Mullen has finished a season ranked in only 2 of 9 seasons. The argument that he can develop talent doesn't make sense... He averages a top-25 class, but he doesn't finish in the top 25.
here's their national recruiting rankings the past 9 years, oldest to newest:
53
18
30
41
22
24
36
18
28
average, w/out the 53rd ranking is 27th.
he took over in 2009, and aside from that 1st year, he's taken MSU to 7 straight bowl games, including an orange bowl in 2014/2015 and gator in 2010 where they beat Michigan.
he's 4-3 against Ole Miss, their biggest rival. he beat GA and FL in 2010. and he generally gets at least one marquis win a year against the likes of Auburn, LSU, aTm or an East opponent.
again, i think in any conversation you have about mullen, you have to apply the right context.
they've only finished ranked in the ap top 20/25 13 times in their history. and yes, Mullen has 2, 2010 and 2014. previous to that, their last AP ranked finish was 2000...they've only finished ranked in the coaches poll 7 times in their history, and Mullen has 2.
they only have 12 bowl wins in 20 appearances, all time, and mullen has 5 of the wins and 7 of the appearances.
all time, this is a program that has a .353 win % in the SEC. the only original member they have a winning record against is KY, at .511.
MSU's all time win % against all opponents is .492, Mullen is .602 at MSU.
i hate that it sounds like i'm just blindly defending him, cause i don't really want to, but i think he's not getting a fair shake in some instances, and if you really look at him, and what he's done at a program like MSU, you can't not be at least somewhat impressed....
relatively speaking, i think you tip your hat to Mullen.
his margin for error is greater at MSU, than it would be here, no argument. and i don't think that his entrance to the complex on the hill equates to 10 win seasons every year.
i do think it would be fair to say we could/should expect to be in ATL on some kind of regular basis, and we could/should most certainly expect to get more meaningful wins during the regular season than we're used to getting these days, at least setting up an opportunity to do more later post season wise.
anyway....really not trying to argue. i get why people are lukewarm on Mullen. i just think that's a visceral reaction to the "numbers", w/out any real thought or context applied to those numbers.