Dan Mullen
Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen has dealt with opposing schools using his success against him. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
(Rogelio V. Solis)
Justin Fuente put together the best season in Memphis football history.
He guided the Tigers to a 10-3 record, their first bowl win in a decade and a No. 25 finish in the Associated Press poll, the first time the school had ever finished the season ranked in the Top 25.
And yet, all of that success was still used against Fuente on the recruiting trail.
Confused?
When a coach has a successful season like that at a school that isn't a traditional football powerhouse, attention quickly turns to where he's going next. The American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year started popping up as a possible candidate for multiple vacant jobs, including Kansas and Pittsburgh, as one of the hot up-and-coming coaches.
That's all the ammunition opposing coaches needed to tell recruits Fuente wasn't planning on staying in Memphis long. It was used against Memphis late in the recruiting process, even after Fuente signed a five-year extension worth a reported $1.4 million annually.
The Memphis coach did his best to address any concerns with parents and recruits, while explaining the reality of the business.
"Any coaches that guarantees anything in terms of longevity is fibbing. The business is just too volatile," Fuente says. "No one can guarantee anything when it comes to that. Those things only come when you are having success, the kids are playing well and things are going well. I truly believe we can build a football program here. We have the resources, the community support, the university and the leadership to truly build a program, not just a one-season team."
Dan Mullen is used to this wrinkle of negative recruiting. He was one of the hottest job candidates in the country this year after guiding Mississippi State to the Orange Bowl. He was the subject of multiple fawning national profiles when Mississippi State rose to No. 1 in the rankings. Mullen was mentioned for the blueblood jobs at Michigan and Florida, just like he'd previously been mentioned for vacant jobs at Penn State and Miami, among others.
He remembers years ago spotting a report saying a deal to poach Mullen out of Starkville was imminent. The only problem was he had never even spoken to that school.
"That's happened so much with me now," Mullen says. "It tends to happen all the time, so it's something we are used to. I'm not really into negative recruiting. Even to say 'Coach Mullen's not going to be there,' how do they know what I'm going to be doing? We talk more about our school."
The Mississippi State head coach says the key is to fight through the misinformation and be as honest as possible with recruits. Mullen, who will be entering his seventh year at MSU next fall, is confident in his abilities, so much so that he tells recruits upfront he's going to be mentioned for other jobs when the coaching carousel starts up.
It's a preemptive move to build up trust and set the narrative before opposing schools bring up coaching rumors. He's essentially disarming the effectiveness of any last-minute tactic to sway a prospect away from MSU before National Signing Day.
"The fact is every year my name seems to come up for jobs, and every year I'm still back here as the head coach," Mullen says.
It's a weird position for coaches to be in. Being mentioned for other jobs can not only be an ego boost, but also lead to significant raises as schools look to retain their top coaches. Agents have made their clients millions of dollars by floating their names as candidates for vacant positions.
But it can create headaches on the recruiting trail when opposing coaches bring it up. Schools "are going to use every tactic" in recruiting, according to Varsity Preps scouting director Demetric Warren, and that certainly includes negative recruiting when the opportunity arises.
Mullen and Fuente will both likely see their names mentioned for other jobs if they continue to have success. A big component of that is recruiting at a high level. Mississippi State signed the nation's 18th best recruiting class, according to 247Composite, and currently has the fifth best class in 2016. Memphis had the fourth best class in the AAC in 2015.
Fuente's former boss Gary Patterson didn't do him any recruiting favors in a recent Sports Illustrated profile. The TCU coach advocated for bigger programs to take a hard look at the coach who guided the Tigers to a first-place finish in the AAC. The article referred to Fuente as "college football's next hot coach."
For now though, Fuente is enjoying slowly getting a basketball city on board with his football program.
"We inherited a tough situation, we've been through some hard times and I kind of like enjoying the fun times," Fuente says. "Not to say we'd never be interested in anything else because I don't believe in absolute statements that backfire on you, but we feel like we are in the process of doing something pretty special."