If Dan's ego is the problem, how long do you give him before you fire him?

[Dawgfan77]

The biggest issue with Dan is that he is supposed to be an offensive guru yet in year 5 we are worse than we were in 09 with Lee and Relf on O. Who is to blame for that?? All these players are those that he signed. The second issue is that after the train wreck Nutt left up in Oxford they are producing big numbers on offense with a former girls basketball coach.

[Thick]

I got news for all of you. The people that have donated money for the new football building and the stadium expansion have already shot some emails to Stricklin over the holiday weekend about their displeasure. Fact is his football IQ should over ride his ego.

In his presser, he admits that he's an offensive head coach, but yet the offense produces shit over the last several games. Now, if he is such an offensive coach, then why hasn't he tweaked this offense during the off season to utilize the talent that he has recruited?

The only thing that Dan has really accomplished is beating teams that we are supposed to beat....and that's a good start. In year 5 though, as of right now, we have not upset anyone in the top 20, and even when we are better then them (OSU) he finds a way to screw it up.

Say whatever you want, but Dan is doing less with more then Bucky is offensively. That really bothers me.

[fishwater99]

If we don't turn this season around, Dan gets one more year to get us back to a bowl or he's gone...
But knowing Scott, Dan gets 3 more years before anything is done... This is going to be like Stansbury 2.0...

[HancockCountyDog]

What happens if we only win 2 or 3 games this year? If defense keeps us from getting blown out but the offense looks the same all year. That would be 2 years of inept offense.

I think everyone needs to take a step back from the ledge. We aren't winning 2 or 3 games this year.

We will win between 5-7.

5 will be unacceptable and 6+ will be a bowl season, and that is successful in my book. We aren't losing anymore OOC games, we aren't losing to KY, and we beat two out of AU, Ark, or OM. Everyone needs to take a breath.

Yes the offense looked like shit, and yes I've been on #TeamDak from the beginning, but lets just slow down on predicting collapses. AU is very winnable, I wouldn't be surprised if we are favored in that game. Lets see where we are after AU game and go from there.

[angusyoung]

I got news for all of you. The people that have donated money for the new football building and the stadium expansion have already shot some emails to Stricklin over the holiday weekend about their displeasure. Fact is his football IQ should over ride his ego.

In his presser, he admits that he's an offensive head coach, but yet the offense produces shit over the last several games. Now, if he is such an offensive coach, then why hasn't he tweaked this offense during the off season to utilize the talent that he has recruited?

The only thing that Dan has really accomplished is beating teams that we are supposed to beat....and that's a good start. In year 5 though, as of right now, we have not upset anyone in the top 20, and even when we are better then them (OSU) he finds a way to screw it up.

Say whatever you want, but Dan is doing less with more then Bucky is offensively. That really bothers me.

Doing less with more than bucky? Come on man, there is no way you really believe that to be true. We don't have a single player on the outside with the size or talent of Treadwell and Moncreif.

I think our execution and offensive predictability on Saturday were atrocious but you are overstating it just a tad.

[Tbonewannabe]

Before seeing the offense on Saturday, I thought we could win maybe 8. Some of the sure wins I think now might be closer to toss ups. I don't think we will win 2 or 3 but if it did happen I wouldn't be surprised. Troy took us to the wire and UK usually is a good game. Ark has talent and Bielema is a good coach. Aub has the talent for Malzahn's offense with Johnson running the defense.

5 wins aren't a given.

[fishwater99]

Doing less with more than bucky? Come on man, there is no way you really believe that to be true. We don't have a single player on the outside with the size or talent of Treadwell and Moncreif.

I think our execution and offensive predictability on Saturday were atrocious but you are overstating it just a tad.

D. Wilson disagrees....

[Dawg61]

I'm not so convinced we'll beat Bowling Green. They killed Tulsa 34-7 and are upto 9 votes in the rankings. They went 8-5 and bowling last year.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

D. Wilson disagrees....

Agreed...we have offensive talent. There are a lot of coaches that could come in right now and put up some points with the players we have right now. Kliff Kingsbury just put in a walk-on true freshman qb at Texas Tech and he threw 4 TD's. Mullen's performance right now is inexcusable.

[bocfarm]

I'm not so convinced we'll beat Bowling Green. They killed Tulsa 34-7 and are upto 9 votes in the rankings. They went 8-5 and bowling last year.

It will be a tough game, so will Troy

[Thick]

Doing less with more than bucky? Come on man, there is no way you really believe that to be true. We don't have a single player on the outside with the size or talent of Treadwell and Moncreif.

I think our execution and offensive predictability on Saturday were atrocious but you are overstating it just a tad.

You are looking at just wr's. I'm referring to the entire offense. Our rb's can run between the tackles, our offensive line is much better, we do have corner guys in Holloway and Lewis. We have 2 qb's that can run different styles, but we one QB that is the best fit for Dan's offense (little experience) compared to Wallace. Brunetti is incapable of caring that offense for an entire season.

I'm also looking at the last 5 games from last year and including OSU this year. Bucky produces more with less, maybe average line, no rb's other then a scat back, and a QB that has good wr's but makes questionable decisions at times. That's all I'm saying

[Johnson85]

ironic how he raised our expectations and now is becoming a victim of that very expectation .... change doesn't come from buzz words and catch phrases like - juice, swag, relentless effort, ect.... Shmuly said it best on sps - more offense, less Koening

I expected crooms to make adjustments in the off season to address obvious problems. Not expected as in actually expected it to happen, but expected it as in it's a minimum requirement for competency.

Mullen had serious problems with offense and offensive play calling last year. I am actually shocked that he didn't do anything significant to address them in the off season. I thought he was more competitive than that, but an ego is a powerful thing, and I guess his won't allow him to admit he's not a great play caller. If Mullen could apply the same approach to his defensive coaches that he does to his offensive coaches, we'd be on our way to a 7 or 8 win season (or at the worst failing with a new offensive coordinator or failing with Koennig having primary play calling responsibilities instead of Mullen).

I'm not pissed that we lost to Ok St. or even necessarily that we looked like shit. I'm pissed that we didn't try to address an obvious problem. You cannot afford to do that in the SEC at any program, much less MSU. With what we pay assistant coaches, we are going to miss on some coordinators. I'm fine with that. I'm not fine with not trying.

[yakalot]

This whole discussion is moot.

Slive, L. T. and Stricklin will see that this is his last year. At least that's what I read here on Sunday.

[smootness]

Why does MSU always have to hire the most stubborn ass coaches? Why can't we hire someone like Spurrier, who changed his entire style of play at South Carolina, or someone like Belichick who changes offensive styles most every year?

Why do we always have to hire the one trick pony? For goodness sakes, whenever it is time to hire a new coach, whether that is 2 years from now or 10 years from now, I hope we hire someone that has the ability and lack of ego to make changes.

Two things:

1) You just asked why we can't hire two of the greatest coaches in football history.

2) Both of those guys have gigantic egos. If we had Spurrier, we would be upset over the impatience he has with our QBs and how every time one gets going, he pulls him for the other. If we had Belichick, we would be upset that he keeps eschewing more talented players because his ego is so huge that he feels like it isn't about the players, it's about him and that he'll make anything work.

Spurrier hasn't won an SEC title since 2000 (don't really fault him for this), and Belichick hasn't won a Super Bowl since 2004 (pretty much a direct result of him getting rid of so much talent).

[sleepy dawg]

This thread is insane to me. I agree with hells bells in that "This program will never succeed if we continue the fruit basket turn over type plan." Does that mean Mullen has an eternal pass? No. But as long as the guy is consistently taking us to bowls, and some pretty decent ones every now and then, I don't see how you can really consider firing him yet.

Our offense looks like sh!t, but we are still coming off an 8 win season playing the SEC West and 3 straight bowl games. All you saying "what if we only win 2 or 3 games this year", and we are losing to all these other non-conference teams are grasping for straws. That isn't happening. It has never happened under Mullen, and there's absolutely no reason to believe it will. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Dan has elevated this program, and may continue to do so. Do you really, really want to start over with a new coach. Byrne isn't here anymore. We got really lucky (at least so far) with Rick Ray. Right now, I'll take my chances with Mullen.

And for the Ole Miss lovers in here. Do you really think Bucky would be doing sooo much better here if he were in Starkville? No, we'd have the death penalty by now. Our Athletics program basically has an NCAA compliance worker on our campus full time, named Bracky. We aren't even playing the same game everyone else is.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

This thread is insane to me. I agree with hells bells in that "This program will never succeed if we continue the fruit basket turn over type plan." Does that mean Mullen has an eternal pass? No. But as long as the guy is consistently taking us to bowls, and some pretty decent ones every now and then, I don't see how you can really consider firing him yet.

Our offense looks like sh!t, but we are still coming off an 8 win season playing the SEC West and 3 straight bowl games. All you saying "what if we only win 2 or 3 games this year", and we are losing to all these other non-conference teams are grasping for straws. That isn't happening. It has never happened under Mullen, and there's absolutely no reason to believe it will. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Dan has elevated this program, and may continue to do so. Do you really, really want to start over with a new coach. Byrne isn't here anymore. We got really lucky (at least so far) with Rick Ray. Right now, I'll take my chances with Mullen.

And for the Ole Miss lovers in here. Do you really think Bucky would be doing sooo much better here if he were in Starkville? No, we'd have the death penalty by now. Our Athletics program basically has an NCAA compliance worker on our campus full time, named Bracky. We aren't even playing the same game everyone else is.

I don't want Mullen fired this instant or anything. He has earned the chance to prove he can right the ship. HOWEVER...I do not want to see Stricklin allow him to turn the program into shit again. I would like to actually get rid of a coach before he turns a program into a shit pile for once.

[Bullmutt]

One thing I noticed Saturday was how CDM's entire sideline demeanor changed by the 4th quarter- the chewing of the playcard, the blank, faraway "I'm screwed" stare. He looked defeated, and I'm sure our players noticed that. In that case, how can they not feel defeated as well? Can you imagine Saban or Spurrier ever having such a look? It is at such times that they are at their most animated and engaged- making adjustments and kicking asses! I hope this is called to Dan's attention and he guards against that "look" from here on. Probably doesn't instill much confidence in recruits, either.

[MadDawg]

This is going to be like Stansbury 2.0...

I knew it wouldn't take long

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

One thing I noticed Saturday was how CDM's entire sideline demeanor changed by the 4th quarter- the chewing of the playcard, the blank, faraway "I'm screwed" stare. He looked defeated, and I'm sure our players noticed that. In that case, how can they not feel defeated as well? Can you imagine Saban or Spurrier ever having such a look? It is at such times that they are at their most animated and engaged- making adjustments and kicking asses! I hope this is called to Dan's attention and he guards against that "look" from here on. Probably doesn't instill much confidence in recruits, either.

I noticed this as well. It seems like he had a ton of energy the first 2-3 years, but he didn't have it last year and really didn't have it against OSU. He doesn't even bother yelling at anyone anymore. He just sits there.

I blame low testosterone.***

[MadDawg]

We got really lucky (at least so far) with Rick Ray.

Wait, what?