Respectfully...
1. I would not be on the Butch bus. My standard is beating everyone not in our big 3, being at the very least competitive against the big 3, and depending on ups and downs of each program I need at least a win each season against those. General expectations at least.
2. Frost is pure speculation. Could be wrong. He will not coach here though, so Ive mostly dropped that
3. Not animosity against Mullen. Ive stated many times he is an upgrade, and that I could be wrong, but I certainly build my case against him. I dialogue with those who oppose my views and concede good points. Freely admit my projection may be wrong
4. You yourself state he is no home run. Personally, I want a homerun and you may say this is the crux of my argument against him
5. Saying we could do worse is not my standard. Can we do better? If so, do it
5. But what if hes the best we can do this time?
If Gruden says no, by most accounts it will be because he just doesnt wanna be here.
If Frost goes to Nebraska, then it will be obvious hed had that in mind all along (if he goes to UF, thats probably the most logical next step for him, TBH).
Guys like Patterson or Peterson have no incentive to leave their current programs.
That pretty much just leaves Chip Kelly as far as big time coaches go. I agree hed be the best we could do (maybe a better hire than Gruden, IMO). But who knows whats gonna happen with him.
Once you get past him youre on to either Mullen or maybe Gundy (who has played us for a raise before) or Taggart. I think those guys are all in the same tier (Im sure different people here would make arguments for any of the 3 being better than the other 2). Some might throw Schiano in here as well.
Then were left with the guys like Brohm, Morris, Campbell, Norvell, Durkin, etc. None of them are sure things, though they all have upside.
After that youre taking a chance on Coordinators, which can be a crap shoot (see Muschamp and Smart).
I guess I just dont get why some people would be so unhappy with a guy whos probably at the top of the 2nd tier coaches we could get. We can kick and scream all we want for an elite coach, but there just arent many to go around. And there are gonna be 3-5 SEC schools trying to find the next elite coach over the next two months that well be competing with.
Yeah, I want us to hire an elite coach. I want 25 5* recruits per class and world peace too. Expecting that isnt realistic though.
I just dont get those who would be upset by a Mullen hire. I can roll with 9 win seasons and the likelihood that we get the next great TN QB (maybe 2-3 even) under Mullen. The best case scenario with him is it becomes apparent that his success thus far was completely in spite of MSU and he makes a leap. Worst case scenario is we get to watch much better football than weve seen since the early 2000s. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.