Dan Mullen Says Buy a Ticket if You Want to Ask Questions

Nov 22, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen reacts during the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Davis Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Mullen has done incredible things for the football program at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have gone from a team that was just hoping to get to a bowl to a team where less than 8 wins seems like a disappointment. It’s a remarkable accomplishment.

But Dan Mullen is not without reproach. News broke yesterday that Will Redmond will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. The only people who reported the news was Bo Bounds on his morning talk show and Mike Bonner of the Clarion Ledger. Bonner used unnamed sources, but the rest of the beat writers wouldn’t confirm the report. They would only write the report on Redmond was out there.

This all broke on the same day as Dan Mullen’s weekly appearance on Dawg Talk. Coach Mullen always takes phone-in questions from the fans, and one fan asked about the injury to Redmond. Joel Coleman of the Starkville Daily news reported Mullen had this to say to the fan about his question.

"Well I don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t talk about injuries in our program. If you want to find out about our guys, buy a ticket and show up on Saturday. That’s it. I’m going to leave it at that."

If he had ended his statement there, it honestly would not have bothered me. But Dan Mullen took it a step further, a step that wasn’t needed.

"And if you don’t show up on Saturday, shame on you and you shouldn’t be deserving of asking a question about our injuries."

And that’s where Mullen took it too far. If this is a reporter asking this question, I have no issue with Mullen responding in a very confrontational manner. But Mullen was talking to a fan. And most casual fans don’t pay attention to press conferences or anything said by Mullen outside what they see on TV during game day.

It’s never a good look to insult fans of the program, especially when they haven’t really done anything to deserve it. I understand Mullen didn’t want to give any information to Kentucky about Redmond so they wouldn’t start preparing for Redmond to not play. I get that.

But all he had to say was we don’t talk about injuries. There was no need to to say shame on anyone for not buying a ticket or not being at the game. I could write an entire post about the exorbitant cost involved in taking a family of four to a game. It’s just not that simple.

Dan Mullen is a good coach and I’m glad Mississippi State has him leading the football team. But this time, he needs to make sure he does better when a fan asks him a question he doesn’t like.

Give us your take. Do you think Mullen was too harsh or not? Vote in the poll and tell us why in the comments.

Next: Mississippi State's Season Did Not End with Will Redmond's Injury