Quote Originally Posted by maroonmania View Post
Yes, Dan put a more consistent winner on the field and never had the 'awful' season where we dropped to the 3 to 4 win level like Jackie BUT its really not a fair comparison. For those of us who went through MSU football in the 80s and when Jackie took over in 1991 we had a podunk stadium with the single deck East side with a VERY small fanbase and a VERY small overall athletic budget. To compare that to what Mullen took over is really apples and oranges given how everything has exploded being part of the SEC. The biggest thing is when Dan took over the SEC had already separated itself from the smaller non-SEC conferences around us. That was not the case under JWS. I can remember when we were very worried playing the Memphis, Tulane and USMs of the world. Losing to them would be considered a major upset today (essentially like us blowing the USA game). Dan even got the benefit of an extra non-conference game and WAY more available bowls. At least 3 of Dan's bowl trips would not have occurred during Jackie's tenure with the same record. Also, back in Jackie's day we couldn't even fill up a 41,000 seat stadium in 1998 with the SEC West on the line. Could you even imagine such a thing today? Jackie really started from square one building the program when no MSU fan really thought we could compete. Yes, Dan had to deal with Saban but he just had so much more to work with than Jackie that I don't feel you can directly compare. I actually think JWS accomplished more given what he started with than what Dan did.
I agree that Jackie took lemons and made lemonade. Dan is responsible for a larger stadium, new football facility and renewed sense and belief in the football program.