Interesting Mullen interview

[ShotgunDawg]

He's right...

http://coachingsearch.247sports.com/Article/Mullen-Heres-my-take-on-fans-asking-for-coaching-changes-32079458

[Lloyd Christmas]

He's right...

http://coachingsearch.247sports.com/Article/Mullen-Heres-my-take-on-fans-asking-for-coaching-changes-32079458

Jesus, did we really have a fire Dan site? I don't remember that at all. If so that's retarded.

Having said that, it's not nearly like he was actually on the hot seat. I would say about 18% of our fan base wanted him gone and the admin stuck with him by giving him an extension even when he was losing last year. The fact of the matter is that if Dan wasn't a moron with Russell/Perkins vs Dak/JRob people would have been a lot less pissed off.

[RossDawg82]

yes he is, and I know there were several on this board that wanted Dan fired immediately. I don't get why people thought he wasn't a good coach. Maybe someone who felt that way can let us all know.

[Coach34]

While some of our fans bitched last year-
Mullen was never on the hotseat. Keenum and Strick were not going to make any kind of
move- even if we finished 4-8. There were however, loud mouthed boosters that thought that maybe they could force a change. Would have been interesting had a 4-8 season taken place

What has happened has absolutely been for the best obviously

[ShotgunDawg]

The good thing is that Mullen realizes that this type of stuff goes on everywhere, and that it is actually a bi-product or symptom of people caring.

As a coach, would you rather people NOT CARE, and this type of stuff never happens, or would you rather people CARE, with understanding that passionate people will be passionate when things aren't going well?

[bluelightstar]

Nah, I think he's wrong. Players don't deserve it, but these coaches making $3 million a year can deal with it.

On the flip side, I don't remember there being a 'fire Dan' website. In fact, the only 'fire mullen' website I ever remember was made by Florida fans when he was OC at UF.

[Lloyd Christmas]

While some of our fans bitched last year-
Mullen was never on the hotseat. Keenum and Strick were not going to make any kind of
move- even if we finished 4-8. There were however, loud mouthed boosters that thought that maybe they could force a change. Would have been interesting had a 4-8 season taken place

What has happened has absolutely been for the best obviously

Regardless, this is easily the only shitty part of this season. Although a minor distraction, I'm afraid of what it could do to recruiting this year. I'm also scared shitless at the prospect of Stricklin heading up a search.

Dan makes a lot of good points, but his ego (easily his greatest strength) is also one of his greatest weaknesses. Perkinsupthegutx80 was enough to drive a sane fan crazy.

[cheewgumm]

How long has Muschamp been at Florida? I think it's 3 years and he is all but gone. so, I would say State fans are more than patient.

[quickstrike2]

I agree with him. Only a small percentage wanted him to be fired, and I thought that was unrealistic unless we lost out. He did do somethings that would drive a fan crazy, not playing Dak and Robinson while watching Perkins pound it was tough to take. However, those were easily fixable things. His program was working, players were developing, he was getting rid of coaches that didn't work and bringing in ones that did, and recruiting players that would come in and fit the system. Those are the things that made me not want to fire him, and those exact things was the reason I wanted Croom ran out of town of the first train.

While I don't alway agree with Mullen's in-game decisions, I love having him as our coach and him running the program and hope he stays around.

[mparkerfd20]

I can think of 3 million reasons why I disagree, but he makes a good point nonetheless.

[blacklistedbully]

Regardless, this is easily the only shitty part of this season. Although a minor distraction, I'm afraid of what it could do to recruiting this year. I'm also scared shitless at the prospect of Stricklin heading up a search.

Dan makes a lot of good points, but his ego (easily his greatest strength) is also one of his greatest weaknesses. Perkinsupthegutx80 was enough to drive a sane fan crazy.

Exactly! This and routinely going conservative/sitting on leads too soon. He did it this year vs LSU, but unlike last year, admitted the mistake, adapted and improved. Also play-calling this year is MUCH better. We no longer look as though we're trying too often to "get cute" (fake punt the exception). Also LOVE the job Collins is doing.

[maroonmania]

While some of our fans bitched last year-
Mullen was never on the hotseat. Keenum and Strick were not going to make any kind of
move- even if we finished 4-8. There were however, loud mouthed boosters that thought that maybe they could force a change. Would have been interesting had a 4-8 season taken place

What has happened has absolutely been for the best obviously

Last year we were at a totally different place. We started off the 2012 year 7-0 and ended up stumbling and bumbling to an 8-5 finish with Mullen looking almost disinterested. Then 2013 comes and we are sitting at 4-6 with 2 SEC games remaining and still with the apparent inability to beat a ranked team. Also at the same time you had Mark Hudspeth looking like a Head Coaching candidate that might be getting some big time interest given the performance of ULL up to that point and everyone knew that he would LOVE to have the MSU job. So it was the perfect storm of Dan looking like he didn't give a crap plus the possibility that the only successful coach out there with MSU as his supposed "dream job" might be moving onto a big time job elsewhere. I agree that Mullen was never seriously on the hot seat with our administration but its kind of silly to try make a big issue about some people at least doubting if Mullen was going to be successful long term especially with Freeze pulling in back to back Top 15 classes. Obviously Mullen NOW has his kind of players maturing into his system and things are going great but that wasn't clear to even people paying close attention a year ago today.

[Tbonewannabe]

Perkins up the gut was probably 90% of the reasons people wanted Dan fired last year. Did Les have anything to do with that or was that all Dan's thinking? We have seen a little of it with Holloway up the middle but for the most part Holloway gets out in space where he is more successful. I think if Dan had went to Dak & Robinson last year, we would have had a lot better record. Dan rewards players who have dedicated themselves to the program like Perkins and Russell. It probably helps the overall program in the long run because it shows the players that they will get to play as long as they grind for it. Our team has the attitude of hard working nothing given. Also going forward we will not have a problem about having a QB that doesn't fit the system. I think Dan calling the plays also helps because he is SO good at offensive playcalling.

[Johnson85]

I don't get why people thought he wasn't a good coach. Maybe someone who felt that way can let us all know.

I know that there probably were some very small number of people that thought he wasn't a good coach, but I think for the most part the issues were: (1) Him running Perkins up the gut instead of Perkins (obviously there is benefit from rewarding your practice warriors and setting the precedent that you will do the right things on and off the field or you won't play, but that involves a sacrifice in present performance that is hard for a lot of fans to understand when they don't have all the information); (2) He didn't appear to address any of the offensive problems that were clear from 2012.

It wasn't that he didn't look like a good coach, it was that it looked like he was too stubborn to play his best players and had been complacent over the off season. The SEC is so crazy competitive, small 'mistakes' like that can significantly set your program back. The Perkins up the middle thing is an issue that fans will never have the information to know whether that decision should be second guessed (if his performance this year isn't enough ot make you just not care about second guessing). For the anemic offense in '12 and '13, I don't know if the problem was simply that Mullen can't be an effective play caller without a dual threat QB, or that Koennig negatively impacted our play calling, but either way if was frustrating to not bring somebody in to add a different dimension in 2013. While I don't think I would have wanted him fired if he went 4-8, I would have been extremely frustrated. I was still frustrated even though looking at our schedule and injuries, the only really poor effort I thought was our offense against OSU and getting conservative with a 3-0 lead, just because again, small mistakes are so punishing when you play in the SEC.

[Political Hack]

CDM was on somewhat of a hot seat. that's a fact. It wasn't blazing hot, but contingency plans were being discussed just in case. To me, you don't do that unless there's a chance that you plan to exercise those options. Especially when those discussions took place outside the Ath Dept.

Either way, it amounted to nothing in the end. At this point, the fans would run Keenum and Strick off campus riot style if they ever go after Dan and Megan Mullen has an army of maroon supporting her! I can't see anyway possible at this point that he's not here for the long term. He's more of a Beamer than a Kiffin. I don't think there's any doubt about that...

I'll share a story I heard 2nd hand, so take it for what it's worth: A big DT recruit came in a few years back and wouldn't go to work and push himself. He's a stud now and it's not someone you would suspect. Anyway, Dan grabbed him in practice and lit into his ass. Told him, paraphrased, that "they're going to be building F-ing statues of me here while your sorry ass is playing Juco ball." that's a heat of the moment type statement, but it told me a lot about his intentions here. I don't think he has any intentions of bouncing, at all, ever. He wants to be the guy that turned this place into a powerhouse. JoePa, Bobby Bowden, Steve Spurrier, the Bear, Beamer, etc... Those are the guys that go down in history. Nobody cares about the Franciones, Pete Carroll's , Kiffin's, & Petrino's of the world in college football. If you don't think he's smart enough to recognize that, then you're the dumb one.

If y'all are going to worry about something, worry about Collins getting a HC spot somewhere. That's a legitimate concern. The rest of this is just feeding into OM recruiting propaganda.

excuse the typos...

[FISHDAWG]

Exactly! This and routinely going conservative/sitting on leads too soon. He did it this year vs LSU, but unlike last year, admitted the mistake, adapted and improved. Also play-calling this year is MUCH better. We no longer look as though we're trying too often to "get cute" (fake punt the exception). Also LOVE the job Collins is doing.


yes - he did learn

[BrunswickDawg]

Dan rewards players who have dedicated themselves to the program like Perkins and Russell.
I think this was a huge factor last year in what we saw on the field. Russell was Dan's first "guy". He won the recruiting battle against Bama to get him. Tyler put in his time. Hell, he shattered most of our single season and career passing records as a Jr. I think Dan was extremely loyal to that first group of recruits because they believed when no one else did. I can't really blame him. I got burned by a 4th year coach "giving up" on a group of Seniors who had busted their tails building up a program from nothing - and it hurt like a death in the family.

I am glad Dan gave those guys every opportunity to win. I also doubt we will ever see that happen again.

[maroonmania]

I think this was a huge factor last year in what we saw on the field. Russell was Dan's first "guy". He won the recruiting battle against Bama to get him. Tyler put in his time. Hell, he shattered most of our single season and career passing records as a Jr. I think Dan was extremely loyal to that first group of recruits because they believed when no one else did. I can't really blame him. I got burned by a 4th year coach "giving up" on a group of Seniors who had busted their tails building up a program from nothing - and it hurt like a death in the family.

I am glad Dan gave those guys every opportunity to win. I also doubt we will ever see that happen again.

Nobody was complaining about Perkins getting playing time. He was good player and should have been playing a lot but its the way he was used that was perplexing to most fans. We bulked him up and by doing so slowed him down to try and run him inside which never worked real well and by doing so made him less effective as an outside runner and receiver which is what he should have really excelled at.