Not understanding all the hate for Mullen

[ShotgunDawg]

- I don't hate Mullen & actually am thankful for everything he did for MSU program, except losing a few Egg Bowls while trying to get another job.

- I've lost a ton of respect for him by how he has handled this change, continues to recruit players that are committed to a program he built, & how it's clear that he thought he was better than MSU, due to how he never embraced the state or the town. That's not a requirement for a coach, but it still would've shown a lot.

- I hope he falls on his face & sucks it up at Florida because that increases the value of the MSU coaching job. Mullen stinking at Florida shows that MSU can be a destination job as leaving for a more prominent school does not guarantee success.

[BrunswickDawg]

- I don't hate Mullen & actually am thankful for everything he did for MSU program, except losing a few Egg Bowls while trying to get another job.

- I've lost a ton of respect for him by how he has handled this change, continues to recruit players that are committed to a program he built, & how it's clear that he thought he was better than MSU, due to how he never embraced the state or the town. That's not a requirement for a coach, but it still would've shown a lot.

- I hope he falls on his face & sucks it up at Florida because that increases the value of the MSU coaching job. Mullen stinking at Florida shows that MSU can be a destination job as leaving for a more prominent school does not guarantee success.

^ This. I was a big defender of Rance Mulliniks, and didn't want to believe we were being used this whole time. The way he left opened the eyes of a lot of people, and you have to let people vent. When Jackie left, people were pissed at him for the way the program had become a shambles, but we still love him for what he did for the program. Rance will be seen in the same light in about 3-4 years.

As an aside - I was thinking something this morning. Did Dan actually do us a huge favor by leaving this year? We have a loaded team coming back. A team that I think will be good enough to challenge for the West - which defacto means be in the hunt for NC. I don't think Dan would have gotten us over that hump, and we would be royally pissed at a 10-2 record with 2 bed shittings against Auburn and Bama (or god forbid OM). Couple that with the probability that the Country Club was going to coast into the 2019 signing class thinking they had it made, which would have been a recipe for disaster. If those 2 things happened, I think there would have been a lot of talk after next year about moving on and I don't think Dan's ego would have handled that well. He'd be 2016 pissy, and the 2019 season could turn into a 2001 disaster- leading to a Jackie-esqu downfall. This may be the one time in history that we have had the best thing possible happen to us from a coaching turnover perspective.

[ShotgunDawg]

As an aside - I was thinking something this morning. Did Dan actually do us a huge favor by leaving this year? We have a loaded team coming back. A team that I think will be good enough to challenge for the West - which defacto means be in the hunt for NC. I don't think Dan would have gotten us over that hump, and we would be royally pissed at a 10-2 record with 2 bed shittings against Auburn and Bama (or god forbid OM). Couple that with the probability that the Country Club was going to coast into the 2019 signing class thinking they had it made, which would have been a recipe for disaster. If those 2 things happened, I think there would have been a lot of talk after next year about moving on and I don't think Dan's ego would have handled that well. He'd be 2016 pissy, and the 2019 season could turn into a 2001 disaster- leading to a Jackie-esqu downfall. This may be the one time in history that we have had the best thing possible happen to us from a coaching turnover perspective.

I think there is an excellent argument that for the long term ceiling of the program, Mullen leaving this year was for the best. The sucky part though is that had Mullen been "all in" we'd be in the Citrus Bowl right now & with a 9-3 record. However, now since we don't have a coaching staff, a 10-3, top 10 caliber team is probably going to finish unranked & with an 8-5 record. Mullen's situation royally 17ed this ceiling of this season & will likely cause us to be ranked far lower going into 2018 than we should be.

So, for the long term, I agree that now was probably the best time, but for the short term, it sucks.