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Mullen, A Good Hire
The Cowbells Will be Ringing Once Mullen's Offense Takes the Field
Byrne Makes the Right Choice
Dec 11, 2008
Once again Greg Byrne has made the right hire for the Bulldog's athletic program. It was very impressive this spring when he went against Ron Polk's advice and hired the right man for the job in John Cohen. Now Bryne has once again made a great hire for the Bulldog football program by hiring Dan Mullen, the offensive coordinator at Florida.
Mississippi State needed a hire like this. Yes, the saying that defense does win championships is true,but offense will attract big time recruits when your program is down. Already MSU has received positive feedback from some of the big offensive recruits in the talent rich State of Mississippi.
"Since they got a new head coach in there and one that ran a lot of spread offense, I will give them a pretty good look now. His offense puts up a lot of numbers. It makes me think that I could be a good fit in that type of offense that he will run at State now." stated Macon's Patrick Patterson who is listed as the top WR in the state by most. Another top WR in the state Chad Bumphis was recruited heavily by Mullen while at Florida. Mississippi is a state filled with great athletes at the high school and JUCO ranks and a hire like this will continue to bring positive feedback from recruits. What big name QB recruit wouldn't want to play for a guy that has coached Alex Smith, Chris Leak, and Tim Tebow?
Even without a coach for two weeks the Bulldogs are still doing a better job recruiting instate than its rival Ole Miss is. Currently, according to Rivals, MSU is ranked 27 in recruiting and Ole Miss is 49th. Five of the top 10 states in Mississippi are committed to the Bulldogs, Ole Miss has nobody in the top 10. Houston Nutt has been known to be a lazy recruiter(evident by his last couple Arkansas classes), which might not be a good thing when you are going against a young coach like Mullens who is out to prove himself as a head coach. Yes, Ole Miss has a great tailgating experience, but football players don't tailgate. They want to play in front of great atmospheres and the crowd in Starkville is a better football crowd than the one in Oxford.
Offensive numbers will also bring out the MSU fans back to Davis-Wade Stadium. When MSU started the expansion of Davis Wade Stadium in 2001, they were coming off an 8-4 season. Unfortunately for State fans the stadium hasn't had too many fun teams to watch since the expansion was complete in 2002. The final home game this season for the Dogs saw only 42,056 in attendance for a 31-28 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Mullen's offense will bring excitement back to Starkville. With 55,000 cowbells ringing this stadium can be as loud as the 80,250 seat Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC. It certainly is louder than the wine sipping Ole Miss fan base. When the Dogs are winning the band led "Go State...Go State" cheers is one of the loudest in the SEC.
Many are questioning as to why Mullen would take a job like Mississippi State, they shouldn't. Winning is possible at Mississippi State, from 1998-200 Jackie Sherrill won 26 games. This span included a SEC Championship game appearance in 1998 and a 10 win season in 1999. At one point MSU held a record of 16-1 in home games. Blame poor success on NCAA violations, not a poor program with limited resources. Emory Bellard won 17 games in a two season span in the early 80s. History shows us you can win at State. South Carolina, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt are all still looking for a SEC division title ten years after MSU won their first.
MSU has also shown consistency in other areas within its athletic department. Rick Stansbury has been one of the SEC's most consistent coaches this decade. In 11 seasons at MSU, Stansbury has only 1 losing season. Only once this decade has MSU failed to make the postseason. In baseball the Bulldogs are probably the second best program in the SEC(although USC could make an argument) behind LSU. The Dogs 8 CWS appearances tie for 2nd in the SEC behind the Tigers. If they can do it in these sports then why not in football?
Mullen enters a SEC West that looks to be lacking stability at a few programs. Certainly Saban has Alabama headed in the right direction, but there isn't a LSU fan that can look you in the eye and say they are 100% confident in Les Miles right now. Auburn made one of the worst coaching moves this decade letting Tommy Tuberville go and will have a problem landing a big name coach. Houston Nutt seems to flirt with a new job every year as a head coach and Bobby Petrino hasn't gotten his guys into Fayetteville yet. There is room to grow in the West right now and all five schools behind the Tide have a chance to become a contender.
We've established what Mississippi State offers Mullen, but what does he offer the Dogs? Mullen has been under Urban Myer for 7 seasons now. He has coached quarterbacks Josh Harris, Alex Smith, Chris Leak, and Tim Tebow. Everyone one of these QBs put up big numbers at the NCAA level. Mullen will bring a wide open spread attack that will use an effective down the field passing game and mix it in with a little option offense. This offense was featured in an August 2005 Sports Illustrated as being college football offense of the future. The key for Mullen will be to bring in a defensive coordinator that can give the ball back to his offense. Mullen is excited about this job, sporting a cowbell at last night's basketball game, and will bring energy back to a program that is in desperate need of it.
On paper this looks like a great hire and the right one for the Bulldogs. In the preseason I listed Mullen in my top 10 of coordinators to watch in 2008(see our archived articles). Only time will tell us for certain if MSU can become a championship program under Mullen. The question will be is Dan Mullen the next Marc Richt or is he the next Brad Scott?
Matt Barber
dixiefriedsports@gmail.com
Matt Barber
dixiefriedsports@gmail.com
