What was DM trend line…. We went from tanking to flatline. Hopefully we some ROI this year before the paddles come out.
Both can be true at the same time: Program being asleep at the switch regarding facilities etc and DM being lazy, incompetent, and lacking responsibility for his contribution to this shitshow.
Dan is right about the facilities, but they were at least finally moving in that direction during his tenure. Prior to that everyone that really followed football knew we were way behind in facilities. When the SEC Network kicked off and a new revenue stream began, lots of Universities spent that money on Football facilities to attract recruits. We built a Lacrosse and Softball stadium. I know that UF wants to make sure their women's programs are first-class, and they are. However, allowing the golden goose to have to have Gators tell the UAA that teams like Kentucky and S. Carolina had better facilities is just incredibly short-sighted and was bound to come home to roost.
In the current environment the only fix is outbidding people for recruits or portal kids. You need to show a winning record to change the percentage of the program. Until then, you will not be a top choice of kids that did not grow up wanting to be Gators or within a close geographical proximity
True, he was right, but it's still on him for not getting the facilities sooner. Him laying blame on UF being so far behind reeks the stench of Meyer saying the program was broken after he left. Neither could see that they had a heavy hand on that status.
What one needs to filter out is DM's attempts to blame others. He will dig at UF under the guise of offering helpful insights. Guy is out for himself and his image. Someone posted he was "a good man." He is, if you value arrogance over integrity. All that said, the argument that fans are impatient is stating the obvious.
True, but at least they had their shot on the field later in the year rather than the wheels fall off and not even be in the conversation past Mid-October.
That was me. I have heard quite a few stories about DM the person that make me think he is a good man. At least 2 here on GC related personal stories of DM being very personable. And I've heard him talk and watched him work enough to know he's extremely intelligent. Is he arrogant? Maybe- but how many times did I hear about the arrogance of Spurrier in the 90s. Hundreds? Thousands? Yet he is absolutely a good man. It's possible to be both- or at least be confident as SOS said. As I also said- what CDM did here in a football sense was unforgivable. But you can suck at your job and/or be promoted beyond your abilities and still be a good person.
The fundamental error is supposing that proximity to recruits remains such a heavy advantage. People will travel for jobs.
And yet, his winning percentage is about 200 points better than Billy's. If DM was a shitshow, then...
Whatever you think of Dan Mullen, he is correct here. There's no reason why we should have been so far behind the rest of the SEC wrt facilities. We had to spend all that money just to catch up to everyone else. After we caught up in facilities, it's like we just decided "ok, we're good now" and then just completely dropped the ball with NIL. So now we have to catch up there too.
