Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Welcome back, Dan.

It's been a while. The last time you were at The Swamp for a game, it was 2010, your second year at Mississippi State. You ruined Gator Nation's night by beating Florida and your former boss, Urban Meyer.

Back then, Dan Mullen was one of those up-and-coming young coaches you hear so much about, a pair of shiny national championship rings to prove it during four seasons as Florida's offensive coordinator. Seven years later, you return as UF's new head coach and as a Southeastern Conference mainstay.

Did you ever imagine when you left the Gators after the 2008 season that by 2017, you would be the second-longest tenured head coach in the SEC behind Mr. Saban? That's pretty cool. Staying one place that long is an achievement in the Twitter age.

You know what else is neat: what you did in Stark Vegas. I'll be the first to admit when the Bulldogs and those cowbells reached No. 1 in 2014, it caught my attention. Mississippi State? No. 1 in the country? In football? I always considered MSU a baseball school.

But it's true. You took the Mississippi State program to new heights and developed quarterback Dak Prescott into a star. He's now quarterback of America's Team and a pretty good guy, too, from what I hear.

Of course, you always knew a thing or two about quarterbacks, labeled as a quarterback whisperer by the media. I remember Alex Smith when you coached him at Utah. All these years later and he remains one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL.

When you got to Florida, you already had a pretty good quarterback to work with in Chris Leak. And then you and Meyer go out and add Tim Tebow one year and Cam Newton the next. Talk about loading up.
 
I'm sure you wish both had panned out with the Gators since you lost to Newton's Auburn team a few weeks before you came back to UF and beat the Tebow-less Gators seven years ago. Speaking of Tebow, well, Dan, it's been different around here since you left and No. 15 departed the following year.

Remember how you would call in the plays and then Tim would take the snap and execute them with precision? Sometimes he would fake a handoff and run over a linebacker on the way to the end zone. Other times he might throw a pass to Percy and let him do his thing. Oh, and those jump passes. Man, Florida fans loved those.

Whatever you called seemed to work. Those teams were loaded with offensive talent. Big, strong, tough offensive lines. Fast and shifty skill players. And they played with attitude. Those were the days, weren't they Dan.

I still remember in 2007 when Florida State linebacker Geno Hayes said they were going to take Tebow and the Gators down. Final score: Florida 45, FSU 12.

Remember what Bobby Bowden said after the game: "We could not get him down. If he doesn't win the Heisman Trophy, it's because of the sophomore thing."

Tebow won the Heisman that year – the first sophomore to ever do so – and you guys won the national championship for the second time in three years in 2008.

Hey Dan, you remember that time Tebow … oops, I'm sorry, started to drift down memory lane again.

Back to 2017. Here's the deal, Dan, and I'm sure Scott Stricklin, your athletic director at Mississippi State for several years and in his second year at UF, told you all of this. Still, just so you know, it's just not the same in some ways here since you left.

The Gators lost – again – to Florida State on Saturday at Spurrier/Florida Field and finished the season 4-7. No, that's not a typo, unfortunately. When you were here, beating the Seminoles was a formality. It didn't matter, rain or shine, the Gators thumped FSU.

That's not the case these days. FSU has won seven of eight in the rivalry and five in a row. If that's not enough, the Gators have a hard time developing quarterbacks nowadays. They've used a dozen since Tebow left. Some have had their moments, but mostly the position has been a black hole.

Injuries, interceptions and inconsistency. It's not been pretty.

As you can imagine, the fans have been a little on edge the last few weeks. They heard the new coach was going to be Chip Kelly or Scott Frost, maybe Willie Taggert or Charlie Strong or you. You know how rumors and misinformation spread on social media.

Sometimes you just don't know what to believe. Finally, something real. I'm all in. I know you have a history of having good quarterbacks, and when the Gators have good quarterbacks, everything seems to fall in place. Those three Heisman statues outside the stadium are a good reminder of that.

Here's what I like about what you did at Mississippi State. You took a program without much success and went 69-46 in nine seasons. You turned a program that was 32-65 in the eight previous seasons and more than doubled the win total.

You won five bowl games. You earned a National Coach of the Year award in 2014 and SEC Coach of the Year. Over the last four seasons only six schools have been ranked No. 1 and MSU is one of them. The Gators haven't been No. 1 since Tebow.

Also, you continue to develop players picked in the NFL draft and mold young quarterbacks. That Nick Fitzgerald kid looks pretty good. Hopefully he gets back soon after that nasty leg injury.

Not sure if you know this yet, but the Gators play at Mississippi State next season, on Sept. 29. That will be fun. I bet they boo you. Loudly.

That's good. They know this is a good move for you, a step up the coaching ladder. Plus, you already know what it's like at Florida. They always boo you. That's part of the tradition and lore of this place. Others don't like you because the Gators are usually one of the best.

It hasn't been that way lately, Dan. Hope this helps explain the situation. Good luck and glad to have you back. Can't wait to see what you do.

Oh, and if you don't have any orange and blue ties left from your time here, check with Stricklin. He probably has a new one you can borrow.