Many of you could run a similar search and see what your results look like, but here's a brief look at my personal thoughts about Dan Mullen.
My personal evolution with Dan Mullen
December 2010
The “WHAT IF PENN STATE HIRES DAN???” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...OK-with-Mullen-leaving&highlight=mullen+years
I realize this may be unpopular, but I'm OK with Mullen leaving.
He's done a great job, no doubt, and my first choice would be to keep him to see how far he could take us. But if he leaves, OK, we'll find another coach. … We're clearly a more desirable job now than we were when he hired Dan, and I think we'll attract a deeper and better pool this time around. It's up to us (Scott) to get it right again. I know this won't change all the "17 17 17" and "time to panic" crowd. I just don't see the need for that.
September 2011
The “I still have faith” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...ball-expertise-than-me&highlight=mullen+years
(Posted the day of the 2011 Auburn game we lost when Relf got tackled on the 1 yard line)
Mullen has to be smarter than to run the ball with no timeouts left. You HAVE to get two plays from there. You just have to. You can always run it on 4th down. I expect more from my head coach. That was just flat our stupid. Even if you think you can run it in, you do it on 4th down.
To take the step from good to great, you have to step on someone's throat when you have them down. We seem to be so excited that we have things going our way that we lose some intensity.
January 2013
The “He’s doing fine, but when are we going to beat someone” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...tansbury-so-to-be-fair&highlight=mullen+years
While I don't think Mullen is perfect, I do think he's growing and learning every year and has us moving in the right direction. One only has to look at our history to see that he's doing things that we haven't done in a long time. Of course I would like to win them all and look good doing it, but that's not even realistic for Alabama, much less us. I'd like to think that my expectations will continue to be in the 8-9 range but personnel and schedule play a part in that, and it's too early to think about it.
So for me, 09 was above expectations, 10 was above, 11 was slightly below (give me either AU or USC and I am good) and 12 was about the same as last year. Overall, still happy with Mullen while certainly willing to acknowledge there is room to improve. I'm hopeful that we continue to see an upward trend in our program under Mullen for the next several years.
October 2014
The “We’re #1 euphoria” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...want-when-we-hired-Dan&highlight=mullen+years
I don't recall who got hired first - Mullen as our coach or Gus as Auburn's OC, but Gus was who I wanted back then. Obviously we made a great hire with Dan though, and I hope he stays at State until his coaching days are over.
September 2015
The “I’m getting tired of him" phase
So let me get this straight….
If an individual states any concern about Dan Mullen's ability as a head coach (game plan, personnel, recruiting, coaching staff), he/she is overreacting because Mullen is the best coach (or one of the best) we have ever had, we've been to five straight bowls, we were #1 last season, and Mullen is still relatively new to the job.
(Which he may be our best, but that's honestly not saying a lot. Bowls are a dime a dozen for SEC teams, so much so that we almost all dread ending up in the Birmingham Bowl. #1 was awesome and unforgettable and he gets full credit for that magical three game run last year that got us there. And he's now a young head coach into his seventh season.)
November 2015
The “I’m OVER him” phase
Then there's Mullen. **** him. I don't care if he goes or stays. As I've said for the last couple of years, we are what we are under him. He either doesn't have the desire to lead us to more improvement or he just doesn't have the ability. We're certainly a hell of a lot better off now than we were when he got here, but he's not going to take us any further.
My personal evolution with Dan Mullen
December 2010
The “WHAT IF PENN STATE HIRES DAN???” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...OK-with-Mullen-leaving&highlight=mullen+years
I realize this may be unpopular, but I'm OK with Mullen leaving.
He's done a great job, no doubt, and my first choice would be to keep him to see how far he could take us. But if he leaves, OK, we'll find another coach. … We're clearly a more desirable job now than we were when he hired Dan, and I think we'll attract a deeper and better pool this time around. It's up to us (Scott) to get it right again. I know this won't change all the "17 17 17" and "time to panic" crowd. I just don't see the need for that.
September 2011
The “I still have faith” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...ball-expertise-than-me&highlight=mullen+years
(Posted the day of the 2011 Auburn game we lost when Relf got tackled on the 1 yard line)
Mullen has to be smarter than to run the ball with no timeouts left. You HAVE to get two plays from there. You just have to. You can always run it on 4th down. I expect more from my head coach. That was just flat our stupid. Even if you think you can run it in, you do it on 4th down.
To take the step from good to great, you have to step on someone's throat when you have them down. We seem to be so excited that we have things going our way that we lose some intensity.
January 2013
The “He’s doing fine, but when are we going to beat someone” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...tansbury-so-to-be-fair&highlight=mullen+years
While I don't think Mullen is perfect, I do think he's growing and learning every year and has us moving in the right direction. One only has to look at our history to see that he's doing things that we haven't done in a long time. Of course I would like to win them all and look good doing it, but that's not even realistic for Alabama, much less us. I'd like to think that my expectations will continue to be in the 8-9 range but personnel and schedule play a part in that, and it's too early to think about it.
So for me, 09 was above expectations, 10 was above, 11 was slightly below (give me either AU or USC and I am good) and 12 was about the same as last year. Overall, still happy with Mullen while certainly willing to acknowledge there is room to improve. I'm hopeful that we continue to see an upward trend in our program under Mullen for the next several years.
October 2014
The “We’re #1 euphoria” phase
http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/show...want-when-we-hired-Dan&highlight=mullen+years
I don't recall who got hired first - Mullen as our coach or Gus as Auburn's OC, but Gus was who I wanted back then. Obviously we made a great hire with Dan though, and I hope he stays at State until his coaching days are over.
September 2015
The “I’m getting tired of him" phase
So let me get this straight….
If an individual states any concern about Dan Mullen's ability as a head coach (game plan, personnel, recruiting, coaching staff), he/she is overreacting because Mullen is the best coach (or one of the best) we have ever had, we've been to five straight bowls, we were #1 last season, and Mullen is still relatively new to the job.
(Which he may be our best, but that's honestly not saying a lot. Bowls are a dime a dozen for SEC teams, so much so that we almost all dread ending up in the Birmingham Bowl. #1 was awesome and unforgettable and he gets full credit for that magical three game run last year that got us there. And he's now a young head coach into his seventh season.)
November 2015
The “I’m OVER him” phase
Then there's Mullen. **** him. I don't care if he goes or stays. As I've said for the last couple of years, we are what we are under him. He either doesn't have the desire to lead us to more improvement or he just doesn't have the ability. We're certainly a hell of a lot better off now than we were when he got here, but he's not going to take us any further.
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