SIX PACK REWIND: Dan Mullen edition

[DawgatAuburn]

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.

 

[missouridawg]

I don't need to research my posts to remember my thoughts on him, though it would be N interesting exercise.

I was in Starkville from 2000-2006. I saw some of the worst football imaginable to man. From game 1 until sometime late last Nivember (as the Miami rumors swirled), I was a staunch Mullen supporter. He had his faults, but I was ok with those because I was just happy we were competitive in most games and never had embarrassing losses. The coaching search rumors for the sixth consecutive Nov\Dec laid a lot of proverbial straw on the back of the camel. South Alabama was another pile of straw on the camel and the knees are now wobbling.

I would be completely content moving on from Dan at any time now. I really hope we don't let him dig the hole deeper. He either needs to get his fire back or GTFO. He has to commit to having a staff of elite recruiters or he has to adjust our offense to address our talent descrapancies (a la Houston, Baylor).

He has to get rid of Hevesy, for the love of God. This one is the most baffling to me, because he is 2 or 3 solid OL units from having a few more 9/10 win seasons here. This should be glaringly obvious, but he seems to be blinded by the friendship.

Im too the point now to where I hope Stricklin begins taking the temperature of some other coaches. If he finds mutual interest and can get the handshake agreement... Move on him the offseason.

 

[TBone.sixpack]

The media would crucify us but 17 every single one of them. They crucify us regardless. Our fanbase expectations have come a long way and Dan deserves much credit here.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Definitely going to be division in the ranks, on some of this Bull ****!

 

[missouridawg]

The media would crucify us but 17 every single one of them. They crucify us regardless. Our fanbase expectations have come a long way and Dan deserves much credit here.

Honestly, I'd prefer Mullen to get the fire back, make some changes from past failures and us get better. But Mullen has had chances to do that and didn't take them.

 

[The Riddler]

Mullen has given us all he has and we have reached our ceiling under Mullen. Not saying he should be fired but if your wanting to contend for championships year in and year out Mullen is not that guy at this point in his career. We are a 7 to 9 win team with him this shouldn't be shocking to anyone.

 

[Lettucexxxx]

ooh, do me, do me!

 

[Bulldogg31]

Mullen has given us all he has and we have reached our ceiling under Mullen. Not saying he should be fired but if your wanting to contend for championships year in and year out Mullen is not that guy at this point in his career. We are a 7 to 9 win team with him this shouldn't be shocking to anyone.

So who do we hire that will compete for championships?

 

[The Riddler]

I think you look at getting a guy like at Houston young and hungry. I don't have an exact name of the top of my head for you. Programs need a shot of juice from time to time. This happens when a change is made at coach. Look at Texas down for a few years new young hungry coach things turn around. Bama struggled through the late 90s and early 2000s new coach comes in things turn around. I am saying as fans we either accept that Mullen has a ceiling or we take a chance. Would change be hard or course but there is a coach out there that would see them state job as his break though opportunity. Mullen has always looked at the state job as a stepping stone to something bigger. Also I will of course acknowledge Texas and bama have vast resources state simply does not have.

 

[PBRME]

The media would crucify us but 17 every single one of them. They crucify us regardless. Our fanbase expectations have come a long way and Dan deserves much credit here.

Hadn't thought of this before. The media treats us like an old school wrestling heel. Maybe it's time we embrace it and do **** just to piss them off.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

I hope when strick starts lookking at coaches available, he comes to this board first....
Second....


And last.

 

[thatsbaseball]

If OM gets what so many think they will...we need a HC whose trajectory is upward on board to take advantage of it. Mullen`s reign as HC has turned into (and this hasn`t happened overnite) a pathetic soap opera with ****** recruiting, ****** coaching and never ending innuendo to leave for the first job he`s offered. He can`t keep a DC over 6 months and won`t replace our pitiful excuse of an OL coach no matter how his unit drags the team down. I could go on....I just see a period ahead of us where we may have unprecedented opportunities and we`re no where close to being in a position to take advantage of them.