I was wrong about Dan Mullen...

#51
#51
VolGee4 said:
Those aren't mutually exclusive. We hired a worse coach. But, Dan Mullen was never going to recruit well enough at UT. @golfballs had it correct early in this thread- he was never overrated, but what was his ceiling? Not a championship head coach.
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I don’t disagree with you or @golfballs.

Mullen appeared to be a great hire, until he wasn’t.
 
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#52
#52
Lawrence Wright said:
I always thought he was a better fit at UF than UT, but not giving a damn about recruiting or waiting too long to hold Grantham accountable, he would have ultimately failed wherever he landed.

The dude just checked out after the Alabama game, kinda like Meyer did in 2010.
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It’s been said that Tennessee recruits itself (don’t personally agree) but that definitely is proven for Florida. Got too many advantages to be below top 10. Mullen’s tenure proves concerns about his recruiting were founded.
 
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#53
#53
butchna said:
It’s been said that Tennessee recruits itself (don’t personally agree) but that definitely is proven for Florida. Got too many advantages to be below top 10. Mullen’s tenure proves concerns about his recruiting were founded.
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Those concerns were definitely well founded.
 
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#55
#55
butchna said:
So was it the press conference that started the funnel cloud? As an outside observer it seems the team tanked on him afterwards.
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The press conference where he said he’d worry about recruiting after the season was the tipping point.

Then we gave up 40 points to South Carolina and 52 points to Samford in consecutive games…no way he survived after that.
 
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#56
#56
I truly thought after year two we'd hit a home run. I'd heard all the rumblings about him being a bad/lazy recruiter and perhaps a little aloof, I just chalked that up to salty Mississippi State fans, turns out they were all correct. A shame too, because I truly think he's a great offensive mind, and he's proven to be a great developer of quarterbacks. (EJ aside)
 
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#57
#57
Sub Par SUPERSTAR said:
I truly thought after year two we'd hit a home run. I'd heard all the rumblings about him being a bad/lazy recruiter and perhaps a little aloof, I just chalked that up to salty Mississippi State fans, turns out they were all correct. A shame too, because I truly think he's a great offensive mind, and he's proven to be a great developer of quarterbacks. (EJ aside)
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What was so promising after 2018 was the improvement we saw in Franks.

Mullen was also ahead of the curve on finding talent in the portal. Van Jefferson and Tre Grimes were huge signings right out of the gate. A few years later the rest of CFB figured it out too.

In hindsight, all praise and criticism of Mullen turned out to be rock solid…aloof and at times weird personality, reluctant if not apathetic recruiter, loyal to a fault towards the more experienced QB, and an exceptional play caller.
 
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#58
#58
I was wrong about his recruiting. I defended him because UF hovered around top 10 classes and figured other factors were keeping him from breaking into top 5 classes. But I was wrong, he just didn’t really care to put forth the effort.

Generally, I still think he’s one of the best offensive play callers out there and I hope like heck he doesn’t end up coaching offense at an SEC East school down the road.

I also defended some of his really stubborn decisions, like not making a change at Defensive Coordinator. That cost him his job. I was wrong.
 
#59
#59
I think he's similar to Mike Leach. Intelligent and very good on the offensive side. Some time off probably will do him good - give him time to reflect and decide if he still wants to be a HC at the college level. Like many intelligent people I've met, he seems to lack self awareness on how he comes across.
 
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#61
#61
Jaws said:
Here’s what I like best about Mullen being in the SEC right now; he’s NOT a Saban disciple. UF has been down that road and bombed with Muschamp and McElwain. Other teams have too; SC, Tennessee, UGa included. Saban doesn’t even coach like he did 4 or 5 years ago, why should people be hiring coaches from that tree?

The last team to dominate the SEC not named Saban, for multiple years, was Urban Meyer and Florida. Before that, it was Spurrier and Florida. Now other teams have had the occasional great season (Cam Newton at Auburn, Joe Burrow at LSU) but nobody has sustained dominance like Saban since Meyer and Spurrier. Urban Meyer’s dominance came with Mullen as OC. When Mullen left, Florida was never the same.... until he returned.

If Florida can find a way to beat Bama in two weeks, you may see a changing of the guard back to Florida in the SEC. Alabama people fear nobody, except a well-coached Florida. UF is the only school who has sustained dominance in the conference besides them during the last 30 years.

Florida and Bama have met in Atlanta 8 times. It’s 4-4 in those matchups (two of UF’s losses were v those McElwain teams that somehow made the game). Bama also beat UF in Birmingham in the famous pick-6 game in what was a home game for Bama, back when the conference didn’t even try to hide their Bama bias, so it’s Bama 5 wins, UF 4. This will be their 10th meeting in SEC title games, more than any other teams.
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😄😄😄Great analysis! Enough said other than Florida sucks! Has been in the SEC!
 
#62
#62
Jaws said:
I was wrong about his recruiting. I defended him because UF hovered around top 10 classes and figured other factors were keeping him from breaking into top 5 classes. But I was wrong, he just didn’t really care to put forth the effort.

Generally, I still think he’s one of the best offensive play callers out there and I hope like heck he doesn’t end up coaching offense at an SEC East school down the road.

I also defended some of his really stubborn decisions, like not making a change at Defensive Coordinator. That cost him his job. I was wrong.
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What I found so weird was how almost the entire Florida team quit on him. There’s no other way to explain some of the games y’all lost. It scares me going forward. Obviously I’m hoping it takes Napier a while to right ship
 
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#63
#63
lukeneyland said:
What I found so weird was how almost the entire Florida team quit on him. There’s no other way to explain some of the games y’all lost. It scares me going forward. Obviously I’m hoping it takes Napier a while to right ship
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That's why I think we will see very early on how good of a coach Napier is. There is no other explanation for losing to Mizz and SC and playing terrible in the win against Samford other than the players quit. There is enough talent that if he gets buy-in from the players they can be decent quickly. Always heard he is a tireless recruiter but, FL has to be at least a little concerned about how recruiting is going so far though.
 
#65
#65
...and yet still finished under Tennessee in the SEC last season where they belong and where they will stay.
 
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