Dan Mullen reported in Baton Rouge Friday.
I know most of you don't like rumor-mongering. And I know what most of you think of the bleacher report but I came across this and thought is was at least worth sharing. It is mostly about Les Miles and the plane in Baton Rouge. But makes mention that Dan Mullen was reported in Baton Rouge Friday.
Note: TAKE IT FWIW. THIS COULD BE NOTHING OR SOMETHING. ALSO UNSURE OF CONFIRMATION.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^
Brother of Chris?
January 8th, 2011 at 2:47 PM ^
I fixed it.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:48 PM ^
I think Dan Mullen would be alright -- although he's less awesome now that his DC Manny Diaz isn't around (if we took him, I was really hoping he'd bring him).
He runs a similar offense to Rodriguez, so it'd be an easier transition.
Hmm. Interesting.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
I agree with you on Mullen - I would be very happy if he came to Michigan, even sans Manny Diaz.
At this point, I just hope we keep the spread - I can't handle another paniful transition period back to a pro-style system. Abandoning the spread halfway through the transition to return to our old ways would be pretty dumb, IMO - and it would almost certainly result in a few more years of 'rebuilding' - if there's anything left by that point.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
So let me see if i have THIS rumor straight....
Mullen is in Baton Rouge implying he'll be taking the soon to be vacant LSU job
Meaning that Miles has told the LSU administrators to start a coaching search BUT somehow that little nugget didn't leak out anyplace from anyone.
Don't think so.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
Oh please. So Michigan and Mullin decide to meet in Baton Rouge to discuss our open coaching slot? Why there....so we don't have to turn in our rental car if discussions fall apart and can drive over to talk to Les?
That even less plausable than how interpreted it.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:19 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^
Someone in the Athletic Dep't or with Michigan's search firm (more likely the latter) calls Mullen or his agent (more likely the latter) and says, "Michigan's interested in you. How about a preliminary meeting?" Mullen (probably through his agent) says, "I'd love to. But let's not meet in Starkville. It will attract too much attention. One of my assistants is going to be in Baton Rouge on Friday, making a recruiting trip. Let's meet there. The recruiting trip will be my cover."
Why do it this way?
No-one in Baton Rouge is on the lookout for Dan Mullen. When he arrives in the airport, no-one will notice. Even if someone does notice, no-one will think that Mullen's in town to talk to a search firm about the Michigan job. And when someone asks Mullen, "Have you spoken to or met with anyone from Michigan about the head coaching job there?" he can truthfully say, "no." He did not speak to anyone from Michigan. He spoke to the search firm. The firm reports to Brandon about the impression Mullen made, and Brandon decides whether to take the next step, which might be an interview with Mullen directly, which would probably also happen in a neutral location.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
Wow...a triple post!
Now i know things are back to normal.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
Oh please. So Michigan and Mullin decide to meet in Baton Rouge to discuss our open coaching slot? Why there....so we don't have to turn in our rental car if discussions fall apart and can drive over to talk to Les?
That even less plausable than how interpreted it.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
Seemed even less plausable the third time
January 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
I really really REALLY wanted to emphasize my point.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^
your bolivious.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:51 PM ^
Why was Mullen in BR, any clue?
January 8th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^
right around the same time as that plane with the cool paint job.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:33 PM ^
I know Mississippi State's DC was in Baton Rouge on Friday doing recruiting visits, I assume Mullen was doing the same...
OR secretly meeting with Michigan officials!
I hope its the latter.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:53 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 2:53 PM ^
Harbaugh's charisma without having to rebuild and wait three years.
Anybody else salivate after watching Mullen's charismatic post-game interview after the Gator bowl? I'd love to see Devin Gardner become his next Tebow / Relf.
I know this is Bleacher Report and I know they misspelled Mullen's name throughout the article...but I hope the chimp that wrote it is right.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM ^
He did just get an extention from MSU (NTMSU), so... we'll see. But as of now, with Harbaugh and Patterson seemingly out of the picture, he's looking mighty fine.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
Reported on radio yesterday that he still hadn't signed the extension even though it was a "done deal"
January 8th, 2011 at 3:44 PM ^
He makes $2.65M a year. Brandon can outbid that. And his buyout is a manageable $1.4M.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:19 PM ^
...Plus Mulling coach at Notre Dame, and Miama of Ohio. He has recruited the area before, has relationships with High Schools. Obivously too coaching at Florida he has experience at a big time college program. Mullen could be a really good choice, I'd be happy with him.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
Did you just compare Chris Relf with TIm Tebow? Our defense just made him look that way.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
But both are tall, QB/FB types. I think DG would do well in that role.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^
only if Barwis stays to pack some muscle onto his frame
January 8th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
If Dan Mullen had any thoughts of leaving MSU why wouldn't he have taken the job in FL. To my understanding he told UF officials that his family was happy where they are and he did not want to move them. Maybe they were a having a really good sale on shrimp gumbo or crawfish et tu fe.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:17 PM ^
As of early December, he had not been contacted and said he was happy at MSU. Who knows if he would've left if contacted.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^
crawfish et tu fe
Et tu fe? I think you mean étouffée.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
Maybe he likes cajun food.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^
Florida didnt want Mullens
January 8th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
That was one of Brandon's criteria. I thought Brian's overview had him born on Staten Island and coached mainly in the South.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^
And Bowling Green under Urban Meyer. Not only does he have Midwest experience, but he would keep the recently established Florida pipeline intact. I don't think DB could hit a bigger home run.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
Mullen seems great. He landed one great D coordinator, so I trust his taste. But he's extremely unlikely. Was he not offered the Fla job? He just signed a fat contract and gave some rousing speech about MSU. He wouldn't be the first to bolt a school after doing all of the above. But he didn't seem like a guy with his eye on the door.
Also, although M may have a higher ceiling, his current team is much better than ours.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
No way Mullen comes here. We just got rid of an "outsider who runs that pussy spread" How would hiring Mullen solve any of the infighting?
January 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM ^
No way Mullen comes here. We just got rid of an "outsider who runs that pussy spread" How would hiring Mullen solve any of the infighting?
January 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^
Winning would solve the infighting. Simple as that.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^
Brandon does not want that time to be a complete clusterfuck (or at least he shouldn't). The only way for us to "win" any time soon is for Brandon to hit a home run with this hire.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:57 PM ^
Unlike Rodriguez, he has Midwest ties. And his spread won him two National Championships at Florida. He's got boatloads more charisma than Rodriguez and would be an absolute slam dunk.
As to your point that he's "not coming"--you may be right.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
Source seems to be pretty unreliable, as they reported Steve Marriuci as a serious candidate for the job...
January 8th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
Mullen is basically Rich Rodriguez without the BCS success. He seems like a very good young coach but it makes no sense for him to be on Brandon's radar at this point.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:40 PM ^
He is also Rich Rodriguez without the accent (stupid I know, but important to the assholes). And he's Rich Rodriguez with a clue about how to hire a good defensive coordinator and be disciplined on special teams. Finally, he's Rich Rodriguez who has had some success in a real conference.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
Who hired Jeff Casteel? Scott Shafer is a quality DC too. Mullen had one good season with a previously unproven guy who is now bailing.
Mullen's stock is only as high as it is because the sample size is so small.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:31 PM ^
Yeah, Rodriguez hired Shafer then quickly fired him because he didn't get along with his buddies and didn't want to run his cockamamie defensives schemes. And we know how GERG turned out. I think he got lucky with Casteel.
January 8th, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
He also kicked our ass this year, so there's that. I'm not happy about it, but it's a fact.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^
I wouldn't mind him being our next coach . . . but I find it strange that his oversigning is somehow not an issue for anyone when it is for Miles, when he's gone even farther in that regard.
January 9th, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^
I would have supported Mullen to some extent, however I was unaware he was oversigning.
Guess I should have assumed coming from SEC, so that would definitely impact my opinion, but would want to research the details and such before disqualifiying him. A few isolated incidents, bad, standard operating procedure, deal killer.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:05 PM ^
I agree, but basically everyone in the SEC not named Vandy is guilty of this. He's kind of just trying to keep up with the Sabans. Plus, he's a younger guy who might not have the SEC-style recruiting ingrained in him as much as, say, Miles. But I don't care nearly as much about the recruiting issue as the fact that guys like Miles have major recruiting violations following them around.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:29 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 5:54 PM ^
Count me in as someone who absolutely opposes the idea of a "Michigan Man" being a requirement for the job. Since when did ties to the university have anything to do with performance on the field? If there was any credance attached to loyalty associated with being a "Michigan Man," Harbaugh would be here by now.
I am an alum of the school, but I don't expect someone to get a preference just because they have some tie to the university. Hoke did not even play here; he just coached here as an assistant. For the life of me, I can't understand why he's being considered just because of that. Obviously, his thin resume speaks for itself. Miles is a loose cannon, has committed violations, makes on-field coaching mistakes, and is lucky to field a good team because he has a great DC and good recruits.
I think the idea of a "Michigan Man" masks a greater danger, which is idea of bringing in someone with "midwest" ties that would turn the program into a "midwest program," whatever that means. I think it means returning to the pro-style offense, which would mean Denard and Tate leaving for sure, and maybe Gardner leaving as well. All three were recruited as dual threat spread QBs. With a depleted defense, that's 2-3 more years of misery. I also think it means recruiting more locally to make these people feel better, except that the rivals, ESPN, scout etc... rankings all clearly indicate that the best talent is in FL, TX, CA and the South.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't want success but then foreclose recruiting a significant percentage of talent. This year's "midwest" schools did well only because they had an unusually large number of seniors. Wisconsin will not be the same next year with their O-line depleted. MSU was a complete mirage, as they did not play Ohio State and were absolutely thrashed by a legit team. Did I mention the off-the-field problems and the fact that some of these players would not qualify to play here? Ohio State is the only midwest school who can survive only recruiting locally. Tressel recruits Ohio very well, which hurts Michigan and everyone else. As we know, Ohio State is not a clean program either.
Dan Mullen has not cheated, he has won at the highest level, at a program where winning is almost impossible. He would not run Denard out of town. In fact, there's every reason to believe he would improve the offense with both Denard and Gardner. He needs a strong DC with good recruiting ties, and whether it's Randy Shannon or someone else, that DC needs to be given the keys. Mullen has shown a willingness not to meddle on defense, so we can work that out.
Michigan cannot afford 2-3 or more years of backsliding. We just had a bad transition and we're setting ourselves up for another one unless candidates like Mullen are seriously considered. We could do a lot worse than Mullen.