Comparing the Mullen and Croom Eras

Nov 16, 2013; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen during the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Davis Wade Stadium. Alabama Crimson Tide defeat the Mississippi State Bulldogs with a score of 20-7. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Editor’s note: this is not a comparison of coaching ability.

So the Croom era was pretty bad, right? Other than the 2007 season in which we had some magical plays like pick-6’s and punt returns – it was a miserable time to be a MSU fan. Aside from what type of coach he was, just as far as Mississippi State’s record from 2004-08, can we all agree that was a terrible time for our football program and anything close to it would be unacceptable?

I am here today to compare Croom’s 5 years at the helm to Mullen’s 5 years (minus two games) as head coach of the MSU football program.

Overall record:

• Croom: 21-38 (.356)
• Mullen: 33-29 (.532)

Record vs. FBS teams:

• Croom: 17-37 (.315)
• Mullen: 28-29 (.491)

Record vs. SEC teams:

• Croom: 10-30 (.250)
• Mullen: 14-24 (.368)

Let’s take a look at the difference there: 4 wins. Kentucky and Ole Miss account for 8 of Mullen’s 14 wins (8-1 overall). They only accounted for 4 of Croom’s 10 wins (4-6 overall). Those two schools have been on State’s schedule in each year of both coach’s tenure. Both of them have been mediocre or worse over the last 10 years. From ’04-’08 UK was 29-33 with three bowl games; Ole Miss was 22-37 with one bowl. From ’09-present UK has been 22-38 with two bowls; Ole Miss has gone 29-31 with three bowls (they will go to one this year). Essentially these two programs have been the same if you combine them, as their level of success [or failure] has just been flip-flopped.

So let’s take away all the OM and UK games and see what we can find. That would make Croom 6-24 and Mullen 6-23.

• Croom’s 6 SEC wins were against teams that had a combined 41-35 record (.539)
• Mullen’s 6 SEC wins were against teams that had a combined 28-46 record (.378)

We all know the SEC West (or state of Alabama) has won the national championship in each year since Mullen has been our coach….so the road has been really tough. Let’s take a look at the records of the teams each coach has lost to not including UK and OM.

• Croom’s 24 SEC losses were against teams that had a combined 237-138 record (.632)
• Mullen’s 23 SEC losses were against teams that had a combined  244-59 record (.805)

Clearly Mullen has faced tougher schedules, and to his credit he has never lost to a team that finished the year with a losing record – SEC or otherwise. Croom lost to 8 SEC teams who ended the year with losing records, plus Tulane in ’06 and FCS Maine.

The difference between the two: Mullen beats every bad team we play and pretty much never beats a good team – certainly not one since 2010. Croom lost to pretty much everyone except for a handful of times when he upset a good team.

Keep this in mind: when Sly Croom was our coach, the athletic budget was literally half of what it has been under Mullen. There was no football only practice facility, or the promise of one. There was no expansion of the football stadium, or the promise of one. When he took over the program it was a dumpster fire and was put under NCAA probation to boot. That’s not any type of excuse for Croom, because he was not a very good coach when it came to actually putting together a game plan to win with the players we had, but it does potentially measure the gap between the two coach’s records.

There is a fair amount of MSU fans who are just glad to be out of the Croom years when State was capable of losing any game we played…literally (Maine). I admit that after eight years of losing (except 2007) I was just glad for that myself during Mullen’s first few years. By the same token, I also never dreamed we could pay a coach $2.5+ million. Mullen’s original contract was for $1.2 million and was doubled after the 2010 season. With the new SEC TV deal, large chunks of money are dumped into our athletic budget each year allowing us to build these great facilities and pay a coach a top 25 salary. The SEC raised the floor somewhat when Croom was here, but it has been raised significantly during Mullen’s tenure. The gap between what Mississippi State now has and what lower-tier conference schools have is much, much wider.

To me, these numbers are shocking. The Croom era is a pit of losing that is burned into our memory, and to the naked eye the Mullen era seems exponentially better….then you look at the numbers. Coach Mullen has simply taken the baton from Coach Croom, risen with the level of the tide the SEC’s money and resources have provided to consistently beat poor teams, and hover in the zone of mediocrity. With this data, can you definitively say Mullen performed much better than Croom? And even if you can, are the results on the field after nearly 5 full seasons acceptable, or do you feel Mullen has accomplished the minimum MSU, or any SEC team, should achieve?