Freeze Takes The High-Road With Mullen

February 7th, 2012 12:59 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Mississippi State, Ole Miss
Tags: Day One, MSU, recruiting, UM

On signing day, Dan Mullen told a Mississippi State video crew that he doesn’t just preach values, he lives it every day in his program. Ole Miss fans — familiar with Mullen’s many shots at the Rebels over the years — took his comments to be a thinly-veiled reference to new UM coach Hugh Freeze, a man who speaks often of his faith.

Asked about Mullen’s remarks by The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Freeze took the high road… as Houston Nutt often tried to do before him:

“I’m sure that all of us express our faith in different ways. I have said from Day One that I’m far from perfect and do not claim to be and certainly don’t judge others. I have said from Day One also that I have great respect for what he’s done there. I give credit where credit’s due. I look forward to trying to increase our momentum against them, but whether or not he meant that toward me — I don’t know why he would, because I will never. I’m not going to talk about something I don’t know, Number One, and have no reason to think anything about me.

We’re not going to enter into negative recruiting. It’s just not what we’re going to do. … Will we be 100% in that? Probably not as a whole staff, but I don’t think that’s going to be the practice we adhere to…

I look forward to talking with him. I do. I know how we feel about that rivalry and I certainly understand it and I get it. I’ve lived here. But at the end of the day, I don’t know that it has to be a rift between the coaching staff because of it. I’m going to want to beat them as bad as we can and he’d going to want to do the same, but I still think you can have a professional relationship. I hope.

I don’t think he in any way in recruiting tried to do anything that was hurtful towards me personally or say anything about me. And I know I didn’t him.”

Mullen is a needler. He’s got a touch of Spurrier and a dash of Kiffin about him. (Cue the “he’s a sweetheart” emails from MSU fans.)

We’ll see how long it take for MSU’s coach to get under the skin of UM’s new head man.

(Sidenote — Because MSU fans are already yelping we’ve changed the word “faith” above to “values.” Mullen was referring to preaching about values, not preaching about faith. This changes nothing, of course, as Rebel fans still took it as a shot at Freeze who is vocal about his faith, values, beliefs, etc. And UM fans taking Mullen’s comment as an insult was what led the reporter from The JCL to ask Freeze his thoughts on the remark… and that’s what led us to post it here.

Here’s a link to the web clip.)

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16 comments

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JoshWright

Of course, Dan Mullen is the bad guy. He has been kicking Ole Miss' tail for the past 3 years. I can see why he could be the bad guy

DannyMcMullen

I have heard Mullen is a Scientoligist? I have also heard he is a Aethiest. But Scientologist dont believe in God so I guess if one is true then both may be a true statement. I heard this from MSU alumni, hope its not true, but he is a good coach.

daddypop64

@DannyMcMullen Show us where you found this information. You rebs(tsun) are so stupid that u would believe that a stop sign was blue if a MSU fan said it was red. Go live in make believe world. You can put up a fence around oxfart, because no one wants in.

DavidIsraelMadison

It was pretty obvious that Mullen's comment was directed toward the Right Rev. After all of the preaching Houston Nutt did look at where it took the program.

mandwnation

Where in this complete transcript of what Mullen said on NSD did he mention anything regarding faith. Bad form Pennington. http://blogs.clarionledger.com/msu/2012/02/01/a-complete-transcript-of-dan-mullens-national-signing-day-press-conference/

John at MrSEC moderator

Mandwnation...

Read the post before you start dumping links on here:

"Ole Miss fans — familiar with Mullen’s many shots at the Rebels over the years — took his comments to be a thinly-veiled reference to new UM coach Hugh Freeze, a man who speaks often of his faith."

An Ole Miss beatwriter then asked Freeze about the comments.

Nowhere do we say or suggest that Mullen was talking about Freeze. We stated -- spot-on correctly -- that folks in the Rebel camp took it that way. So there's no "bad form" here.

That said, State fans have enjoyed Mullen's many barbs at Ole Miss over the years. I've got hundreds of emails to prove it. So they shouldn't get bent too out of shape when Ole Miss fans assume Mullen's ripping their school or their coach.

Thanks for reading the site,

John

mandwnation

@John at MrSEC John, you literally said in this article, "Dan Mullen told a Mississippi State video crew that he doesn’t just preach faith, he lives it every day in his program". I am saying you took what he said out of context. He never said anything about "faith". Mullen just used the analogy of a church-goer who goes on Sundays but doesn't live it out during the week. No "faith" term was used in his spill on NSD, and I think you have mis-interpreted what he said, and now all SEC fans will join Ole Miss fans to think he is a prick.

mandwnation

@John at MrSEC Thank you, that is all I wanted, there is a big difference between the word 'faith' and 'values'. I know all about this rivalry, I run a website for MSU fans. I know you don't have time to read it, but here is what I wrote the other day about it, http://maroonandwhitenation.com/?p=1669 . Seriously, thanks for perpetuating the rivalry, it is getting heated in Mississippi and it's fun.

John at MrSEC moderator

mandwnation...

First, please watch your language.

I was paraphrasing the video. I've changed it. It now says "values" instead of "faith," though that doesn't change a thing.

Mullen made a comment. UM fans took it to be an insult. Freeze was asked about it because it was seen by some as an insult. And because Mullen has a history of taking shots at UM, we found Freeze's response as well as the whole uproar to be newsworthy.

If your coach comes across as a needler... and if UM fans automatically assume he's taking shots... ask yourself why that is.

Not saying he's good or evil, but Mullen takes Spurrier- and Kiffin-like shots. Over the next few months, we'll see how many he lobs at Freeze and how Freeze responds.

John

DawgFan

Interesting that you think Freeze took the high road since he's allegedly the one that got all this started with his negative recruiting tactics. Freeze and staff have alleged to recruits that Mullen is everything from an atheist to a Scientologist. For Freeze and TSUN to assume that Mullen was referring to them certainly shows that they have guilty consciences. A hit dog always yelps.

John, I'm disappointed with the way you titled this article suggesting that Mullen had done something wrong. Hope for better impartiality in the future.

John at MrSEC moderator

DawgFan...

Calm down. No one's attacking Mullen. Did Freeze say anything bad about Mullen? No. That's the high road. There's no mention of Mullen taking the low road. You just took it that way.

Thanks for reading,

John

DawgFan

What's taking the high road about that? Mullen never mentioned Freeze or Ole Miss, and there's nothing to suggest that he meant them. A hit dog will always yelp.

It probably has more to do with Freeze and Ole Miss's negative recruiting tactics suggesting that Mullen is everything from an atheist to a Scientologist. Nobody is drinking the Freeze kool-aid except you, John.

John at MrSEC moderator

DawgFan...

And, yes, I'm gulping that Freeze Kool-Aid down. Guess we can add another school to the list. Now I'm a closet Rebel fan / Bulldog hater. You got me.

Reality: I don't give a hoot who wins the Egg Bowl.

And in this story, we're simply pointing out that a) Mullen said something, b) Ole Miss fans took it as an insult, c) Freeze was asked about, d) Freeze tried to downplay it and say he wouldn't engage in negative recruiting. Though we also included the part about "will we adhere to that 100%" because that's a pretty big hole in Freeze's plan to not negatively recruit.

John

ezfreeze

@John at MrSEC You must be... Freeze is the good guy... Mullen is the bad guy articles seem to only be coming from your site...

Lumping Mullen into the Les Miles comparison when talking about recruits was just asinine... And now this article? Seriously? Is this an Op-Ed site? If so, please state that these are your opinions... So people don't take you seriously...

ezfreeze

@John at MrSEC Hey... Just paraphrasing... Just like you... You said he basically bashing a recruit because he didn't sign with MSU by saying that he believes that Nick is a better QB...

Freeze= good guy story... = "Freeze Takes The High-Road With Mullen"

For Mullen to take a low road, he would be bashing Freeze... He made a general statement about the BS in recruiting that happens everywhere... But you twisted that into something else...

If Freeze takes the high road, he must be a good guy, right?

John at MrSEC moderator

ezfreeze...

Not sure where in this story it says Mullen is a "bad guy." Please point that out. Also, please point out these "Freeze is a good guy" stories you speak of.

Thanks,

John

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