Quote Originally Posted by Random Poster View Post
This regime under Mullen- no matter what assistants we hire- is always going to be a 20-30 recruiter. After 8 years, we have all the evidence we need. OM is down and struggling so what happens? Do we lock the state of Mississippi down? No. Louisville and LSU are going to poach the top 10.

Why? Because of our pitch to recruits. We preach hard work, busting your ass, lunch pail mentality. We don't kiss much of those 18 year old asses. We don't do glitz or glam. That's all well and good in pro football- but when you are selling your program- you have to put as much lipstick on that pig as you possibly can. 18 year old kids don't want to hear about hard work and how nothing is going to be given to them. You have to lie and make promises you can't keep. Recruiting is just a dirty business.

We pull in some good players- but we will never have the depth or complete team necessary to do anything big. Mullen is Stands without the severe discipline problems and drama. And that's ok I guess. Climbing the SEC mountain is a lot harder in football than basketball.
Personally, I'm OK with that. Do we really want to be Ole Miss or Auburn? Cheat like mf's, have high drama surrounding our program at all times, have inconsistent seasons based on who gets jailed, quits, or gets processed? I don't. I don't have any illusions or delusions that begin able to challenge for an SEC title every year can be a reality. Go back and look at a lot of threads about our program prior to 2014 and you will see a lot of "7-8 wins on a consistent basis, 9 every few, and everything coming together for a run at 10 or more every 6-7 years and I'd be happy." Of course, that went out the window as soon as we challenged for the West in '14.

My check marks for the program are:
1) Are we a competitive team year in, year out?
2) Are we graduating our players?
3) Are we producing pros?
4) Are actions of our players/coaches/admin embarrassing us on the national stage?
5) Am I willing to put my time and money into travelling 10 hours to see the team or go to the closest away games when possible?

I could give two shits about where Mullen interviews, what our recruiting rankings are, or which prima donna HS kid turned us down as long as those things are being met. It's ****ing football, there is more to life.