Meyer, Mullen Unite In Former Offensive Coordinator's Return To The Swamp
Friday, October 15, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – One of the more vivid reminders for Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen that this week is a little different happened the other day when he starting looking at scouting reports on Florida.
Every time Mullen flipped another page or read about the Gators on his computer, he took a trip down memory lane thanks to that familiar Gator head logo.
“It used to be on everything I did for four years in my life,'' Mullen said.
The familiar scenes will be everywhere for Mullen on Saturday when the Bulldogs visit Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for an SEC showdown with the Gators. Mullen, Florida's offensive coordinator from 2005-08, is in his second season as Mississippi State's head coach.
This marks his first trip back to The Swamp since he left UF. He'll arrive on the Bulldogs' team bus Saturday afternoon and enter the stadium through the visitor's entrance in the southeast corner.
Mullen knows exactly what to expect.
“My wife used to drop me off there in the mornings when I would go jogging inside the stadium,'' Mullen said earlier this week.
During his four seasons directing Urban Meyer's offense at Florida, the Gators won two national titles. Mullen also was the quarterbacks coach and helped Tim Tebow develop into a Heisman Trophy winner in 2007.
He looks back on his time at Florida as some of the best seasons of his coaching career, which started at tiny Wagner College as receivers coach in 1994. He first joined Meyer as an offensive graduate assistant at Notre Dame in 1999, and when Meyer got his first head coaching job in 2001 at Bowling Green, he brought Mullen along with him.
Mullen shared a story this week about how the two used to jog around the Notre Dame campus when they first worked together, the final stages often becoming a sprint as their competitive personalities bubbled to the surface.
Meyer said competition has played a large role in their friendship and working relationship over the years.
“Dan is a very unique personality,'' Meyer said. “We're competitive people. We compete in almost everything we do. He's a very good friend of mine and I think he's a hell of a coach.''
Coincidentally, one of the most popular topics around Gator Nation this week is Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio.
Mullen knows exactly how that feels from his time at UF. Following a loss to Ole Miss in 2008, Mullen's play-calling came under fire. The Gators responded by winning their final 10 games and their second national title in three years.
“I think now that I'm gone, the Florida fans like me more than when I was there, that's for sure,” Mullen quipped on Wednesday's SEC media teleconference. “I was up in the box with headphones on, so I can't hear anything that goes on anyway. Fans are always pretty tough there because they have high expectations of winning. It certainly wasn't always happy.”
This isn't Mullen's first game against the Gators since leaving. The Bulldogs lost to Florida, 29-19, at home last season, a game Mullen said boosted his team's confidence because it showed his players they could hang with an elite program.
Mississippi State enters Saturday's game 4-2 and with a three-game winning streak, including a 24-12 win over Georgia on Sept. 25.
“Our guys believe they can [win big games] more than at that time last year,'' Mullen said.
Florida starting quarterback John Brantley, who was recruited by Mullen and who Mullen calls “the most gifted passer while I was at Florida,'' expects his former coach to do everything possible to win Saturday's game.
“He knows this offense,'' Brantley said. “He told me he was going to blitz me a lot when we finally get to play them. I'll never forget that.”
That's typical Mullen. As he climbed the coaching ranks and created a name for himself at Florida, Mullen did it his own way. He is often brash and outspoken, an acquired taste for many.
“He had his own way,'' Florida senior offensive lineman Carl Johnson said.
“He's a great coach,'' Florida center Mike Pouncey said. “He has a great philosophy about the game. He was great for us when he was here. He's different, but he's a great coach and everybody respected him for that.''
Win or lose Saturday, Mullen is excited about getting to say hi to a lot of good friends he hasn't seen since leaving Gainesville. Of course, the most important will be Meyer, who helped launch his coaching career and remains a trusted colleague.
“I think he's done a heck of a job, but you knew he would,'' Meyer said.
Said Mullen: “We worked together for 10 years. He is a great mentor for me. So if there is stuff that comes up, he is one of the first few people I would call to talk with.''
