Recruiting 2021 Recruiting: NSD Probably falling outside top 10

Swamp Donkey

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Mullinz closed in the same way he always has.

tenor.gif

Rewind to the year with Dak and when Cowbell was #1 for 6 days. Triple face plant also.

Yup, seems familiar indeed.
 

BMF

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Sad but true. As terrible as Mullinz is at most aspects of being a coach, namely all those that don't involve calling offensive plays when he feels desperate to score quickly, we have done him no favors at attempting to mitigate his weaknesses and providing an even slightly adequate support staff and facilities.

The ugly truth is that if the next Meyer were sitting at Utah today looking at his next job, he would easily choose ND over us... and likely 30-50 other schools over us.

The cat is out of the bag at how terrible this admin. They simply aren't interested in building an elite program period and everyone knows it. Chimp and Butters, as mediocre hires as they were, were correct on these fronts.

As for the roster "improvements", the only arguably better position is RB, and none of the "better players" have proven anything on an actual field. They could easily me the next "mehhhh" guys like Grimes and Shorter.

That being said, losing 3 or 4 games a year isn't an improvement. 85% of college coaches can win the games against teams when you have a talent advantage. Mullen is really no different than Chimp or Butters on this front. The only hope is lucking into the next Joe Brady or young SOS who can overcome the admin deficiencies.

It's disgusting that this admin is so obtuse about winning. They're certainly paying a premium w/ Mullen & Grantham's salaries. And honestly, it wouldn't take much to get to where we need to be (from the admin):

-finish the f*cking football facility asap (#1 priority)
-give Mullen another $1.5 million or so to hire:
(1) a GM (which is something most programs are doing, even FSU is doing it and the guy Norvell hired is legit)
(2) hire at least 6 more in the recruiting department - and get rid of that worthless whore Lee Begley.
(3) hire 4+ more analysts/quality control.
(That would be about 10-12 more positions, w/ the GM getting the biggest salary. The recruiting staff would likely be entry level types making $40k-$60k. Depending on the analysts experience, upwards of $150k)

Next - Mullen needs to make some hard decisions ("hard" for him) by firing some of his worthless staff. He lost so much good will by retaining Grantham. It's self inflicting and hard to believe.
 

GatorJ

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It's disgusting that this admin is so obtuse about winning. They're certainly paying a premium w/ Mullen & Grantham's salaries. And honestly, it wouldn't take much to get to where we need to be (from the admin):

-finish the f*cking football facility asap (#1 priority)
-give Mullen another $1.5 million or so to hire:
(1) a GM (which is something most programs are doing, even FSU is doing it and the guy Norvell hired is legit)
(2) hire at least 6 more in the recruiting department - and get rid of that worthless whore Lee Begley.
(3) hire 4+ more analysts/quality control.
(That would be about 10-12 more positions, w/ the GM getting the biggest salary. The recruiting staff would likely be entry level types making $40k-$60k. Depending on the analysts experience, upwards of $150k)

Next - Mullen needs to make some hard decisions ("hard" for him) by firing some of his worthless staff. He lost so much good will by retaining Grantham. It's self inflicting and hard to believe.

Honestly, what has Begley done?

The answer is “nothing”. Even something simple like a Twitter presence, she sucks at.
 

BMF

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Honestly, what has Begley done?

The answer is “nothing”. Even something simple like a Twitter presence, she sucks at.

She f*cked the baseball coach at Miss State (both of them married), got him fired....then Dan brought her over with him to UF. Wonder why we're recruiting like "cowbell" (as Law likes to say)?
 

soflagator

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She f*cked the baseball coach at Miss State (both of them married), got him fired....then Dan brought her over with him to UF. Wonder why we're recruiting like "cowbell" (as Law likes to say)?

Isn't she the one whose husband had the cuffed dockers on in that picture from a years ago? Yes, please launch her and anything associated with her.
 

soflagator

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So we cleaning out Stricklin and Mullen too?

I'd actually be somewhat interested in seeing what Mullen could do without the handcuffs of schools who either can't compete with the best or don't care to. But I also recognize I'm likely in the minority with that. Stricklin has done one thing correct in his tenure with firing JM when he had the chance. But even then he'd already thrown good money(not his own) after bad with the extension and didn't even try the "with cause" approach the vols just did. But as I've said, if I'm honest, the moment I heard him say "Mun-dee", to me that was grounds for dismissal. So yes, rent a big van like the church groups do and let's do a big field trip to the Magnolia state.
 

TheDouglas78

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I'd actually be somewhat interested in seeing what Mullen could do without the handcuffs of schools who either can't compete with the best or don't care to. But I also recognize I'm likely in the minority with that. Stricklin has done one thing correct in his tenure with firing JM when he had the chance. But even then he'd already thrown good money(not his own) after bad with the extension and didn't even try the "with cause" approach the vols just did. But as I've said, if I'm honest, the moment I heard him say "Mun-dee", to me that was grounds for dismissal. So yes, rent a big van like the church groups do and let's do a big field trip to the Magnolia state.

I just look at the 9 years at Miss State, and he is one of/if not the best coach in their history, but still failed to move the needle. With Meyer you could see the potential at Bowling Green and Utah. With Spurrier you could see the potential with the USFL and Duke. Mullen you got a guy who was good, and very solid with Xs and Os but not a program changer.

I think Mullen is a good to very good offensive mind, but lacks the professionalism to be a top tier CEO. He would be a solid option for a number of second tier P5 schools.
 

neteng

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I too would like to see what Mullen could do at a place that has the support staff and facilities equal to the schools we are competing against.

But then I remember that not a single person on the staff would have changed this offseason if it wasn't for a recruiting violation that made the UA fire a couple coaches.

I look at Mullen as a Gus Malzahn type. But at least Gus fired his staff when they didn't perform.
 

TheDouglas78

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But then I remember that not a single person on the staff would have changed this offseason if it wasn't for a recruiting violation that made the UA fire a couple coaches.

The biggest issue, his lack of professionalism and lack of CEO mentality.
 

soflagator

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I just look at the 9 years at Miss State, and he is one of/if not the best coach in their history, but still failed to move the needle. With Meyer you could see the potential at Bowling Green and Utah. With Spurrier you could see the potential with the USFL and Duke. Mullen you got a guy who was good, and very solid with Xs and Os but not a program changer.

I think Mullen is a good to very good offensive mind, but lacks the professionalism to be a top tier CEO. He would be a solid option for a number of second tier P5 schools.

One thing about Meyer that makes him different, is that as great as he is, he also refuses to put himself in disastrous situations where he can't win. He's talked about Alex Smith at Utah and the QB at Bowling Green(not to mention the foundation here at UF) as being great players that he could build around and win with. Those teams needed tweaking, not an entire overhaul like Msu when he arrived. In addition, each are basically middle of the road teams in their respective conferences, even upper echelon in the case of the Utes. If not for Vu, Msu is probably the worst job in the league. In short, Meyer would've never taken that type of job. But in terms of moving the needle, I think the success of Dak and even getting into the Top 5 in 2014 would fit that criteria. They were a good, not great team, much of his time there. Not Spurrier, not Meyer. But again, we're talking about two HOF guys who are arguably in the Top 5-10 best HC's in history. If it's that or nothing we may find ourselves swinging and missing quite a bit.

I've wondered before what the perception of Dan would be if Foley hadn't been so abrasive and had pursued him in 2014(firing WM at the close of 2013). He'd just had his best year, Dak was getting a ton of attention, and his stock was probably higher than it would ever be. If we make the move there, before we completely spun out of control as a program and were still at least in the consideration of Fl HS talent, I personally think things could be different. His decision to stick around after that year was his worst(see So Alabama in case you've never read any of ltraz's posts). I think the momentum he would've come in with, plus where we were at, may have helped. But you're right. By then we needed a program changer as opposed to a caretaker like Day at Osu, or Riley at Ou, and he's not showing the capability to do that. I just wish we hadn't let things get so bad before finally hiring an actual coach.

And no, you won't get any argument from me that he's handled himself well as the CEO, and definitely not of late. That's part of the problem.
 

TheDouglas78

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One thing about Meyer that makes him different, is that as great as he is, he also refuses to put himself in disastrous situations where he can't win. He's talked about Alex Smith at Utah and the QB at Bowling Green(not to mention the foundation here at UF) as being great players that he could build around and win with. Those teams needed tweaking, not an entire overhaul like Msu when he arrived. In addition, each are basically middle of the road teams in their respective conferences, even upper echelon in the case of the Utes. If not for Vu, Msu is probably the worst job in the league. In short, Meyer would've never taken that type of job. But in terms of moving the needle, I think the success of Dak and even getting into the Top 5 in 2014 would fit that criteria. They were a good, not great team, much of his time there. Not Spurrier, not Meyer. But again, we're talking about two HOF guys who are arguably in the Top 5-10 best HC's in history. If it's that or nothing we may find ourselves swinging and missing quite a bit.[

I've wondered before what the perception of Dan would be if Foley hadn't been so abrasive and had pursued him in 2014(firing WM at the close of 2013). He'd just had his best year, Dak was getting a ton of attention, and his stock was probably higher than it would ever be. If we make the move there, before we completely spun out of control as a program and were still at least in the consideration of Fl HS talent, I personally think things could be different. His decision to stick around after that year was his worst(see So Alabama in case you've never read any of ltraz's posts). I think the momentum he would've come in with, plus where we were at, may have helped. But you're right. By then we needed a program changer as opposed to a caretaker like Day at Osu, or Riley at Ou, and he's not showing the capability to do that. I just wish we hadn't let things get so bad before finally hiring an actual coach.

And no, you won't get any argument from me that he's handled himself well as the CEO, and definitely not of late. That's part of the problem.



That's the point though, why would a good CEO go into a bad situation like Miss State. Even Fleck has shown a difference maker, even though personality wouldn't work at Florida.


I have no question that Mullen can handle Xs and Os. But a CEO's decision making is part of the equation... if you go to MSU you change it... He didn't. I don't know if he could have fixed it in 2014. Muschamp had truly fuched up the roster, to which as we can see Mullen's recruiting ability wouldn't have been able to fix. If he had taken the job in 2010 (which I was told he was offerred) he might have been a care taker, but the issues with attention to detail and obvious CEO issues would have still taken hold unless enough of Meyer's staff stayed on.
 

soflagator

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To me it's not so much even about what they're presently doing, but what they allowed to happen. Recruiting in roads aren't quarterly. They're laid over time, and kids in this state are as intrigued to go to places like Clemson, Osu, uga or Alabama as they are about going to one of the big 3. Even as impressive as Diaz's class was in terms of Top FL talent, they still ended up about the same ranking as us. 10-15 years ago, they would've probab;y had the #1 class because of fsu being down and us not doing well in state. The big three used to dominate, and when one team was off, the other two reaped the benefits. Now, you have two teams(UF and um) that looked great at times on the field last year and yet were watching kids leave. Yes, we are UF. But our facilities suck in comparison to basically every team in front of us, and what that recruiting budget does is allows constant contact from QC people, analysts, etc., overall giving the impression that this is the priority. We're building a baseball stadium and putting football on the back burner.

To be clear, it's not one or the other. As Douglas said, it can be, and very much is, both. Mullen has his issues, but also has an admin that has not adapted with the times and refuses to budge. Fisher found himself in a similar situation at fsu, which is one of the reasons he left. Again, we can talk about Kelly being afraid of the SEC, or Frost being drawn home, but both of those guys were thought to be at the top of our list and neither came. That doesn't happen in 2002, 2004 or 2011, imo.
 

Mr2Bits

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I don't know why everyone around here is still bitching about losing 2-4 games a season? Until the NCAA steps in and does something about the Bama/Clemson/OSU's of the world essentially having 25 first-round picks every year, nothing is going to change! Sure you might get a once in a decade team like LSU to make all the right moves but that's not the norm and look at what they did this season.

Just accept the fact that no coach, no facility no admin change is going to change a damn thing unless we catch a once in a decade season like LSU. The only other fix is to sneak our way into the VIP section or have the NCAA instill some sort of star parody.
 

NavetG8r

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I don't know why everyone around here is still *****ing about losing 2-4 games a season? Until the NCAA steps in and does something about the Bama/Clemson/OSU's of the world essentially having 25 first-round picks every year, nothing is going to change! Sure you might get a once in a decade team like LSU to make all the right moves but that's not the norm and look at what they did this season.

Just accept the fact that no coach, no facility no admin change is going to change a damn thing unless we catch a once in a decade season like LSU. The only other fix is to sneak our way into the VIP section or have the NCAA instill some sort of star parody.

You make great points. Right now NCAA football reminds me of old school NASCAR. Whoever had the most money to put into their engines always won until NASCAR started installing regulations to make things more equal. Right now Alabama, Clemson, UGA and OSU are the Richard Petty, David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip types of the NCAA. They'll stay at the top until the NCAA does something to force more equality in the rosters which are the engines of college sports.
 

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