ill tell you why Mullen is staying

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Will you still be this supportive of Mullen if MSU loses the Egg Bowl?

[Coach34]

Will you still be this supportive of Mullen if MSU loses the Egg Bowl?

not at all- I've said that anything less than 6 wins and an EB loss is inexcusable. If either happens- he should be coaching for his job in 2014.

[Tbonewannabe]

That was in 2000- not in the 1990's. And that was his 3rd top 10 win in 13 years as HC. As I said, Jackie was something like 8-30 or even worse vs the top 25

One year is kind of nitpicking to make your point. Kind of like MSU had the best record in the west from 1997-2000 or whatever it was.

[Tbonewannabe]

Croom's didnt coach Fletcher Cox for 10 seconds. Nor Gabe Jackson when he goes this coming April. Sherrod gave up 5 sacks vs OM by himself the last game he was coached by Crooms

How about those 1st round picks Shula recruited for Saban? People never bring those up for some reason.

But you also have to find the talent and get them to campus. There is no doubt Mullen develops talent better than Croom. I was just pointing out that he doesn't get 100% credit for those guys.

[Coach34]

But you also have to find the talent and get them to campus.

Well, our starting QB is the best one I've ever seen play for us
We will continue to put RB's in the NFL
Jones is our best DL talent since those guys in 1980-82
McKinney is probably going to be a top 3 round draft pick

Biggest problem I see is our lack of an NFL level WR to take some pressure off the run game

[FISHDAWG]

thanks for clearing that up ... kinda strange Dan not signing originally

[Goat Holder]

I agree we need an NFL WR but....

We will continue to put RB's in the NFL

Where? Which ones?

[smootness]

Just wanted to highlight the fact that smootness didn't say the best 5 years in school history. Obviously that's not the case.

dickiedawg has it right.

It wasn't worded perfectly, but I meant that Mullen's record through his first 5 years is easily the best any coach in our history has had through his first 5 seasons, and that is despite the fact that our SEC competition has been significantly better than at just about any other period of time.

You have to try to compare apples to apples as much as possible, so all you can really compare is his record vs. the beginning of other coaches' tenures. Sherrill didn't start winning big until more than 5 years after he came.

We all want better. I wish we could stop with the 'this certain segment of the fanbase is holding us back' talk and just realize that we all ultimately want the same thing. Nobody is satisfied with being what we've been in our history. The differences of opinion are in regard to the best way to get where we want to be; some think Mullen has taken us as far as he can and a change is needed, while others feel like that would set us back again and we might lose a guy that has proven he can get it done (at least on some level) for an unknown.

I don't think we've seen Mullen's ceiling. Think about it: if we are going to try to use this year as the litmus test, then we're using a year in which we have a weird QB situation, with our 5th-year starter not a good fit at all for what Mullen wants to do and a year in which we have few seniors, and most of our upperclassmen come from weak recruiting classes.

Mullen's recruiting has picked up, but the guys from those classes still aren't experienced enough to truly showcase their talent yet. And beginning next year, all of our QBs will fit what Mullen wants to do.

I agree that this year has been somewhat disappointing, and I have no issue with Mullen being on the hot seat if we don't finish well. But next year will be a much better litmus test; if next year is more of the same, then he's had enough time and it'll be clear he's not going to be able to take us to the next level. But I don't think we know that yet.

[SheltonChoked]

Yeah Jackie ALWAYS won those games vs smaller school, so lets just chalk up extra wins there.

Like in 1996 when we beat, 6-5 LA Tech 23-38?

Or in 1998 when we beat a 5-6 OkSt team 23-42?

What we lost those?

[SheltonChoked]

I think Wilson and Ross are the answers there. Just need more time to develop. Rare a true Fr WR makes an Impact.

[hacker]

I agree we need an NFL WR but....



Where? Which ones?

??

Perkins is a draft pick.
Shumpert will be a draft pick.
Aeris Williams will be a draft pick.

[hacker]

I think Wilson and Ross are the answers there. Just need more time to develop. Rare a true Fr WR makes an Impact.

I agree.

[Jack Lambert]

So let me get this straight, those don't count because other teams were down, but Dan's "big wins" against UGA and Florida do? Come on nah.

That's the most down college football ever was. That's a little different then just not recruiting or coaching. 15 million served during WWII. The talent pool was way down.

[smootness]

Yeah Jackie ALWAYS won those games vs smaller school, so lets just chalk up extra wins there.

Like in 1996 when we beat, 6-5 LA Tech 23-38?

Or in 1998 when we beat a 5-6 OkSt team 23-42?

What we lost those?

I honestly believe some people would give up, say, a win or two vs Troy if it meant we beat A&M this year. In other words, they'd be ok with a loss here and there against a team that isn't as good as us if it meant we also won one here and there against a top 10-15 team.

And I get that. And you can't just keep saying this forever, but some of Mullen's teams could have beaten a team like that, they just didn't get it done. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't. For Mississippi State, avoiding the bad loss is a step in the right direction. And I think we have continued to get better as a program; even though we won 9 games in his 2nd year, I don't think we were truly a 9-win team. The foundation is now there, and our talent level is getting better.

The irony about all this is, if Tyson Lee just pitches the ball to Dixon against LSU, or if Berry just catches the ball against Auburn, the 'Mullen can't win the big one' argument is gone, but the 'We're losing ground' argument is strengthened. The 2010 year was the best and worst thing that could have happened to Mullen here.

It bought him extra time and got everyone fully behind him, but it is now something people point back to in order to say that we're getting worse.

I keep going back to it, but to me it all hinges on next year. We'll know after next year whether Mullen is really the man for the job.

[BulldogBear]

which just happened to be during WWII when alot of the top athletes from other states were off fighting in the war

1939 (8-2), 1940 (10-0-1), and season of 1941 (8-1-1) we were not at war. And all the MS athletes stayed home?**

[Tbonewannabe]

which just happened to be during WWII when alot of the top athletes from other states were off fighting in the war

We are a military school, I would say we were at a greater disadvantage than someone like UM and Bama.

[Tbonewannabe]

dickiedawg has it right.

It wasn't worded perfectly, but I meant that Mullen's record through his first 5 years is easily the best any coach in our history has had through his first 5 seasons, and that is despite the fact that our SEC competition has been significantly better than at just about any other period of time.

You have to try to compare apples to apples as much as possible, so all you can really compare is his record vs. the beginning of other coaches' tenures. Sherrill didn't start winning big until more than 5 years after he came.

We all want better. I wish we could stop with the 'this certain segment of the fanbase is holding us back' talk and just realize that we iall ultimately want the same thing. Nobody is satisfied with being what we've been in our history. The differences of opinion are in regard to the best way to get where we want to be; some think Mullen has taken us as far as he can and a change is needed, while others feel like that would set us back again and we might lose a guy that has proven he can get it done (at least on some level) for an unknown.

I don't think we've seen Mullen's ceiling. Think about it: if we are going to try to use this year as the litmus test, then we're using a year in which we have a weird QB situation, with our 5th-year starter not a good fit at all for what Mullen wants to do and a year in which we have few seniors, and most of our upperclassmen come from weak recruiting classes.

Mullen's recruiting has picked up, but the guys from those classes still aren't experienced enough to truly showcase their talent yet. And beginning next year, all of our QBs will fit what Mullen wants to do.

I agree that this year has been somewhat disappointing, and I have no issue with Mullen being on the hot seat if we don't finish well. But next year will be a much better litmus test; if next year is more of the same, then he's had enough time and it'll be clear he's not going to be able to take us to the next level. But I don't think we know that yet.

Jackie went to the Peach Bowl his 2nd? Year. I would say that was better than the Gator.

[smootness]

Sherrill's first 5 years here he was 28-28. He went to 3 bowl games and lost them all.

Mullen is 33-25 as of today, and is 2-1 in bowl games. I don't really care about arguing the quality of the bowls because the SEC is tougher now than it was then, meaning a similar record, while being more impressive now than then, will get you a lower tiered bowl.

ETA: Sherrill also went 3-8 in his 5th year, after taking State to the Peach Bowl in his 4th.

[BulldogBear]

We pulled our own "Cutcliffe" once. McKeen was 61-15-2, and all seasons had been ABOVE .500. We had been one of the top programs in the SEC and the south for that matter for a decade. Had a .500 season, 4-4-1...ONE NON WINNING SEASON, and we canned him. Changed the course of MSU football for the next 50 years. We were building a consistant winner and contender right when they were starting to be built and we shot ourselves in the foot. It is likely that we would have carried through the 1950s and 1960s as the Mississippi football school rather than Ole Miss. Or at least competed with them. Mississippi might of been a state like Alabama.

It is entertaining to read Ole Miss yearbooks from back in the day and read where it lamented things like losing to A&M once again but at least they scored this year and stuff! I remember one entry where they were so proud to have scored on us because hardly anyone else had that season.

[Johnson85]

I keep going back to it, but to me it all hinges on next year. We'll know after next year whether Mullen is really the man for the job.

If we don't make a bowl game this year, I think we'll know he's not really the man for the job, if going better than 7-5 is what we're talking about. This is the first year where he's gotten to play a lot of teams that were pretty good but beatable. If he makes it the entire year without beating one of them (what would be required to go 5-7), I don't think it will ever happen.