Muschamp is the youngest coach in the SEC

[williston_gator]

Well, tied for youngest.

Spurrier 69
Saban 62
Pinkle 62
Miles 60
Richt 54
Sumlin 49
Malzahn 48
Stoops 47
B Jones 46
Freeze 44
Bielema 44
Mullen 42
Muschamp 42

Per 247 sports.

 

[ReelGatorDoc]

I like Mullen

 

[Gatoravatara]

For how long?

 

[URGatorBait]

That's fantastic. That means he can indeed be around for a long, long time.

 

[Coach9]

Tremendous upside

 

[BMF]

I like Mullen

You like what Mullen's done THIS year. NO ONE...and I mean NO ONE was saying that 2 years ago. Even their own fans wanted him gone (especially when he lost to Freeze in Freeze's first year)....

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

You like what Mullen's done THIS year. NO ONE...and I mean NO ONE was saying that 2 years ago. Even their own fans wanted him gone (especially when he lost to Freeze in Freeze's first year)....

Takes a while to build a program out of nothing in a place like Starkville.

 

[Gator98MD]

Takes a while to build a program out of nothing in a place like Starkville.

is he buidling or is it suimply cause he found a tebowesque QB finally.what happens when prescott leaves?. will they crumble back to mediocrity?
I personally am not enamored with mullin as a potential champ replacement

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

is he buidling or is it suimply cause he found a tebowesque QB finally.what happens when prescott leaves?. will they crumble back to mediocrity?
I personally am not enamored with mullin as a potential champ replacement

So you're saying it takes good players to have a good team? I wonder how those good players ended up there? Also, isn't the biggest knock on Muschamp that he has all this talent and can't put it together? Isn't that what Mullen is doing now?

They were AWFUL when he went there. A.W.F.U.L. He built a solid recruiting base and turned that program around in 6 years. Did anyone really think MSU would be ranked #3 in the country at any point of any season when he took over?

 

[soflagator]

So you're saying it takes good players to have a good team? I wonder how those good players ended up there? Also, isn't the biggest knock on Muschamp that he has all this talent and can't put it together? Isn't that what Mullen is doing now?

They were AWFUL when he went there. A.W.F.U.L. He built a solid recruiting base and turned that program around in 6 years. Did anyone really think MSU would be ranked #3 in the country at any point of any season when he took over?

You are 100% correct. Coaches don't want to go to Starkville because of how difficult it is to win. What Mullen has done is impressive. And the arguments about having a Tebow-esque QB is also overstated. At one point, we had Tebow and Newton on the same team. If you can find back to back guys like them, I find it hard to believe you couldn't get a quality QB in their mold every 4 years or so. Especially now that the NFL is placing so much emphasis on athletic QBs. His system works, and implementing it at MSU speaks volumes about his ability.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

You are 100% correct. Coaches don't want to go to Starkville because of how difficult it is to win. What Mullen has done is impressive. And the arguments about having a Tebow-esque QB is also overstated. At one point, we had Tebow and Newton on the same team. If you can find back to back guys like them, I find it hard to believe you couldn't get a quality QB in their mold every 4 years or so. Especially now that the NFL is placing so much emphasis on athletic QBs. His system works, and implementing it at MSU speaks volumes about his ability.

Let's also not forget that he's doing what he's doing in the SEC West. It's not like he went to the ACC and started pushing Wake Forest around.

 

[soflagator]

So Butch Jones is 46 years old and instructs an 18-20 year old to intentionally cheat at the end of the game so he can try and sell it to the officials?

I think the guy's an upgrade from Dooley, and will probably be decent there. But that is trash. Not sure how you can look at those same players and talk about respect for the game and honesty after that display.

 

[BMF]

Takes a while to build a program out of nothing in a place like Starkville.

Agree. And I was pointing out the fact that he wasn't very popular there as recently as 2 years ago (and last year, until winning the Egg Bowl as the overall record wasn't great). Winning there is hard to do. He was very popular in 2010 (especially after beating Urban's last UF team)....then not so much. It seemed he had missed his window to get out of there and land a better job. He'll be a popular choice this offseason.

 

[soflagator]

Let's also not forget that he's doing what he's doing in the SEC West. It's not like he went to the ACC and started pushing Wake Forest around.

Right. I'm pretty sure that was the job that Strong had no interest in, with a source close to him saying it was almost a set-up job, where you couldn't avoid failing.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

My only concern about Mullen is if he ends up somehow making it to Atlanta or even the playoffs. He needs to lose a couple games so he still has a REALLY good season by MSU standards, but still coming up short to show him that he's hit the ceiling with that program. If he gets to the playoffs somehow, then he won't want to leave them after the best season in school history.

 

[soflagator]

My only concern about Mullen is if he ends up somehow making it to Atlanta or even the playoffs. He needs to lose a couple games so he still has a REALLY good season by MSU standards, but still coming up short to show him that he's hit the ceiling with that program. If he gets to the playoffs somehow, then he won't want to leave them after the best season in school history.

He'll drop one or a few, just based on the grind and lack of depth. Just look at the close of the Lsu game. They don't pull starters and coast.

But honestly, if that's the case and he's on our radar, the money and consistent ability to win will be the draw here. They are, in many respects, like Wake Forest a few years back where everything fell into place with experienced players. That will only rotate every 4-5 years there, so if he's going to make a jump, it would be now, imo.

 

[Gatoravatara]

Agree. And I was pointing out the fact that he wasn't very popular there as recently as 2 years ago (and last year, until winning the Egg Bowl as the overall record wasn't great). Winning there is hard to do

Winning at Florida is easier than winning there. Its easier to recruit. We have HAD a good rep until WM came. We normally attract top notch coaches.

Right. I'm pretty sure that was the job that Strong had no interest in, with a source close to him saying it was almost a set-up job, where you couldn't avoid failing.

If he had bad back to back records he would have been fired. And he knew it. People weren't exactly enamored with his wife in MS either. At Louisville, most people did not care about that, and definitely in Austin nobody cares about that, except perhaps a few old-school boosters. I remember one of them, cough, McCombs, cough running his big mouth about that (he did not explicitly say that, but that was the everybody was saying). Strong has 2 years to turn things around at TX before he starts getting the Muschamp treatment.

 

[Coach9]

Starkvegas Baby!

 

[g8trs99]

No one wanted Mullen when he was here, and now he has one good season and the is the hot commodity. The season is not even over. Even the sun shines on a dog's arse some days. Heck Muschamp went 11-2. At least Freeze has built someting in 2 years. No one has time for Mullen to wait for his below average QB to become good his senior year.

 

[GatorJB]

My only concern about Mullen is if he ends up somehow making it to Atlanta or even the playoffs. He needs to lose a couple games so he still has a REALLY good season by MSU standards, but still coming up short to show him that he's hit the ceiling with that program. If he gets to the playoffs somehow, then he won't want to leave them after the best season in school history.

He could win the National Championship at MSU this year, and he'd still jump ship to UF if Foley called. MSU is a tough place to maintain success, and to be honest, UF and Gainesville are simply just better places to be. Unless Mullen is a big time deer hunter, I can't think of anything that Starkville or MSU has to offer that is better than Gainesville or UF.

I think Mullen would do well at UF (assuming he can continue to recruit 240 lb QBs), but I'd still take Hugh Freeze over Mullen if it were my choice. Even though Mullen beat him last year and probably will again this year, Freeze has also built up that program out of nothing and did it in less time than Mullen. Freeze grew up an Ole Miss fan, so pursuading him to leave may be tougher, but I think Freeze will have the better career between the two.