re: Which SEC coach has most to gain/lose?

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Did you have Spurrier on a hot seat after year 4? Surely you did after year 5? He was 28-22(15-17) after year 4 -- on his way to 35-28(18-22) after year 5. It's a lot harder to elevate a program's ceiling than it is to climb to that ceiling -- basically meaning that some jobs are simply much harder builds than others.

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frickin' eh right he was on the hot seat after year four and five and he knew it. He almost quit after the loss to UConn because he knew we were about to run his arse out of town.

Then the light came on for him, he signed Lattimore during the off season, got re-motivated, and we buckled-down holding our breath for season six. But make no mistake about it, either he got it done in season six or else he was gone. He had pissed a lot of people off, big time boosters, with his haughty ways when he was not getting the job done and putting-out 100% in year four and five.

People were still pissed after season six but there was noticeable improvement in our OLine and our running game, although many of us thought Spurrier made some major major bone-head bad calls as OC - most memorably at Kentucky. But we beat Georgia, Bama, Tennessee, Florida, Clemson and so on so that helped to defer some of the anger from some of the bone-head hubristic calls he was making back then.

Yet, suddenly it became clear that Spurrier was refocused by then and when he landed Clowney during the off-season we knew he was getting his old mojo back. You could see it in the way he walked and talked and cracked jokes.

And yes, some rebuilding or building jobs are more difficult than others, no doubt about it. But MSU has been saying that for 70 years.

I readily admit I am not a fan of Mullen's because of some things he's said and done. He's got no credits in his basket imho. Plus, I think Freeze has come-in and completely taken-over for most of the instate talent in Mississippi, which is considerable btw, not to mention the major signing day scores on the recruiting trail with this past class.

All that to say, my point is, if MSU/Mullen goes 2-6 in conference play again this season, then you are on the downslope ... by that I mean the following ...

In everything in life, everything, doesn't matter what it is but in everything in life there are three distinct phases.

Growth phase ... chartered as upward movement.

Maintenance phase ... charted as a plateau of sorts - some say this is the toughest phase of anything, sports, business, health, whatever.

Decline phase ... charted as a downward slop, some sharper than others.

That applies to life, business, societies, family, health, everything.

If MSU goes 2-6 in conference play again this year then that signals the decline phase and THAT is the difference between comparing Spurrier's first four or five years to MSU's.

Furthermore, and this was very important in terms of how we Gamecocks graded Spurrier during his first five years .... in those first five years Spurrier won some games he was not supposed to win, he won some games as the underdog. He also won just about every game he was supposed to win, but he won some he was not supposed to win.

Can you say the same about Mullens?