1) The day Mullen was hired in 2008, I remember being cautiously optimistic about the hire. But at the same time, I emphatically believed he was going to be gone one way or the other within 4 years, and I hoped he would leave due to his success. Fast forward to now, and he ended up sticking around for 9 years, building a winning culture on and off the field, and left potentially the most talented roster we have ever had to his replacement. I harbor absolutely no ill will towards Mullen and do sincerely wish him well at UF except when he plays us.
2) All that being said, it was probably time for him to make this move (as many have said). You can’t look at any coach of any program in history and see them do something totally unprecedented in their 10th, 11th, or 12th year at their school. Mullen was never going to take us to Atlanta, ever, or he would have done it already. And I think he knew he had hit his ceiling here. Even next year with the talent returning, we still have Bama and LSU on the road and a home game against a very strong Auburn team that has physically dominated us on both sides of the ball the last couple of years. 1-2 or 0-3 against that stretch is likely, with or without Mullen.
3) Rome wasn’t built in a day, or by one person. The biggest setback we have faced in our football program’s history is that we have never been able to make two good hires in a row in football. A lot of times, that has been a result of keeping the incumbant for several years too long, or by the NCAA causing trouble, or both. None of that is the case now (See #1). We are in a good spot with a talented roster and recruiting class already mostly in place. But yes, we will lose a few guys from both due to what happened today.
4) There is no one better to make this hire for us than John Cohen. I don’t really have a preference on his replacement, but it is my sincere hope that our boosters let Cohen do his job and vet each candidate and make the call (something I know Stricklin didn’t get to do at UF). And speaking of that, if Stricklin never left us, we would still be in the exact same situation we are in now. Except, he would be making the hire instead of Cohen so it would be worse. I personally choose to continue hating Stricklin for ever leaving in the first place, but expecting him to ever do anything in our best interests again after he burned his MSU card over a year ago is dumb.
Fire away.
2) All that being said, it was probably time for him to make this move (as many have said). You can’t look at any coach of any program in history and see them do something totally unprecedented in their 10th, 11th, or 12th year at their school. Mullen was never going to take us to Atlanta, ever, or he would have done it already. And I think he knew he had hit his ceiling here. Even next year with the talent returning, we still have Bama and LSU on the road and a home game against a very strong Auburn team that has physically dominated us on both sides of the ball the last couple of years. 1-2 or 0-3 against that stretch is likely, with or without Mullen.
3) Rome wasn’t built in a day, or by one person. The biggest setback we have faced in our football program’s history is that we have never been able to make two good hires in a row in football. A lot of times, that has been a result of keeping the incumbant for several years too long, or by the NCAA causing trouble, or both. None of that is the case now (See #1). We are in a good spot with a talented roster and recruiting class already mostly in place. But yes, we will lose a few guys from both due to what happened today.
4) There is no one better to make this hire for us than John Cohen. I don’t really have a preference on his replacement, but it is my sincere hope that our boosters let Cohen do his job and vet each candidate and make the call (something I know Stricklin didn’t get to do at UF). And speaking of that, if Stricklin never left us, we would still be in the exact same situation we are in now. Except, he would be making the hire instead of Cohen so it would be worse. I personally choose to continue hating Stricklin for ever leaving in the first place, but expecting him to ever do anything in our best interests again after he burned his MSU card over a year ago is dumb.
Fire away.
