Profiles In Heroism: Dan Mullen
Head Coach, Mississippi State | |
---|---|
Age | 42 |
Exp. | 6th year |
Record | 46-30 |
Previous Jobs | |
OC/QB @ Florida | 2005-08 |
QB @ Utah | 2003-04 |
QB @ BGSU | 2001-02 |
GA @ ND | 1999-00 |
Playing Career | |
TE at Ursinus (PA) in 1992/93 |
These again. We're skipping Harbaugh because it's not like you need to be told about Harbaugh. In the event M does hire him, he'll get one.
These are in approximate order of personal preference.
Nationally, Dan Mullen is regarded as the best available-ish college head coach in the market this year. This admiration has not extended to all corners of the Michigan fanbase for… reasons. Foremost amongst them are:
- "He's a one-year wonder." (Who won two national championships at Florida as the primary play-caller and has built MSU into a contender in the toughest division in the country.)
- "He's not a cultural fit." (He's from Pennsylvania and GA'd at ND. Hell, he coached at Columbia.)
- "He runs the spread." (You have just slashed out 80% of plausible options. Also, Chris Leak was as mobile as a plant.)
- "He's never won for real for real." (At the Indiana of the SEC.)
Mississippi State's winning percentage before Dan Mullen arrived was… not good. In the decade before his arrivals this was their power conference peer group:
Rk | Team | Win % | W | L |
---|---|---|---|---|
84 | Kentucky | 0.42748 | 56 | 75 |
85 | Rutgers | 0.42308 | 55 | 75 |
87 | Mississippi State | 0.41985 | 55 | 76 |
90 | Iowa State | 0.41667 | 55 | 77 |
91 | Illinois | 0.41085 | 53 | 76 |
Bulldog futility goes further back than that; you have to go back to the 50s before you find a MSU head coach capable of consistently keeping the Bulldogs above .500. His winning percentage of 60.5% is in the WVU-Miami-Utah-Iowa range and is virtually unprecedented. It's also better than Michigan's over the same time frame. At Mississippi State.
So.
Reasons for hiring or not hiring a coach are not made in a vacuum, so if you'd like to make one of these arguments you have to bring along a guy who has a better resume than Dan Mullen. Gary Patterson? Sure! I'm totally down with Gary Patterson if you can crowbar him out of TCU, but you can't. Given the hires Nebraska and Florida just made I don't think anyone who could-might-kinda be available is. That leaves Dan Mullen and…
Seriously, I don't know. Mullen is the default college head coach choice. Fortunately, he seems like a pretty good one.
[After THE JUMP: the anti-Borges at QB, overblown oversigning concerns, and CEO stuff.]
Xs and Os Proficiency
Mullen came up with Urban Meyer. He was a grad assistant at ND when Meyer was the WR coach there, and then followed him through all his stops until getting the Mississippi State job. His track record as a QB coach and offensive coordinator is truly impressive. Mullen's QBs:
- JOSH HARRIS, BGSU. Meyer inherited Andy Sahm, a pocket guy a year older than Harris, and Mullen eventually molded him to a quality starter. He took over the full time job in 2002, with a 6.9 YPA, 737 rushing yards, and a whopping 39 touchdowns as BGSU took down Missouri and Kansas as a MAC team. Harris had a standout senior season the year after Meyer and Mullen went to Utah and got drafted.
- ALEX SMITH, UTAH. Smith had four attempts as a true freshman; upon Meyer and Mullen's arrival he blew up, passing for 8.4 YPA as a true sophomore and 9.3 as a junior; that junior campaign also saw him complete 68% of his passes with a nutty 32:4 TD:INT ratio. Oh, and run for 600 yards. Utah went undefeated, beating Texas A&M, Arizona, North Carolina, and Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl. Smith was the top pick in the ensuing NFL Draft.
- CHRIS LEAK, FLORIDA. Leak had already started for Florida for two years under Ron Zook; he never really fit the Meyer run/pass mold but complted 63 and 64 percent of his passes as an upperclassman with decent YPA and TD:INT ratios as Florida won a national title in 2006.
- TIM TEBOW, FLORIDA. I probably don't have to remind you of TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW's college career. Mostly a Belldozer QB/tank as a freshman, Tebow put up insane stats as a full time starter: 9.4 YPA, 32:6 TD:INT as a sophomore, 9.2 and 30:4 as a junior, with a total of 1600 rushing yards those two years. Mullen left for Mississippi State after 2008; Scot Loeffler was brought in to turn Tebow into Tom Brady, a process that didn't seem to impact his college stats much (9.2 YPA as a senior) but also did not work. Tebow was a first round draft pick and ESPN hype factory who eventually washed out because he was a rhino masquerading as an NFL QB.
- TYSON LEE, MSU. Mediocre inherited pocket passer. Did bump YPA from 5.8 to 6.5 as a senior in Mullen year 1.
- CHRIS RELF, MSU. Middling inherited bulky dual-threat who once obliterated M. "One of the lowest-rated QB prospects" to start an SEC game after the rise of rankings, Mullen was very careful with his passing on team that ran almost 70% of the time at a rather decent 4.5 YPC; Relf had 8.1 YPA as a result in Mullen year two. Relf fell off significantly as a senior and was platooned with…
- TYLER RUSSELL, MSU. Mildly touted pocket guy was recruited by Croom and kept on, had a decent junior year (59%, 7.4 YPA, 24:10 TD:INT) and then blew out his shoulder in his senior year opener; he came back sporadically when the next guy came down with his own shoulder issues.
- DAK PRESCOTT, MSU. The first Mullen-recruited QB to play for him at MSU had a rickety redshirt sophomore campaign (7.3 YPA, 10:7 TD-INT) after being forced into the lineup by Russell's shoulder issues; did run for over 800 yards. This year Prescott blew up (61%, 8.7 YPA, 24:10 TD INT, 900 rushing yards) into a fringe Heisman candidate as the Bulldogs took it to most of the SEC that was not Alabama.
Mullen had four straight highly productive QBs before he got to MSU and then scraped average production out of a couple of iffy prospects before Prescott blew up this year. FWIW, at Florida Mullen was the primary playcaller; this is not a Chip/Brian Kelly situation where the HC is also the de-facto OC.
As far as his offenses have gone:
[2008 Mississippi State was Sylvester Croom's last team, included for comparison's sake.]
Year | Team | FEI | S&P | Plain YPP |
---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Florida | N/A | 23 | 49 |
2006 | Florida | N/A | 7 | 24 |
2007 | Florida | 1 | 1 | 3 |
2008 | Florida | 3 | 1 | 3 |
2008 | Miss. St. | 106 | 106 | 115 |
2009 | Miss. St. | 44 | 71 | 69 |
2010 | Miss. St. | 69 | 56 | 41 |
2011 | Miss. St. | 88 | 63 | 70 |
2012 | Miss. St. | 87 | 51 | 47 |
2013 | Miss. St. | 46 | 56 | 45 |
2014 | Miss. St. | 22 | 5 | 16 |
Mullen walked into one of the worst possible situations and immediately made it better. He maintained improved but average-at-best performance except for 2011, when he had a pocket passer, before a true breakout 2014—the first year he had an experienced QB he recruited available. At Florida his offenses were lights-out after an adjustment year in which they figured out Chris Leak was dyslexic.
No, this isn't like Brady Hoke's one good year at Ball State. Ball State is historically a slightly above .500 MAC school and Hoke had them performing at or below that number until his annus mirabilus. Mullen was already outperforming by some distance before this year. Also…
THE MAC IS
NOT
THE SEC
and Brady Hoke didn't win multiple NCs as an offensive coordinator, because he was never one of those.
Recruiting
Life at the bottom is tough. Mississippi State is often left with a choice between guys who probably can't cut it in the SEC and guys who are questionable to qualify; as a result their classes come with significant uncertaint. Some LOIs are courtesy offers intended as a sort of "draft and follow" as players go to JUCO and then arrive two years later. Current JUCO DB commit Donald Gray signed with MSU out of high school($) and both made good on it once Gray became eligible.
But an overview shows that concerns about oversigning and JUCOs are significantly overblown.
Year | Recruits | 4* | JUCOs | 247 Comp. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 27 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
2010 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 34 |
2011 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 34 |
2012 | 28 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
2013 | 21 | 3 (one 5*) | 2 | 25 |
2014 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 35 |
2015 | 29 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
After Mullen's transitional class, he's taken two or three JUCOs per year; this is far from the Oregon State or Kansas State style of recruiting. MSU's classes are a bit bigger than average, but the maximum number of players recruited over any four-year span is 102, and with the JUCOs that's really 97 four-year players. Meanwhile MSU does not have the privilege of recruiting only guys who are definitely going to to make it. They have a natural attrition rate that does not involve axing guys on purpose.
As a result, the Bulldogs did not appear at all in Matt Hinton's 2013 edition of the oversigning index—Michigan did, with 87. MSU has in fact cut way down on signing class size under Mullen, partially because of SEC rules.
As far as the quality of those classes go, keep in mind that they're a bit overrated since any recruit gets you points and a higher percentage of Bulldog recruits flame out. That said, Mullen immediately and significantly improved MSU recruiting from a baseline dependent on even larger classes. MSU was 50th in Sylvester Croom's last class, 30th the year before with a whopping 35(!) recruits, and 40th in 2006. Mullen has bounced around a bit but has generally outperformed even without as much of a size bias in his favor.
He's done a great job of keeping Mississippi kids at home and has found many and varied diamonds in the rough.
Unfortunately it was impossible to find much about Mullen's reputation as a recruiter while at Florida since any relevant Google search is overwhelmed by articles about Florida hiring the guy to replace Muschamp.
CEO Stuff
Diaz was good, and then he was not good.
Mullen helped Oregon find Chip Kelly since they were both New Hampshire bros—good call. Mullen's out of the box hire of Manny Diaz looked pretty spectacular as Diaz obliterated the Denard Robinson show in 2011, whereupon Diaz was hired by Texas.
Texas's defense did not perform and Diaz was eventually fired midseason so Greg Robinson could come in; Robinson did improve them significantly. Whether Diaz was really a problem or just a convenient scapegoat as the Mack Brown era slid to its country-club conclusion is unknown.
Mullen's current staff is a mix of guys he's known for a long time and guys plucked for no other reason than they seem like good ideas. Former Utah QB Brian Johnson is the QB coach; the OL coach is a guy who came with him from Florida; the TE coach is a former Ursinis teammate of Mullen who spent the last decade in the Ivy League. On the other hand, his DC is a guy who he hired from FIU in 2011 and he's got a few Mississippi dudes for recruiting purposes who he'd never crossed paths with before. Seems like a standard mix.
This is where a look at Mississippi State defenses goes:
[2008 again Croom.]
Year | Team | FEI | S&P | Plain YPP |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Miss. St. | 51 | 92 | 51 |
2009 | Miss. St. | 72 | 38 | 77 |
2010 | Miss. St. | 12 | 22 | 48 |
2011 | Miss. St. | 28 | 33 | 13 |
2012 | Miss. St. | 59 | 43 | 56 |
2013 | Miss. St. | 25 | 14 | 58 |
2014 | Miss. St. | 11 | 6 | 62 |
This is a bit of an oddity, with the rankings that take SOS into account in high praise after year one (minus a blip in 2012) and the raw numbers less positive. This is where MSU's brutal league schedule shows up. At the very least he's done a good job to make the Bulldog defense competitive, and if you believe the advanced stats his defensive coordinator is a keeper.
Potential Catches
There are a few:
How much of his success is Meyer? It's difficult to separate Mullen's talents from Meyer's, as Urbs hasn't exactly fallen apart at OSU without him. But it's worth noting that Mullen's successor, Steve Addazio, was a disaster as Florida's OC and was canned after two years. And then you've got the six years at Mississippi State. The guy is not a Meyer creation.
Can he recruit at Michigan? Michigan fans are understandably wary after Rich Rodriguez brought in one Demar Dorsey for every Denard Robinson he acquired. I don't think this is much of a concern. Florida acts a lot like a Big Ten team in recruiting and Mullen came up through ND, BGSU, and Utah. He is a Pennsylvania native.
Rodriguez had barely left West Virginia during his career—two years each at Tulane and Clemson under Tommy Bowden—by the time he got to M and was shocked by the differences. Mullen will not be.
NCAA violations? Two things get brought up about Mullen: the Cam Newton thing and the sudden resignation of an assistant because of booster shenanigans. Newton was in the news because his father solicited money from MSU; the Bulldogs refused to deal with the go-between and reported it to the SEC.
More recently, MSU lost two scholarships in 2013 and got two years of probation when assistant coach Angelo Mirando knew about booster interference in the recruitment of a DB and did not act. In that case the NCAA directly stated that no one other than Mirando had knowledge of the wrongdoing; Mirando was fired as soon as it was known.
Neither of these is anything that would prevent Mullen's hire.
Public relations maybe not so much. There were two eyebrow-cocking events this year. In the first, Mullen vociferously defended a player of his who twice stomped on LSU players and was suspended as a result. This is par for the course for just about everyone, but it wasn't a good look.
The second and more recent event was Mullen asking a QB who had been committed to Mississippi State for months was asked to grayshirt. This caused his high school coach to go off on twitter about it. It's an issue, but Mullen is prohibited from telling his side of the story by NCAA rules, and this is much better than signing the kid and then going "whoops, we have no spot for you." Michigan has done it in the past; Ohio State just had a TE flip to Kansas without any idea of who the head coach even is. Sometimes you make a call on a kid and it's wrong and it's in everyone's best interest to part ways.
It is not having a kid get through summer school and then saying "whoops," as Les Miles did. Anyone advocating Miles is advocating much worse behavior in this department. Meanwhile the numbers above show MSU is not making a habit of cutting guys loose willy-nilly.
Does his wife pass the "THAT WOMAN" test? IE, would my mother refer to his wife as THAT WOMAN or regard her as a pal and a confidant? If she threw a party and invited everyone she knew, would she see that the biggest gift was from my mom and the card read "thank you for being a friend?"
I have initiated this test after Rita Rodriguez, who by all reports is a sweetheart, symbolized unbridgeable cultural differences between Rodriguez and Michigan, i.e. my mom, through no fault of her own.
I report that Dan Mullen's wife passes the test.
Would He Take The Job?
Mullen has to know that success at Mississippi State is a fragile thing and he would be well served to strike while the iron's hot. MSU remains the poorest athletic department in his division and will never, ever be able to compete in recruiting with most of the SEC. This is a situation much different than any of the other attractive sitting head coaches. He'd go.
Overall Attractiveness
Unless you're telling me guys who were apparently unavailable for Florida (Gundy, Stoops, Patterson, Shaw, etc.) are on the board for Michigan, Mullen is the strongest non-Harbaugh candidate by a mile.
The only guy who is even debatable is Les Miles, who I am leery of because of his age, his skeezy recruiting practices, the evident split in the alumni base about his suitability, and the lingering fear that he would run out of his batty Mad Hatter luck the instant he stepped on campus—because of course that would happen to us.
I get arguments in favor of Miles even if I don't agree with them; there is no reasonable argument that any other feasible option is more attractive than Mullen.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:57 PM ^
where you can come and scratch your testicles to your heart's content? Hope not. I kinda think you got it backward: football's one of the few places that such crap hasn't yet been pushed out of (see Frank Clark and Ray Rice and Ben Roethlisberger, etc). Mr. Hackett made an admirable contribution the other day, for those who were listening. F this Michigan man crap forever.
Besides, I've got a daughter who is a ten-year-old soccer All Star. She is cooler than you. I'm on her side.
December 4th, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^
It was my favorite part of the Profile, if I'm honest. Nice work.
December 4th, 2014 at 3:55 PM ^
Agree with all of it. I hope he's getting equal billing with the other top candidates. If only FlightAware wasn't blocked we would know!
December 4th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^
Brian - when you researched the history of MSU football, did Jackie Sherrill's tenure not appear?
From 1991 through 2000 under Jackie Sherill MSU went: 7-5, 7-5, 4-5-2, 8-4, 3-8, 5-6, 7-4, 8-5, 10-2 (won SEC West) and 8-4. That's a decade of football where MSU went 60-42-2??
December 4th, 2014 at 4:27 PM ^
Jackie Sherill -- the guy TAMU hired in 1982 when Bo turned them down.
I still remember the night of the "Don't Go Bo" parties.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^
The 1990's were a weird time in the SEC. The SEC West was absolute garbage some of those years. That 1999 team that managed to go 10-2 didn't play a ranked team all year long. So, yes, it shows that it's not entirely impossible to win at Mississippi St., but Jackie Sherrill (who was cheating like a mofo at the time) wasn't exactly competing in the SEC West of the last 6 years.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:11 PM ^
Brian said you have to go back to the '50's to find a coach who could keep MSU above .500 for an extended period of time. Either he purposely omitted Sherrill's tenue to make his argument for Mullen sound better or he didn't do very good research to begin with.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:34 PM ^
you just argued against your own point there
Sherrill had 7 winning seasons at MSU and 6 losing seasons. Would you call that keeping them above .500 for an extended period? He was under .500 every other season
December 4th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
Probably had something to do with it. I remember those teams, they made 1 or 2 SEC CGs and got some decent athletes (Wayne Madkin at QB, Dontae Walker at HB).
December 4th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^
they never made an SECCG
December 4th, 2014 at 6:45 PM ^
They made one, in 1998.
December 4th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^
neg me plz
December 4th, 2014 at 5:26 PM ^
Things that are true about Jackie Sherrill
A.) he was the best coach in Mississippi State history
B.) he was an extremely good coach who won big at three major schools
C.) he kept losing jobs because he cheated, and Mississippi State was dirty as all fuck in his tenure
so basically what you're saying is Mullen was as good or better than the best coach MSU ever had, who was successful everywhere he went and was also probably cheating
December 4th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
Mullen has been my favorite non-Harbaugh hire since Day 1. I would be gushing with excitement if he was the hire.
December 4th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
"Shitters full"
December 4th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
I have been waiting with baited breath for this series.
And I think that there are some very strong arguments that Bielema is a more attractive option than Mullen.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
I would walk around a city asking people for their last names, then hire the first one with the last name Mullen before I would allow Bielema anywhere near my program.
December 4th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
He is a good #2 after Harbaugh. I'm concerned that he might get the RRod treatment from the program "insiders" though. If we can promise 100% support from the beginning and no tomfoolery from the tomfoolers then I'm sold. Sadly this has nothing nothing to do with Mullen as a coach but rather whether Michigan is ready to accept an outsider.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^
I think the experience Michigan had with RR, and the lesson that many of us learned about the need to be able to accept someone other than a "Michigan Man," would make it far easier for Mullen than it was for RR the first time through. It might still be an issue with some, but not close to the same degree.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:44 PM ^
I'm just concerned because the old guard was petitioning for a 5th year with Hoke. I'm afraid anyone who isn't Harbaugh and to a lesser extent Miles will upset them.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:01 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^
Here is a post that might clear up some of those misconceptions.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:15 PM ^
No tl;dr so it is straight to comments section.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:16 PM ^
TL;DR
December 4th, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^
Yessssss. I've been through the MGoArchives multiple times trying to track down this classic. Thank you sir.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
Did you not even bother looking at the chart about the number of kids he is signing? It was pretty explicit in showing that he is not oversigning. He does use JUCOs, but not at an exorbitant rate.
And I believe you are confusing Miss State with Ole Miss. Ole Miss is the school that magically landed top 20 recruits on signing day to make a mega-class. You know, where Treadwell went.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:25 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
Since you obviously don't read anything I write, this seems like an excellent opportunity to tell you that I'm IN YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW DOING TERRIBLE THINGS TO YOUR CATS
December 4th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^
December 4th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
^^ Best possible response.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:44 PM ^
those are my cats please don't hurt them SOPHIE IS VERY NICE
December 4th, 2014 at 5:03 PM ^
I mean this in the best way possible - does anyone else wonder if Brian is hilarious in person? And then, like, what kind of funny?
Is it cool funny, or awkward funny? Is he the weird guy that everyone laughs at but is confident enough just to enjoy entertaining others? Maybe I'm the only one who wonders this.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 4th, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
You really didn't read the article, did you? Miss State refused to do business with the guy selling Cam Newton, and then they turned in Auburn when he ended up there.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:01 PM ^
Cant wait for this to be over
December 4th, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^
It is the absolute worst. I've informed my boss that, should he see a far-away look on my face, I'm almost certainly thinking about this Michigan mishigas. And not to be a fair-weather fan or nothin', but if they get this wrong I'm just gonna try to move on with my life. (And no. I'm not. And I know that. And this fact depresses me all the more.)
December 4th, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^
And it is a feat to win 10 while playing in this year's SEC West.
However, I don't think anyone is comparing Mullen to Hoke in 2011. I do, however, think there is some legitimate nervousness about hiring a guy who took 6 years to get to his breakout season. He *should* have natural advantages at Michigan, but as we've learned over the past 6 years, those natural advantages don't emerge for some people--including at least one who looked like a sure thing coming in.*
I guess that's another way of saying that I'm still, on balance, optimistic on Mullen, but a bit more cautious.
*Yes, that didn't work out for a plethora of reasons--some within RR's and some outside RR's control. I'm just saying that he didn't come in and suddenly exploit a bountiful harvest of exploitable natural advantages.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^
I'd be a little concerned that it took him 6 years to find an experienced QB to really run his offense. I will grant that Mississippi St. didn't give him many natural advantages to find his guy, and hopefully one of our guys could step right in like an Alex Smith, but it's still concerning.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^
Agree 100% with your order of choices:
1) Harbaugh
2) Mullen
3) Miles
Mullen has charisma and I think would be a great recruiter at a school with the cache of UM. He's also a REAL coach with innovative ideas who actually might say yes (unlike Sumlin or Malzahn).
December 4th, 2014 at 4:05 PM ^
So, you're saying Mullen is to Meyer as Bo is to Woody? Sounds good.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:05 PM ^
So is Harbaugh officially not feasible :(
I wanted Mullen during the last search, so I certainly would like to see him here now.
December 4th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^
of an annus mirabilis and annus horribilis. It's a remarkable...uh, achievement?
December 4th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
I don't understand why people are down on Mullen. He would be a home-run hire, IMHO. Traditionally, Mississippi State is an SEC bottom-dweller. What he has built there is pretty amazing.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^
Well when people compare this:
LSU Tigers (Southeastern Conference) (2005–present) | ||||||||
2005 | LSU | 11–2 | 7–1 | 1st (West) | W Peach | 5 | 6 | |
2006 | LSU | 11–2 | 6–2 | T–2nd (West) | W Sugar | 3 | 3 | |
2007 | LSU | 12–2 | 6–2 | 1st (West) | W BCS NCG | 1 | 1 | |
2008 | LSU | 8–5 | 3–5 | 3rd (West) | W Chick-fil-A | |||
2009 | LSU | 9–4 | 5–3 | 2nd (West) | L Capital One | 17 | 17 | |
2010 | LSU | 11–2 | 6–2 | T–2nd (West) | W Cotton | 8 | 8 | |
2011 | LSU | 13–1 | 8–0 | 1st (West) | L BCS NCG | 2 | 2 | |
2012 | LSU | 10–3 | 6–2 | T–2nd (West) | L Chick-fil-A | 12 | 13 | |
2013 | LSU | 10–3 | 5–3 | 3rd (West) | W Outback | 14 | 14 | |
2014 | LSU | 8–4 | 4–4 | T–4th (West) | ||||
LSU: | 103–28 |
56–24 |
With this:
Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference) (2009–present) | ||||||||
2009 | Mississippi State | 5–7 | 3–5 | T–4th (West) | ||||
2010 | Mississippi State | 9–4 | 4–4 | 5th (West) | W Gator | 17 | 15 | |
2011 | Mississippi State | 7–6 | 2–6 | 5th (West) | W Music City | |||
2012 | Mississippi State | 8–5 | 4–4 | 4th (West) | L Gator | |||
2013 | Mississippi State | 7–6 | 3–5 | T–5th (West) | W Liberty | |||
2014 | Mississippi State | 10–2 | 6–2 | 2nd (West) | ||||
Mississippi State: | 46–30 |
22–26 |
I compare Miss St. more to a Michigan State. Would we be saying Dantonio is a home-run hire if his last 5 seasons (excluding this year) were a .567 winning percentage? Doubt it.
Comparisons of Michigan St vs Miss St recruiting classes (Rivals):
Year | Michigan St | Mississippi St |
2009 | 17 | 25 |
2010 | 30 | 38 |
2011 | 31 | 44 |
2012 | 41 | 30 |
2013 | 26 | 40 |
Avg | 29 | 35.4 |
Granted Miss St is in the SEC, but this does not scream "home-run hire" to me. Miles and success at Michigan appears to be an easier conclusion to draw in my opinion.
December 4th, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^
so people are stupid and don't understand context and think a guy who followed up Sylvester Croom at the SEC's worst program should have the same record as the guy who replaced Nick Saban in one of the SEC's most fertile recruiting areas?
that actually makes sense, yes.
December 4th, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^
Miss St. isn't the SEC's worst program. It's certainly better than both Kentucky and Vandy. It's not even certain that they're the worst program in the SEC West; Ole Miss hasn't exactly been a juggernaut.
December 4th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^
on what are you basing that? Mississippi State has the lowest all time winning percentage in SEC history, by a fairly wide margin.
- Ole Miss (.560)
- Vanderbilt (.500)
- Kentucky (.496)
- Mississippi State (.485)
basically it's a job on par with Duke, Kansas and Washington State and well below the likes of Rutgers and even Stanford.
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