Kirk Herbstreit names 6 top-performing coaches of Week 3
Alabama’s Nick Saban was recognized Monday as the Dodd Trophy’s national Coach of the Week after UA’s win over Florida. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, however, thinks the better coaching performance came from the other sideline.
Even though Florida lost 31-29 against Alabama, Herbstreit recognizes Gators head coach Dan Mullen as one of his top-performing coaches in Week 3. Mullen is the only SEC coach on the list of 6 coaches.
For Week 3, Herbstreit went with 5 head coaches and Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi as his top-performers. The full list is available below:
My top performing coaches from WEEK 3:
1- Kalani Sitake, @BYUfootball
2- Dave Clawson, @WakeFB
3- Donte Williams, @USC_FB
4- Dan Mullen, @GatorsFB
5- Mel Tucker, @MSU_Football
6- Joe Rossi, @GopherFootball https://t.co/KnDC9p75kb— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 20, 2021
LOL. The myth of Sideshow Dan the Clown persists.
Mullen’s record vs. the Top-10: 2-29
Mullen’s record vs. the Top-25: 7-43
When you have a reputation of “doing more with less,” you actually need to, you know, win some of those games with regularity. In fact, Cousin Eddie holds the dubious distinction of having the absolute worst record vs. the Top-25 of any coach with more than 10 years coaching.
While FSU and Miami have been as low as they can be, he is barely cracking the Top-10 in some years in recruiting, being outside in others.
At the end of the day, MuLLLen isn’t a great head coach at all. He’s a really good offensive coordinator, though.
44-28, also stop using dan’s stats at miss st to make UF look bad, different team, different program
It makes HIM look bad.
Because it is bad.
He doesn’t do more with less. There is no factual evidence to back up this media created and fan-persisting lie.
He wins the games he should, he loses the games he should, and even when the talent level is fairly even, if it’s a top-25 game, he almost always loses that game, too.
He’s not a great CFB head coach. He doesn’t do all the things a great CFB head coach does: Wins vs. the Top-10 and Top-25, or recruit well.
He’s a good offensive coordinator, though.
I wonder how Kirby would have done at Miss State. Must be nice making all your connections as the DC for Alabama under Nick Saban for almost a decade, learning from the GOAT himself all that time on how to run a program, and then getting hired by a top 5 brand name/recruiting football program with ZERO in-state competition, as well as inheriting a clean program, and a top 5 rooster. Must be a whole lot harder than becoming a HC for the first time for the worst SEC West program. Must also be a lot harder becoming the HC for a Florida program left in shambles by two bad hires.
Dan Mullen with Kirby’s rooster would have a guaranteed national championship, most likely 2, maybe even 3. I’d say UGA definitely wins the 2017 national championship, may win the 2018 (although that Clemson team was scary good), and most likely beats Alabama in a rematch in 2020, and proceeds to win the natty.
So in conclusion, if Georgia hired Dan Mullen as their Head Coach in 2016, Dan Mullen would have absolutely won you a national championship in 2017, maybe even one in 2018, and 2019 if he had kept fields, heck maybe even 2020 now that I think about it. Georgia fans… mistakes were made indeed. I for one, am glad UGA hired Kirby over Mullen.
Dan Mullen hasn’t won sheet at UF and he wouldn’t have won sheet at UGA because the nerd can’t and doesn’t want to recruit. And he’s lazy. And weird.
And Oh yeah. His teams choke in big moments. And he hired 3rd and Grantham for his DC and keeps him around for some reason.
Imperial: I think most people agree that Kirby is the better recruiter. That means many of the players that you said Mullen would win with might not have even been there. It’s funny that the best records Mullen has had at Florida is with the roster that was left in shambles. Mullen gets credit for getting MSU to it’s only #1 ranking so why shouldn’t he get blame for average records?
This is in no way an indictment on Mullen and his coaching abilities. I think he is a very good coach that got to learn for 7 years under an excellent coach just like Kirby. I’m just pointing out that you are making assumptions to fit your narrative and ignoring facts that don’t.
Saban’s record at MSU was 25-22-1 his first 4 years, then went 9-2 his 5th year. At LSU he had a 4 loss and 5 loss season. If you include his records from the previous schools he coached he wouldn’t seem elite with those numbers, yet we know he is an elite coach currently and he learned from his mistakes. Mullen will continue to learn and improve his coaching as he gets more experience, his performance now is better than in the past so those numbers from Miss St only tell us how he’s grown and developed. Also, he did inherit a 4-8 team that was a mess and turned it around quickly, something hard to do for coaches that are not good at coaching.
I guess if Justin Fields had wanted to play for Coach Mullen he could have.
Kirby went to the national championship with mainly Richt’s recruits. My assumption is that if Mullen was Georgia’s coach for just 2016 and 2017, in 2017 he would have not choked with Kirby’s rooster against Alabama, and likely would have won the national championship. And GatorFanAlways makes a great point. Saban’s records were more mediocre than Mullen’s before he went to Alabama. Every coach learns. Mullen has what many coaches lack, elite acumen. Recruiting is a fixable problem, the lack of the “IT” factor when it comes to coaching, developing, and scheming is not a fixed factor, you either have it, or you don’t. And the new Secondary hires are already paying dividends as Florida has already recruited more top 100 players for the 2023 class than it has for the 2022 class. The 2022 class was always going to be subpar after the coaching turnover following the 2020 season.
Two top 100 vs. one!
Congratulations.
I notice that every point I made was ignored or spun.
Gator fan: Saban has nothing to do with the conversation between Smart & Mullen. But since you want to compare it should be noted that Saban won 2 division titles, 2 SEC titles and a NC in his first 10 years and that includes his year at powerhouse Toledo. Mullen has been a HC at power 5 schools for 12 years with one division title to show for it. I just pointed out that the the team wasn’t devoid of talent. You can say that it was all Mullen but it looks like he DID have good players and the cupboard wasn’t as bare as ya’ll want pretend it was.
Imperial: you wanted to denigrate Smart coaching under Saban but conveniently forgot that Mullen spent 7 years learning from a 2 time NC winning coach. Weird huh.
I stick by my statement that Mullen wouldn’t have recruited the team Smart had in 2017. But sticking with your hypotheses answer this. If Mullen could have won with a freshman QB in ‘17 how did he lose 4 games with a senior QB and 2 first round skill position players?
The statement that Saban had a more mediocre record than Mullen before Alabama only shows your delusion. Saban had a 91-43 record with 2 SEC West titles, 2 SEC Championships and a National Championship. Even counting Toledo he had 8 out of 11 seasons with a ranked team. Mullen has a 100-56 record with 1 East Title. The mediocre title goes to Mullen in this comparison.
@DarthA In my opinion Mich St is closer to Miss St which is why I mentioned that record. As amazing a coach as Saban is, I believe it would be hard or at least take him longer to win a Conference title or NC at a school that is more mid tiered. If Mullen had gotten the LSU job instead of Miss St he probably would have had a better record than the one he had at Miss St (I am not saying Mullen would have had a better record than Saban at LSU.)
@chomp-chomp………I DARE YOU TO ANSWER MY POINTS INSTEAD OF BEING A COWARD!!!! READ ALL, AND ANSWER ME WITH NO EXCUSES OR BE A COWARD!!!!!
If Corch needs to stop using miss state stats. Then I suggest you stop using Georgia SCOUT TEAM stats vs Florida starters to imply Mullet has beaten Georgia!!!! Fair is fair!!!!
Regardless to what stats they are using. The point corch is making stands!!!! Dan Mullen is NOT a great coach!!! By the way. When Georgia stomps a mud puddle in the gators and walks it dry this year. Will you still be using last year’s score???
ALABAMA WAS BOTTOM OF THE BARREL BAD WHEN SABAN AND KIRBY WENT THERE AND TURNED THINGS AROUND!!!!! SO MULLEN COULD HAVE DONE IT AT MISS STATE IF HE WAS GREAT!!!!
Mullen’s team at miss state was unbeaten and had destroyed LSU. When sideshow Dan came to town to face the dawgs in Athens. Yet Kirby Smart’s dawgs ate him alive!!!!
Since you persist on keeping it Florida only, because you know your man’s record won’t hold water. How about 2-1??? That is Kirby Smart’s record head to head with Dan Mullen at Florida!!!! To simplify it. Kirby has beaten Florida twice with only one loss to Mullen!!!
Kirby won the east twice vs Florida with Mullen. Kirby took Georgia to a national championship in year 2 and got ROBBED!!! But they were SEC EAST CHAMPIONS. SEC CHAMPIONS and ROSE BOWL CHAMPIONS!!!! AND IN MY BOOK NATIONAL CHAMPIONS IN YEAR 2!!!!!
What did Mullen do in year #2???
MULLEN’S FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP OF ANY KIND EVER! CAME LAST SEASON. UNLESS YOU COUNT AN EGG BOWL WIN. LOL
Again the 1 win Danny Boy has was against the Georgia SCOUT TEAM!!!! 80 % of the best starting defensive players were injured and out. 50% of the starting offense was out. And a 5.10 5th string walk on was playing QB.
QUESTION FOR ALL GATORS….
Answer me. Why don’t these injuries count???? You gators always run your mouth. So why don’t these injuries count???? I WANT AN ANSWER!!!!!!!! I guarantee you if Florida was missing a starting QB. Y’all would let us know about it. So answer me cowards. Why don’t these vast injuries count???? Y’all didn’t beat Georgia at full strength or even close!!!! You really honestly did beat our SCOUT TEAM!!! Is that something to rave about????
If your going to claim a victory. You must also own the injuries!!!!!! Georgia is going to eat you for lunch at the cocktail party this season!!!! By the way. YOUR GATORS LOST 4 GAMES!!!! THE LAST ONE BY 5 TOUCHDOWNS!!!!! GEORGIA WITH ALL THOSE INJURIES LOST 2!!!!!
WHILE Y’ALL WERE BEING BEATEN BY 5 TOUCHDOWNS. GEORGIA WAS BEATING A TOP 10 UNBEATEN TEAM!!!!! BUT Y’ALL DON’T WISH TO DISCUSS THIS DO YOU???
NOPE, ALL ILL GET IS THE SCOUT TEAM SCORE AS A RESPONSE!!!! Because it’s all your capable of!!!! You know just like I do. That Mullen played Michigan and UVA to pad his win total!!!! To make it look better!!!! South Carolina beat Michigan the year before you did in a bowl to!!! But UVA was the real EMBARRASSMENT!!!! Y’all know they weren’t worthy to play in a new years 6 bowl!!!! But the reason Mullen played them is to avoid what happened last season!!!!
MULLEN’S BEST SEASON EVER. HE FINALLY WINS A DIVISION AND LOSES 4 GAMES!!!! LOL. THE LAST BY 5 TOUCHDOWNS!!! WOULD HAVE BEEN 6 IF OU HADN’T HAD MERCY ON YOU!!!!!
Mullen padded his schedule with bowl wins over Michigan and mighty UVA! In your own back yard I might add!!!! UVA LOST 4 OR 5 GAMES. THEY WEREN’T WORTHY OF A NEW YEAR 6 BOWL!!!! That was a FAVOR from the league all the way!!!! So what do you say about all that I’ve said???
Will I get an intelligent answer? A gutsy answer? Or the same old 44-bla bla answer??? Maybe you’ll post 1980!!!! Because all gators are too cowardly to face the hard questions!!!!!
Do y’all truly believe that Florida beats Georgia last season without 80% OF the starting defense missing or 50% of the starting offense? With Stetson Bennett as QB1!!!! If it had been JT Daniels day 1 and Georgia remained healthy. And you played a fully healthy Georgia. Do you honestly believe Florida still wins????
PS. Answer me, do you???? Regardless explain to me how 3 win LSU beat you in the swamp. Then explain how this same team lost by 5 touchdowns to OU????
I’M WAITING FOR REAL ANSWERS! NOT THE COWARDS WAY OUT!!!!!
Negan
Ironic you pick on Dan Mullen so much considering you champion a team that pretty much has the worst collegiate coach currently. As of 2019 and 2020, Kirby Smart ranked #1 in college football for doing less with more. Nobody squandered games and championship opportunities with that kind of talent anywhere else in modern football, and nobody has taken as many 5* players and failed to develop them into NFL caliber talent.
But you keep doing you and poking the stick at your betters. You know it’s all come to an end anyways now that everyone in the country is allowed to pay their players, not just Georgia and Alabama. Your recruiting “advantage” disappears now and with it goes any chance Georgia ever had at winning anything under Beaver Cleaver.
Shhh-let them think they have something, it’s fun to watch them self-destruct year after year. They will fire him like CMR.
To be fair, your stats are like looking at a political statement, where you don’t lie but you leave out the details that dont fit the narrative. That record includes years at MSU and folks can decide for themselves if that’s a fair representation or not. He’s at Florida now and that’s the stat that’s relevant.
What happened to Fresno State University HC? I thought he should have been mention.
Once more we see a recognized expert observe Mullens greatness. Once more we see that only a drooling moron fails to understand the obvious truth.
Preach
You keep saying rooster. What are? Cock obsessed or Joe Biden?
If Mullet is so great why didn’t UF win the game? The 2 point conversion was a huge choke job.
Your coach got blown out by Alabama last time you played, and choked both times you played Bama in 2017 and 2018. Talk bout a coach that chokes against Bama. At least Mullen has the inferior talent excuse. What excuse does Kirby have?
Imperial you have got to stop living in the past and excuses. By the way it’s roster, not rooster. Im hoping you know the difference since you used the latter several times.
* I’m
ImperialMoron, Bama had much superior talent to UGA in 2017 and 2018. Look it up you idiot. You can base it on recruiting class rankings from the prior 4 years or players off those teams that went on to the NFL. Either way it wasn’t even close. Idiot.
Dawg Re.tar.d in the 2020 247 Talent Team Composite Georgia has the most talented rooster in the country and you got blown out by Alabama. Those are the facts. Now go cry about it. In 2018 you had a comparable rooster and you choked than one away still. In 2017, your rooster was closer to Bama’s than Florida’s has been the last 2 times we’ve faced them. You choked that one too you ignorant puppy…
He has that excuse because he can’t recruit. He would rather be at his lake house than working to get talent. That’s why he doesn’t have better “rooster”. I guarantee you Kirby would find a better “rooster” than your hunchback could. I guess Mullet likes lower doorways in his house.
How wonderful is it to watch UGA implode though….
No that is just puppy propaganda and so false it hurts. Florida can’t recruit as well as UGA because Florida has half the recruiting budget that UGA has. Let me repeat that, Florida has HALF, that means 1/2, of the recruiting budget that UGA has. Not to mention that Florida is still months away from opening up their brand new state of the art football facility and up until that happens has one of the oldest most outdated facilities in the SEC unlike UGA. These are the facts whether you admit them or not.
Why didn’t kirby win a natty with all that talent in Athens? That’s a better question. CMR 2.0!
Greatest game of all time by UF… and they lost. HBC Dork Gator choking on a big one. And the entire fan base is rejoicing over what a great game it was. LMAO.
@Dawglb, who are these Gator fans you speak of who are “rejoicing over what a great game it was?”
UGA is everything you expected and less!#1980 National Champions!
Mullen is an arrogant jerk, but a great offensive coach. The albatross that will sink him is keeping Fat Slob Todd around.
I thought grantham did a stellar job. They clamped down on the Bama ground game and dared Bama to win throwing. Unfortunately, an all-world freshman making his first SEC road start played lights-out for the first quarter.
Why is Kirk always in our face ? He is one of those Buckeye worthless nuts, this is supposed to be an SEC site.nWhat does B1G mean anyway, it is typical OSU. We had to come from behind in order to defeat an unranked team……What were they doing ‘ behind an unranked team ‘ ?
Because Herbie’s life has come to an end for 2021 now that his beloved buckeyes have lost in the regular season and are pretty much guaranteed to be a no-show in the playoffs this year.
It’s very hard for him and ESPN to push the BIG?? agenda they have annually when the one and only decent team in that cupcake conference loses in week 2.
A good coach at a great football school shouldn’t make them the goat. Imo the greatest coaches take a nobody School to new heights. Taking the school that has a top-five recruiting class year in and year out and winning a national championship it’s not that far-fetched and just because Nick has done it a few more times he has never done it with a nobody School. Anybody can when a NC with Alabama just like for a while anybody can win with Notre Dame or USC. Just like in basketball odds of winning an NC are much much greater at Duke, North Carolina, Ucla. Etc.because the number of blue chip recruit is substantially greater therefore odds of wining it all is higher.
Bama was not getting these recruits prior to Saban… Recruiting is part of the game in College.
Your post is stupid.
How about Chattanooga coach or Collins at Ga Tech