Dan Mullen Could Be the SEC Surprise of the "New Three"

Lost in the headlines of the anguished Auburn fans over the firing of Tommy Tuberville and the seemingly shocking pick of Gene Chizik to replace him and the almost daily idiocy of Lane Kiffin of doing or saying yet one stupid thing after another is Dan Mullen.

Yes, Mississippi State is a lower profile school than either Auburn or Tennessee, but who can compete with these other two storylines?

Chizik has people scratching their heads wondering why he was hired, and Kiffin has people scratching their heads wondering when he'll be fired.

And then there's Dan Mullen.

Who? Dan Mullen, the new head coach at Mississippi State. Fewer recruits from the South knew the name of the new Bulldog coach than they did the ingredients in McDonald's secret sauce.

But that's just fine with Mullen. The players he went after in his short stint as head recruiter learned his name really quick and heard it really often. 

For his tenacity, he was rewarded with a nice first class that definitely had the stamp of an offensive coordinator on it. He pulled in Mississippi's No. 1 QB and seven receivers among a class of 27 players that was rated as a top 25 recruiting class.

Mullen spent years with Urban Meyer, college football's reigning genius coach, and has been largely responsible for the great QB and offensive play of Meyer's Bowling Green, Utah, and of course Florida teams. He plans on bringing the spread offense to State as well.

"We will blend the spread in stages as we have the personnel ready to add more," said Mullen recently. “They were more of a power-I team when I got here, so we have a lot of tight ends and fullbacks and not a lot of receivers, so it will be a little process adjusting.  How fast we can integrate our offense depends on how fast the players adjust and perform."

Does this mean that some of those seven speedy receivers may see action as soon as this season, as well as that four-star QB?

"We're going to see in the spring where our talent is where we can start building. Certainly we are excited about the future with some of the talent we already had and some of the new players we've signed. We feel like we have a good defensive foundation to build from, and on offense we are going to have to have some young players step up quickly to help," Mullen continued.

Bulldog fans and faculty both know that this is a rebuilding project and that it could take a while to install and work the bugs out of this offense and for Mullen to put his stamp on this team.

Certainly Mullen has less pressure on him than the other two "newbies." Vol and Tiger supporters will demand no less than a bowl appearance, while State fans will be thrilled with improvement and offensive touchdowns.  

This has been a year of change for Mullen all right. A new title with all new responsibilities, a new school, a new staff and players to work with, as well as a new house and a new baby too.

"Since the National Championship win this January, I've had little time to stop and take a deep breath," said Dan about the new job. 

Obviously he's been too busy to make headlines doing and saying stupid things like his counterpart just north and a little east. That's not his style. Like his mentor, Urban Meyer, Mullen prefers to let his actions do most of his talking. When baited to say something about Kiffin, Mullen simply said, "Ask him. I understand he likes to talk."

Therein lies the difference between those two coaches. In all actuality his actions so far have been much more like Chizik's: Do the work, learn your surroundings, keep your nose to the grindstone and your mistakes out of the press.

History will judge which school made the best hire, but for now, my money is on Mullen.