Culture Shock, Part I: inside the Florida Gators’ implosion under Dan Mullen

Sooo Mullen was a p***y.

 

It certainly sounds like he was not the alpha of the staff. It sounds like his staff ran him.

 

Meh.


Sorry to take your place.

 

Parts of that article painted the program as many on this site suspected. There were however some “dayum” moments where I couldn’t believe coaches were treating players like that. Glad Mullen is gone, glad we have a CEO type Head Coach, even with all the multitudes of assistants. My one wish is that the players have coaches who act like grown-ass men, and will coach, mentor, speak to and teach them, both on the field and off.

 

Maybe the fans don't know what a midline is (at least I don't), but that doesn't mean that we're totally clueless. We know when players or units are underperforming. We knew that Trask should have been given more of an opportunity earlier than he was, we knew that Damien Pierce should have been playing most of the game instead of rotating, we knew the OL recruiting was substandard, and we knew the defense was a cluster.

We also knew that Grantham and Hevesey should have been fired at least a year earlier than they were. Maybe coaches don't know that much more than the fans.

 

I have faith Napier won't put up with any head cases on staff and require everyone to pull their weight. He seems to have a good eye for talent.

If you can't cut it you gone.

 

fify

 

This doesn't always work either. I just read an article about Virginia Tech. They had exactly this type of role, and when VT hired Justin Fuentes, he and the associate AD clashed. The associate AD had a long association with Frank Beamer, and pushed back on a lot of what Fuentes wanted.

 

That loyalty above all else crap came from Urban, shame Mullen stuck with it and crashed his program.

This really makes Stricklin look bad, how does he not know what's going on with the major money making program? everyone and their cousin should have been fired at halftime of the cotton bowl.

 

I don’t think so, I remember him kind of being positive early on in the chip sweepstakes saying that we were going to bring someone back who knew the program, perhaps he was just spinning it positively, but he knew early on it was Mullen.

 

Don’t even care about the W/L at this point…just sad for a large group of young men who were betrayed by their erstwhile leaders. All of the guys quoted in the article come across as level headed. Those players deserved better.

favorite moment of comic relief was Grantham going with the Gunnery Sergeant Hartman defense of his policies

 

The ire towards SS on this lacks a lot of perspective. Mullen took a bottom tier SEC program at MSU and made it respectable… if not entertaining to watch, at times. Kelly & Frost were on the list, but neither would have survived here. We know it now. They knew it then. So pulling Mullen out of a cow pasture university, who has a gifted offensive mind, and the experience of being apart of the University in it’s a hay day …and being a key influence in its success? I can understand why the choice was made.

The tragedy is, the Covid summer through 2021. A lot of bizarre decisions and neglect happened. And the Trask explosion masked it.

In short, you can’t hire a successful UF coach, to coach at UF. It’s a whole different ball of wax when you get here. There are maybe 7 schools out there that can understand it. And not all of them have successful coaches…and the ones that do, won’t want to leave anyway.

 

Okay, I had a chance to read the entire article. About the only thing I got incorrectly (actually ignorantly) was that Hev was basically lazy. I see where he was mean spirited also. Man, what a great group of guys (including many of the others) to strap your legacy to. As I said, Mullen was/is a very smart idiot.

You appear to believe that I "have it out" for Stricklin. It may read that way to you, but all I am doing is crunching the math. Who in the entire world would have a better handle on the acumen of Mullen, besides Stricklin? And who would also have access to the long-term (and supposedly motivated/dedicated) folks who see what really happens behind closed doors at UF? If he chose to not engage those folks then, that is okay by you? You want due diligence, correct?

I can not say that Stricklin did all I suggested and even then, he still came up with the math that Mullen was the best candidate. And may I remind you that he is an alum of MSU and so to remove Mullen from, let's call it his correct level, and simultaneously destroy Mullen's future prospects in football while weakening his personal honorable place, it seems to me it means he did not know how to evaluate the prospects.

Yes, Foley gets dinged via his hire of Zook - he got caught without any real list of viable candidates - and definitely Mac - he was NOT cut out to be HC at the major college level. Stricklin appears to be somewhere in the same neighborhood: unprepared, or lacking proper skill, to make a good hire. And yes, Mullen may have been the best of a bad batch of candidates for that cycle. But in the end, you have to understand what you have and you have to make sure your most important hire is getting what he needs to succeed. Getting pat answers and believing them in the "state-of-the-program" address is NOT a good career move.

And so, to my original reply, "Scottie. don't do it again."

 

I wonder how emblematic that situation has been - abusive, unproductive staff mascarading as assistant coaches - has been at UF or programs elsewhere.

 

Agree completely. AD should not have to micromanage one sport - or any sport. As AD you don’t jump in the middle of the head coach’s shit and start directing staff changes because you’re not prepared or even qualified to do that job. You give him enough rope to prove what you need proven, and then you cut him loose. It’s easy to say in hindsight he should have done it sooner, but changing coaches every 4 years hasn’t worked for us either.

 

It’s sad that Mullen failed on the things that should be easiest to do:

1. Treat your players with respect

2. Play the best players

 

While reading the whole article couldn't help but think, yeah that pretty much matches with what we saw on the field. Hopefully this finally puts to bed the "Woulda won 10 games with AR under Mullen" nonsense because it plainly illustrates what many could reasonably surmise, the team quit on Mullen and by accounts it was his own doing.

Can only hope BN has got the ship back on track, can't wait for the season to start.

 

Players will always play harder for a coach that they respect and love to play for. It’s just human nature.

 

I’m also curious if anyone knows if there is/ or does CBN use an end of season evaluation that the players fill out for the coaches for feedback. It’s a great way to see if your staff is communicating effectively and connecting with the players.

 

I had reservations when Mullen was hired but, after he started so well I thought we had our man. Just like with Urban’s teams I had no idea a toxic environment was developing in the program until it is too late.
I had an uncle who told me on my wedding day that at some point the “warts begin to show”. Guess that rings true sometimes.