"VolGee4 - Yep, that very well could be the case. We were just chatting about Mullen and any criticisms, and he specifically brought that up. I don't follow them that closely, but he made it sound like it had been a point of contention."
Wanted to get back with you even with the thread change. I've watched a couple of their games. They are really physical, which is good, but I have seen some missed assignments on counters and traps. Sometimes the coach simply cannot get a player(s) to do the job the right way no matter how hard he tries and he has nobody else that can fill the role. O-lines are tough to get in sync. They have to develop chemistry to know how the guy next to them will react to various d-schemes in addition to knowing their own job. MSU's QB makes them look better than they are at times, just like Dobbs did for us.
If Mullen happens, I just think he would pull the trigger to improve his staff if necessary. He knows what it takes to win at a high level since he's been there before. UT is a legacy job for the right guy despite this lost decade of futility. What is interesting to me is that he actually runs a system that Butch would like to run, but couldn't even with Dobbs. Butch never got Dobbs' footwork right for passing. Four years and never got it right. Watch how Mullen gets them developed. Dak decided he needed to improve as a passer after his junior season if he wanted to make it in the NFL. He went to work on it as a focus, accepted Mullen's training, and stopped being run first, pass if you have to. Dallas is glad he did. Mullen also doesn't telegraph where the run is going with his formations and tendencies. His passing scheme is more sophisticated than Butch's. He just cannot use all of it or his overall offense like he did at UF because of the lack of player talent. He would have that at UT.