When did you become convinced re Mullen?

[Sec14Gator]

Opening press conference. I was pretty uninspired by the announcement. The press conference showed he knew everything about this school and program. Most say it was empty words at that point but the guy had enough experience here with Meyer to back it up as a CEO and his work ethic.

Honestly People are gonna dump on me but the Georgia game solidified it for me because we had the game plan to win. Franks had a terrible outing and we lost another key player in the secondary but the game plan was there. Mizzou shook my confidence a bit but not for long

Mixed feelings on this. I believe the first paragraph is pure fan boy meaningless bs. The only positive is he wasn’t a rambling idiot like Butters.

BUT - I agree with the second paragraph fully. He didn’t convince me we’d win championships, but it did show he could out coach the new Mr. 4th and dumb. Same re Mizzou, though that is the rub with Mullen that many are still concerned about.

 

[Malaka]

Mixed feelings on this. I believe the first paragraph is pure fan boy meaningless bs. The only positive is he wasn’t a rambling idiot like Butters.

BUT - I agree with the second paragraph fully. He didn’t convince me we’d win championships, but it did show he could out coach the new Mr. 4th and dumb. Same re Mizzou, though that is the rub with Mullen that many are still concerned about.

Not fanboy as I was completely let down by the hire. We have had 3 coaches come in and say a bunch of vapid hyped up coachspeak. Mullen was concise about expectations and how to meet those expectations. Not coachspeak at all and again he was an integral part of the Meyer years. Also coming from the sec west as a head coach and not an assistant like the other 3 failures was again more substance. Of course the proof is in the pudding but he injected life from the onset.

 

[Ancient Reptile]

Not on board yet, but I am impressed with the start he has made. He was better on field and in recruiting than I expected. I expected good on field results and got a little better than I expected. The recruiting is markedly better than I expected, but the key to me is whether he can use the good results to have a another good season and finish with a better recruiting class. Then I will be on board.

 

[T REX]

Convinced on Mullen? Hell, half this board still isn't convinced on Meyer.

Gotta love the trajectory so far of the program but I'm damn sure not convinced on anything other than he's light years ahead of the last two slap dicks.

Stole my thunder. Love where this is goi g but it's far too early to call anything.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Every day in every way. I've done a 180 since August when I thought he wasn't a guy that could win championships and definitely couldn't recruit. He's won won with style and I can justify the losses (in my head anyway). And I think he'll turn recruiting around next year. This year started slow but is finishing well. Unfortunately we are up against some of the best bagmen in the game in the SEC.
My hopes and dreams at the beginning of the year was to see:
1) a cohesive team that played like they knew what they were supposed to do.
2) improved QB play
3) actual game planning and game time adjustments
4) coherent press conferences
5) better recruiting and addressing needs
6) at least two assistant coaches replaced with better recruiters
7) blowout FSU and win the bowl game
8) less injuries or arrests

He hit on everything, some more than others. Yeah we need DL but otherwise we filled the roster with quality. We'll have to wait and see if the new guys are better recruiters but at least changes were made. But Frank's turn around has been miraculous. The team's attitude is off the charts. Right now I'm pretty damn happy with Dan.
Unlike some of you ball-less wonders I made not going to add the wait and see caveat. Hind sight is always 20-20.

 

[YLGator]

Dude lost to Kentucky and Mizzou in the Swamp. Gotta do a lot better than that to convince me he can win the SEC and get us to the playoffs. And yes, that’s still the measuring stick around here regardless of the last two imbeciles we had.

I’m encouraged by the way the season ended. But not convinced yet.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Dude lost to Kentucky and Mizzou in the Swamp. Gotta do a lot better than that to convince me he can win the SEC and get us to the playoffs. And yes, that’s still the measuring stick around here regardless of the last two imbeciles we had.

I’m encouraged by the way the season ended. But not convinced yet.

We didn't know what we had going in to Kentucky or how good Kentucky was going to be which surprised everybody. Not to mention missing starters on defense. The oline was exposed but a credit to Mullen is that it was fixed after that game. We had a game plan to beat UGAy but Franks wasn't there yet. I bet if we played them later in the season we could've beat them. The team was hungover after the loss to UGAy - as Mullen let slip they beat us twice. Yeah the team should have been ready to play but as we saw the rest of the season with comebacks against Vandy and USCe once they started to believe they performed and were up to the task and finished strong. That's the best we could have hoped for this team coming out of the butters era. All in all Mullen did more with this team than I thought possible.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Still trying to pimp Kintucky?

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Still trying to pimp Kintucky?

Nah. I think their 10-3 record and Citrus bowl win pimped it for them

 

[AnObfuscator]

Actually I wanted us to get Mullen in 2010 and in 2014, but in 2017 I really wanted Scott Frost.

That said, I was fairly on board with Mullen about 3 days after he was hired: https://gatorchatter.com/threads/mullen-introductory-press-conference-thread-3-pm-est.18104/page-15#post-636313

I'm still comfortable with that take, given what I knew at the time. We'll see if he brings us back to a championship level. We're gonna need to make more progress on recruiting.

 

[Minister of Information]

This team had no business being 10-3. Any guy that can routinely turn chicken **** into chicken salad has my enduring respect. Whipping Michigan was a major step forward for this program, one that was long overdue and much needed in my opinion. If Mullen can get a pipeline of elite players headed into the program we might win another championship or two before the entire sport gets shut down for good by class action lawsuits.

Whether Mullen can ultimately deliver those results remains to be seen (they aren't exactly everyday occurrences), and yet I feel like one more bad coach could have led to a Tennessee like slide into generational mediocrity. Even if this ultimately fails, it had to happen to right the ship.

So he is the coach Hogtown deserves, even if he's not the coach the goddamn fans felt they needed right now. So we'll doubt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our Spurrier. He's a silent recruiter and developer. A watchful schemer and play caller.

A Dark Knight.

 

[maheo30]

I'm not convinced yet. My view of Mullen was that he would get UF back to respectability. I fear Mullen being our Richt at jawja. We are repeatedly in contention, but never winning a title. Then, 8 years pass, and another lost decade.

 

[oxrageous]

I won't be "convinced" he can actually win any championships here until he, well, wins championships. I wasn't sold on Meyer AT ALL until the closing moments of the 2006 National Title thrashing. As he was holding up the crystal trophy I became pretty convinced that I should give the guy his due.

However, I am fully convinced he was the right coach to turn the ship around, and I don't think any other hire would have even come close. After the horrible UK thrashing, this team could have folded like a cheap suit, and instead reeled off 5 in a row, including 2 ranked teams and the total destruction of a rival. It was then I absolutely realized that Mullen had the team more mentally prepared than I would have believed. After stubbing our toes against UGA and Missouri, the team yet again went on a tear, destroying everyone.

Getting a team to believe in itself and the system, or "buy in" as coaches put it, is huge. It was obvious to me the team bought in quite early. Whether or not we ever win anything with Mullen remains to be seen, but he gave the fans pride and hope again, and that means a lot. We actually have a real football program again.

After stabilizing the program, he's going to be held to the same standard as everyone else - championships or bust. And that's the way it should be.

 

[lizardbreath]

I'm much happier with the job DM is doing than I expected to be after one full season. When the hire was first announced, I was in the "meh" camp, tending toward the pissed-off end of the spectrum. I was severely underwhelmed by the SEC record he had complied at MSU, and the RPO would not have been my first choice of offenses - for a whole host of reasons. But as others have pointed out, we saw a new level of commitment, along with some genuine enthusiasm, that have been sorely lacking for a long, long time. And I like that a lot.

IMO, there has been enough progress to this point to the view this as a very good hire. But like most fans, I'm a greedy phukk and I still demand more before signing on 100%. The extreme peaks and valleys phenomenon does concern me. And although I will keep my promise to hold off on discussing this year's class until we actually know what the hell we're talking about, that outcome will definitely effect my degree of "convincedness" - at least to some degree. Ask this question again next year about this time and perhaps I'll have less equivocal answer.

 

[78]

I won't be "convinced" he can actually win any championships here until he, well, wins championships. I wasn't sold on Meyer AT ALL until the closing moments of the 2006 National Title thrashing. As he was holding up the crystal trophy I became pretty convinced that I should give the guy his due.

However, I am fully convinced he was the right coach to turn the ship around, and I don't think any other hire would have even come close. After the horrible UK thrashing, this team could have folded like a cheap suit, and instead reeled off 5 in a row, including 2 ranked teams and the total destruction of a rival. It was then I absolutely realized that Mullen had the team more mentally prepared than I would have believed. After stubbing our toes against UGA and Missouri, the team yet again went on a tear, destroying everyone.

Getting a team to believe in itself and the system, or "buy in" as coaches put it, is huge. It was obvious to me the team bought in quite early. Whether or not we ever win anything with Mullen remains to be seen, but he gave the fans pride and hope again, and that means a lot. We actually have a real football program again.

After stabilizing the program, he's going to be held to the same standard as everyone else - championships or bust. And that's the way it should be.

Boom. Great post.

 

[TheDouglas78]

Convinced on Mullen? Hell, half this board still isn't convinced on Meyer.

Gotta love the trajectory so far of the program but I'm damn sure not convinced on anything other than he's light years ahead of the last two slap dicks.

Exactly.

 

[neteng]

I got suckered into the Chip and Frost hype and was a bit disappointed with the Mullen hire. But, watching Mullen get off the plane and handle his entry into Gville like a muthafuggin boss, I had a good feeling. I am more of a pumper by nature but chump and butters really has made me very pessimistic, so I have been waiting to see the team crumble ... yet it never did. Though I still think there is a lot of work to do going forward, the way we have finished games in the the 4th quarter, the way we finished our season strong, with the way we recruited, I am strongly convinced that even though he might not get IT done, he was the best hire at that time we could possibly make. He deserves the chance he is getting at UF and he is making a great run with it.

 

[Slevin]

If I'm being honest I'm still not convinced he can win a championship for us. I will say though he's done 1000 times better than I thought he'd do. If were being honest we have the toughest road to the playoffs, we have to make it through LSU, UGA, and Bama to make it to the playoffs. As of right now I dont trust Mullen to win 2/3 of those games in 1 year to get us there. If recruiting continues to move forward It will change my mind but that's my honest opinion. My mind is being changed but it's not changed yet Mullen is doing a great job though wi gr h what he has.

Up until we were holding up the crystal ball in 06, the majority of gator fans said they weren’t sure Meyer could ever win a title with his style in Gainesville. That’s how it’ll always be. You won’t know until it happens, and if it doesn’t, the negative ones get to say they were right, and if it does, they get to say they are pleasantly wrong.

Or you know. We can all enjoy it and ride this wave because we are clearly better than we were under Zook, Champ, and Mac at any moment.

 

[Gatorbait25]

If I'm being honest I'm still not convinced he can win a championship for us. I will say though he's done 1000 times better than I thought he'd do. If were being honest we have the toughest road to the playoffs, we have to make it through LSU, UGA, and Bama to make it to the playoffs. As of right now I dont trust Mullen to win 2/3 of those games in 1 year to get us there. If recruiting continues to move forward It will change my mind but that's my honest opinion. My mind is being changed but it's not changed yet Mullen is doing a great job though wi gr h what he has.

Solid post Kev. Year one had some good and bad moments, but we definitely improved later in the year which
of course provides optimism going into year 2.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Solid post Kev. Year one had some good and bad moments, but we definitely improved later in the year which
of course provides optimism going into year 2.

It is the exact opposite of Butters. Watching the team quit and nosedive into losing 41-7 three times at the end of each season was pitiful.