Dan Mullen to UNLV

[king_kong_]

I think they're both pretty equal.

Rhule turned some bad / average programs around. Has shown to get better results every year at both college teams he coached. Been in 3 CCG (out of 7 years) winning 1, dang close to a second by year 3. The Baylor team he took over was a complete mess.

Mullen did well as Mississippi St given that programs history. Started hot at Florida, but couldn't sustain success. Nobody really wanted him after Florida (or maybe he chose to be done), but his next HC gig is at a program like UNLV. Interesting to go from SEC down to MWC.

I'm interested to see how Rhule does long term if he's at a program for 7+ years.

Rhule won less games in his 4 years at temple than they won in the 4 years prior to him taking over

Rhule won less games in his 3 years at baylor than they won in the 3 years prior to him taking over

He didn’t turn anything around. He inherited programs that were winning and maintained them.

 

[king_kong_]

Correct it doesn't count. What he inherited at Baylor was nothing like the team that won 7 whole games the year before. Literally half the the team was no longer there when he was hired. 40 something scholarships were returning.

As I mentioned before, Temple had just moved up to the Big East/ ACC. The previous coach won 5 less games in the Big East than he did in the MAC the year before. Is the ACC a juggernaut, of course not, but pound for pound it is much better than the MAC.

You and @thall_ always want context when someone questions your takes but when there is context to refute your takes, its just BS in your mind.

Again if we want to use the standard for why Butler shouldn't be DC at Nebraska because no one wanted to hire him as DC since he left Penn St, what does that say about Mullen, who's best job, after getting dismissed by Florida, was 3rd string ESPN studio guy following MACtion Tuesday?

My mind is always open to learning new things, especially when they run counter to my opinions.

I welcome them.

Nothing you posted here is new information to me. Forced roster turnover, year 2 in a new conference, etc. All things I’m well aware of.

Mullen is a head coach again. If Rhule flames out here in a year or 2, I don’t think his phone will be ringing off the hook from power 4 ADs.

And neither do you.

 

[thall_]

Your comment was that you wanted Mullen when Nebraska hired Rhule. I replied with what makes you think Mullen would have any different results here than he did at Mississippi St and Florida. He was fired at Florida because his 5-6 season and 3rd year in a row of declining results, even though he won 82% of his games at Florida, wasn't enough. He didn't get it done to the satisfaction of the Gator folks so they fired him. His Mississippi St results were up and down, in his 9 seasons there, he had 4 where he won 6 games or less in the regular season and won 9 games or more 3 times. 3 nine win season at Nebraska in 9 years isn't going to get you 9 years. He went 5-7, 8-4,6-6, 8-4, and 6-6 during the regular season in his first 5 years. Many people want Rhule fired because he is doing in year 2 what Mullen did in year 3 and year 5 at Miss St. If Rhule has that regular season win percentage over his first 5 years at Nebraska, he wont see year 6, if he even survived year 3.

One more time, real slow. I am not comparing Mullen to Rhule head to head. I am asking what makes you think that Mullen would have done better at Nebraska than what Rhule is doing now? Is 33-27 in the regular season, for 5 years, going to be enough for any coach to survive past 5?

It’s amazing how intentionally ignorant you’re having to be for these mental gymnastics.

1) better overall record
2) better bowl record
3) better record against ranked opponents

It really is that simple.

There doesn’t exist a metric where Rhule is a better coach other than you and @HuskerO (who vehemently defended Satterfield til the end) being homers.

I’ll be interested in revisiting this thread next year, you’ll be pissy when I bring it up.

Mullen’s record at UNLV will better than any year 1 record Rhule has had. Hell, it will likely be better than our record too.

You have some weird vendetta against Mullen. I seem to remember you insisting Tom Herman was a better coach before he flunked out of the AAC.

 

[HuskerO]

Rhule won less games in his 4 years at temple than they won in the 4 years prior to him taking over

Rhule won less games in his 3 years at baylor than they won in the 3 years prior to him taking over

@Tuco Salamanca already addressed this. His reasoning seems pretty sound, no?

 

[king_kong_]

@Tuco Salamanca already addressed this. His reasoning seems pretty sound, no?

No.

Temple changed conferences a full season before Rhule got there. His predecessor never bottomed out like Rhule did despite having to actually adjust to a new conference on the fly.

Baylor scandal happened prior to Rhule taking that job - he considered it a “higher calling”, then won 1 game.

Conference championship program just years removed from a Heisman winner churning out NFL guys.

Rhule maintained a slightly lower level of success than each program enjoyed before he arrived.

Not my opinion, just what happened.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

No.

Temple changed conferences a full season before Rhule got there. His predecessor never bottomed out like Rhule did despite having to actually adjust to a new conference on the fly.

Baylor scandal happened prior to Rhule taking that job - he considered it a “higher calling”, then won 1 game.

Conference championship program just years removed from a Heisman winner churning out NFL guys.

Rhule maintained a slightly lower level of success than each program enjoyed before he arrived.

Not my opinion, just what happened.

The Baylor scandal happened the season before he arrived. Briles was fired in the summer before the 2016 season. Most players stayed for the 2016 season, after the season when there was no hope Briles would be back and most of the lawsuits were filed, the majority of the 2016 recruiting class asked out of their NLI because they feared huge sanctions. All but 1 of the 2017 commitments backed out and went elsewhere. Players left the program, and Rhule started the year with 40 something scholarship players, plus whatever he could get to sign in the recruiting class in February.

It isn't as if he had 85 scholarship players coming back from a 7-6 team that Grobe coached.

 

[king_kong_]

The Baylor scandal happened the season before he arrived. Briles was fired in the summer before the 2016 season. Most players stayed for the 2016 season, after the season when there was no hope Briles would be back and most of the lawsuits were filed, the majority of the 2016 recruiting class asked out of their NLI because they feared huge sanctions. All but 1 of the 2017 commitments backed out and went elsewhere. Players left the program, and Rhule started the year with 40 something scholarship players, plus whatever he could get to sign in the recruiting class in February.

It isn't as if he had 85 scholarship players coming back from a 7-6 team that Grobe coached.

Never said it was.

Fact is, Rhule maintained previous successes at both places. Each school’s worst record occurred on his watch.

This is the first actual turnaround he is attempting in his career and he is actually outperforming the prior multi-year span. That’s a good thing!

If he wins 10 here he can finally say he has turned a program around.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

It’s amazing how intentionally ignorant you’re having to be for these mental gymnastics.

1) better overall record
2) better bowl record
3) better record against ranked opponents

It really is that simple.

There doesn’t exist a metric where Rhule is a better coach other than you and @HuskerO (who vehemently defended Satterfield til the end) being homers.

I’ll be interested in revisiting this thread next year, you’ll be pissy when I bring it up.

Mullen’s record at UNLV will better than any year 1 record Rhule has had. Hell, it will likely be better than our record too.

You have some weird vendetta against Mullen. I seem to remember you insisting Tom Herman was a better coach before he flunked out of the AAC.

You are the one who is being intentionally ignorant.

Better overall record
Better bowl record
Better record against ranked opponents may be evidence of why Mullen is a better coach than Rhule. But that wasn't the question.

The question was. What evidence do you have that Mullen would have done a better job at Nebraska based on him being fired at Florida and his up and down tenure at Miss St.

I don't have a vendetta against Mullen, I have already stated many times he is a good coach. I just don't believe, based on his body of work as a coach, that he would have done any better at Nebraska than Rhule is doing. He isn't an elite coach.

Tom Herman failed at FAU. But he had relative success at Houston and Texas. He is undefeated in bowl games and even with his failed 2 years at FAU still has a 62% winning pct as a coach, just like Mullen does.

 

[king_kong_]

Better overall record
Better bowl record
Better record against ranked opponents may be evidence of why Mullen is a better coach than Rhule. But that wasn't the question.

I believe this does answer the question posed.

Better coaches tend to produce better results.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Never said it was.

Fact is, Rhule maintained previous successes at both places. Each school’s worst record occurred on his watch.

This is the first actual turnaround he is attempting in his career and he is actually outperforming the prior multi-year span. That’s a good thing!

If he wins 10 here he can finally say he has turned a program around.

But you are discounting the fact that he had a depleted team in 2017 compared to the previous seasons. There is nuance to this that you seem to want to just disregard in an effort to make it look like Rhule was a bad coach at Baylor because Jim Grobe won 7 games with Art Briles players.

 

[king_kong_]

But you are discounting the fact that he had a depleted team in 2017 compared to the previous seasons. There is nuance to this that you seem to want to just disregard in an effort to make it look like Rhule was a bad coach at Baylor because Jim Grobe won 7 games with Art Briles players.

I’m not discounting it.

I am happy to concede that is why he won 1 game in his first year there, even if he knew full well what he was walking into.

He then failed to beat a single ranked team and failed to meet the heights produced by Briles in the following 2 years.

That’s not a “turnaround”, it’s maintenance.

 

[thall_]

The question was. What evidence do you have that Mullen would have done a better job at Nebraska

Better overall record
Better bowl record
Better record against ranked opponents

You answered your own question.

If you’re unwilling to accept that, then you’re asking for impossible evidence.

Mullen took over a 4 win bottom feeder in the toughest conference in CFB and had them at 9 wins by year 2.

Rhule took over a 4 win Nebraska team and still has a losing record by year 2.

 

[HuskerO]

@HuskerO (who vehemently defended Satterfield til the end

When did this happen?

 

[HuskerO]

He then failed to beat a single ranked team

He beat Texas that was ranked #25.

 

[HuskerO]

That’s not a “turnaround”, it’s maintenance.

Did Mullen turnaround Mississippi St or Florida?

 

[HuskerO]

In 9 years at Mississippi St, Dan Mullen beat a total of 3 teams who finished the season ranked.

Make of that as you will.

 

[king_kong_]

Did Mullen turnaround Mississippi St or Florida?

yes, he turned around Miss st. Obviously.

They’d won 4 games or less in 7 of 8 years before he got there. Their last 10+ win season was in the 1990s.

Florida, no. He lived up to their championship expectations, however.

Rhule has never done anything close to what Mullen did at Miss St. Few coaches have.

 

[HuskerO]

yes, he turned around Miss st. Obviously.

They’d won 4 games or less in 7 of 8 years before he got there. Their last 10+ win season was in the 1990s.

Florida, no. He lived up to their championship expectations, however.

Rhule has never done anything close to what Mullen did at Miss St. Few coaches have.

Rhule took a team who had been bowling in 6 years and got them to a bowl game by year 2.

Something Mullen has never done.