Interesting look into the fall of Dan at Florida...

[BeardoMSU]

https://inallkindsofweather.com/football/culture-shock-part-i-inside-the-florida-gators-implosion-under-dan-mullen/

[Commercecomet24]

Mmmmmm, sounds extremely familiar!

[BeardoMSU]

Mmmmmm, sounds extremely familiar!

No kidding.

[TrapGame]

After reading that I wonder if Dan is totally done coaching.

[Mjoelner34]

Holloway up the middle!

We all knew that about Hevesy thanks to some on here. My nephew saw it at camp. He wasn't good enough to be D1 much less SEC but he still played at Millsaps. He came to camp here and Hevesy was so awful he said he wouldn't play for him even if he was offered and he is a huge State fan.

[BeardoMSU]

Holloway up the middle!

We all knew that about Hevesy thanks to some on here. My nephew saw it at camp. He wasn't good enough to be D1 much less SEC but he still played at Millsaps. He came to camp here and Hevesy was so awful he said he wouldn't play for him even if he was offered and he is a huge State fan.

The Hevesy stuff plus the "not playing your best players" is such a distillation of Dan Mullen. And they didn't mention "we'll talk about recruiting during recruiting season", lol.

What a colossal underachiever.

[RockyDog]

And we had some clowns that wanted to hand the head coaching gig to Grantham. Yikes.

[BeardoMSU]

And we had some clowns that wanted to hand the head coaching gig to Grantham. Yikes.

He was still a good DC when he was here, but after going to Florida for a rebuild I can see him being burnt out. Not dismissing his behavior, obviously, and I'm glad we didn't hire him, but he had a much better track record vs all the other country club members (i.e., Hev, Gonzo, etc).

[WSOPdawg]

While he could've stayed in 2018 for one of his best season's ever with that Defense the JoMo inherited, Mullen checking out late in the season when it mattered most probably would've doomed that team as well (probably 10-3 instead of 8-5).

Makes you feel for the players (both Bulldogs and Gators alike) with having to put up with that sh!t from the coaches. Glad him and his country club friends moved on, but what could have been had he truly appreciated the opportunity he was given in Starkville.

[BeardoMSU]

While he could've stayed in 2018 for one of his best season's ever with that Defense the JoMo inherited, Mullen checking out late in the season when it mattered most probably would've doomed that team as well (probably 10-3 instead of 8-5).

Makes you feel for the players (both Bulldogs and Gators alike) with having to put up with that sh!t from the coaches. Glad him and his country club friends moved on, but what could have been had he truly appreciated the opportunity he was given in Starkville.

This.

And not to mention all the other late season "not giving a shits" because we're job shopping.

[BrunswickDawg]

He was still a good DC when he was here, but after going to Florida for a rebuild I can see him being burnt out. Not dismissing his behavior, obviously, and I'm glad we didn't hire him, but he had a much better track record vs all the other country club members (i.e., Hev, Gonzo, etc).

Or - maybe that's the reason he's only been employed for more than 3 years at a stop one time. And they were ready to run him out on a rail after year 3 but he got a 4th (UGA). Richt got rewarded with a terrible D and an 8-5 season (80th in Scoring D).

[BeardoMSU]

Or - maybe that's the reason he's only been employed for more than 3 years at a stop one time. And they were ready to run him out on a rail after year 3 but he got a 4th (UGA). Richt got rewarded with a terrible D and an 8-5 season (80th in Scoring D).

Oh definitely. Our D in 2017 was talented, obviously, so that also may have covered the cracks.

[BigDawg81]

Mullen would never got Dak without Hevsey The players really loved the S&C coach.
Also, Florida has unrealistic expectations. Mullen lead them to the SEC Championship in 2020. Did they really fire Mullen cause he couldn?t recruit? What are they going to do with Napier if they have another 6-6 or 7-5 season? Are they going fire Napier after 2 seasons? I like Napier and I think he is a good coach.

[Maverick91]

I just like how literally ever State fan was saying Dannyboy would be fired within 5 years. Surenuf middle of his fourth season, he gone.

[Matt3467]

Reading stuff like this makes me really appreciate what Leach did for our team. Leach was invested from start to finish. I hate how Tech did him. I have high hopes and respect for Arnett. If Mullen gave his all all the time he could have a statue outside DWS right now.

[Cooterpoot]

Dan Mullen won the division at FL. A place with a horrendous culture issue. The current guy is worse. Throw in taking us to #1 and beating everybody but AL basically and he's been good. FL has more problems than Mullen.

[Pancho]

Napier better hope USCe doesn't improve or the gators will be 4th or 5th in the SEC East............

[QuadrupleOption]

https://inallkindsofweather.com/football/culture-shock-part-i-inside-the-florida-gators-implosion-under-dan-mullen/

I'll get around to reading the article in a bit, but I already know it's pretty much gonna be a hit piece by the responses I see here.

For such a terrible coach who hires nothing but idiot asshole assistants, Mullen sure did manage to enjoy a lot of success in the W-L column.

My opinion is that Florida fans have a Florida culture problem, and it started with Urban Meyer and a bunch of spoiled players who lie down when upset that they aren't being coddled.

I stated when Mullen left for Florida that it was a mistake. Not because he couldn't have success there, but because that entire organization, from the fans to the admin to the players, is crazy as Hell. Sure enough, they ran him off after two SEC East titles and New Year's bowl games. I will go out on a limb and state that Napier won't be any better than Mullen and will be out in a few years.

[BrunswickDawg]

Mullen would never got Dak without Hevsey The players really loved the S&C coach.
Also, Florida has unrealistic expectations. Mullen lead them to the SEC Championship in 2020. Did they really fire Mullen cause he couldn?t recruit? What are they going to do with Napier if they have another 6-6 or 7-5 season? Are they going fire Napier after 2 seasons? I like Napier and I think he is a good coach.

All of these things can be true. Hev is known as a colossal ass, and yeah, he got us Dak, but he was a terrible recruiter and was known to play favorites. Florida does have unrealistic expectations - partly because they are in a talent hotbed and (like LSU) almost any knucklehead not named Zook can get them to 10 wins. Even Boom won 11 games one year. Mac won the East twice. Reading the article they fired Dan for some of the same things our fans have such a love/hate relationship with the man - he checked out when he wasn't getting what he wanted out of the job and he had some jabroni's on his staff who hurt more than helped. And, Florida will fire Napier. They will give him 3 seasons, but they will fire him.

[ShotgunDawg]

The article would be much better if it compared what Mullen did at MSU vs what he did at Florida.

This article is listed as a bunch of hindsight excuses as to why Florida fell apart but doesn't acknowledge that Mullen won at MSU doing the exact same stuff.

So why is that? Literally everything we read in that article is exactly what happened at MSU

[BrunswickDawg]

The article would be much better if it compared what Mullen did at MSU vs what he did at Florida.

This article is listed as a bunch of hindsight excuses as to why Florida fell apart but doesn't acknowledge that Mullen won at MSU doing the exact same stuff.

So why is that? Literally everything we read in that article is exactly what happened at MSU

I think the answer to that is pretty obvious - in spite of all the issues, he never lost the team/program in Starkville. He probably came close in '16 - but righted the ship with his JUCO haul and ditching Sirmon. UF is never going to give anyone the opportunity to do that.

[DawgFromOxford]

The article would be much better if it compared what Mullen did at MSU vs what he did at Florida.

This article is listed as a bunch of hindsight excuses as to why Florida fell apart but doesn't acknowledge that Mullen won at MSU doing the exact same stuff.

So why is that? Literally everything we read in that article is exactly what happened at MSU

1. Expectations of success were different. No one here realistically expected a national championship out of him. We were thrilled to go 8-4 and have a decent product on the field more times than not.

2. For the most part, Dan didn?t lose games here that he was supposed to win. Now he didn?t win many games we were supposed to lose, but he didn?t have many head scratching losses either.

[BeardoMSU]

I'll get around to reading the article in a bit, but I already know it's pretty much gonna be a hit piece by the responses I see here.

For such a terrible coach who hires nothing but idiot asshole assistants, Mullen sure did manage to enjoy a lot of success in the W-L column.

My opinion is that Florida fans have a Florida culture problem, and it started with Urban Meyer and a bunch of spoiled players who lie down when upset that they aren't being coddled.

I stated when Mullen left for Florida that it was a mistake. Not because he couldn't have success there, but because that entire organization, from the fans to the admin to the players, is crazy as Hell. Sure enough, they ran him off after two SEC East titles and New Year's bowl games. I will go out on a limb and state that Napier won't be any better than Mullen and will be out in a few years.

Read the article, lol. Pay close attention to the bits about Hevesy, Grantham, and others.

[gtowndawg]

Nothing in that article surprises me whatsoever. But Athlons predicts 2 SEC teams will not go to a bowl this year. Vandy and Florida. They have some other issues going on down there, no doubt.

[TrapGame]

You can't blame everything going on at Florida on Mullen. Year Two of Napier ought to be very telling. If we have a better W-L record than Florida with a brand new head coach that should tell you everything.

[EdwardDrayton]

Dang. Don't they have an editor?!!? I'm old and may not have enough time left on earth to make it to the end of the piece.

[R2Dawg]

https://inallkindsofweather.com/football/culture-shock-part-i-inside-the-florida-gators-implosion-under-dan-mullen/

Interesting read. Makes you wonder how we had so many good teams with that toxic pattern of coaching?

Couple other things that hit me reading it.

1) If Mullen didn't trust his assistants to make the right decisions then he had the wrong assistant coaches.
2) HC, Mullen, shouldn't openly challenge the asst.coach on which players are playing. Team sees openly the non unity of coaching staff.
3) Just because a player makes one great play doesn't mean they should be bumped to first team. That happens all the time. Saw this is HS a few times. Players know who the best players are and coaches should too. Play those that earn it and deserve it.

[Bubb Rubb]

Mullen would never got Dak without Hevsey The players really loved the S&C coach.
Also, Florida has unrealistic expectations. Mullen lead them to the SEC Championship in 2020. Did they really fire Mullen cause he couldn?t recruit? What are they going to do with Napier if they have another 6-6 or 7-5 season? Are they going fire Napier after 2 seasons? I like Napier and I think he is a good coach.

Did you even read the article? There were culture problems at Florida, big time. Mullen inherited some of it, but he enabled all of it. That's why he was let go. And it was obvious to almost everyone associated with that program. We had similar issues under Mullen but the difference here is that we had some high quality athletes on our roster who were leaders and pushed their teammates beyond what the coaches would do.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

The article would be much better if it compared what Mullen did at MSU vs what he did at Florida.

This article is listed as a bunch of hindsight excuses as to why Florida fell apart but doesn't acknowledge that Mullen won at MSU doing the exact same stuff.

So why is that? Literally everything we read in that article is exactly what happened at MSU

They went 10-3, 11-2, 8-4, and 5-6 when they fired him. That's an average season of 8.5 wins-3.75 loses.

The wheels fell off at the end at UF, so that is different than his time here, but overall? He was not more successful here vs there as far as on field wins go

[Schultzy]

I’ll never understand not playing your best players.

Aeris Williams finally getting to be the primary back after Holloway got banged up might have prolonged Dan’s tenure here. It was obvious to everyone that Williams was an upgrade, before and especially after he got his chance.

[BankerDog]

All of these things can be true. Hev is known as a colossal ass, and yeah, he got us Dak, but he was a terrible recruiter and was known to play favorites. Florida does have unrealistic expectations - partly because they are in a talent hotbed and (like LSU) almost any knucklehead not named Zook can get them to 10 wins. Even Boom won 11 games one year. Mac won the East twice. Reading the article they fired Dan for some of the same things our fans have such a love/hate relationship with the man - he checked out when he wasn't getting what he wanted out of the job and he had some jabroni's on his staff who hurt more than helped. And, Florida will fire Napier. They will give him 3 seasons, but they will fire him.


He did ID and developed Elgton Jenkins, Dillon Day, made Derek Sherrod a 1st round draft pick, Stewart Reese, Greg Eiland (still in NFL), etc. He also developed Ben Beckwith to a serviceable starter. I can tell you for a fact those guys love Hev and when we brought Marcus Johnson on, the guys were still talking with Hev to help with technique, etc. Hev didn?t recruit pretty boy OL but tough guys who could be coached.

The favorite card is funny to me..everyone loves Knox but he was the one playing Holloway over Williams and we all loved it when he came back; pretty clear in that article Mullen didn?t question personnel decisions so where is the questioning of the Knox hire?

[R2Dawg]

They went 10-3, 11-2, 8-4, and 5-6 when they fired him. That's an average season of 8.5 wins-3.75 loses.

The wheels fell off at the end at UF, so that is different than his time here, but overall? He was not more successful here vs there as far as on field wins go

He was in SECE too which until recently has been weak crap. He went to #1 at MSU playing in toughest division in college football. I'd say he was. Not playing Bama every year helps a lot.

Before UGA the past 2 years, SECE had 0 NC, SEC had how many and 3 different teams. Not even close.

[Commercecomet24]

All of these things can be true. Hev is known as a colossal ass, and yeah, he got us Dak, but he was a terrible recruiter and was known to play favorites. Florida does have unrealistic expectations - partly because they are in a talent hotbed and (like LSU) almost any knucklehead not named Zook can get them to 10 wins. Even Boom won 11 games one year. Mac won the East twice. Reading the article they fired Dan for some of the same things our fans have such a love/hate relationship with the man - he checked out when he wasn't getting what he wanted out of the job and he had some jabroni's on his staff who hurt more than helped. And, Florida will fire Napier. They will give him 3 seasons, but they will fire him.

Nailed it!

[StarkVegasSteve]

He did ID and developed Elgton Jenkins, Dillon Day, made Derek Sherrod a 1st round draft pick, Stewart Reese, Greg Eiland (still in NFL), etc. He also developed Ben Beckwith to a serviceable starter. I can tell you for a fact those guys love Hev and when we brought Marcus Johnson on, the guys were still talking with Hev to help with technique, etc. Hev didn?t recruit pretty boy OL but tough guys who could be coached.

The favorite card is funny to me..everyone loves Knox but he was the one playing Holloway over Williams and we all loved it when he came back; pretty clear in that article Mullen didn?t question personnel decisions so where is the questioning of the Knox hire?

You can think what you want about Hevesy as a person, he was an ass, BUT he took a line that started a walk on from Benton Academy, a lightly recruited kid from JA, a lightly recruited guy from West Monroe, a lightly recruited guy from MRA, and a lineman from Mobile who we were his only offer.

He turned that line into one of the best in the SEC. He got every ounce out of every one of his players. You could argue that a guy like Eiland regressed due to Hevesy leaving.

[TheLostDawg]

He was in SECE too which until recently has been weak crap. He went to #1 at MSU playing in toughest division in college football. I'd say he was. Not playing Bama every year helps a lot.

Before UGA the past 2 years, SECE had 0 NC, SEC had how many and 3 different teams. Not even close.

Yeah Florida took advantage of a down east but missed their window to capitalize on it. They might can get back to where they were (competitive with Georgia) but if Napier doesn't work out, they may get passed by Tennessee (already have?), usc?Kentucky?.. and it'll take a lot of (more) money and a few years to climb their way back. If it weren't for NIL it would be much harder. The SEC schedule shakeup won't do them any favors going forward though. Curious to see if Strickland gets another shot to hire someone if Napier gets let go

[lastmajordog]

del

[QuadrupleOption]

Read the article, lol. Pay close attention to the bits about Hevesy, Grantham, and others.

I read it. I stand by my previous statements for the most part.

I think this article has to be taken with a giant chunk of salt. Hevesy's a dick but he got results from his players. Mullen has no clue but averaged 7 wins a year in Starkville and 8.5 in Gainesville.

His team in Florida laid down and quit because they're soft. Just like they did to McIlwain and Muschamp (and Meyer at the end) before him. Florida players have the problem, not the coaching staffs.

Florida fans are idiots, and Florida's Athletics department pulls the trigger every time they don't win a title. That's all this is - more justification for being spoiled.

Napier is not a better coach than Dan Mullen. He's certainly no Urban Meyer, or Steve Spurrier. He's not going to get them to the promised land, especially with Georgia being dominant and Tennessee on the upswing.

[Todd4State]

Dan survived here because MSU allowed it. It was basically a combination of Dan taking over for a very unpopular coach so the bar from the get go was "offense in the top 100". If he took over for a more successful coach he probably wouldn't have gotten away with as much. Let's be honest here- Joe Moorhead underachieved his first year and then went 6-7 and got fired. How many times did Dan do that? At least twice that I can think of.

The fact of the matter is there was some Poor Ol MSU going on and the administration was afraid to fire him because they didn't think we could do better.

The you have fans that have clingy ex syndrome going on and would take him back. Which I'm 99% sure if we did bring him back he would be looking to leave as soon as he "redeemed" himself with an Outback Bowl win.

I can't honestly say that I know he ever "lost" the team but we definitely had some teams that should have been better than 6-6 and we had some teams like the 2012 team that flamed out at the end of the season. Maybe he and MSU got lucky with Dak.

At any rate- MSU allowed him to get away with a LOT. The job shopping during Egg Bowl week was the worst thing he did. He hit his ceiling in 2010 and 2014 and I was done with him as a fan after 2015 when the team didn't show up for the Egg Bowl. After that I felt like I was being held hostage as a fan because I knew nothing was really going to change or get better. For me it was kind of a relief when he left. If I were in MSU's shoes I would have told his ass to go to Maryland since he clearly didn't want to be here. I wouldn't worry about optics because he was too arrogant to admit that he was essentially fired.

One of the funniest things during his tenure was the media reporting that Aeris wasn't starting because he didn't know the blocking assignments and then Holloway gets hurt and all of a sudden Aeris is this football gym rat who studies film every day. Really couldn't be more obvious as to what was going on. And I remember at least two seasons where we had to move either a DL or a TE to OL because of Hevesy's laughable recruiting. Including one year where he recruited three OL and none of them were eligible.

I'll be honest- I don't miss any of those assholes.