So iron bowl for Atlanta? I doubt it
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We get it.....You want Mullen gone. You don't care how.....just want him out of here. You will get your wish one day...I just hope it is later rather than sooner.
Who?
Mullen doesn't suck. No one has said Mullen sucks. He DOES suck at recruiting elite talent though in relation to the success on the field that he typically has. What most people with functioning brains are saying is that if he focused a little more effort on signing top flight talent (maybe tweaked his strategy about) then we might just turn this program...our program...into a nationally elite program. It's not that we hate where we are at it's just that most folks recognize we are on the cusp of something great and we don't understand why more recruiting effort isn't being given when a blind man can see it would push our program into a higher tier.
I swear...with some of you it's all or nothing. Say one thing negative about Mullen and we suddenly want him fired....Jesus...
Gus has taken top 8 recruiting classes and produced exactly squat at the NFL level in terms of offensive contributors. Can't take credit for developing Cam Newton. I think CDM had as much or more time with him than Gus did. Outside of that, there's very few actual contributors and no super stars from Auburn on the offensive side of the ball.
Tre Mason looked to break that mold, but nope. Artis-Payne is solid. Coates is ok. Hopefully Coleman will be a stud OL for the foreseeable future, but they don't really have any true studs coming out of his system.
He does a great job getting a power running game to work out of spread system, but his QB development and skill player development leaves a lot to be desired, especially considering how highly rated his kids are coming out of high school.
Gus and Kevin should be ashamed.
So to 'splain ... no, no, no ... better sum up. Bunch of average coaches with 1 elite coach in a slightly above average league. If MSU recruits a little better, especially on the Oline, Dan should dominate everyone but the elite coach.
ETA: He does need to learn how to manage a clock better too. That has cost him about 3 - 5 wins in last 4 years probably. Maybe more.
Everyone keeps thinking that we were a recruiting powerhouse before Mullen and in the Jackie era we weren't nor have we really ever been. The positions that are bitched about the most are WR and OL. We have never recruited those positions exceptionally well. Especially OL. Hell the few big time OL we have signed outside of 1 maybe 2 actually panned out. OL is an absolute crap shoot unless it is a for sure can't miss 5* LT which I hate to break it to everyone but we will not sign an OL of that caliber unless he is a M State legacy that just loves MSU. I would be willing to bet that 70% plus of the OL recruits are guys that will have to be developed and you won't know if they have it or not until their 2nd or 3rd year in the program. Do we need to recruit better yes but we are recruiting at a better clip then we have the previous 15 years before Mullen arrived.
Yep that's my point. Do I want us to recruit better? Absolutely! Is Mullen bringing more talent in than we ever have? Yes, he is as evidenced by the amount of players in the NFL(and impact players). In my life we have never had this many stars in the NFL. It took Oregon 10 years of being good not great before they started seeing the blue chips come in, same with Clemson, it took them awhile as well, and there are other programs with similar trends. You can't change 100 years of mediocrity overnight. I feel like we are doing it the right way. Just like in business slow steady growth is generally sustainable, while meteoric rises often times result in meteoric falls. Recruiting is frustrating period. It's a nasty dirty business unfortunately. I think everyone on here wants the same thing, for our University to be successful, some are just a little more patient.
Exactly. Clemson is and has been hovering around that 15 spot in recruiting, and Oregon in their prime was hovering around that 10-15 spot despite the sustained success they had had. There are only a few teams year in and year out that are going to recruit in the top 10. Just part of it. It doesn't matter who is coaching here we will never be a powerhouse in recruiting. Realistically we should probably be averaging a class in the low to mid 20s and break through that every so often at least for a while. Clemson also has a heck of a lot better history of winning than we do.
So by that margin yes Mullen has underachieved in recruiting but the difference in a class in the high 20 low 30s and one in the mid to low 20s is one maybe two prospects.
According to scout since 2012 Mullen has only had one class outside of the top 25 and has had 3 inside the top 20.
I think part of what is so frustrating to everyone is the Saban Effect. Everyone in the SEC and especially the West is trying to catch Bama. If during his tenure Bama had just been good but not dynastic and we have a couple of wins over them during that period I don't think you see all this angst(also the fact unm beat them twice increased the frustration factor exponentionally). If 10 years ago I would've been told that over an 8 year period State will average 7.5 wins a year, go to 7 straight bowl games, recruit in the mid to high 20's, be ranked #1, and have one of the best QBs in the NFL i would have laughed in your face. Dan's laid a solid foundation and now has to build on that. Only time will tell now if he's the man that can do that. I hope that he is.
I believe they call it keeping up with Joneses. Any time you do that you are setting yourself up to fail big time. Take those idiots up north as a ringing example. Yeah they beat bama twice and got a little national pub but to do it they basically sold their souls(and have the exact same record as us over that period) and now the devil is coming for his payment.