Why in the world would Dan Mullen jump back into the rat race that is college football coaching?
“He’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever met, that’s why,” a former assistant coach under Mullen told me. “He’ll race you from the counter at the (convenience) store to the car — and pull and grab and bang shoulders the whole way.”
Yet somehow, that competitiveness never worked its way into the recruiting process, even as Kirby Smart called him out on it.
The process of Smart building the monster at Georgia included a demoralizing beatdown of Florida in 2021, when Smart said players win games and no one can “outcoach talent” — a direct shot at Mullen and his “QB guru” and play-caller reputation.
Hayes takes that and, incredibly, gets to this:
Tide coach Nick Saban is in the market for a new OC and quarterbacks coach/play-caller, and of those on the market — or, really, at other colleges or in the NFL — he’s not going to get a better, more motivated candidate.
Kirby Smart, you see, knocked out Dan Mullen, too.
Forget about how it ended at Florida, with his inability to recruit at a high level colliding head on with an underachieving quarterback duo that couldn’t stop throwing interceptions.
I think Matt misspelled “unwillingness” there in his last sentence. Or maybe he’s taking his own advice about forgetting.
Get The Picture 
I’ll buy Saban taking in a Meyer Guy who is a sub-par recruiter when Saban actually does it.
That said, if Mullen wants to be a HC again, it’s a no-brainer move. From what he shows on insta, if I were him, I would just keep livin’ that life.
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Is Dopey/Goofy the same guy who was raked over the coals by Matt Hayes and others in Gator Pravda about his unwillingness to answer the question about whether he was recruiting on the off weekend last October?
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I wish I could find someone who loved me as much as Matt Hayes loves Sideshow Dan the Clown.
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Wasn’t he the one who kept churning out the “recruiting” vs. “development” articles??? Just take the L man….
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Hayes’ love letter to Saban about Mullen sorts misses the point. I never did and still don’t like Sideshow, but I don’t think his career needs the Bama rehab like many of the Saban retreads. Dopey doesn’t view himself as assistant material anymore…in his head, he’s past that stage.
This article reminds me of a parody of the song “Your Love” by the outfield…”Danny’s on a vacation faraway…you know he likes his HCs a little bit older…he need’s Saban’s love to—-night”
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“Sort” of misses the point
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If your point was to make my mind wander back to a time when I was very happy with everything but the Dogs? You succeeded, FD.
“As you’re leaving please, would you close the door?”
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That little ditty does remind me of happy times too…I used to like my girls a little bit older back in the day…before we knew what cougars or milfs were…God Bless America
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😉
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So you hung out at the Frog Pond?
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Russ, I went to the Frog Pond lounge once. Once. Went bar hopping with my old room Dawg and started there for some reason. Ordered a drink and next thing I saw was a guy who I knew I would have to whip his ass if I stayed. So we walked out without even having a drink. I ran into that guy four times that night at various places. The last time at the Huddle House on Commerce highway after all the bars closed. Went in and there he sat.
It was one of them things that was just meant to be. We stepped out behind the HH and I tuned his ass up most rikki tik. I don’t know who he thought he was fuckn with.
I left him puking and bleeding and went back inside, told his girl, who this was all about, that Donnie wanted a sandwich. I made one out of both their toast and his bacon and eggs. Gave half to Bo and went home.
I never did get that drink at the Frog Pond.
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For a fraction of a second as I was reading I thought you were going to say Saban retards and laughed like hell even when I saw that wasn’t it.
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Maybe Mullin will wear his Darth Vader outfit to the interview with Nick. Then those two uber competitors can argue the finer points of wakeboarding.
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Only reason that corch wannabe was racing out the door, so he wouldn’t have to pay the cashier for that piss yellow gatorfuckingade and pack of crackers with cheese wiz…#FTMF
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Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but to me, putting Mullen in a role where he is able to focus strictly on running the offense isn’t a bad idea. He’s gonna hurt you more than he’s gonna help you on the recruiting trail.
And like, this isn’t a complaint, but my guess is if you ranked our assistant coaches on their impact in recruiting, Monken would be at the bottom of the list for us. PLEASE NOTE I’M NOT SAYING MONKEN IS A BAD RECRUITER OR THAT HE NEVER RECRUITS. But I never see his name as a lead recruiter on our big targets. We have enough of a recruiting machine built around him that that doesn’t have to be something he brings to the table, as long as he makes the pieces work.
Mullen in a similar role isn’t a bad idea, he would be surrounded by the same type of recruiting machine. If Saban thinks his offense will run well on Saturdays, I have no doubt he will look past Mullen’s recruiting shortcomings.
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While you’re assessment of the situation makes some sense, there’s also a bit of an apple vs orange comparison of Mullen to Monken. Monken’s Senator Palpatine demeanor to Kirby’s Darth Vader management of the Death Star is a perfect match that’s hard to equally imagine for now crusty old Saban partnered with Dopey Goofy Cousin Eddie.
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Monken is the lead recruiter at just one position- QB. He offered Puglisi after watching him throw for less than 15 minutes. He’s heading up the Raiola recruitment.
He doesn’t recruit much, but what he does recruit is uber important.
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Agreed, I’m just saying, Bama would land QB’s regardless. As would we. I’m just saying, Monken’s recruiting chops weren’t much of a factor in him getting hired. If Kirby thought Monken was the worst recruiter in the world, but believed that our offense would click on Saturdays like it has been, I’d be willing to bet Kirby would have still hired him and just constructed the recruiting machine to compensate. And, to be honest, we still don’t know just how good of a recruiter Monken actually is. Nobody he recruited has made an impact on the field yet, and likely won’t next year either. But being the best playcaller in the country does a whole lot of heavy lifting. 😀
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Monken doesn’t have to recruit outside of the QBs. The offense that he has built is what draws many top level recruits to the yard. It’s the system.
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I agree. Which proves the point I’m making about Mullen. If he does the same thing with their system, then recruiting isn’t really a concern.
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I think that Dan Mullen was absolutely unwilling to discuss recruiting in press conferences and that was his biggest mistake. I do think, however, that the narrative that Dan Mullen didn’t want to recruit or didn’t try to recruit or even that he didn’t think recruiting was important is accurate. The story just attached itself to the events that happened and never really got challenged.
Dan Mullen apparently sucks at recruiting. I think he sucks at the rah rah face of the program stuff. That passage from Urban Meyer’s book about how recruits thought Mullen was weird and it cost them the chance to sign some guys makes sense to me. I think Mullen wanted to be better at it and was trying, but I think he knew he wasn’t suited for it and if he’s a hyper-competitive person, that probably made him pretty mad, hence the press conferences. Mullen obviously thought that he had more goodwill built up than he really did back in 2021 and he didn’t think things were going to get as bad as they did with wins and losses or else maybe he would have handled PR and his team better.
At Alabama, he’d learn from one of the greatest recruiters of all time. He’d immediately be in a recruiting program and framework that would guide a lot of his work on that front, and he’d learn how the best programs in the country handle it. And he also wouldn’t be the most important recruiter in the building and could focus on what he’s best at – running an offense. I think he’d succeed at Alabama, but I also doubt that Alabama is going to call him.
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Correction – I do NOT think, however, that the narrative that Dan Mullen didn’t want to recruit or didn’t try to recruit or even that he didn’t think recruiting was important is accurate.
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He worked under a recruiter that was every bit Saban’s equal in Meyer and that didn’t teach Mullen any better.
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well, that’s an interesting point. From reading that section of Meyer’s book, though, it sounded like Meyer just kept Mullen away from the recruits instead of requiring him to get better at it. At Alabama, that’s not an option. You recruit or you don’t work there.
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Somehow you just know that Petrino will quit and join Saban and Sideshow goes to TAMU.
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I’d pay money to see that.
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Thank you, Senator, for reading a Matt Hayes penned article so that I don’t have to.
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Saban will put up with an OC that won’t recruit at a high level?
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Only Saban can answer that. But what all of us have to admit, even with our bulldog red glasses on, is that Mullen is an excellent playcaller. I’m not saying he’s as good as Monken, but I’ll freely admit he’s in the top 10% of playcallers out there. And the Bama recruiting machine is gonna be a machine regardless of what one coach does. They’re gonna pull in top 3 classes as long as Saban is there, regardless.
So if you believed your offense was gonna perform at the level you want on Saturdays with a specific playcaller, his recruiting would be less of an issue. Just my $.02 – which is about all it’s worth.
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Didn’t see this before posting below, but 100% agree. His Florida and Miss State teams never had better than B level overall talent, and they still scored a lot of points. He changed the game his first go round at Florida. He can’t recruit talent, but he damn sure knows what to do with it.
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I’ve seen what happens when Mullen runs an offense with top shelf talent, and I don’t want to see it again. Those were dark times.
I do not believe Saban needs Mullen to lift a finger in recruiting to keep that machine rolling. I believe Mullen at Bama would be a major problem.
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Saw Cole Cubic being asked about Dan and his return to coaching. He has been on broadcasts with him. He said he believed Dan really wanted to be in broadcasting. He said Dan had been assigned to some week night games and things that you would only agree to if you were just looking for more experience. He also believed that Dan would only go back as an HC if at all.
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Actually Dan is pretty good in the booth.
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As a broadcaster
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I say bring him on. We have better players and a better coach than Alabama today in 2023. Mullen or Pruitt or Mullen and Pruitt won’t matter that much.
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We presently have a better overall staff, including (hard to disagree after back to back titles) at HC. But Bama just followed a down year with the number one class including nine 5* kids. NINE. He’s down, not out.
Saban with Mullen and Pruitt is nothing we should fear. But they’d damn sure matter.
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Gotdam right!
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Chris Lowe already tweeted a few days ago Mullen ain’t a Bama OC candidate. This is wasted breath & calories on cousin Eddie.
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Lots of talking heads just assume Dan would take the job if offered. He spent a lot of years at HC. He took MSU to their first number 1 ranking ever. He almost beat Saban in the SECCG with a lesser team.
That’s the way a guy who doesn’t think his career needs rehabbing thinks. Also one with a very large ego might not want to have Saban screaming at him regularly.
Whoever Saban hires for his coordinators will need to convince him they are committed to his last stand. It will be intense for all involved.
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Maybe Saban should bring in CPJ to run the option
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I think Mullen may still be a bit timid to jump right back into coaching at Bama. He has to remember he was run out of town even after winning the sece, and nye six bowl games. He’s gotta be wondering what’s going to happen if he can’t deliver a playoff spot, much less the natty for the bama elitist. I think he’s actually pretty good on tv.
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