Im going to start this off by saying bear with me and read the entire thing Im about to write. Im about to tell you how Ole Miss fans should be thankful for Dan Mullen and Greg Byrne/Scott Stricklin. And how MS State fans should be thankfully for Hugh Freeze and Ross Bjork. In 2008 Greg Byrne fired Sylvester Croom and hired a coach with a list of accomplishments that did not include head coach at any level. That coach was Dan Mullen. At the time I really thought Dan Mullen was the perfect coach for MS State. He brought energy to MS State. Greg Byrne was/is a money raising genius, and I have no doubt he will be successful no matter where he is. The ending to 2008 was dark with a beat down to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. (Byrne is gone, but Scott Stricklin he run the train perfectly fine) Fast forward a couple of years. MS State started dominating Ole Miss under Mullen because everyone knows Houston Nutt was not a good coach. He started off ok with Orgerons recruits, but at the end of his tenure the Ole Miss football program was a dumpster fire. A committee (Archie Manning) decided to hire Hugh Freeze. Freeze had been a head coach and had been at Ole Miss before, but he was still unknown. The questions surrounded the hire just like they did when Dan Mullen was hired. Freeze was then supported by Bjork. A coach can only do so much without a good AD. MS State and Ole Miss are both playing catch up because Larry Templeton and Pete Boone. Larry Templeton held MS State down so bad that I personally think he shouldnt be welcomed back on campus ever again. MS State had won 3 straight Egg Bowls. The program looked to be on the verge of moving forward, but was starting to lose traction. Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze stepped up their game and embarrassed MS State in the 2012 Egg Bowl. That night after leaving Vaught Hemingway I was furious. The people I was with and I all thought that had turned the tides. MS State started the season off with such promise, but ended with nothing. Ole Miss won their bowl and Ms State continued to suck in their bowl. The tides had certainly changed. Ole Miss signed a great recruiting class and Ms State was right where they were every year in the upper 20s/30s. Everything was looking bad for the future at MS State. Until Mullen and crew got back motivated. I think that lit a fire under Dan Mullen. Mullen got back to work and the Bulldogs are obviously in a great spot just like the Rebels after the first Saturday in October. To sum up what I am saying. Dan Mullen was hired. He raised the bar up higher than it had ever been. Hugh Freeze was then hired by Ole Miss. Hugh once again raised the bar. Both programs have met the challenge of each other and sit here poised to take things to a place where no one in this state thought was possible. That is how two opposing coaches have changed the landscape of football in Mississippi, maybe for a long time.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 21:50:51 +0000
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