- Jun 13, 2014
- 845
- 2,080
Founding Member
Things that need to happen for the Gators to ascend back to the top of the mountain, each one being dependant on the other.
1. Keep Winning
Mullen has shown more coaching acumen and ability to do more with less than his two predecessors. Winning will keep the profile high, UF's reputation healing and fans like me engaged. Don't suck may be another way of putting this.
Nine wins is good coming off a craptastic losing season, but nine wins next year and the year after will keep people wondering if things will continue to move from glory to glory.
2. Recruiting
To keep improving your winning, Mullen can't just rely on crafty words and motivation to go with his X's and O's. You have to match that competence with talent level to be the best.
While I am not overly concerned about this season of recruiting, Mullen needs to understand that it is not just dumper noise regarding needing to be exceptional in this area of the job.
If determined he is behind on accelerating this aspect of the job, he needs to prioritize this because waiting until after 2020 may result in stalling point #1 and thus working against him accomplishing this item as well.
This is where the most vocal of critics about this recruiting cycle has been coming from -- Mullen really needed to use this season to get back into the top tier of recruits. Not doing it this cycle may mean he missed his chance. Now, that may not be true if 2020 is elite, but another moderate cycle may result in the point I made above -- stalling out the winning, which would stall out the 'crutin, etc.
3. Facilities
Unimpressive Name Dropping Time:
I covered the Atlanta Hawks for many years and, in doing so, spoke with a number of pro athletes and coaches about their college days and recruiting, since all of them had no reason to hide anything anymore. Put aside the "side benefits" like cars, etc. All of them said that the wow factor of the luxury they were walking into was a key decision point.
Guys who went to UK talked about walking into the facilities there and it was like a luxury hotel. Bell, whistles, etc. This has been going on since the late 70's-early 80's. Mike Woodson, who ended up playing for Bobby Knight at Indiana, said that Kentucky's luxury was phenomenal -- and that was back then. Things have just continued to ramp up.
So when players walk into Alabama or Georgia or Texas A&M and see facilities that are far better than the ShantyTown ours are purported to being, that will very much work against us. The arrogance of Foley and other UAA administration who thought they were taking the high road due to trying to be Stanford or whoever actually hurt those peripheral sports that depend on the revenue that football provides.
Weaker facilities yield weaker recruiting classes which yield weaker results.
All of these things need to improve in concert with each other. The so-called dumpers are only feeling and communicating the urgency.
1. Keep Winning
Mullen has shown more coaching acumen and ability to do more with less than his two predecessors. Winning will keep the profile high, UF's reputation healing and fans like me engaged. Don't suck may be another way of putting this.
Nine wins is good coming off a craptastic losing season, but nine wins next year and the year after will keep people wondering if things will continue to move from glory to glory.
2. Recruiting
To keep improving your winning, Mullen can't just rely on crafty words and motivation to go with his X's and O's. You have to match that competence with talent level to be the best.
While I am not overly concerned about this season of recruiting, Mullen needs to understand that it is not just dumper noise regarding needing to be exceptional in this area of the job.
If determined he is behind on accelerating this aspect of the job, he needs to prioritize this because waiting until after 2020 may result in stalling point #1 and thus working against him accomplishing this item as well.
This is where the most vocal of critics about this recruiting cycle has been coming from -- Mullen really needed to use this season to get back into the top tier of recruits. Not doing it this cycle may mean he missed his chance. Now, that may not be true if 2020 is elite, but another moderate cycle may result in the point I made above -- stalling out the winning, which would stall out the 'crutin, etc.
3. Facilities
Unimpressive Name Dropping Time:
I covered the Atlanta Hawks for many years and, in doing so, spoke with a number of pro athletes and coaches about their college days and recruiting, since all of them had no reason to hide anything anymore. Put aside the "side benefits" like cars, etc. All of them said that the wow factor of the luxury they were walking into was a key decision point.
Guys who went to UK talked about walking into the facilities there and it was like a luxury hotel. Bell, whistles, etc. This has been going on since the late 70's-early 80's. Mike Woodson, who ended up playing for Bobby Knight at Indiana, said that Kentucky's luxury was phenomenal -- and that was back then. Things have just continued to ramp up.
So when players walk into Alabama or Georgia or Texas A&M and see facilities that are far better than the ShantyTown ours are purported to being, that will very much work against us. The arrogance of Foley and other UAA administration who thought they were taking the high road due to trying to be Stanford or whoever actually hurt those peripheral sports that depend on the revenue that football provides.
Weaker facilities yield weaker recruiting classes which yield weaker results.
All of these things need to improve in concert with each other. The so-called dumpers are only feeling and communicating the urgency.