Courtesy of a prolonged stay at No. 1 in the major polls, Dan Mullen’s name entered several coaching carousel discussions after the season.

Could Michigan be interested? What about Florida?

Mullen steadfastly maintained that he didn’t anticipate leaving Starkville, Miss. The grass isn’t always greener, he insisted.

Still, most media members and fans have heard that spiel before only for a hot coach to accept a bigger or better job. And who knows what would’ve happened 10 years ago, before borderline ludicrous payouts (more than $31 million distributed to every SEC school in 2015) have leveled the playing field between SEC schools?

Mullen stayed, earning a contract worth more than $4 million per season. That was Nick Saban type money not all that long ago.

“No matter what situation, everyone thinks there’s a better situation,” Mullen said recently, according to ESPN.com.

The coach had some interesting things to say in a wide-ranging interview about what he’s accomplished at Mississippi State:

 

“I know everyone wants to point out the negatives: your budget; you’re in the smallest state in the league and there’s two schools; tradition says it’s hard to win there, it’s hard to sustain there. There’s all this different stuff.

“But what I look at is the positives: we have a great president and a great AD, so I have great leadership structure that’s very much aligned; I’m running a program I’ve built already; we have as good facilities as anybody; we sell out our stadium; our fans show up. All of those things are in place.

“We may not have the most expensive facilities, but I think we have one of the best facilities. We may not have the highest paid staff, but I think we have one of the best staffs. How we view things, we have to be a little smarter than other people. We have to come up with other solutions other than to throw money at the problem.”

The Bulldogs players seemed to appreciate Mullen’s forthright directives toward them after last season. Don’t worry, he told them. I’m not going anywhere.

Said senior cornerback Taveze Calhoun, again according to ESPN.com: “It’s reassuring. You look at the media and they’re saying he’s leaving, but he’s telling you another thing. That does give you a lot of confidence and respect, because he stands on his word.”

Sure, it’s always fun to speculate on which successful coaches are going to move elsewhere. But we’ve reached a time where the best coaches at every SEC school can elevate their own salary, facilities and recruiting to compete well nationally rather than needing to uproot and move elsewhere. (OK, almost every SEC school — sorry Vanderbilt.)

Mullen seems much more at peace and less volatile toward the media than he was at times early in this Mississippi State tenure. His vote of confidence in the future of the Bulldogs’ football program is a great sign for the team’s fans.