Media Types Keep Shooting at Mississippi State and Missing

The sports media, national and regional, just can’t figure out Mississippi State. They still subscribe to the old notions of MSU being poor and no good, so there must be a catch as to why the football program will be going to their sixth straight bowl game and have become one of the best in the SEC.

2014 was a fluke, right? MSU vaulted to #1 in the nation because they caught some breaks with bigger programs being down and State had a team full of seniors. So the media predicts the Bulldogs to finish last in the SEC West (and 13th overall) in 2015. Fast forward to the final week of the season and Mississippi State is on the verge of finishing 2nd in the SEC for the second straight year and headed to another New Year’s Six bowl game.

MSU is nothing without Dak. The last two years have been great, and elevated by the tremendous play of Dak Prescott. There’s no down-playing the significance of a player like that. But to say Dak is the only reason MSU is winning is absurd. In three full years before he ever started a game the Bulldogs averaged eight wins per season (9-4, 7-6, 8-5).

Dan Mullen is leaving.

Every. Single. Year.

• ESPN asks if now is the time for Mullen to bolt
• Discussion of Mullen leaving for Virginia Tech

Over and over again. Penn State, Miami, etc. etc. We’ve heard all this.

Just two weeks ago on Paul Finebaum’s own radio program Dan Mullen stated that last year when his name was circling around reports for other jobs, he was never called about them…..any of them. All these reports come out of the blue. Either they’re a red herring used by search committees or just completely fabricated.

The media simply can’t believe that Mississippi State can keep a coach like Dan Mullen. Surely he will leave because there’s nothing good at MSU. You can’t win (still scratching my head on how State was #1 in Week 11 last year using this logic).

The arguments are that it will be much harder to win without Dak; it would be easier at a ACC school; Starkville sucks.

1. He won before Dak and he can win after him
2. It’s easier to win at a ACC school under the assumption that you can pull the top 25 talent MSU pulls by being in the SEC
3. Keep thinking Starkville sucks, his family has lived here for seven years and they know the truth

Dan Mullen is making $4 million a year. And whether the media types want to admit it or not, he’s built one of the best programs in the SEC. He has built it. Not on the back of great tradition or a huge financial backing. He built it. He’s the man at Mississippi State.

More from Mississippi State Football

• Meeting the Opponent: Week 4 – South Carolina Gamecocks
• Mississippi State football vs LSU: The good, bad, and ugly
• The Wednesday Wrap: Maybe Mississippi State Football Coach Zach Arnett shouldn’t do it his way
• Mississippi State football history vs. South Carolina: Records, streaks, and more
• Mississippi State football bowl projections after Bulldogs crushed by LSU

If Coach Mullen decides to leave, it wouldn’t be for that much more money. MSU could pay him more if necessary, but no school is going to throw $7-8 million at him. He’s not that highly coveted. In fact, I don’t think he’s that coveted at all by “bigger” programs because of a perception that he’s not a great recruiter. And he’s viewed as a jerk by some administrators.

Mullen has the cushiest job in the country. His athletic department loves him. The fanbase loves him. He’s getting well paid and has all this in the best conference, and best division, in all of college football. He’s at the top of the food chain with complete job security and control. What more does he need?

I’m not ruling out Coach Mullen ever leaving MSU on his own accord. You just never really know for sure. But the constant reports of him leaving are more of a product of the media’s misconceptions of what MSU is rather than the reality of the situation.