Could Dan Mullen land at Virginia Tech?
Dan Mullen, two wins away from his second straight 10-win season at Mississippi State, is a “serious candidate” at Virginia Tech, sources have told Football Scoop.
The Hokies are expected to announce a hire in the next seven days to follow in the footsteps of local legend Frank Beamer, the program’s all-time winningest coach.
Mullen’s name has circulated for several major openings in recent, but the Bulldogs have incentivized his contract and always given reason to stay. Mullen, 43, is 54-34 overall since taking over in Starkville in December 2008.
He was named the SEC’s Coach of the Year last season by Sporting News after leading Mississippi State to its first No. 1 ranking after a 9-0 start.
Mullen currently makes north of $4 million at Mississippi State, so it would take some convincing from the Hokies. Of the bevy of jobs open in college football at the FBS level however, Virginia Tech is considered in the top half, not to mention the competitive advantage Mullen would have in the ACC compared to the challenging SEC West.
It would be a sad day in Starkville if he were to leave, but I wouldn’t put it past him simply because it offers a new challenge, I imagine he would be the coach to watch in the ACC in no time whatsoever. One thing’s forsure, he’s an excellent coach, imagine what he could do with LSU’s or Georgia’s Talent??
Why are so many people interested in Mullens leaving Stark-vegas?
Is a resurgent Miss State that threatening?
Mullett got lucky at Msu with Dak. I will be surprised if he doesn’t take the VT job because he knows after Dak leaves, he will be in trouble.
Charming. We’ve got two very promising quarterbacks behind Dak so that’s not a position we’re too worried about.
See my comments below. I don’t think he leaves. But, I do have a question. For as long as I’ve known MANY state fans it seems you guys are always confident that your backup qb is just as good as your starter. Why is that? Seriously. I am truly not being a jerk. I actually know State fans that say Fitzgerald has a higher upside than Dak? Do your fans really believe that?
I don’t know if insantly as good, but definitely has tremendous upside. From the little we’ve seen of Nick (in the spring game and spare playing-time) he seems to have tools comparable to Dak. Fitzgerald is 6’5″ and 230. He runs FASTER than Dak. He’s not afraid of hits even though he isn’t built as strong as Dak. His arm is just as good. The falloff is going to come mentally. (The same thing people were missing with Jeremy Johnson in the offseason).
Dak has been so good because of his outstanding decision making and read-making this year. He can go through his progressions exceptionally well. If Fitzgerald can mimic that, then watch out. If not then he might fall into a hyped up Jeremy Johnson category.
I hope yall don’t go through what we went through with Johnson. I know nothing about the two back-ups yall have, but I do know JJ got way over-hyped and started to believe it, then when he couldn’t live up to it he lost all confidence. Mullen seems like he does well with QBs so it shouldn’t be something to worry about if he stays though.
Hey Mullet. WTF can’t you spell.
Your opinion means nothing. Don’t you realize that nobody takes anything you say seriously? This comment makes you look even stupider than you already do and that’s pretty hard to do.
Eh, I see him sticking around for another few years at least. Seems pretty happy where he is.
This is another one that doesn’t make much sense. Va Tech’s stadium only holds a few thousand more and Beamer was making $1.2M less than Mullen. As high profile as Beamer was in a rather large area, Va Tech’s recruiting has been worse than at Miss St for a number of years. And Mullen still has a huge challenge at State, huge improvements have been made but he’s definitely not over the hump yet. Still some ups & downs, but on a good trajectory. He has to be thinking, with all the work he’s put in at Miss St, he’s closer than he would be at Va Tech.
This is typical, and understandable. Mullen has overachieved at State the past two seasons, and there are job openings. The media connects these rather obvious dots every year. In the case of Mullen, many folks have added the departure of Prescott as another “dot”. Mullen may decide to leave, the iron is hot, but he seems to like his returning QBs as well. The level of Prescott’s rise was not exactly predicted , so Mullen may see something similar in Fitzgerald, and has Williams there after a late redshirt. We’ll see.
I think if he leaves, which I don’t think he will, it will simply be because State loses a lot after this year. I think he has hit his ceiling. Dak will be gone. I’ve heard a lot of State folks say Bear and C Jones are leaving early. It would make sense if he were going to leave to leave now. But, State’s facilities are better than most give them credit for and he is making a TON of money, so I think he stays.
I thought we lost almost everything after last year, and were going to be dead last in the conference. An afterthought.
We are losing a lot… Dak. His experience is tremendous. Talent we still will have. Mullen has a proven history of molding QB’s (something Les Miles and crew lack), so hopefully the new guys will get up to speed in time to have a solid season.
You did lose a lot last year, but you are about to lose your most prolific player to ever put on a State uniform. That hurts! I know with the non-conf schedule you guys will have plus getting to play Kentucky and South Carolina next year you should still win some games, but man…you guys lose a ton especially if Bear and CJ leave early.
Excellent thought Tiger. I’m a Dog, and I would hate to see him leave, but people do things as their lives evolve.
Coach W
Last year he was leaving for Florida. This year it’s Virginia Tech. He will leave eventually. Keep guessing SDS. You’ll eventually be right.
It would be funny to hear Collins tell him why take that coach job because it’s a lateral move.