I agree that we have to have patience and it could be 3 to 5 years before we start seeing the results that people are expecting right now. It became clear though for Mullen that his heart was not in it it was definitely time for him to go.
I’m not going to give you bacon, but impatience did not get Mullen fired. He quit on the job. Gave the hell up. And his recruiting was a joke. Lazy. He is a good offensive coach but was downright negligent as our HBC. That guy did as much damage to our program as Lumpy and Mac.
You said it nicer than I did. He took a dream job and blew it out of laziness and lack of heart. Do I sound just a bit resentful?
I don’t think he quit. He had a bad year, mostly due to Emory being terrible. Put Trask in there and we have a 8-9 win season at worst. Trask should have stayed another year, IMO. It would have been better for all parties. The narrative that he gave up is just speculation. I think at some point during that year, he realized that our QB just wasn’t good and the season was lost. And yes, we can blame Mullen for being in that situation as the head coach, but I don’t think he quit. I appreciate you not giving me bacon. I don’t think it is warranted if we are having a civil and healthy conversation.
Napier needs at least 5 years, preferably more. When your university is unable/unwilling to go all-in on winning in this garbage modern era of CFB, continuity is essential. He won’t get that though. After Stricklin is fired sometime next winter, the new AD will want his guy as HC in both football and basketball. Both Golden and Napier will be on very short leashes in their third years, and will be forced to fire their buddies (Napier’s staff particularly) going into a theoretical year 4. If they make it that far.
I think he realized where CFB was going with NIL, free agency, rule changes, etc and decided that it sucks and wanted out. Can’t say I blame him. He certainly could have handled his exit better.
Mullen had 4 years to put himself in the QB rut you describe. His recruiting was a joke. Napier inherited gaping holes in key positions, particularly on defense. Add in Mullen’s stubbornness regarding Grantham. Meanwhile we’ve got such an absence of team discipline that we literally lost a game to LSU because of it. 4 years to build a program and he did the opposite. I can only hope and pray we give Napier 4 years cause he’s gonna need it
I was really high on Mullen when he came in, chomping as he got off the plane in Gainesville. I really believe he changed into a different person as the years went by. It took about 3 years for me to really believe he was a bad hire and needed to go. I don’t think he’d have turned anything around by the end of year 5 or 6
I could understand why you feel that way. I’d just say this… think back to the year Franks got hurt. I thought our team sucked from top to bottom watching them play. In comes Trask… just one player… and we look damn good and are competitive with Alabama in its prime right down to the wire. In football, it’s sometimes really as simple as having a quarterback. That’s why I’m concerned about this year. But, I’m also recalling the Trask takeover and I thought Trask was just a 3rd string QB before he got in the game. Ended up being a complete stud. Maybe Mertz will do the same and surprise us.
I agree. It is easy to say that otherwise good coaches have dips because "they gave up, were burned out," etc. etc. is really a way to deflect blame. Meyer was said to have been burned out in 2010 by going 8-5, but one wonders if his record would have been 11-2 with Cam Newton behind center instead of Ron Brantley? Even great coaches have mediocre seasons occasionally
I hear you. And I was at that Bama game. Oddly, it was the defense that played lights out to keep us within 1 score of a win. We never played like that again that season, Mullen’s last
I don’t disagree with you entirely, murphree hall but, Skink nailed it. Mullen quit. He was a lazy recruiter and things were going badly with discipline and morale. He also was combative towards the press and fan base. I won’t mention stubborn because I think most good coaches do have a stubbornness about them but, it it can’t be their defining characteristic as it is with Mullen.
I hear you, but I don't think that can be proved. I do think it's possible he felt hopeless for that season looking at the QB situation, and Grantham's defense wasn't helping, either. But I do believe he would have gone into the off-season and tried to fix things. Ultimately, I think he'd have been in trouble regardless, because Richardson had all the tools, but wouldn't have been consistent enough to get the heat off of Mullen. I say this as a big fan of AR and someone who thinks he can be a good to great pro QB. Now, if he had the same exact team, but had a Bryce Young at QB, UF could have been a 10 win team with all other things being equal.
Hopefully the powers that be don’t jump the gun and tear it all down. That would probably be a big mistake. We would be better off winning 8 games a year at this point.
There could be many reasons why he quit but he quit. Who knows, maybe he was frustrated with the lack of cash being handed out which made it impossible for him to recruit.
We are also staring in the face of another mediocre year. The hope right now is too far in the future to pay dividends
I hope someone with the inside info. On CDM spills it for us some day. Many people have posted they belive Dan was not a good recruiter. Dan didn't help with his infamous comment to David Watters about (recruiting season). Nor can one review his classes and give him high marks. He was called a QB whisperer but he sure didn't recognize whom he had resting on the pine until Trask got his break in the KY game when Franks went down. His Chairmanship position was justifiably called into question when he brought Grantham back. And, from bits and pieces we got, it did not seem he had control of the locker room. Napier did a poor job against OSU in the bowl but UF vs Oklahoma was a quitters day parade under Mullen. I think alot of folks were justifiably worried about the following year, which proved to be his last.
