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Derek Mason Reaction Thread

Well we definitely missed the mark with the excitement part, but he does have a lot of big program experience. Maybe he can do something here, but the guy literally didn't have ANY winning season at Vandy (7 years). Nobody does, I get it, but he didn't move the needle. He also bounced around at Auburn and OK State after that. One and done at each stop. Then I don't think he did anything in 2023? Where is his head at and is he committed to taking MT to the next level?
 
He did beat Georgia and Tennessee while at Vandy dealing with a crappy hand of cards. With a great OC, he could do very well. Let’s see what happens before saying it’s a disaster. Doesn’t necessarily excite me that much but it’s a positive change from what we have come to expect.
 
If this is true, this hire would be the most wasted opportunity in the history of MT. We passed on Scotty walden for this? I'm praying this is B.S. And why keep that secret? Nobody wanted his a$$ anyway. Went 0-12 his last year. 0-12 y'all. LOL.
 
It's pretty questionable. He was the Oklahoma State DC in 2022 and they were awful.

This is a mediocre hire at best. I want to be positive because we havn't had a new coach in 18 years....but man. This is a bit of a head scratcher.

Hopefully he can bring in a first class staff and it'll be enough to be successful.
 
You’re thinking of David Shaw. Shafer was at Syracuse.
Gotcha. I was a few years off. Thought that might have played into this some how. Anyway, I'm pulling for Mason if this is the case. Hopefully M&M stumble into success with him in spite of themselves. Honestly, this hire doesn't move the needle, but we'll see.
 
It's pretty questionable. He was the Oklahoma State DC in 2022 and they were awful.

This is a mediocre hire at best. I want to be positive because we havn't had a new coach in 18 years....but man. This is a bit of a head scratcher.

Hopefully he can bring in a first class staff and it'll be enough to be successful.
This is not a mediocre hire. This is a bullsh!t hire. If they were wanting young exciting person to be a spark plug for this school, they could not have hired a worse coach. Sheesh, can Rick come back?
 
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This Is Fine GIF

Massaro at the press conference
 
We have our guy! I like it in terms of stability and having a defensive minded. I'd like to see who he retains and how he builds his staff now.

Massaro and McPhee definitely wants stability.


Sydney probably got the urge to go play with his 7 wood when DM told him he wasn’t looking to go anywhere else and will be here a long time (failing to mention he probably has zero other HC job offers in FBS and probably doesn’t have to move from Davidson County now that he’s back).
 
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Well we definitely missed the mark with the excitement part, but he does have a lot of big program experience. Maybe he can do something here, but the guy literally didn't have ANY winning season at Vandy (7 years). Nobody does, I get it, but he didn't move the needle. He also bounced around at Auburn and OK State after that. One and done at each stop. Then I don't think he did anything in 2023? Where is his head at and is he committed to taking MT to the next level?
He can't even take himself to the next level. Forget about taking us anywhere except to the bottom of the conference. Well, in 2-3 years, we may be rid of mASSaro and McFeeble and can finally go get someone worth a sh!t. They are gonna pay this moron over a mill a year? They f'd up hard.
 
If this is true, this hire would be the most wasted opportunity in the history of MT. We passed on Scotty walden for this? I'm praying this is B.S. And why keep that secret? Nobody wanted his a$$ anyway. Went 0-12 his last year. 0-12 y'all. LOL.
Who isbto sat Scotty is going to be all that? He had 1 good year and got smacked by Chattanooga in the 1st rd of the playoffs at home. Most of everyone doesn't like it because he came from Vandy, he owned MT and WKU during his time a d that during some of the best season by both schools. Yhe will be successful with lower academic standards to get in school. Let's see the staff first and his 1st 2 years then you can complain
 
Good hire. Great defensive mind.
Mason was the Head Coach at one of the toughest jobs in NCAA. Yeah, his record is going to be skewed because of that.
I’m interested to see what his staff will look like. They’re going to have to hit the ground/portal running.
 
I predict the doubters will change their tune about 10 AM central time 😂

He’ll say all the right things about keeping mid state players in the mid state and how this program is a sleeping giant and everyone will feel good.

He’s a good coach, guys! This could work! It’s way better than Will Healy or Jeff Fisher, I’ll tell you that.
 
I predict the doubters will change their tune about 10 AM central time 😂

He’ll say all the right things about keeping mid state players in the mid state and how this program is a sleeping giant and everyone will feel good.

He’s a good coach, guys! This could work! It’s way better than Will Healy or Jeff Fisher, I’ll tell you that.


I'm okay with it. I still think we could have done better, but I also believe we could have done worse (much worse, like an Eddie George or something ridiculous)

It'll come down to the assistant pool. I'm curious to see how well he recruits for us....and I wonder if any of our defensive studs that jumped into the portal will come back now.
 
Who isbto sat Scotty is going to be all that? He had 1 good year and got smacked by Chattanooga in the 1st rd of the playoffs at home. Most of everyone doesn't like it because he came from Vandy, he owned MT and WKU during his time a d that during some of the best season by both schools. Yhe will be successful with lower academic standards to get in school. Let's see the staff first and his 1st 2 years then you can complain
He went to the playoffs with a school with little to no resources and lost to Chatt by 3. That ain't smacked. No wonder you like this BS hire. This Mason moron went 0-12 his last season as a HC and was unemployed this year. Give me a break. He didn't own WKU, he went 1-1. The other part of this is engaging the community and reaching this generation of players and working the portal. Is he gonna do that? I don't think so. I'll be glad to eat my words but it's not a good hire at all.
 
If this is true, this hire would be the most wasted opportunity in the history of MT. We passed on Scotty walden for this? I'm praying this is B.S. And why keep that secret? Nobody wanted his a$$ anyway. Went 0-12 his last year. 0-12 y'all. LOL.
0-8. He was fired before the season ended
 
I'm okay with it. I still think we could have done better, but I also believe we could have done worse (much worse, like an Eddie George or something ridiculous)

It'll come down to the assistant pool. I'm curious to see how well he recruits for us....and I wonder if any of our defensive studs that jumped into the portal will come back now.
Big time. If Nick stays, he will need an OL. So coaching/development/recruiting there will be key along with an OC that can utilize him and his talents. One that can help develop Riles too if we can hang on to him.
 
His most recent gig (Oklahoma State DC in 2022) didn't end well either.

Oklahoma State had a top 5 defense in 2021 and had their DC hired away to Ohio State (Knowles)

Mason came in for 2022 and they were really bad. He wasn't kept around for 2023 and did the broadcast thing instead.

Head scratching hire......

I'm trying to get behind it and be positive but it's difficult. I don't think people are going to give him any wiggle room. He will need to have a good year starting next year.
 
He went to the playoffs with a school with little to no resources and lost to Chatt by 3. That ain't smacked. No wonder you like this BS hire. This Mason moron went 0-12 his last season as a HC and was unemployed this year. Give me a break. He didn't own WKU, he went 1-1. The other part of this is engaging the community and reaching this generation of players and working the portal. Is he gonna do that? I don't think so. I'll be glad to eat my words but it's not a good hire at all.

At least he’s undefeated at JRF Stadium 🤷‍♂️
That's not a hell of an upgrade. It really isn't.
 
His most recent gig (Oklahoma State DC in 2022) didn't end well either.

Oklahoma State had a top 5 defense in 2021 and had their DC hired away to Ohio State (Knowles)

Mason came in for 2022 and they were really bad. He wasn't kept around for 2023 and did the broadcast thing instead.

Head scratching hire......

I'm trying to get behind it and be positive but it's difficult. I don't think people are going to give him any wiggle room. He will need to have a good year starting next year.
Yeah, it's hard for me to like this hire at all and I know my opinion means nothing but what a wasted opportunity. That's all I can say. Mack would have been a much better hire. I'll come to my senses sometime soon but right now, I'm really disappointed.
 
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0-8. He was fired before the season ended
LOL. OK. That totally changed my mind. We hit the lottery. We win the conference and make the playoffs next year baby! Liberty has no chance. LOL. It was his effing team and staff he put together. That's 0-12. SMH
 
Been a while and I’d say it would be another while after this post.

It’s probably been said before but this is the most Middle hire ever.

The athletic department, administration, and all parties involved in this search don’t understand college football in 2023. You have to be aggressive at a G5. You have to take chances to be successful or you end up like we are.

This is undoubtedly going to viewed as a “safe” hire but we already had the head of the safety patrol here. Never outside the box, never inside the box. Hell our athletic department is the box.

If he’s not at least fielding job offers in 4-5 years it was not a successful hire.

Just like the basketball hire.

Like Wiley said, assistants will matter we will get a bump for first few years.

Probably be bowl eligible…

Same situation in 2030. See you all then.
 
I don’t like the hire for these reasons:

  1. Hiring a coach is always a crap shoot. That said, previous results are often the best predictor of the future. He results at Vandy were awful. Yes it’s Vandy, but significantly worse than Gerry DiNardo.
  2. We needed a coach to excite and unify the fanbase. No one can argue this hire comes anywhere near accomplishing that.
  3. He did a poor job post Vandy in his expertise area at Auburn and Ok State.
  4. He needed a sabbatical from coaching. Then takes a job that is essentially easy driving distance from where he lives. I googled ans searched, I saw no mention in the past year of him getting looks at any other job. This screams of easy convenience on both parts.
  5. I do not want a retread from Vandy or UT. I don’t want Mason, Dooley, Butch Jones or Jeremy Pruitt. A Coach associated with these schools is ok if he is there and successful. DM was not.
  6. The hire signals M&M really failed at what Massaro stated he wanted to do. CM stated he wanted to bring fans back and excite the fan base, then they hire someone they HAD to know would not do that. So any hope I had in their judgment is still not there - they either don’t get it or can’t execute it.
I have no reason to think he will have a record better than CRS in 5 years. I personally feel like we hired our version of Will Muschamp. I predict in 5 years Derek will have a 6-6 +\- coach which is essentially CRS, but it will cost us more. I hope I am wrong.
 
You cannot judge his performance at Vandy. Its nearly an impossible job and it speaks to the caliber of Franklin there because that had never been done and wont be again.

Im not blown away but....its not Stock! Ready for a new era. Im behind Coach Mason until I have reason not to be. Lets go Blue!
 
You cannot judge his performance at Vandy. Its nearly an impossible job and it speaks to the caliber of Franklin there because that had never been done and wont be again.

Im not blown away but....its not Stock! Ready for a new era. Im behind Coach Mason until I have reason not to be. Lets go Blue!
Exactly my feelings. Y’all do realize we are going from a guaranteed mediocrity to an exciting unknown right? Mason has never had the chance to show how good of a coach he is at a program with actual potential. Vandy wasn’t that
 
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