- Jun 18, 2014
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Rumor: Mullen was on vacation on NSD
- Thread starter Gator98MD
- Start date
- Sep 4, 2014
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The best case scenario is still that the guy who’s currently employed makes the corrections needed to improve and we move forward in a positive direction. Let’s be clear on two things. One, he hasn’t been anywhere close to the disaster many here thought he’d be. And two, as I said, there is literally nothing that indicates Stricklin has a clue how to handle a coaching search, much less a successful one, and worse, on the fly. You are gravely oversimplifying matters here. This is the “anyone’s better than ___” mindset that has plagued numerous schools and killed a decade. We already lost one. Voluntarily creating another is not something I’m prepared to get behind. Like many, I didn’t want the hire in the first place. But I’m also not wasting time scheming and hoping for his demise, especially with some of the things he’s done and what first choice guys like Frost, Kelly, Fedora, Brohm, Fuente, Norvell, Taggert, etc. have done at their respective locations. This isn’t 1990 or 2004 where you have an obvious, near sure thing candidate waiting in the wings. Unilaterally moving on from a guy who brought us out of the worst whole we’ve been in for decades without an absolute upgrade, all while carrying the same disadvantages we’ve had for 10 years with no material end in sight, would be catastrophic.
- Sep 4, 2014
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The last guy was winning nearly every game on a last play, or unimaginable string of luck that decided games. Otherwise we were just blown out. Outside of OM in ‘15 and Uk in ‘16, McElwain never went out and just beat an opponent. If not for a lucky play on defense, we are shutout at home to a bad fsu team in 2015. And not surprisingly, at some point(in year 3 as it turns out), that luck ran out. That is literally nothing like what we’ve seen the past three years.
And sure, that could happen. But remember, we lucked out with Mullen. Not only were the other two disasters waiting to happen, we only didn’t get them because they rejected us, not the opposite. And I honestly have no idea who our plan D was, which is likely why Mullen is paid as much as he is. What I do know is that same guy would be making that hire.
Bottom line, Mullen through three years hasn’t been terrible and isn’t likely to be gone any time soon. May as well get behind him and hope for the best. If he fails, so be it. But he was supposed to be a total failure the first three years and hasn’t.
- Sep 4, 2014
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Well, I’ve never watched Avengers, but get the point. Where I’d disagree is that you don’t make a move “just because”. The market doesn’t care where you own something. You either have a good position or you don’t. It’s not enough to simply say I want better. There has to be a plan and it has to have a decisive win in it to make sense.
And to date, Mullen still hasn’t even had one true 8-win season(a normal OOC schedule and this is a 10-win year). Right now, I’ve yet to hear anyone who’s available, willing and can all but ensure that he’d do better than the last three seasons. I’m almost positive Ox has resorted to just copying and pasting names and pictures from State Farm ads that appear on his sidebar, as I’ve never even heard of these people.
- Sep 4, 2014
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I’ll repeat: Mullen is fighting to get us into the 21st Century as a program, and has been. There won’t be an even playing field with anyone as long as we approach things the current way. That’s a top down issue that has nothing to do with Mullen or the next guy. If anything it’s a major deterrent that the last two coaches have voiced displeasure at the AD, and been rebuffed for it, despite the changes being necessary and obvious. I’d you’re a top flight coach and you have the choice between UF or a dozen other schools who prioritize football more, would you take the job? So where does that leave us? Hiring second tier guys, not being thrilled with performance, and then demanding that the same jackasses screwing things up the first time go get another.
- Sep 4, 2014
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That’s where we’ll just disagree. I find no pleasure in dissecting and dismissing every positive that we’ve seen. You have a well established issue with Mullen, which is fine. Not sure if you were here then, but I flipped a switch on WM on the ride home from Jax in 2011 and was generally on a rampage from there. I was dead against a fourth year. So I can see that side of things even if I don’t share the opinion.
But to be clear, Mullen wasn’t handed an array of elite talent. Go look at the offer lists of guys like Pitts, Toney and of course Trask. They’re not that dissimilar to what many of our current players or incoming recruits have. And all needed to be developed. So you could just as easily argue that unless we just happened to get crazy lucky with that trifecta, there’s no reason to believe we couldn’t do something similar with the next group.
And again, this wasn’t an 8 win season. If it was then throw out every record book 9f comparison, because every team gets a couple of OOC easy wins. This was a 10 win season under any normal circumstances. It would be like Norvell bragging that he didn’t lose to Miami or UF this year.
- Sep 4, 2014
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Who cares what uga fans think? In Smart’s best year, when they caught UF and the vols at historical lows they “won the East” after being blown out, only to lose again to the best team in the conference a few weeks later. And with their starting QB this year, they were blown out by the Tide. They’re no closer to a title than they were under Richt and are about to be the laughing stock of college football when their second string QB plays for a NC for someone else on Monday. Their fans are a joke.
- Aug 25, 2014
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- Aug 25, 2014
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In Smart's best year, they were the SEC champs, played in the national championship game and lost that game in overtime. They came within a whisker of ending their NC title drought. Make no mistake about it, Kirby accomplished in his 2nd season things (SEC title & appearance in NC game) that Mullen, and Richt for that matter (no NC title appearance for Richt) have yet to achieve.
- Jun 5, 2014
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Sofla seems to think we’d be a dumpster fire if Mullen left now. I expect us to be a dumpster fire either way. It hasn’t sunk in to most people here that this Gator team is headed for a losing season next year. We have already hit the top and it’s a nice long crash to the bottom now. The talent level next year is on par with Kentucky. The Vols will have more talent on paper.
- Sep 4, 2014
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They were dismantled by a full strength Auburn, were lucky enough that the same team(still at full strength) was able to beat Alabama, giving Smart a second shot against a weakened tigers team in Atl. They drew Oklahoma—who is still winless in the playoff—in the semifinals and then were beaten by the SEC’s true best team in the NC game, effectively negating their SEC crown.
Based on the facts on the ground, had they played the Tide in the SECCG, they would have lost a close game by 6 points. I don’t know why, but for some reason that sounds familiar.
I can assure you, if Mullen had that season, it would be largely dismissed by many here. It was an illusion in many respects, which is why it hasn’t been recreated since.
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- Jun 5, 2014
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