Looking over other message boards, FL has some serious but hurt over our recruiting.

[Jack Lambert]

Just saying. You figure it would be Ole Miss. At 247 Florida is at 32 today.

[mstatefan91]

MSU fans: Dan Mullen is not a great recruiter

Florida fans: It's just the program

MSU fans: Don't whine about it when that doesn't turn out to be the case

Florida fans: Spurrier, Meyer... BRAND!

........

[TrapGame]

I saw they just lost a CB to Oregon. Heads started exploding.

[yjnkdawg]

That philosophy of being a developmental program, or recruiting like one, will not fly with Foley, Spurrier, and the rest of the Gator Nation. Could end up with that coming back and biting the AD and HC on their butt.

[ShotgunDawg]

At what point do we let them know that it won't get better & that new names won't pop up later in the process?

[Randolph Dupree]

At what point do we let them know that it won't get better & that new names won't pop up later in the process?

I feel like we owe it to the University, it's fans and coaches to hold our tongue and let this fester a while. Let's just get some popcorn, sit back, and watch it unfold.

[Count Istvan Teleky]

Yeah, can we just keep our mouths shut and let them figure it out? No need to be Captain Obvious.

He's still the same coach that found and developed a ton of talent at State so he will coach up whoever he gets.

[Jack Lambert]

That philosophy of being a developmental program, or recruiting like one, will not fly with Foley, Spurrier, and the rest of the Gator Nation. Could end up with that coming back and biting the AD and HC on their butt.

I think it worked at Miss State because we have a lot of unknown athletes at these 3A country schools who get over looked because they are at a 3A country school and Mullen was able to find them. Put these same kids at MC or Brandon you have four stars.

[Turfdawg67]

How about a poll on Mullen's longevity at UF? Choices?
* 1-3 years
* 4-5 years
* 6+ years

I don't think he'll make it past 3 years.

[msbulldog]

There is a 4 star cornerback named Chris Steele out of California that the Florida fanbase is counting on getting pretty hard.
The last few days he has been Chrystal Balled by many national and local predictors on 247 to USCw.

[RocketDawg]

How about a poll on Mullen's longevity at UF? Choices?
* 1-3 years
* 4-5 years
* 6+ years

I don't think he'll make it past 3 years.

Then they'll come after Moorhead.

[SmokeyDawg]

They also have a thread on 247 asking if the assistant coaches were hired for their loyalty or their value. Have they not heard about the country club? I can't believe how concerned they are about oos recruiting. They should be able to fill their class from FL and GA alone. I mean, look at the brand**

[Turfdawg67]

Then they'll come after Moorhead.

If Loafers is still there, for sure. But... he'll be gone too.

[TrapGame]

Then they'll come after Moorhead.

They'll start coming after Moorhead when we whoop that ass Sept 29th. Danny Boy is gonna wake up with a warm seat on the 30th.

[Turfdawg67]

They also have a thread on 247 asking if the assistant coaches were hired for their loyalty or their value. Have they not heard about the country club? I can't believe how concerned they are about oos recruiting. They should be able to fill their class from FL and GA alone. I mean, look at the brand**

HA! Poor saps didn't do their due diligence after their top 2-3 coaches said no to "the brand". Desperation and $30MM later, they have the CC!!

[msbulldog]

They'll start coming after Moorhead when we whoop that ass Sept 29th. Danny Boy is gonna wake up with a warm seat on the 30th.

Hey ya'll remember when Florida coach Ron Zook got Croomed? Matter of fact remember when Mike Shula and the Ogre also got Croomed.

[Katdoc12]

I was told that Don has assured them its just that its early, he'll start working them closer to actual signing day & then Florida will come in top 5 as so many will wait until last minute to commit to them. :) If they only knew! I expect Dec to be very hot in Gainesville!!

[BankerDog]

Can't we just let it go? It's their problem now and not ours. Thanks Mullen for building this foundation and the years of (for our standards at the time) success.

We upgraded in our recruiting and coaching with Joe. Let's focus on him and the job he is doing and not the former.

[dawgs]

Yeah, can we just keep our mouths shut and let them figure it out? No need to be Captain Obvious.

He's still the same coach that found and developed a ton of talent at State so he will coach up whoever he gets.

No doubt he'll coach them up, the problem is that 7-9 Ws in the regular season with 1 10 W regular season gets you raises and adoration in Starkville. In Gainesville, it gets you fired.

Mullen pros: good talent evaluator, good developer of talent, good at finding guys for his system, great at finding and coaching up QBs
Mullen cons: not willing to put in the relationship work land top targets (necessitating more evaluation and development), stubborn with his gameplans, plays not to lose in big games, questionable in game decisions (related to playing not to lose)

Mullen was great for us, rebounded the program after we croom'd ourselves, got the fanbase fired up, etc., and for that he should be commeded. But anyone that took an objective look at things saw his shortcomings and knew that they were holding us back in the 7-9 regular seasons W range instead of taking the next step.

[Turfdawg67]

No doubt he'll coach them up, the problem is that 7-9 Ws in the regular season with 1 10 W regular season gets you raises and adoration in Starkville. In Gainesville, it gets you fired.

Mullen pros: good talent evaluator, good developer of talent, good at finding guys for his system, great at finding and coaching up QBs
Mullen cons: not willing to put in the relationship work land top targets (necessitating more evaluation and development), stubborn with his gameplans, plays not to lose in big games, questionable in game decisions (related to playing not to lose)

Mullen was great for us, rebounded the program after we croom'd ourselves, got the fanbase fired up, etc., and for that he should be commeded. But anyone that took an objective look at things saw his shortcomings and knew that they were holding us back in the 7-9 regular seasons W range instead of taking the next step.

Well said. Couple things you left out.

Loyalty:
You really, really gotta 17 up to get out of the CC.

Negative:
Laziness - He'll take a Simmons, but he's not gonna work his ass off for him.
Loyalty - He can't see the forest for the trees... OR he just likes to be surrounded by "yes" men.

[RocketDawg]

Hey ya'll remember when Florida coach Ron Zook got Croomed? Matter of fact remember when Mike Shula and the Ogre also got Croomed.

Losing to MSU in those days was the kiss of death. It may still be.

[Turfdawg67]

Losing to MSU in those days was the kiss of death. It may still be.

Too bad Saban didn't get Croomed.

[RocketDawg]

Too bad Saban didn't get Croomed.

If I remember correctly, he did lose to Croom in his first year at Alabama. I suppose they couldn't fire him at that particular point, but would've been nice if they had.

[parabrave]

If I remember correctly, he did lose to Croom in his first year at Alabama. I suppose they couldn't fire him at that particular point, but would've been nice if they had.

I was sitting in the SE corner of DWS that day, Surrounded by the Gumps. After the interception for the TD they were ready to fire him during halftime. I kept on hearing the say We are paying him 4 mil to make stupid calls like that pass play.

[Turfdawg67]

If I remember correctly, he did lose to Croom in his first year at Alabama. I suppose they couldn't fire him at that particular point, but would've been nice if they had.

Yes he did. My bad if I don't understand "getting Croomed". I thought it meant if you get beat by Sly you get fired. Croom beat him in his 1st or 2nd year... so my point was, boy I wish he had been Croomed too.

[Turfdawg67]

I was sitting in the SE corner of DWS that day, Surrounded by the Gumps. After the interception for the TD they were ready to fire him during halftime. I kept on hearing the say We are paying him 4 mil to make stupid calls like that pass play.
I was on a biz trip in FL, and I swear Bama fans were adamant that they should have hired Croom instead of Saban.

[Randolph Dupree]

I was on a biz trip in FL, and I swear Bama fans were adamant that they should have hired Croom instead of Saban.

Haha...fun to think of if they had. Would've set them back 20 years

[RocketDawg]

I was on a biz trip in FL, and I swear Bama fans were adamant that they should have hired Croom instead of Saban.

Croom was pretty off-put that they didn't hire him too. I think that's the one game he lived for after they didn't hire him.

[Goldendawg]

They are coming across as uninformed idiots by thinking Dan and the country club can out-recruit the likes of Ga, FSU, Miami, and bama, much less have a pipeline back to Ms. to get the best of the best. Did they never look at our recruiting ranks? He found several diamonds in the rough often out of laziness and managed to develop some. Our lack of finishing in our temporary #1 year and not building on it should have been a real eye-opener also. Hail JoMo & Staff! Hail State!

[Dawg61]

At what point do we let them know that it won't get better & that new names won't pop up later in the process?

Let em bleed

[dawgs]

Well said. Couple things you left out.

Loyalty:
You really, really gotta 17 up to get out of the CC.

Negative:
Laziness - He'll take a Simmons, but he's not gonna work his ass off for him.
Loyalty - He can't see the forest for the trees... OR he just likes to be surrounded by "yes" men.

Figured laziness was implied with the "not willing to put in the relationship work". But yeah, he's definitely too loyal to some assistants and it keep him from taking s critical look at their performance.

[SPMT]

Can't we just let it go? It's their problem now and not ours. Thanks Mullen for building this foundation and the years of (for our standards at the time) success.

We upgraded in our recruiting and coaching with Joe. Let's focus on him and the job he is doing and not the former.

Seriously?! We know this. He lied, we?re still a little pissed and we hope we smash him!

Dan was and is an arrogant dick. We don?t like that. So 17 him and 17 you too!

[gravedigger]

Just saying. You figure it would be Ole Miss. At 247 Florida is at 32 today.

Yea, I see Florida has their version of 'Taylor' on twitter.

I'll bet most Florida fans are of the wait and see variety. Problem is, Loafers hitched his wagon to someone who may do just well enough to piss off the fanbase. Meaning, Mullen is going to do well. He is a pretty good coach. But he may have a ceiling that the fans wont be satisfied with.

But most fanbases, including ours, get way too hung up on recruiting rankings. Especially in the summer when we are a month and a half from Fall practice and 2 months from games.

We arent going to be good for the next few years because of a recruiting ranking. We will be good based on Joe Moorhead and staff demanding excellence and managing the program.

But websites and magazines dont make money off of a coaching staff's ability to manage. They make it off of a mythical rating system that is correct at the same rate as someone predicting a coin flip.

[StateDawg44]

Yea, I see Florida has their version of 'Taylor' on twitter.

I'll bet most Florida fans are of the wait and see variety. Problem is, Loafers hitched his wagon to someone who may do just well enough to piss off the fanbase. Meaning, Mullen is going to do well. He is a pretty good coach. But he may have a ceiling that the fans wont be satisfied with.

But most fanbases, including ours, get way too hung up on recruiting rankings. Especially in the summer when we are a month and a half from Fall practice and 2 months from games.

We arent going to be good for the next few years because of a recruiting ranking. We will be good based on Joe Moorhead and staff demanding excellence and managing the program.

But websites and magazines dont make money off of a coaching staff's ability to manage. They make it off of a mythical rating system that is correct at the same rate as someone predicting a coin flip.

Get outta here with all that logic!

[Pollodawg]

Dan is a good to great Xs and Os guy, but his limits as a recruiter are not going away and will keep him from being all he could be. If he hasn?t changed his recruiting approach (or, ya know, adopted one) a decade into his career, he ain?t gonna.

[dawgs]

Yea, I see Florida has their version of 'Taylor' on twitter.

I'll bet most Florida fans are of the wait and see variety. Problem is, Loafers hitched his wagon to someone who may do just well enough to piss off the fanbase. Meaning, Mullen is going to do well. He is a pretty good coach. But he may have a ceiling that the fans wont be satisfied with.

But most fanbases, including ours, get way too hung up on recruiting rankings. Especially in the summer when we are a month and a half from Fall practice and 2 months from games.

We arent going to be good for the next few years because of a recruiting ranking. We will be good based on Joe Moorhead and staff demanding excellence and managing the program.

But websites and magazines dont make money off of a coaching staff's ability to manage. They make it off of a mythical rating system that is correct at the same rate as someone predicting a coin flip.

There's been enough posts detailing how, on the whole, teams with higher recruiting rankings win bigger than teams with shitty ones. Of course not all great recruiters wins big, but the teams playing for natty's almost always have at least 1 or 2 top 10 classes on the roster. 4-5* guys have a much higher rate of success than 3* guys. So yeah, coaching matters, but talent does too. If we sit 20-30 in crootin, our ceiling ain't changing from where Mullen had it which is primarily 7-9 Ws. We had 2014 because we combined a once a generation QB for MSU with an experienced roster full of diamonds in the rough (dak himself being one). The problem is not many coaches can consistently recruit and coach up 3* guys to compete with teams with stacked 4-5* rosters. Even Mullen couldn't do that consistently. The only way to reliably compete and win the west/sec and make a CFP push is to recruit like we are now AND coach them up.

[Liverpooldawg]

Mullen and staff were very good at finding the guys with the better potential that were in our traditional recruiting wheelhouse. They were excellent at developing those guys. Overall they probabaly upped our recruiting slightly. Florida is a different ball of wax. Their traditional wheelhouse is a lot higher off the ground than ours. If they maintain the same approach and approach the same level players there it won't sit well.


If the Florida fans expected Mullen to bring a pipeline from Mississippi with him that is probabaly just delusional. Mississippi kids that leave the state are much more likely to go to Alabama, Auburn, and LSU than anywhere in Florida. You will get one every so often, but it's never been a pipeline to anywhere down there. The only reason they really care this year is that the Mississippi class is so good.

[Dawg2003]

FL has bought into their own hype that they can get any recruit just because they are FL. They are living in the past. These recruits probably barely remember FL winning national championships. GA and FSU are the schools that can recruit themselves at this point. I?m gonna really laugh when Lane Kiffin gets a higher recruiting class. Man, that would be something.

And can we put to bed the notion that recruits pick a school based on the city/town the college is in. That is probably about the last consideration. The most important stuff to these kids is getting playing time and the relationships they have with the other players and coaches. After that, facilitates do matter. These kids could care less if the town has a putt putt golf course and a Target. I went to State 20 years ago, and Starkville was nothing. But we had no idea at the time. We were just happy to be with our friends and away from home.

[Liverpooldawg]

I went to MSU in the early 80s. Back then Starkville was Aberdeen with a university sitting next to it. Starkville has morphed into a pretty decent college town. The stuff that did that is about to explode too. I barely recognize it now in places. In 10 years kids that are there now may not.

[Goldendawg]

Dan is a good to great Xs and Os guy, but his limits as a recruiter are not going away and will keep him from being all he could be. If he hasn?t changed his recruiting approach (or, ya know, adopted one) a decade into his career, he ain?t gonna.

Great X's and O's? Revisit Hollaway up the middle, other RB's can't pass block, too much QB draw on 4th down, record against bama, record against ranked foes, losses to UMN after he had checked out at the end of the season. He did good things also: learned to win again by winning most OCC games, beating teams we we supposed to beat (Ky, Arky, weaker SEC East teams, great temporary run to # 1 but he didn't build on). When he was our smart***, we loved the act. Now not so much. Go JoMo and staff! Hail State!

[msbulldog]

I went to MSU in the early 80s. Back then Starkville was Aberdeen with a university sitting next to it. Starkville has morphed into a pretty decent college town. The stuff that did that is about to explode too. I barely recognize it now in places. In 10 years kids that are there now may not.

I got ya'll all beat, when I started in 1973, the only fast food we had was the Sonic on 12 and a Burger Chef on the backside of campus. But I loved it, plenty of drunken late night runs to Sarges and the Artesia Railroad Cafe, where my buddies persuaded me to try brains and eggs for the first time. I was really drunk.

[Goldendawg]

I got ya'll all beat, when I started in 1973, the only fast food we had was the Sonic on 12 and a Burger Chef on the backside of campus. But I loved it, plenty of drunken late night runs to Sarges and the Artesia Railroad Cafe, where my buddies persuaded me to try brains and eggs for the first time. I was really drunk.

Know what you mean. Class of 77, thought Len Lew's kitchen (won a lot of hamburger plates shooting pool) if we got there early and Sarge's very late after we left were 5 Star establishments. If I didn't go home on weekends, Sunday dinner was a bbq plate from Coleman's. Can't forget Burger Chief and Jeff commercials. Showing my age. Hail State, Past, Present and Future!

[RocketDawg]

I got ya'll all beat, when I started in 1973, the only fast food we had was the Sonic on 12 and a Burger Chef on the backside of campus. But I loved it, plenty of drunken late night runs to Sarges and the Artesia Railroad Cafe, where my buddies persuaded me to try brains and eggs for the first time. I was really drunk.

Was the Mug 'n Cone already closed then?

[fieldcorporal]

1971.

Sonic hadn't opened yet, I don't think and I think the Mug & Cone was closed. Burger Chef was it for fast food.

I had a job in Columbus, 3:30pm to 11 pm. Burger Chef was my every-day stop when leaving campus on the way to work.

"i'll have a Big Chef, large fries and a medium coke to go please"


The passenger side floorboard stayed level with the seat with burger chef bags.

[Offshore Dawg]

I got ya'll all beat, when I started in 1973, the only fast food we had was the Sonic on 12 and a Burger Chef on the backside of campus. But I loved it, plenty of drunken late night runs to Sarges and the Artesia Railroad Cafe, where my buddies persuaded me to try brains and eggs for the first time. I was really drunk.

I too ate at Sarges, got first degree in 73, then returned in 75 to do it again.