Mullen keeping his focus on Gators, not the NFL

GAINESVILLE — UF coach Dan Mullen said his focus following last season was the 2021 Gators, despite reports he was interested in an NFL job.

“A lot of rumors out there,” he said. “But I didn’t speak to anybody.”

But would he, Mullen was asked. The answer then became a little more complicated. The ever-changing landscape of college football is a concern for many top college coaches, Mullen said.

“What is college football going to look like in three or four years?” Mullen asked. “I think there’s a lot of uncertainty that we’re trying to figure out right now to see what our futures are going to hold.”

The increasing impact transfer portal has paid off for the Gators, who have ended up with a number of key players leaving other schools. At the same time, the ease of transferring from one program to another forces coaches

to continually manage their rosters and address the egos and emotional swings of 18to 22-year-old athletes.

Mullen said he supports NCAA legislation allowing athletes to be paid for use of their name, image and likeness, but he also worries about the unintended consequences that come with offering outside financial incentives for players.

“I’m for helping the athletes get what they deserve,” Mullen said. “I’m always trying [to get] whatever we legally can get you. We want to get you what we can get you and help you out in any way possible.

“It’s not always just the positive consequences of it. It is what are the side consequences that maybe no one’s expecting?”

Mullen said he has written down copious notes on the NIL, but he declined to share them. He wants to be prepared to before discussing it further and plan for legislation scheduled to go into effect in Florida July 1.

“I don’t need to open Pandora’s box with all the different scenarios of things that could happen,” Mullen said. “But we spend a lot of time being aware and preparing for that moving forward and then trying to figure out what are the other side issues it’s going to create.”

Mullen one day could turn his attention to the NFL, following in the footsteps of mentor Urban Meyer. Meyer recently became head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars despite no NFL experience and a history in college coaching dating to the 1980s.

Mullen, 48, is now in the fourth year of a six-year, $36.6 million deal, but he has not received an extension despite a 29-9 record and three appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games by the Gators.

In February 2020, UF assistant coaches received raises totaling $490,000. An extension and raise for Mullen were seemingly forthcoming at some point last year, but the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent financial losses shifted the athletic department’s priorities.

The Gators are expected to lose tens of millions of dollars during the 2020-21 fiscal year, ending June 30.

Even so, opposing coaches could flag the length of Mullen’s contract to recruits hoping to spend four or five years at the school with the same head coach.

“I don’t control that part of it,” Mullen said of his contract. “I’ve got to worry about what I control, you know, which is getting the team ready to go for practice on Thursday.

“That can be in somebody else’s press conference. That’d be a good question for them.”

MICHAEL AINSWORTH/AP Florida head coach Dan Mullen said he is focused on the Gators, not the NFL, but said much about the future of college football makes him and many of his peers nervous.