Game Reset on Dan Mullen

[soflagator]

If Spurrier wanted to beat a team (UGA) he did. If he didn't care that much (FSU) not so much.
But Spurrier is the only coach I would say could beat you with his guys or yours.
Nobody compares to SOS nor should anyone try to compare to him.

Agree on the last line. Don’t agree with the others. We lost to fsu because Bowden typically had more talent and just beat us. He cared. There’s a reason he pointed out their cheating or different standard of discipline, even into his Usce days. We just didn’t win that game very often.

Btw, I think uga had four .500 or less seasons in the 90s. No one marvels at Mullen beating the noles or vols right now because they suck. It’s not because he has some determination to do so. At least, it’s not the only factor.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Agree on the last line. Don’t agree with the others. We lost to fsu because Bowden typically had more talent and just beat us. He cared. There’s a reason he pointed out their cheating or different standard of discipline, even into his Usce days. We just didn’t win that game very often.

we had several top classes. And almost always were top 4 or top 5, but there was a slight talent difference. Mostly though we had a talent gap to close in the first few years, and some bad eggs in the late 90s. Those late classes (like the 98 and 99 rosters) were arguably the most talented we ever had, but there seemed to be a higher than normal amount of "just staying three years and going to the NFL" types vs people who were mostly concerned about championships.

It was equally frustrating to me that we always drew a fuchsed up ACC crew at Hoggetowne or a just as biased against us SEC crew in Tally.

Obviously CUM and Mullinz also had/have to deal with this. The refs don't seem to appreciate Mullinz at all either.

CUM benefited greatly from Booby going senile and Fulmer losing his edge during that time. That sure cleared the deck. Oh yeah, and Bammer being on probation. He is smart though. The great coaches only pick the best situations. You won't see Meyer ever taking Cowbell, Nebraska or Purdue.

 

[soflagator]

I screwed up the quote but nevertheless, the rules are clear and losing first is losing best.

Hell Booby Bowden grabbed an NC that way.

I was told we were supposed to excuse an early first year loss to Kintucky bc it was his first year. And a near loss to Kintucky in the second year because he was accidentally playing the wrong QB.

Really we are. We've had four straight Butters type recruiting classes. He made his own bed.

3 and 4 losses has never been the standard, no matter how anyone tries to parse the schedule and compare only 3 years plus September or whatever, or no matter how loudly some clap about fourth tier bowl games the same time we mock the Voles for finishing second for a decade.

We are very much a a championship/1st-place-or-nothing mindset group. Well in the first six years. couldn’t beat the best team in the country. Whether or not these teams reside in our conference is irrelevant. Both coaches through four seasons are 0-2 against the eventual NC winning teams(maybe 0-3 for Mullen). Unless we’re content being runner up, that’s the standard.

In response to your second post, the recruiting thing is not debatable. Yes, we had great classes under Spurrier. We have to get better there under Mullen.

 

[TheDouglas78]

To Mullen’s credit, we aren’t the pathetic version of Gators football rolled out by McMuschampelwein. We’re not losing to Ga Southern any time soon and I don’t see garbage like guys blocking each other.

At least our floor is much higher, but it’s an 8 foot ceiling above that floor. He needs to win the big ones, and so far he’s failed MISERABLY in that department.

This is a problem, and I’m guilty of it myself. We can’t use the Mushcramp and McElstain days as the bar. The bar is the early 90s, and the mid 2000s when we were scary dominant. We were the 2010s ‘Bama then, and THAT is the bar. We did it twice, ‘blama has been there longer, but I don’t ever want to hear or say “well, at least we’re better than…” ever again.

Exactly, this is so true I'm even agreeing with Injun on that.... you know how it pains me to agree with that idiot. We have too many people judging on a floor and not a ceiling... We all knew when he came in the floor would be higher than the last two jabornies... but we also knew his ceiling was limited. Now we have people jerking it because his floor is higher than the last two jabornies, instead of asking what has he really done?

 

[SGG]

And yet in spite of his poor recruiting, in spite of his unwillingness to part ways with Grantham, he scared the living daylights out of Saban in last year’s SECCG and repeated it a week ago. Saban said as much.

I’d rather have a guy who can coach and recruit, but if I was forced to pick between the two, I’d pick coaching over recruiting. Then I’d tell the guy to go take a Dale Carnegie course or learn a southern accent. I don’t want Kirby Smart leading my team.

I heard Saban hasn’t slept right since Dan scared the bejesus out of him.

 

[78]

<sigh> last time I'm going through this.
Will Miles has ran the numbers as have I and the results are the same. It's about Jimmie's and Joe's not X's and O's.
I looked at every SEC game from 2005 through 2019 (15 seasons) asking the question did the coach win or lose against teams with more or less talent as determined by the 247 team talent composite which takes into account only the players that are available at the end of fall camp. So it's not biased by guys that were recruited but never made the team or left early etc. AND it accounts for transfers.
You end up with a spread sheet for each year that looks something like this: View attachment 35774

Then you figure out the averages and compare each coach to that. There are exceptions. Every coach, even the mighty Saban, performs poorly in their first season. We throw that out. Also the year a coach is fired is a mess, plus it requires figuring out which week they were fired and whose got time for that. Anyway it doesn't change the numbers much but it simplifies things.

In the end you get the two following averages:
Against teams with more talent the average winning % is 27.7%.
Against teams with less talent the average winning % is 77.6%.

So now we can see how all the SEC coaches performed.
There are three coaches that did better against teams with less talent AND against teams with more talent.
Saban 88.1% and 70%
Mullen 87% and 35.4%
Stoops 81.8% and 33.3%

Nobody else did better in both categories.

At first blush Saban's 70% against better teams may seem remarkable but take into account that it is a small sample size - only 10 games in 15 seasons. More importantly bamas opponents with more talent barely had more talent. It's certainly not the difference in talent between UK v UF or UF v bama. Plus Saban's army of assistants don't hurt either.

Barry Odom was very good at beating teams with more talent at 37.9% (the only coach better then the top three - except Saban of course) and was a respectable 75% the rare times he had more talent.

Ogre was 83.3% when he had the talent but a paltry 11.8% when he didn't.
Smart was 78.1% with more talent and is 0% when he doesn't (that being when he plays bama).

TLDR If talent is so obviously and overwhelmingly important to success why the hell doesn't Mullenz put more effort into recruiting.

Interesting set of metrics and results. It befuddles the mind why Mullen doesn’t just figure out a way to recruit better. Is he that lazy and that unlikable?

 

[78]

If Spurrier wanted to beat a team (UGA) he did. If he didn't care that much (FSU) not so much.
But Spurrier is the only coach I would say could beat you with his guys or yours.
Nobody compares to SOS nor should anyone try to compare to him.

Something, maybe the complaints of late hits on Wuerffel or Free Shoes University or Darnell Dockett or the two meetings in the Sugar, tells me you are completely wrong.

 

[78]

I heard Saban hasn’t slept right since Dan scared the bejesus out of him.

I also heard of this thing called a figure of speech. Tim Brando even warned me of it when he had the audacity to announce on the air, “Arkansas just put a scare into Auburn.”

 

[FireFoley]

Interesting set of metrics and results. It befuddles the mind why Mullen doesn’t just figure out a way to recruit better. Is he that lazy and that unlikable?

Very YES and Extremely YES!

 

[SGG]

I also heard of this thing called a figure of speech. Tim Brando even warned me of it when he had the audacity to announce on the air, “Arkansas just put a scare into Auburn.”

You’re determined to die on Mullen Hill, ain’t you?

 

[78]

You’re determined to die on Mullen Hill, ain’t you?

C’mon, you know me better than that. I’m certainly not trying to pump him. At best I have mixed feelings. I’m not convinced he can take us to the next level and I’m also not sure I want to embark on another grand do-over.

 

[rogdochar]

Mullen could do one thing to raise his stature in my eyes and that is to stop being a belt-fed excuse launcher. Nobody is perfect and only deranged fans expect perfection, so stop acting like every time something goes wrong it’s someone else’s fault.

But, he told me it was his parents' fault.

 

[rogdochar]

That was a part of the making bad coaching decisions.

According to Merriam-Webster, anytime one is deciding something on Grantham, one is making bad-coaching decisions.

 

[5-Star Finger]

Mullen could do one thing to raise his stature in my eyes and that is to stop being a gas operated belt-fed excuse launcher.

FIFY

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I heard Saban hasn’t slept right since Dan scared the bejesus out of him.

Saban may never sleep again.

That is THREE moral victories in the last two decades.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

C’mon, you know me better than that. I’m certainly not trying to pump him. At best I have mixed feelings. I’m not convinced he can take us to the next level and I’m also not sure I want to embark on another grand do-over.

Jeebus. You had multiple orgasns while typing that claptrap over the one game SEC winning streak and dont deny it.

I really cant believe you think 8-4 forever is a legitimate strategy.

 

[TheDouglas78]

C’mon, you know me better than that. I’m certainly not trying to pump him. At best I have mixed feelings. I’m not convinced he can take us to the next level and I’m also not sure I want to embark on another grand do-over.

Before you claim being skeptical you might want to re-read some of your posts on this thread:

UF Announces Dan Mullen as HC $36 Million over 6 Years | Gatorchatter

 

[NovaGator]

IMO, the SEC is the "Minor League" of the NFL. No other league compares to the SEC on Draft Day.
Dan is just so-so on signing day. Dan needs to be more Urban, Spurrier, Zook- like when he sells
UF to top recruits. Time will tell if that new football facility will turn some heads.

 

[itsgr82bag8r]

This board is full of guys so smart and skilled they should be applying for head coaching positions at major universities.
I’ll bet 99% haven’t even coached at the Midget Football level. And like the donkey
have never had a football uniform on in their entire life.
We are soooo priviledged to hear the words of wisdom from these gifted folks.

 

[Bushmaster]

Coaching can't overcome talent deficiencies. Not consistently. An average coach with superior talent is going to be far more successful than an superior coach with average talent.

Case in point: Ogre and Shart.

Ogre didn't coach much of that 2019 team. The OC parlayed that job he did into an NFL gig.

Great coaching will beat average coaching with great talent. See lsu now. They still have talent. UGA had a ton of talent last year and got beat by Mullenz O.