I beg to differ on the "Smith isn't wrong" statement. The quote about Mullen not having the swagger to be a great head coach or to be a great recruiting head coach is total BS. He was one of the best coaches in Miss St. history and he got that job because he was a large part of why Meyer was so successful at UF. You just have to look at the fall off in offense between 2008 and 2009 to see the significance of his contributions. I know Percy also left that year but we had more than enough talent to compensate had Tebow's QB skill set continued to be catered to as it was under Mullen. In fact, the drop off in Tebow's play that year in many ways resembled the drop off in Nick Fitzgerald's play last year in MSU in that the new offensive coaches did not scheme around their strengths and weaknesses as well leaving their passing skill deficits more exposed. UF was still successful that year largely because we had a super talented roster and because Tebow's will to win was so savage that he worked several miracles to pull out Ws we probably didn't really deserve (see Arkansas). UF actually played MSU that year and Mullen's team victimized Tebow all game including 2 interceptions for TDs with a team that was far inferior to the talent level at UF.
Look at the full quote, you will see that he said he is a very good X's and O's coach. Which is what you are mostly referring to above. Especially as an offensive mind. So the majority of you're post above actually agrees with the quote. The rest about swagger and recruiting has yet to be seen. Also why you didn't spend a whole lot of your statement trying to prove it. I believe we would all agree the offensive knowledge of Mullen shouldn't be mentioned in the same ball park as Daz, it's an insult to Mullen in that regard.
His ability to lift a team like MSU to a number 1 ranking and to make them competitive in the SEC West every year is something that takes swagger to pull off under any circumstances. As a comparison I'd offer that Spurrier's success at USCe would not be seen to be nearly as significant had he not coached UF first. He did win an SEC East title at USCe but the East was not nearly as intimidating at that point as what Mullen faced in the SEC West during his entire MSU tenure. Mullen just seems to be working the progression from the more normal direction and UF results to date suggest he's been preparing for success at this level since he left UF for Miss St. in the first place.
In season rankings matter only a little more than preseason rankings (finished 11th after losing 3 of the last 4). Comparison to Spurrier's resume going to USCe with multiple Head Coaching positions like Tampa Bay Bandits, Duke and Florida vs Mullen with 9 seasons two vastly different situations. This is a very apples to oranges comparison.
As to whether he'd have been hired in 2005, he may have a point but the situation was way different that year than it was in 2017. The fact of the matter is that every time a coaching hire is required the circumstances are unique to that time period. When Butters was hired, for instance, there weren't many great coaching candidates on the market at the time so most any coaching candidate that year was likely to be met with some skepticism. Heck, as everyone knows Mullen wasn't necessarily even the first choice in 2017.
Every situation is different, but that is the point. UF of 2017 wasn't the UF of 2005. UF coming off two horrible hires, would they have gone for a Dan Mullen with a middling record at MSU (69-46, 33-39 SEC)?
Having said that, however, even though the jury may still be out for some about his long term fit at UF, the fact is that at both MSU and UF he's already proven to have plenty of coaching swagger and recruiting prowess along with great game coaching and player development skills to making any statement to the contrary completely bogus.
Ability to draw up X's and O's has been proven at multiple stops, I would argue he might be the 2nd best X's and O's coach/staff in the SEC. He hasn't proven recruiting (partly because it was MSU) or the elite swagger guys like Spurrier, Meyer, etc... have. Their is a difference in the level of detail these coaches see and are about to convey to the players. Him having one better than his natural average season, a recruiting class that was slightly below what should be expected at UF (equaled Butters best class). Let's not pretend that his resume is great. There is a reason UF went after multiple other guys before contacting Mullens (and according to reports so did Tennessee).
If he had proven so much, why did they go after a coach with only 2 years of head coaching experience over a guy with close to a decade?
Now I do hope he proves he is better than his current resume, but to claim that he has elite swagger, is Florida level recruiter, and a great Head Coach the resume doesn't support that argument.
Also, UGA has most definitely sniffed several National Championships since 1980 but, thankfully, it was just a fleeting whiff before Alabama crushed their souls including twice with their backup QBs! :)
Two years ago we all know UGA was going to find a way to lose, especially after started trying to run out the clock at the beginning of the 3rd quarter.
