Gators head coach Dan Mullen meets the team shortly prior to his introductory press conference at Florida. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Mullen Winningest head coach in UF's hiring history
Wednesday, December 6, 2017 | Football, Scott Carter
Gators head coach Dan Mullen comes to UF with 69 career wins as a head coach in nine seasons at Mississippi State.
Work ethic. Competitive drive. Intelligence. Mullen proved he had those qualities.
Still, Stricklin wanted more.
"Most importantly, somebody who had leadership ability at a high level,'' Stricklin said.
Mullen checked that box, too, after nine seasons as head coach at Mississippi State, where he landed as a first time head coach after four seasons as Florida's offensive coordinator from 2005-08.
The experience in Starkville of revamping one of the Southeastern Conference's weakest programs into one of its most consistent paved the way for Mullen's return to Florida. He learned what it takes to be a head coach, how to sustain success and, in a profession that changes constantly, how to last as a head coach.
"There's not a defined book or a plan,'' Mullen said. "It's an outline. And that outline of what you do within your program, it's very flexible from one program to the next. The great thing is that I have experience to know how some of the particulars of that outline are going to work here at this program."
Mullen is the 27th head coach in school history. Two of those – Charlie Strong and D.J. Durkin – served one-game stints as interim head coaches. The 25 others directed the Gators for at least four games, and of those, 15 took over the program with previous experience as a college head coach.
Mullen's 69 career wins are the most in history for a Gators head coach prior to arriving at UF, and his nine seasons at Mississippi State make Mullen the most experienced head coach to take over the Gators in 67 years.
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CHARTING THE GATORS
A look at the 15 coaches in UF football history who had previous experience as a college head coach prior to taking over the Gators:
| COACH | SCHOOL(S) | SEASONS | W-L | UF DEBUT |
| Dan Mullen | Mississippi State | 2009-17 (9) | 69-46 | 2018 |
| Randy Shannon | Miami | 2007-10 (4) | 28-22 | 2017 |
| Jim McElwain | Colorado State | 2012-14 (3) | 22-16 | 2015 |
| Urban Meyer | Bowling Green, Utah | 2001-04 (4) | 39-8 | 2005 |
| Steve Spurrier | Duke | 1987-89 (3) | 20-13-1 | 1990 |
| Gary Darnell | Tennessee Tech | 1983-85 (3) | 3-29 | 1989 |
| Charley Pell | Jacksonville State Clemson | 1969-73 1977-78 (7) |
51-17-2 | 1979 |
| Doug Dickey | Tennessee | 1964-69 (6) | 46-15-4 | 1970 |
| Bob Woodruff | Baylor | 1947-49 (3) | 19-10-2 | 1950 |
| Raymond Wolf | North Carolina | 1936-41 (6) | 38-17-3 | 1946 |
| Thomas Lieb | Loyola of Los Angeles | 1930-38 (9) | 47-33-4 | 1940 |
| Josh Cody | Mercer, Clemson | 1920-22; 1927-30 (7) | 39-30-1 | 1936 |
| Charlie Bachman | Northwestern, Kansas State | 1919-27 (9) | 35-28-9 | 1928 |
| William G. Kline | Nebraska Wesleyan, Nebraska | 1911-18 (8) | 39-21-4 | 1920 |
| James Forsyth | Florida State College | 1904 (1) | 2-3 | 1906 |
Notes: Shannon served as interim head coach for final four games in 2017; Meyer was at Bowling Green in 2001-02, Utah 2003-04; Loyola of Los Angeles is now Loyola Marymount University and does not have a football program; Bachman was at Northwestern in 1919, Kansas State from 1920-27; Kline was at Nebraska Wesleyan from 1911-17, Nebraska in 1918.
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