For the "Must keep him" and "Must fire him" crowds...

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Set two conditions. One is for what would mean an automatic firing for Mullen this season, the other for what would mean an automatic retention (no way would you fire him, but not necessarily a contract extension). It can be record, result against a certain team or set of teams, or attire choice. It's up to you. We'll assume if the keeping condition is met, he stays even if the firing condition is met. I'll go with.

Automatic Firing - 2-10 or worse
Automatic Staying - Beat Bama and Ole Miss

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Automatic Firing - 2-10 or worse
Automatic Staying - Beat Bama and Ole Miss

Going 2fer with the two being bama and tsun....hilarious.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

I would say the universe is broken in that case.

 

[Go Budaw]

Automatic Firing: 3-9 no matter what; 4-8 without major assistant shake-up on the offensive side of the ball (firing Hevesy and Sallach at minimum).

Automatic Retention: 6-6 regardless of who we beat or lose to; 5-7 with a win over Bama, OM, or LSU.

5-7 with no big wins over any of the above and no staff shake-up, and I could go either way.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

I have always leaned toward the keep him side but just a bit, like 60%. But i think ive seen enough. There are a lot of things that get on my nerves about the guy personally but i could handle all those quirks if he presented a team that reflected "killer insticnt." i just dont see that in our players anymore....so, to get on with your hypothetical.

Auto keep: 7-5 and at least put up a fight against those other 4. Egg bowl would help.
Auto fire: looking dead all yr, getting blown out by bama lsu txam and tsun....and going 3 or less wins

 

[ronpolk]

I think it would be a mess if we fired him for a losing season after what he's done the past 6 seasons, especially when you factor in we just lost the best player in program history. I honestly think we'd be looking at a Rick Ray type hire.

With all that said, it does seem like Mullen has lost some of the fire that he had when he first took the job. If I were Scott and we didn't make a bowl game, I'd ask him to make a change with the RB, OL and TE coach. I wouldn't demand it because I don't believe I would fire him. For me, all that changes if I have someone like Art Briles wanting the job, similar to the Howland situation. There is no way I'm getting rid of Mullen without something like that lined up.

 

[woozman]

So we'd "Cutcliff" the coach that has taken us to new levels (6 straight bowls and a #1 raking)?

Who would come here if we fired him this year? We'd end up with the football version of Rick Ray. Gotta let him have another year unless the bottom falls out (2 wins and a 50-pt beat down to OM)...

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Gotta let him have another year unless the bottom falls out (2 wins and a 50-pt beat down to OM)...

That's sorta the point of this thread. How bad would it have to get to fire him after this year. Cutcliffe went 4-7 his last year with an Egg Bowl win. I don't think anyone is saying Mullen should be fired if we go 4-8 with an Egg Bowl win.

 

[Will James]

Automatic firing - miss a bowl. Go 6-6 and getting run out of the stadium by Ole Miss

Making a bowl is NOT the requirement for any coach at any time. But missing a bowl after pursuing every open job in the country, lack of effort recruiting, keeping your problem friends on staff, etc yes it's automatic for him.

 

[woozman]

No doubt. If we have 4 wins and one of them is OM - he is safe. If we have 4 wins and we lose to OM - he should be safe for another year. If we have 2 wins and he loses to OM badly - who knows.

 

[The Riddler]

I hate the arguement that says oh well we are just poor little msu and nobody would want this job. ******** this is a four million dollar a year job with a new stadium remodel. We also have new football facilities and a fan base that is hungry. We need a coach that is fiery on both the recruiting trail and on the field. We need a coach that's all in for msu and Mullen is not that guy at this point. To accept being a middle of the road team because we can't find anybody else is like staying in a ****** marriage because there is no one else out there. What has Mullen really done? He took us to number 1 yeah for about three weeks and then what happened we got smashed by Alabama. Nobody ever really thought we were the number 1 team in the nation we just had two big wins. He has taken us to six straight bowls. He didn't win all those bowls. He beat a Michigan team that wasn't very good and lost to a northwestern team that wasn't very good either. He best ole miss three straight years. Yeah he did then we have spent the last three years getting ***** slapped. Oh yeah he recruits like **** too. We are solidly the third best team in Mississippi. I would kill for usms quarterback and really entire offense for that matter. Look I am not saying fire the man today. Let the man finish this season and then judge him on results.

 

[Go Budaw]

So we'd "Cutcliff" the coach that has taken us to new levels (6 straight bowls and a #1 raking)?

Who would come here if we fired him this year? We'd end up with the football version of Rick Ray. Gotta let him have another year unless the bottom falls out (2 wins and a 50-pt beat down to OM)...

It wouldn't be close to the same thing as the Cutcliffe situation and here is why:
- Cutcliffe never lost even 2 Egg Bowls in a row, let alone 3 which we are on the precipice of doing this year.
- Cutcliffe didn't float his name out to every Power 5 opening in the country every offseason; regardless of it being a completely lateral move.
- Cutcliffe didn't get so lazy on the recruiting trail that he self-imposed 11-12 scholarship reductions over 2 years due to not signing full classes.
- OM didn't have $3-$4 million lined up to pay the replacement for Cutcliffe if he was a solid hire because all that happened before the SEC Network riches.

Dan had to replace the best QB in school history going into this season, just like Cutcliffe did back in 2004. The similarities pretty much end there.

 

[Go Budaw]

That's sorta the point of this thread. How bad would it have to get to fire him after this year. Cutcliffe went 4-7 his last year with an Egg Bowl win. I don't think anyone is saying Mullen should be fired if we go 4-8 with an Egg Bowl win.

I think a more applicable comparison would be 5-7 with an Egg Bowl win since everyone has that extra fluff nonconference game now that OM didn't have back in 2004. In that case I think most everyone would be on board with keeping Mullen. 4-8 with an Egg Bowl win would have me on the fence honestly, but I'd probably lean towards keeping him one more year. However, that is a pretty unlikely scenario for us to go 4-8, yet somehow beat a probably top 25 team in Oxford. So, it's difficult to judge.

 

[Hoover Dawg]

He's not getting fired unless he goes 0-12 and Ole Miss beats us 55-0. Get used to that. Make peace with it.

 

[ronpolk]

I hate the arguement that says oh well we are just poor little msu and nobody would want this job. ******** this is a four million dollar a year job with a new stadium remodel. We also have new football facilities and a fan base that is hungry. We need a coach that is fiery on both the recruiting trail and on the field. We need a coach that's all in for msu and Mullen is not that guy at this point. To accept being a middle of the road team because we can't find anybody else is like staying in a ****** marriage because there is no one else out there. What has Mullen really done? He took us to number 1 yeah for about three weeks and then what happened we got smashed by Alabama. Nobody ever really thought we were the number 1 team in the nation we just had two big wins. He has taken us to six straight bowls. He didn't win all those bowls. He beat a Michigan team that wasn't very good and lost to a northwestern team that wasn't very good either. He best ole miss three straight years. Yeah he did then we have spent the last three years getting ***** slapped. Oh yeah he recruits like **** too. We are solidly the third best team in Mississippi. I would kill for usms quarterback and really entire offense for that matter. Look I am not saying fire the man today. Let the man finish this season and then judge him on results.

People made this exact same argument with stans and see how that turned out. And we had much more reason to fire stans compared to Mullen. If we fire Mullen for not making a bowl game this year I guarantee we will have an underwhelming hire.

 

[Go Budaw]

People made this exact same argument with stans and see how that turned out. And we had much more reason to fire stans compared to Mullen. If we fire Mullen for not making a bowl game this year I guarantee we will have an underwhelming hire.

Yeah, we took our medicine for 3 years due to how toxic the program was and now have one of the Top 10 coaches in the country. It turned out OK all things considered. Getting rid of Stans was non-negotiable, we had reached a point of complete chaos both on and off the court. That is why we couldn't land a decent replacement, not because we got rid of our winningest coach ever. If anything, we kept Stans one year too long.

 

[was21]

Agree. If Dan is burned out and wants out, then he should sit down with Stricklin and come to some kind of agreement. State and Mullen have done a lot for each other and to see this end in some kind of 17'ed up debacle would be unfortunate. It cuts both ways.

 

[was21]

Nice 15th post...they're all coming out of the woodwork now

 

[MaroonNation]

He didn't lose his fire. Freeze came and took it from him and he has pouted about it ever since.

 

[MaroonNation]

Maybe Dan has Low T...

 

[Hoover Dawg]

Yeah, we took our medicine for 3 years due to how toxic the program was and now have one of the Top 10 coaches in the country. It turned out OK all things considered. Getting rid of Stans was non-negotiable, we had reached a point of complete chaos both on and off the court. That is why we couldn't land a decent replacement, not because we got rid of our winningest coach ever. If anything, we kept Stans one year too long.

Numerous coaches have said that Stans being fired is what made the job unattractive, not the program itself. Stop propagating that false narrative.

I do agree that most would have been ok with firing Stans after 2011 due to the Hawaii deal. But after 2013 would have been best.

And yes, it worked out, but we still wasted a lot of time. That's like saying the Polk situation worked out because we ultimately got Cohen. But look at all the **** that happened before that (like Ole Miss building their program). Still doesn't make Polk 2 a good decision.

 

[msstatelp1]

Keep: act like you want to be here .Get some of the passion back that you started with.

Fire: put your name out for another open job and you better take it if they offer regardless of the salary.

 

[TBone.sixpack]

There is no doubt he is Freeze's *****.

 

[Go Budaw]

Numerous coaches have said that Stans being fired is what made the job unattractive, not the program itself. Stop propagating that false narrative.

Name one, and provide a source.

And yes, it worked out, but we still wasted a lot of time. That's like saying the Polk situation worked out because we ultimately got Cohen. But look at all the **** that happened before that (like Ole Miss building their program). Still doesn't make Polk 2 a good decision.

We would have been wasting time either way. Stans went 4 years in a row without making the NCAA tournament at the end of his tenure. We had already wasted 2 or 3 years at that point hoping he could salvage what could not be salvaged. What would be the point of wasting another? He had 2 NBA first rounders in the 2012 team and several other extremely high end college players like Bost and ended up a 4 seed in the NIT. That is deplorable.

 

[Shamoan]

I don't think we have to worry about getting to a bowl. 5 wins would be a freaking miracle at this point.

 

[ronpolk]

Name one, and provide a source.



We would have been wasting time either way. Stans went 4 years in a row without making the NCAA tournament at the end of his tenure. We had already wasted 2 or 3 years at that point hoping he could salvage what could not be salvaged. What would be the point of wasting another? He had 2 NBA first rounders in the 2012 team and several other extremely high end college players like Bost and ended up a 4 seed in the NIT. That is deplorable.

No one is arguing that stans should have been let go. We had good cause to let him go. But you can't deny that we took a beating for letting him go, which included the Rick Ray hire because that's all that would take the job. We have way less reason to fire Mullen than stans. Unless SS has someone like Howland wrapped up, he'd be stupid to fire Mullen.