Where Mullen may "break out" is after saban retires. As long as saban is at bama, it's going to be hard to consistently win big in the west. But once saban retires, bama is going to become more vulnerable. We just need Mullen to still be in Starkville and we need him to continue to slowly continue building the program. Outside of bama, we have the most stable program in the west. Still no one really knows if malzahn is an ok coach or a very good coach that may develop into a great coach, coach o is coach o, we don't have to worry about OM for awhile, sumlin is on the hot seat at a&I'm (who've always struggled to find the right coach for a program with their kinda resources), and Bert is kinda on the hot seat with Arkansas, plus we have more inherent advantages than Arkansas. So if saban decides to walk away in the next few years before some of the other west programs get more stability, there's an opportunity there for Mullen to strike big in a post-saban void.