UF coach Dan Mullen,
whose Gators play host to Colorado State today, is finding out, once again, just how difficult a coaching changeover can be.
GAINESVILLE — Urban Meyer cried at LSU, Nick Saban lost to Louisiana-Monroe and Kirby Smart did little to make fans forget Mark Richt at Georgia.
All three big-name coaches had to navigate challenging debut seasons at big-time programs. Each would weather the storm and play for a national championship soon enough, but it was a long road to get there.
“That’s never easy,” said Smart, now in his third season. “I don’t think that’s an easy transition for anybody.”
After just two games at Florida, Dan Mullen is finding out, once again, just how difficult a coaching changeover can be.
The Gators (1-1) enter today’s visit from Colorado State (1-2) following UF’s first loss to Kentucky since 1986.
Galen Hall was the Gators’ coach then, and five more would follow Hall before Mullen’s arrival. Two — Meyer and Steve Spurrier — would win national titles. Hall and three others would be fired, each within four seasons.
Unlike Ron Zook, Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain, Mullen arrived at UF with a proven track record as an SEC head coach, turning West Division doormat Mississippi State into a competitive program.
Yet in college football’s most competitive conference, the honeymoon period can end quickly for even a proven head coach.
Meyer quickly established himself as a wunderkind at Bowling Green and Utah, but his grace period at UF lasted four games. Meyer’s next game on the Gators’ sideline was a 31-3 beat-down at Alabama. Following a 21-17 loss two weeks later at LSU, the 41-year-old broke down in tears during the post-game press conference.
Saban had left LSU the previous season to coach the Miami Dolphins. After two seasons, he returned to the college game, at Alabama — then a shell of the program that long had been the SEC’s gold standard.
This week Saban recalled the trials and tribulations of the 2007 season. That year, which included four losses to end the regular season, was anything but a harbinger
of the unprecedented run of success to follow.
“We weren’t very good our first year here,” Saban said. “We were 6-6 and had lots of issues, lots of players suspended, lost to ULM (University of Louisiana-Monroe). I mean, I could go through a litany of things that were very, very difficult.
“Then the next year, we were a lot better.”
In 2009, the Crimson Tide team followed a 12-win season with its first of five national titles because, Saban said, he would not compromise his principles or his vision for the program during Year 1.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “You have to stick with your guns.”
Following his late November hiring, Mullen set an uncompromising course for the Gators.
Mullen demanded more of this players during the off-season conditioning program and in the classroom, punishing players for skipping class or tutoring sessions. But Mullen and his staff also facilitated team bonding with cookouts, movie nights and even a bowling trip during the dog days of preseason camp in August.
“That’s just like little things, like team chemistry, you can build that so that’s good,” junior tailback Lamical Perine said. “Like we really never did nothing like that when I’ve been here.”
Fun and games have their limits with Mullen.
Following last week’s Kentucky loss, Mullen questioned his team’s toughness and vowed to push them even harder at practice. For the second straight game, Mullen sat senior pass rusher CeCe Jefferson due to academics. Jefferson is a team leader the Gators could have used on a night when the defense struggled.
On Monday, Mullen said Jefferson likely would play against CSU, but added a caveat.
“We got pretty high standard now in this program for guys,” Mullen said. “It’s only Monday. We’ll see.”
The message of a new coach, though, can fall on deaf ears. Gaining buy-in from players can be a long process.
“It’s a daily struggle sometimes, because it’s not the way they’re used to doing things,” Smart said. “And sometimes, they may not have the faith and trust and confidence that the way you’re doing things is correct.” Losing never helps. A 17-16 home loss to Vanderbilt in Smart’s fourth SEC game was not exactly what Georgia officials had in mind when hiring Saban’s longtime defensive coordinator to replace Richt. Two weeks later, Smart’s Bulldogs lost to to longtime Richt nemesis Florida.
But Smart’s squad would rally for four wins in five games, including a Liberty Bowl win against TCU. The next season, Georgia won the SEC and lost in overtime to Alabama in the national title game.
“The end of the season and the momentum in the bowl game and bowl practices were what was really key for us,” Smart said of 2016. “Going and playing TCU and beating them and having kids understand that’s the way we’re going to do things, that propelled our off-season, which in turn helped with the season we had the second year.”
Though just entering Week 3 at UF, Mullen can draw from his experiences at Mississippi State to know how to handle what inevitably lies ahead.
The 2009 Bulldogs were coming off a 4-8 season under Sylvester Croom and faced the nation’s toughest schedule. Mullen’s squad suffered one-sided losses to Auburn and Alabama, but also hung tough with top-ranked Florida, before losing 29-19 en route to a 5-7 finish.
Mullen, just 37 at the time, said he let his emotions get the best of him, eventually leading school officials and former SEC commissioner Mike Slive to intercede.
“I’d fly off the hook on everything,” Mullen recalled. “I’m like, ‘Boy we lost this game.’ I’m screaming at the officials, I’m complaining about that and I’m complaining about this.
“I remember Mike calling me and [saying], ‘Hey, just step back and look at yourself. Is that the image you want, is that helping you build a program, is that making you a better team? Is that the image of your program?’
“I think I’ve learned from those mistakes.”
More lessons remain for the Gators. That much is certain this season.
The key is to learn from them, like Mullen and many of the game’s top coaches have.
“Everybody in the world’s got problems,” Mullen said. “Successful people have solutions. And our guys, we’ve got to go out on the field and find solutions and fix our problems.”