Mullen stops off in Vicksburg

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 17, 2009

Just a week after calling plays for the Florida in its 24-14 win over Oklahoma in the Bowl Championship Series title game in Miami, new Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen was in Vicksburg to give the featured address at the Mississippi Athletic Administrators Association convention Friday at the Convention Center.

The last week has been a whirlwind for Mullen, who met with his new Bulldog team just a day after he helped Florida win its second national championship in three years as an offensive coordinator.

“We had our first team meeting the day after the national championship game and it was basically the ‘Where are we at as a program?’” Mullen said. “I got the players to tell me of their goals and most said they wanted to go to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championship. I told them that is a wish. There is a big difference between a wish and a want. To want something, you have to make the sacrifices.”

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Mullen talked to the administrators on the values of setting standards, providing hands-on leadership, changing perceptions and setting core values. A big part of his first meeting with the Bulldog players followed the same topics. He said he doesn’t have a lot of rules but stresses his core values.

“The first is honesty. Without trust, you will be lost. Two, treat women with respect. Three, no drugs. We all know the serious issues drugs have caused in our society. And all of you have had someone you know, involved with it. Four, no stealing. Respect other people’s property. And fifth, no weapons. You can ask just about any of your student athletes and they know where they can get a gun. I had one player go and pull out of the trunk of his car an AK-47, a Russian assault weapon. That’s fine if you’re patrolling in Iraq but not to play college football,” Mullen said.

Mullen praised ex-MSU coach Sylvester Croom for the job he did in improving the academic standards in the program and with his groundwork for recruiting. Croom resigned a day after the Bulldogs lost to Ole Miss 45-0 in Oxford to finish the season with a 4-8 record.

Mullen cautioned, though, that there may be some rough patches as the team transitions from one leader to another.

“But there will be changes and that has already caused some discomfort. We have to change the way we think and when you do that you can change the way you act. That will lead to a change in what you expect and then you can change your results,” Mullen said. A native of Manchester, N.H., Mullen has followed Urban Meyer as an assistant at Notre Dame, Utah and Florida. He was responsible for recruiting Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow to Florida.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to recruit Tim Tebow, probably the greatest college football ever, and Alex Smith, who was the first pick in the NFL draft. But I’ve also recruited two men who went on to become doctors and educators and that means just as much,” Mullen said. “For me it all begins about setting a standard and then to make sure the people who work for you, live up to that standard. I want to make my assistant coaches better and I want to make our 85 scholarship athletes better people.”

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.