Dan Mullen Got Robbed for SEC Coach of the Year
A 10-2 record at a program where 10-win seasons are the college football equivalent of a Sasquatch sighting, the first No. 1 ranking in program history and a quarterback who was in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race for the majority of the year would typically land any coach consensus SEC Coach of the Year honors.
Well, except for Mississippi State's Dan Mullen.
The sixth-year head coach of the Bulldogs has racked up quite a few awards so far this offseason but was robbed of the SEC Coach of the Year award by his own peers.
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The conference announced Wednesday that Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel is the 2014 SEC Coach of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches.
Yes, the same Pinkel who lost at home to Indiana and got shut out by Georgia at home. Sure, back-to-back SEC East titles are impressive, as is the undefeated SEC road record over that time span.
But was there anything historic about Pinkel's season this year?
Aside from the back-to-back SEC East titles, not really. Sure, Missouri navigated through the rather calm waters of the SEC East with some new pieces of the puzzle to get back to the Georgia Dome. But we already knew Pinkel is a good coach. He has produced double-digit win seasons five times since 2007.
He's a tremendous coach who has proved he can do less with more time and time again across two conferences. This season was great, but it's also par for the course for Pinkel.
Meanwhile, Mullen's season is dripping with history.
In addition to the 10-2 record and the first No. 1 ranking in program history, the Bulldogs will play Georgia Tech in the 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl—their first Orange Bowl appearance since 1941 (following the 1940 season).
That's not only worthy of coach of the year honors; that's worthy of a parade in Starkville.
| 2014 | 10-2 | 6-2 | Orange |
| 1999 | 10-2 | 6-2 | Peach (W) |
| 1940 | 10-0-1 | 4-0-1 | Orange (W) |
This is a program that has reached the 10-win mark only two other times since the turn of the century—the 20th century.
If anybody should recognize the work Mullen did this year in Starkville, it's his peers. He took a team that, according to recruiting services, isn't nearly as talented as the others in the SEC West and made it play like a champion in the toughest neighborhood in the nation.
That deserves recognition.
Sure, Mullen has already filled his trophy case this offseason, including SEC Coach of the Year awards from Athlon Sports and The Associated Press, according to Michael Bonner of The Clarion-Ledger. Those are great, and Mullen should be proud. But he didn't get the one that matters most.
That's a shame.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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