Before he have become the teach at Florida, Dan Mullen spent 9 years at Mississippi State — and it wasn’t for loss of looking to get out sooner.
Year after yr, Mullen might paintings miracles in Starkville, even getting the Bulldogs to No. 1 for a time in 2014. He raised the same old of this system from hoping to attain the postseason to watching for it each yr to being disillusioned whilst Mississippi State failed to get into one of the appropriate bowl games. And yet, yr after yr, Mullen could not get a great deal of a sniff at the education carousel. Why?
Well, a part of it’s miles his personality. Mullen isn’t always a horrific guy, however he is now no longer everyone’s cup of tea. Even in a career complete of manage freaks and large egos, he became gave the impression to be on the acute cease of the spectrum. Job interviews failed to move that properly. There had been questions on how he’d manage a larger level in a particularly pressurized environment. He became idea of as a superb expertise evaluator, however now no longer a dynamic recruiter who may want to hook up with humans of their residing rooms.
When Mullen in the end landed the massive activity that took him out of Mississippi State, it is now no longer a large wonder that a person he knew properly — athletics director Scott Stricklin, who additionally made the circulate from Starkville to Gainesville — determined he became really well worth the trouble.
But now, as Mullen careens thru a disastrous fourth season at Florida, all the issues humans involved approximately are coming to the forefront.
Florida isn’t always 4-five proper now after a 40-17 loss to South Carolina due to the fact Mullen is a horrific teach. Most of the proof in his profession shows the precise opposite. But this does sense like a crossroads second for Florida due to the fact Mullen, in fact, may not certainly be an amazing suit for the activity he has.
At Florida, you can not simply out-examine groups and count on to win countrywide titles. You can not allow your maximum essential rival Georgia get up to now beforehand of you in recruiting that it would not even sense like your roster is withinside the identical expertise ballpark. And while you get requested approximately the ones key issues, you can not disregard it with a “subsequent question” sneer and count on it to play properly with a livid fan base.
Though Florida fanatics were turning on Mullen all season because the loss at Kentucky on Oct. 2, the floodgates at the moment are extensive open after the debacle in South Carolina. Mullen stated after the sport that a flu malicious program swept thru the locker room this week, knocking a gaggle of gamers out of practice. But that is now no longer going to paintings as an excuse while you positioned up a non-aggressive attempt towards a South Carolina crew with a first-yr teach that were planted firmly at the lowest of the SEC this season.
One photograph of this disaster: Trailing 23-10 close to the cease of the primary half, Mullen despatched his offense out on its very own 19-backyard line with much less than a minute to move and determined to allow it fly and try and score. Instead, quarterback Emory Jones fumbled and South Carolina scooped up the ball for a touchdown. Any hopes of a comeback had been long gone proper then.
