I pointed this out last week and will reiterate it, because people have posted clearly, verifiably wrong information.
Dan Mullen was Cam Newton's OC at UF. Mullen left after the 2008 season to take the Mississippi State job for the 2009 season, the same year Newton got in trouble for the laptop incident and ended up at Blinn JC (i.e., they left UF the same year although I don't know if the incident at UF happened after Mullen had already left). Newton ended up at Auburn in 2010 and the saga surrounding his eligibility had to do with his recruitment and booster activities vis-a-vis his recruitment WHILE Mullen was at Mississippi State. Unlike what other posters have said, Mullen was not "at MSU long after the Newton situation."
Two ways to look at this ... Newton probably looked at MSU because of the relationship with Mullen and not because of booster involvement and there has not been a lot of other accusations about Mullen/MSU in the interim (and the accusations involved boosters on top of that and the coach can't control everyone). Flip side is that Mullen WAS tangentially involved in a recruiting scandal that was ultimately dropped only because there was no smoking gun (in addition to the mentor to a guy who made a very bad choice somewhere in close proximity to the time of his tutelage under that coach). As with most things in life, the truth is probably involves a little bit of both factors.
Personally, I do not think this is the type of hire that UVa should be looking to make. I know others on the board have and will disagree, but just my own personal desires for the program.
Dan Mullen was Cam Newton's OC at UF. Mullen left after the 2008 season to take the Mississippi State job for the 2009 season, the same year Newton got in trouble for the laptop incident and ended up at Blinn JC (i.e., they left UF the same year although I don't know if the incident at UF happened after Mullen had already left). Newton ended up at Auburn in 2010 and the saga surrounding his eligibility had to do with his recruitment and booster activities vis-a-vis his recruitment WHILE Mullen was at Mississippi State. Unlike what other posters have said, Mullen was not "at MSU long after the Newton situation."
Two ways to look at this ... Newton probably looked at MSU because of the relationship with Mullen and not because of booster involvement and there has not been a lot of other accusations about Mullen/MSU in the interim (and the accusations involved boosters on top of that and the coach can't control everyone). Flip side is that Mullen WAS tangentially involved in a recruiting scandal that was ultimately dropped only because there was no smoking gun (in addition to the mentor to a guy who made a very bad choice somewhere in close proximity to the time of his tutelage under that coach). As with most things in life, the truth is probably involves a little bit of both factors.
Personally, I do not think this is the type of hire that UVa should be looking to make. I know others on the board have and will disagree, but just my own personal desires for the program.
