Mullen may not have raised the ceiling of the MSU program, but I think it's definitely a fair thing to say that he has raised the floor. The days of 2-3 win seasons are long gone. I also don't think 0 or 1 win SEC seasons are possible either.

He has proven to be consistent - now what level of consistency is probably an issue, but you can't argue that he hasn't at a minimum raised the floor of MSU football and that is no easy task.

In five years he has proven that he won't turn MSU into a dumpster fire. That may sound like a trivial point, but based on our current history, its not something to be glossed over.