re: Can Boom, Pruitt and Mullen survive winning 8-9 games per year?

In this hypothetical, only Boom is employed in 5 years by their current university.

Florida going to be the most interesting, as I believe the fans in this thread are correct... very little patience there. Mullen has to manufacture a pretty significant turnaround in 2-3 seasons or his seat is *really* hot. As I said elsewhere, it does help him that FSU turned over their staff as well at least. Keep pace and win that matchup and it probably buys some short-term forgiveness if UGA manages to take control of the series in Jacksonville.

Tennessee I believe will be more patient after seeing how long Dooley and Butch got there and how poorly this last coaching search went... Also, year 1 schedule is so rough, I can't imagine they have high hopes for 2018 schedule, which sort of creates a bit of a throw-away year... Couple that with having both UGA *and* Alabama on the permanent schedule and I'd say their initial measuring stick is essentially how do they progress relative to Florida. Win that matchup consistently and Pruitt secures a longer tenure than Mullen... maybe long enough to see Saban retire and shift the balance of power..

quote:

---

a consistent 8-9 wins per year is a huge improvement for Tennessee. They should be thrilled with that consistency

---

They had 2 years in a row of 8 regular season wins in 15 and 16 with a 9th win in the bowl game... they fell off the map last season, but it's not like that number has been unattainable for them. Even if I discount the Georgia game on the schedule as nothing I say would be considered objective... having Alabama on the schedule for them essentially limits their ceiling more than any other team in the East. Mizzou might be a better team in 2018, but not by orders of magnitude... could see them turning that matchup around in short order. Have to think they can quickly take control of matchups against Vandy and Kentucky if Pruitt is going to be good at all, so there is 3 SEC wins that are definitely plausible. so 3-1 if we presume a loss to Alabama.

Add that to 4 OOC games and you would be at 7-1 with 4 to play *but* Tennessee seems to be more apt to schedule what at least on paper appears to be one challenging OOC game most years... 2018 will have West Virginia (solid P5 program at least). 2016 was Va Tech and 2017 was Ga Tech. 2019 looks light with an OOC slate of BYU, Ga State, UAB, and Chattanooga, but then they follow it up in 2020 with Oklahoma. So in some years, make that a more likely 6-2 even if Pruitt is a good hire for them.

That leaves UGA, UF, USC, and a rotating west opponent... they'll cycle through Auburn this year, and had LSU and Texas A&M the 2 years prior, so after 2018, they'll draw some combination of Ole Miss, Miss St, and Arkansas, so at least those games are lighter draws on paper (right now). (The problem with that is that unless there is a shift in scheduling, by the time he might be hitting his stride in year 4, they cycle back to aTm, LSU, Auburn as 3 consecutive rotating west opponents... )

So more or less they'll need to go 2-2 or 3-1 in those matchups to hit 9 wins consistently in the regular season. It's doable, but on paper today, I think it comes down to the Florida game (and to a lesser degree South Carolina)... win that one consistently and it buys Pruitt time to shrink the talent gap between Alabama and UGA and Tennessee... He may overtake South Carolina, but if he's not beating UF, UGA, and Alabama, it's going to be a tough road forward no matter 9 wins/year or not.

If what you say actually happens then Boom gets a contract extension and the other 2 will be fired within 4 years .

That is the reason I have said Mullen will not survive long enough to be successful.

2018. 6-7
2019. 7-6
2020. 8-5
2021. 9-4
2022. 10+ wins and rolling

but wait he will be gone before that happens.
Florida will not give him enough time and his tenure will be cut short of him starting to win.

quote:

---

So you’d be okay with something that looked like this?

2018: 8-5
2019: 8-5
2020: 7-6
2021: 8-5
2022: 9-4
2023: 8-5
2024: 7-6
2025: 9-4
2026: 8-5

For a few seasons that would be okay, but if we never got over the 9 win mark but fell below the 8 win mark (or worse) there’s no way fans wouldn’t be calling for his head at some point.

---

The premise in the title was winning 8-9 games a year. Then the OP moved the goal post a bit by saying "you are looking a t 8 wins at most", which is LESS than "winning 8-9 games per year". So it would look more like this:

2018: 8-5
2019: 8-5
2020: 9-4
2021: 8-5
2022: 9-4
2023: 8-5
2024: 9-4
2025: 9-4
2026: 8-5

Over the above 9 seasons winning 8.5 games per year (or 8-9 games a year) would be 77 wins, adding the 15 Muschamp has already won, and guess what? Muschamp has won 92 games over 11 seasons, for an average of 8.4 wins per season.

That makes Muschamp our program's all-time winning-est head coach, with also the best all-time average for wins per season, and you're saying that our fanbase would call for him to be fired???

But I look at it from a more realistic perspective. Winning 8-9 games a season would make Muschamp the most consistently successful HC in USC's FB program's history. Even Spurrier couldn't do that.

I also contend that if ANY HC got USC to winning consistently 8-9 games a season for more than 3-5 seasons, then unless they choose to not recruit like Spurrier and his staff did at the end of his time at USC, then they will start to consistently recruit better talent to USC than the program has seen in the past, and we'll start having seasons of 10-11-12 or more wins from time to time. That's already been proven.

It's easier to recruit top talent to a program that shows it is a winning program, especially a program that's in the top CFB conference. So I say definitely. Don't knock it until you try it, and USC as a program hasn't seen that kind of consistent success yet.....


Also, in the past 8 seasons, USC averaged between 8-9 wins per season, and we're 5-3 versus Florida, 5-3 versus Tennessee, and 4-4 versus Georgia. That included some seasons above the 8-9 wins, and some below the 8-9 wins. We've won 9 or more games per season 5 times out of the last 8 seasons - when we're at that level of success, there's no one we can't beat on a regular basis.....

The East just needs to improve and the West needs someone besides Auburn to knock of Bama. Then all things right in the SEC (parity) will return. Man up bitches.

quote:

---

Mullen needs to average 10 wins a year, with an SEC Title every 2 or 3 years. Anything less bye Felicia. That’s the minimum to keep your job at UF.

---

Well you need to go ahead and begin choosing which Alabama assistant you want.

Mullen is going to drop some absolute head scratchers like South Alabama, Get beat in games he absolutely shouldn’t like Ole Miss in 14 and last year, and pick one team to never beat and stick to it like Alabama.

On the current trajectory. Georgia is going to be your Alabama, LSU or USC is going to be your Ole Miss, and pick your poison for the head scratcher. At least you have built in wins with Vandy and Missouri.

If Boom wins 9 games a year at SC he will be there as long as he wants. Pruitt will be given a longer than normal leash due to how shitty Butch left things. Mullen will be gone in 2 years if he wins 8 back to back.

The biggest issue is all three expect to do better ... and somebody is going to fail... or two will fail. So who at least meets the fans/admins expectations?

quote:

---

The biggest issue is all three expect to do better ... and somebody is going to fail... or two will fail. So who at least meets the fans/admins expectations?

---

Couple of things will come into play.

In the next ten years, or less, we will be playing 9 conference games each season. I give it to 2025 max.

Tennessee fans don't want to hear it but they are in serious trouble if Pruitt doesn't make drastic gains inside of the next two seasons.

Interdivisional games are going to play key roles.

Bama losing Saban in the next five years vs Pruitt.

UF with Mullen vs Ed O will be interesting.

Boom vs Jimbo is going to be really interesting. They'll rarely recruit against one another and A&M has superior facilities to everyone in the conference right now ... but that will not matter head to head. A&M should have an advantage in shoet order so SC and Boom have to strike now or lose some momentum.

UGA and Auburn have their long running thing. UGA would appear to be about to gain an advantage in what has historically been a very even rivalry.

There is a lot to play-out over the course of the next two years that will be telling in the long run.

Tennessee is the really interesting one to watch though. If Pruitt loses 2 in a row to UGA, SC, UF and Bama he'll be on the hot seat fairly quickly. Although many Vol fans may be happy with better effort these first two years. Hard to say. Saban plays a key role in UT's fortunes ... I dunno how long the streak against Bama will continue, but it could easily last until Saban's final season at Bama.

Mullen actually has the easiest row to hoe because I don't think he'll face Bama anytime soon whereas SC has Bama in 2019, Tennessee has them every year and I am not sure when Georgia has them in the regular season again. Lemme look. I don't see it anywhere.