out ranked and beat Memphis. Lost next 2 to AU (who ended year 7 - 5) & LSU. Beat OM as unranked team.
2012 5 - 4 (Started 7 - 0 that year). As ranked team beat S. Alabama, KY, a Tenn team that finished 5 - 7, Middle Tenn, an Arky Team that finished 4 - 8 after Petrino was fired before season. Lost as a ranked team to a 6 - 6 OM team.
2013 0 - 0 Beat OM as unranked team.
2014 6 - 3 2 of those wins were as lesser of 2 ranked teams (TAM & AU ranked higher going in). Other 4 wins were struggles against KY & Arky (2-6 for SEC that year; 6-6 overall), then Tenn-Martin and Vandy. Lost to Bama, lost to an injury decimated OM team that finished 9 - 4, and Ga Tech.
2015 1 - 4 Beat a 5 - 7 Missouri team. Lost to LSU, TAM, Bama, and lost to OM.
2016 0 - 0 Beat OM as unranked team.
2017 2 - 4 got blown out vs. Ga and AU. Beat UMass by 11 at home, beat a very crappy Arky team late in 4th, played close one against Bama at home, lost to crappy OM team.

Overall record as ranked team: 19 - 29. The 19 wins consist of UAB, Memphis, USA (S. Bama), KY (3 times), UT Martin, Vandy, UMass. Also beat .500 (or below) opponents OM, Tenn, Arky (twice), Mizzou. That's 14 very crappy teams out of the 19 wins.

Record vs OM as ranked team 1 - 4.

If Tenn wants to pay $7 mill for that, more power to them.

ETA: Anyone who wonders why we get "no respect", I believe it is self-explanatory above. Anyone who thinks we have a chance to win SEC W next year is delusional.

[RockyTop85]

UT fan and grad. Came over here looking to see if there was any speculation to be had. My in-laws are Ole Miss fans. Watched the game last night and secretly cheered for you guys. 😂

FWIW one of our former players has a radio show in Knoxville and says we?re not getting Mullen. He?s not always very reliable so who knows. We do have rumors going around that the media has been told to keep their schedules open on Sunday.

To answer the OP, UT fans are actually split.

We have some fans that think we?re a top 10 job, nationally, and we can hire pretty much anybody except Saban, but that an ESPN color commentator is going to come in and whip Saban and Dan Mullen is a ?meh? hire.

We also have a group who looks at the last few hires in the SEC East and thinks Mullen would be the modern equivalent of a Homerun who would do better in the East.

Good luck to you guys! Condolences about last night, but sounds like Fitzgerald?s injury may not be as bad as it looked?

[Churchill]

Dan would bring UT great stability and 8-10 wins per season. If that's your goal....he's your guy.

[ILOATHEBears]

Dan would bring UT great stability and 8-10 wins per season. If that's your goal....he's your guy.

UT is flying down to meet with Mullen today, according to rosebowl. Cohen has a vetted list of candidates but they aren?t very exciting in my opinion

[civildawg]

Is bill Clark on that list?

[ILOATHEBears]

Is bill Clark on that list?

List: Neal Brown at Troy, Mike Norvell at Memphis, Bill Clark at UAB, Brent Venables at Clemson, Barry Odom at Missouri and Jeremy Pruitt at Alabama among others.

[Dawgology]

It’s what I said the other day and got lambasted by some posters. We have a good football program and a REALLY good AD right now. Whatever happens we are positioned well for the future. What Mullen has done here is unprecedented to a certain extent but I think that thought process is also based on what we went through with Croom and the last years of JS.

[fader2103]

We could get another good/great coach for what we?re paying Dan at the moment. I have a hard time paying Dan 7mm when he hasn?t even won a SECw title

[msstate7]

UT is flying down to meet with Mullen today, according to rosebowl. Cohen has a vetted list of candidates but they aren?t very exciting in my opinion

Who are they? I personally hope mike norvell and Willie fritz are on the list

[Leeshouldveflanked]

One thing that hurts us is that state law limits us to a maximum 4 year contract... other states can give longer contracts.

[civildawg]

I think that actually helps us avoid potentially bad contracts like Arkansas and Tennessee

[msstate7]

List: Neal Brown at Troy, Mike Norvell at Memphis, Bill Clark at UAB, Brent Venables at Clemson, Barry Odom at Missouri and Jeremy Pruitt at Alabama among others.

I doubt seriously we could get vanables, but I would take him in a heartbeat. Geoff Collins should be interviewed. He has done a good job at temple considering they completely changed their offensive philosophy