Mullen dismissed as Florida coach
Gators are 5-6 a year after berth in SEC title game
One bad season at Florida was one too many for Dan Mullen.
The standard for success when it comes to coaching the Gators is about as high as it can get in college football.
Florida fired Mullen Sunday, a day after his sixth loss in nine games, two months after the Gators went toe-to-toe with defending national champion Alabama and a year after they had a chance to make the College Football Playoff.
“This is a place where you should have a high level of success over a long period of time,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said.
Mullen’s stunningly swift downfall and not-sosurprising departure ends a tumultuous two seasons that included mounting losses, numerous public relation missteps, NCAA sanctions and a victory against lower-division Samford that didn’t seem like much for Gators fans to celebrate.
Stricklin said he made the decision Sunday morning and offered Mullen the chance to coach the team’s final game, but he declined for fear of being a distraction.
Florida (5-6) plays host Saturday to rival Florida State (5-6), with the winner becoming bowl eligible.
Special teams coordinator and running backs coach Greg Knox will serve as interim coach.
How did it all go so wrong so quickly for Mullen?
“I don’t know,” Stricklin said. “I have some thoughts, but I’m going to keep those to myself.”
Mullen finished 34- 15 over four seasons at Florida that included a trip to the Southeastern Conference championship a year ago and three New Year’s Six bowls.
It wasn’t enough, and the Gators are in the market for a coach for the fourth time since Urban Meyer left with two national titles on his resume after the 2010 season.
Since then Florida has run through Will
Muschamp (28-21 over four years), Jim McElwain (22-12
over three seasons) and now Mullen, who was 21-13 in SEC play.
“We talk about competing for championships and we talk about having a
championship experience with integrity; Florida’s a place you have the right to aspire to that,” Stricklin said.
He then made a pitch to prospective candidates who might have other options in a crowded market that incudes LSU and Southern California looking to fill vacancies.
“We got a great university. We have an incredibly passionate fan base. We’ve invested a lot in facilities. One thing that doesn’t get talked a lot about, we have incredible alignment among our university hierarchy. You know, from the Board of Trustees, [university president] Dr. Ken Fuchs, myself, the University Athletic Association Board. Gator boosters board,” Stricklin said.
million The Gators standalone have football an $85 facility opening next year, an upgrade that has been years in the making. That and being surrounded by Florida’s fertile recruiting pool should make the Sunshine State’s biggest college football job even more attractive.