I have heard from several....

[Todd4State]

They fired him because of his lies. You're still talking about recruiting rankings. Florida will be a top #10 recruiting class there. He will not have to sign Holloway type of players. A 3* player in Mississippi will be a 4* in Florida. You should also know by now Mullen doesn't care about recruiting rankings he trusts his style of recruiting players

And that's very petty for a school like Florida to do to a coach who was winning. Of course like I said the whole plan all along was to hire Chip Kelly and they just used McElwain's lies as a convenient excuse to try to justify it.

The whole problem is while Dan doesn't care about recruiting rankings- the fans at Florida most certainly do. And they most certainly will care if Florida State, Miami, and Georgia are beating them on and off of the field- which is what I think will happen. I'm sure the Florida money people will demand that Hevesy and Gonzalez are replaced at a minimum in a couple of years. I don't expect Dan to react very well when that happens.

[bulldawg28]

And that's very petty for a school like Florida to do to a coach who was winning. Of course like I said the whole plan all along was to hire Chip Kelly and they just used McElwain's lies as a convenient excuse to try to justify it.

The whole problem is while Dan doesn't care about recruiting rankings- the fans at Florida most certainly do. And they most certainly will care if Florida State, Miami, and Georgia are beating them on and off of the field- which is what I think will happen. I'm sure the Florida money people will demand that Hevesy and Gonzalez are replaced at a minimum in a couple of years. I don't expect Dan to react very well when that happens.

You're acting like Hev and Gonzo weren't at Florida before recruiting and coaching the same positions. They did well then, they'll do well now. Let's be honest. If Mullen won at State he's damn sure gonna win at Florida. That's just the reality.

[Todd4State]

You're acting like Hev and Gonzo weren't at Florida before recruiting and coaching the same positions. They did well then, they'll do well now. Let's be honest. If Mullen won at State he's damn sure gonna win at Florida. That's just the reality.

Hevesy was demoted from OL coach to TE coach while he was at Florida under Urban Meyer. And Meyer didn't take Billy with him to Ohio State. That may have been in part because Byrne had hired Hud to be our WR coach before he hired Dan. Which may be one reason why Dan resents Hud.

[bulldawg28]

Hevesy was demoted from OL coach to TE coach while he was at Florida under Urban Meyer. And Meyer didn't take Billy with him to Ohio State. That may have been in part because Byrne had hired Hud to be our WR coach before he hired Dan. Which may be one reason why Dan resents Hud.

I don't understand that move of hiring someone's else staff. That would make most uncomfortable. I hear and see both sides of the argument. The dude seems rejuvenated and ready to coach again. He didn't win the championship he said he would here but he established us. He'll have a easier schedule than before and the talent to get it done. I expect him to succeed and beat upper echelon teams. Mullen had no problem believing he could beat Bama our players didn't until this year. When i played and we beat Bama, Auburn, Florida etc it was because the players believed. Jackie Wayne was the same the good years and bad. I hate things happened the way they did but the guy can coach.

[Todd4State]

I don't understand that move of hiring someone's else staff. That would make most uncomfortable. I hear and see both sides of the argument. The dude seems rejuvenated and ready to coach again. He didn't win the championship he said he would here but he established us. He'll have a easier schedule than before and the talent to get it done. I expect him to succeed and beat upper echelon teams. Mullen had no problem believing he could beat Bama our players didn't until this year. When i played and we beat Bama, Auburn, Florida etc it was because the players believed. Jackie Wayne was the same the good years and bad. I hate things happened the way they did but the guy can coach.

I don't understand or know why Byrne hired Hud and Les Koenning before hiring a staff either. I'm not sure if alumni pressure caused it to happen or if Byrne thought Hud would be really good one day and just wasn't quite ready yet and wanted to keep him around in case our then new coach left. Les was on Felker's staff and of course Rockey was still around at that time. And of course Hud has always had a lot of MSU allies.

I'm not sure that I would say that Dan established us or not. I think Jackie established us at least as much as Dan did. Literally the only thing people wanted to do when Jackie took over was beat Ole Miss and maybe go to a Liberty Bowl every once few years. As you very well know Jackie came in and started beating people and taking us to bowls every other year his first ten in an era when it was more difficult to go to bowls. I think Jackie believed in our players and he actually even won the SEC West plus 1999 was by my measure the best season we have had the past 25 years. That's why I think Jackie was better than Dan despite how it ended.

The thing about Dan is I think when he first came here with Byrne it was kind of using us as a stepping stone and I think everyone was OK with that. Then Stricklin took over and then all of a sudden it was "we need continuity!" and we ended up overpaying for a coach that only intended to use us as a stepping stone. Doing that made it really hard for him to move on. Dan got caught up in his long range career goals- and it's fine to have those and everyone probably should have those- but the problem is Dan let it interfere with his job performance at Mississippi State. And while it's OK to have long range goals you shouldn't let them interfere with your current job.

While Dan may have believed that HE could beat Alabama I'm not sure that he believed in our players being able to beat them based on how he called those games. That and he puts his own personal football ideology ahead of everything else- like running Holloway up the middle. I think that's why he called so many QB runs- because he trusted Dak and Fitz more than any of the other players on the team even if it was 4th and 14.

It was starting to get to the point where Dan was holding us back more than he was moving us forward.

[Goldendawg]

I don't understand or know why Byrne hired Hud and Les Koenning before hiring a staff either. I'm not sure if alumni pressure caused it to happen or if Byrne thought Hud would be really good one day and just wasn't quite ready yet and wanted to keep him around in case our then new coach left. Les was on Felker's staff and of course Rockey was still around at that time. And of course Hud has always had a lot of MSU allies.

I'm not sure that I would say that Dan established us or not. I think Jackie established us at least as much as Dan did. Literally the only thing people wanted to do when Jackie took over was beat Ole Miss and maybe go to a Liberty Bowl every once few years. As you very well know Jackie came in and started beating people and taking us to bowls every other year his first ten in an era when it was more difficult to go to bowls. I think Jackie believed in our players and he actually even won the SEC West plus 1999 was by my measure the best season we have had the past 25 years. That's why I think Jackie was better than Dan despite how it ended.

The thing about Dan is I think when he first came here with Byrne it was kind of using us as a stepping stone and I think everyone was OK with that. Then Stricklin took over and then all of a sudden it was "we need continuity!" and we ended up overpaying for a coach that only intended to use us as a stepping stone. Doing that made it really hard for him to move on. Dan got caught up in his long range career goals- and it's fine to have those and everyone probably should have those- but the problem is Dan let it interfere with his job performance at Mississippi State. And while it's OK to have long range goals you shouldn't let them interfere with your current job.

While Dan may have believed that HE could beat Alabama I'm not sure that he believed in our players being able to beat them based on how he called those games. That and he puts his own personal football ideology ahead of everything else- like running Holloway up the middle. I think that's why he called so many QB runs- because he trusted Dak and Fitz more than any of the other players on the team even if it was 4th and 14.

It was starting to get to the point where Dan was holding us back more than he was moving us forward.

Jackie will always be the "Kang". I'll never forget being in Atlanta when Kevin Prentiss took the punt all the way back and we were ahead of Tennessee in the 4th for a SEC championship. I hate how his last few years ended but UNM and the NCAA made it hard for us to continue to recruit. He was and forever will be "True Maroon". Dan too selfish to be thought of in that regard.

[Todd4State]

Jackie will always be the "Kang". I'll never forget being in Atlanta when Kevin Prentiss took the punt all the way back and we were ahead of Tennessee in the 4th for a SEC championship. I hate how his last few years ended but UNM and the NCAA made it hard for us to continue to recruit. He was and forever will be "True Maroon". Dan too selfish to be thought of in that regard.

Tennessee is VERY lucky that we didn't have a healthy JJ Johnson.

[bulldawg28]

I don't understand or know why Byrne hired Hud and Les Koenning before hiring a staff either. I'm not sure if alumni pressure caused it to happen or if Byrne thought Hud would be really good one day and just wasn't quite ready yet and wanted to keep him around in case our then new coach left. Les was on Felker's staff and of course Rockey was still around at that time. And of course Hud has always had a lot of MSU allies.

I'm not sure that I would say that Dan established us or not. I think Jackie established us at least as much as Dan did. Literally the only thing people wanted to do when Jackie took over was beat Ole Miss and maybe go to a Liberty Bowl every once few years. As you very well know Jackie came in and started beating people and taking us to bowls every other year his first ten in an era when it was more difficult to go to bowls. I think Jackie believed in our players and he actually even won the SEC West plus 1999 was by my measure the best season we have had the past 25 years. That's why I think Jackie was better than Dan despite how it ended.

The thing about Dan is I think when he first came here with Byrne it was kind of using us as a stepping stone and I think everyone was OK with that. Then Stricklin took over and then all of a sudden it was "we need continuity!" and we ended up overpaying for a coach that only intended to use us as a stepping stone. Doing that made it really hard for him to move on. Dan got caught up in his long range career goals- and it's fine to have those and everyone probably should have those- but the problem is Dan let it interfere with his job performance at Mississippi State. And while it's OK to have long range goals you shouldn't let them interfere with your current job.

While Dan may have believed that HE could beat Alabama I'm not sure that he believed in our players being able to beat them based on how he called those games. That and he puts his own personal football ideology ahead of everything else- like running Holloway up the middle. I think that's why he called so many QB runs- because he trusted Dak and Fitz more than any of the other players on the team even if it was 4th and 14.

It was starting to get to the point where Dan was holding us back more than he was moving us forward.

There's no doubt Jackie Wayne is the man. I agree with 99% of this post. My one disagreement is that Jackie did more. Jackie won one more important game than Dan (West Championship) but every record Jackie did Mullen broke. I love Jackie he coached me, but Dan did more. The winning record, team records, and bowl records, don't lie.

[Goldendawg]

There's no doubt Jackie Wayne is the man. I agree with 99% of this post. My one disagreement is that Jackie did more. Jackie won one more important game than Dan (West Championship) but every record Jackie did Mullen broke. I love Jackie he coached me, but Dan did more. The winning record, team records, and bowl records, don't lie.

Too lazy to look it up, but Dan didn't break Jackie's record for # of victories I don't think. If he had stayed one more year, I am sure he would have. I just found Jackie to be more down to earth and genuine. Have a picture of him holding my 3 month old son at a summer get together, ( he turned 17 this past week). It was a lot harder to make it to a bowl game while Jackie was our coach, wasn't "500 bowl games" back then and fewer regular season games. I appreciated the good things and places Dan took us, but it always seemed to be about him at the end of the past 6 seasons ( 4 losses to UNM), when the annual job search started. I'm sure his ex-players think of him as you do Jackie, but I think it became too much about him instead of State.

[Todd4State]

There's no doubt Jackie Wayne is the man. I agree with 99% of this post. My one disagreement is that Jackie did more. Jackie won one more important game than Dan (West Championship) but every record Jackie did Mullen broke. I love Jackie he coached me, but Dan did more. The winning record, team records, and bowl records, don't lie.

Dan had a higher winning percentage but Jackie has more wins overall. The biggest thing is Jackie had twice as many top 25 wins as Dan had. Also had the SEC West Championship. Dan didn't have as many "bad" losses as Jackie and a better bowl record but in general his big wins don't have as much bang as Jackie's did.

You also have to take into account that Jackie's last three years really drag him down a lot and the fact that Jackie had to coach one less game a year than Dan for most of his career- and the 12th game would have been against a I-AA team because the rules about playing I-AA teams was different in the 1990's. That in and of itself gives Dan 9 "free" wins almost that Jackie would have won well over 90% of the time if not 100%. I imagine that with the current rules in place we would have certainly gone bowling in 1996 and 1997 (5-6 and 7-4) with today's scheduling and bowl rules and no doubt Dan would not have gone bowling in 2016 with the 1990's bowl structure not to mention a couple of Dan's 6-6 seasons that would have had us on the bubble in the 1990's. We may have even gone bowling in 1993 under the current structure with a 12th game depending on if we could have beaten Arkansas State and Arkansas in OT which wasn't in place in 1993.

[msbulldog]

I don't understand or know why Byrne hired Hud and Les Koenning before hiring a staff either. I'm not sure if alumni pressure caused it to happen or if Byrne thought Hud would be really good one day and just wasn't quite ready yet and wanted to keep him around in case our then new coach left. Les was on Felker's staff and of course Rockey was still around at that time. And of course Hud has always had a lot of MSU allies.

I'm not sure that I would say that Dan established us or not. I think Jackie established us at least as much as Dan did. Literally the only thing people wanted to do when Jackie took over was beat Ole Miss and maybe go to a Liberty Bowl every once few years. As you very well know Jackie came in and started beating people and taking us to bowls every other year his first ten in an era when it was more difficult to go to bowls. I think Jackie believed in our players and he actually even won the SEC West plus 1999 was by my measure the best season we have had the past 25 years. That's why I think Jackie was better than Dan despite how it ended.

The thing about Dan is I think when he first came here with Byrne it was kind of using us as a stepping stone and I think everyone was OK with that. Then Stricklin took over and then all of a sudden it was "we need continuity!" and we ended up overpaying for a coach that only intended to use us as a stepping stone. Doing that made it really hard for him to move on. Dan got caught up in his long range career goals- and it's fine to have those and everyone probably should have those- but the problem is Dan let it interfere with his job performance at Mississippi State. And while it's OK to have long range goals you shouldn't let them interfere with your current job.

While Dan may have believed that HE could beat Alabama I'm not sure that he believed in our players being able to beat them based on how he called those games. That and he puts his own personal football ideology ahead of everything else- like running Holloway up the middle. I think that's why he called so many QB runs- because he trusted Dak and Fitz more than any of the other players on the team even if it was 4th and 14.

It was starting to get to the point where Dan was holding us back more than he was moving us forward.

Last line 'rings true'!

[I seen it dawg]

You're acting like Hev and Gonzo weren't at Florida before recruiting and coaching the same positions. They did well then, they'll do well now. Let's be honest. If Mullen won at State he's damn sure gonna win at Florida. That's just the reality.

He ain?t winning any more at Florida than he did here.