Any regrets for Stricklin?

[johnson86-1]

I think it's a little early for as strong a word as "regret," but if I were Stricklin, I'd be a little worried at this point that the same old patterns seem to be taking shape despite the supposed upgrade in natural recruiting advantage.

Stricklin will be fine if old patterns take shape. Mullen doesn't have to really upgrade his recruiting. If he just does what he had been doing at MSU, then that will be enough to get Mullen through one contract, which will give Stricklin a little breathing room.

The only question is how stocked the cupboard is right now. He's unlikely to recruit well enough to turn it around in a year or two if the talent is actually bad, and they might not give him time to get rolling. But if the problem was primarily coaching (which seems reasonably likely), then he could give them a solid enough turnaround that by the time they are pissed at him winning 10 game but losing to UGA consistently, it will have at least been successful enough that Stricklin won't be raked over the coals for where Mullen's ceiling ended up.

 

[AssEndDawg]

Mullen not a good play caller? What did he do well? Or was any success we had totally in spite of him?

I'll join in on this, things Mullen did well:

1. He allowed his staff to handle recruiting their areas with minimal interference.

2. Off the field, he did an said everything he should have off the field. He built excitement and loyalty and got asses in the seats to see the team play.

3. Red shirting and development, Dan was really good a developing players and obviously pretty good at talking guys into accepting a red shirt. This led to a much deeper team. We won some big games against better teams who weren't deep because we just outlasted them.

4. QBs, you gotta give the man some credit for bringing in real QBs. We never had that before.



Things Mullen did poorly:

1. He allowed his staff to handle recruiting their areas with minimal interference. If you had a good recruiter this worked well but we had some really lazy recruiters who constantly got their asses spanked.

2. Special teams, I mean how many years in a row can you suck at special teams? And the stupid trick plays at stupid times didn't make me feel good either.

3. Game management, I hear people say he was a good play caller but if you watch our games you will see that we typically do really well with the series he had time to script, or when things went exactly to plan, but when things went off the rails he had no idea what to do. I'm sorry, but a QB run on 3 and 8 one time is a trick, about the 40th time you run that in a season you ain't fooling nobody.


Why I think Florida will hate him:

Dan plays his style of ball, short yardage plays with ball control. His teams have zero ability to come back, so in games where we were just over matched it was a definite loss. Florida fans are going to storm the damn castle gates the first time they are down by 17 and Dan runs the QB on 3rd and 8. The lack of adjustment causes frustration because he is still playing ball control when losing. I think he gets the most out of the talent he has, so he will likely do pretty well the first few years, but even that talent can't overcome the play style all the time. I honestly thought he would be able to do better recruiting at Florida, but seeing what has been happening I think Florida, and by extension Dan, is going to be in some real trouble.

All of this said, he did a great job for us and left us WAY better off than when he got here. Nine years is a long time for a coach and I ain't mad. Strickland on the other hand can seriously go <17> himself. With his background MSU was the dream job.

 

[Dawgzilla]

3. Red shirting and development, Dan was really good a developing players and obviously pretty good at talking guys into accepting a red shirt. This led to a much deeper team. We won some big games against better teams who weren't deep because we just outlasted them.

Not trying to start an argument or anything, but which games do you think fit the above description?

 

[sandwolf.sixpack]

At the end of the day, he left a school where we might have had job security for life to go to a place that won’t be interested in 8-4. State fans and alumni are much more forgiving than UF supporters.

Mullen made somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million at State and he’s pretty much guaranteed to make at least another $30 million at UF (he’ll get at least 3 years at $6 million per and he has a $12 million buyout)......if he has any sense at all, he, Megan and his kids could live like royalty for the rest of their lives on nothing but the interest from what he will have made 3 years from now. So he isn’t worried about job security. He wants to win big and he feels like he can do that at Florida.

 

[Chesusdog]

View attachment 10030

 

[HumpDawgy]

Dan Mullen is a 7-5 coach who is now at a school who will not accept that level of success.

 

[5049]

3. Red shirting and development, Dan was really good a developing players and obviously pretty good at talking guys into accepting a red shirt. This led to a much deeper team. We won some big games against better teams who weren't deep because we just outlasted them.

Not trying to start an argument or anything, but which games do you think fit the above description?

Texas A&M comes to mind

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I am happy with where we are headed with Moorhead, and Mullen got us out of the stone age. Plus Mullen left us in a pretty good situation. That said, I knew Stricklin was a failure after he struck out on his first few candidates at Florida and just called Mullen. I sensed desperation in that move. Desperation is not the mark of a premier AD as Stricklin thinks himself to be (and others think him to be). Over time Stricklin's weaknesses will become more apparent at Florida. He is a compromising *****.

This^^^

I am thankful for Mullen for what he did with our program and it was time for him to leave, but I'm still not happy with the way he did it at all.

 

[AssEndDawg]

3. Red shirting and development, Dan was really good a developing players and obviously pretty good at talking guys into accepting a red shirt. This led to a much deeper team. We won some big games against better teams who weren't deep because we just outlasted them.

Not trying to start an argument or anything, but which games do you think fit the above description?

Texas A&M and Auburn. I guess "outlast" was not as accurate as saying that when they went to the bench there was more of a downgrade than when we went to the bench. We usually had someone older with experience for positions, even if not as naturally talented, where other teams were bringing in a less experienced player. We just simply did not play freshmen unless they were so amazing you couldn't keep them on the bench.

 

[Junction John]

Funny you mention that.

DM was not going to stay at MSU regardless because he was still pissed at the MSU administration's demands following the 2015 season (resulting in no contract extension)

It still boggles my mind that he would go work for Stricklin again. But whatever, I like where we are at both positions MUCH better now.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

I can't believe he whiffed on Chip Kelly, who also, from reports, has a governor in place. However, he's a better XO coach than Mullen to make up for it, and Flarrda recruits itself

Uh, no. Based upon recent talent levels in Gainsville, this is no longer true.

Same for the disillusioned masses in Knoxville and South Bend. Programs have to work to get elite talent these days. No program thrives off perpetual history. (See Bama 1998-2007)

 

[512taylor]

Who?

 

[HumpDawgy]

This^^^

I am thankful for Mullen for what he did with our program and it was time for him to leave, but I'm still not happy with the way he did it at all.

He tanked the most important game of the year....again.

He took most of the coaching staff with him leaving us shorthanded for our bowl game.

He lied to his own players, the ones he recruited who deserved an honest answer from him.

He poached, or tried to poach, a lot of our commits.....yes OUR commits.


Now, did Joe Moorhead do any of these things? Yes, it was time for him to go, but he did not handle it well. Heck, Knox and Grantham handled it better than he did.