Former Gator Mike Mularkey pitches Jags to Gainesville football fans
Thursday, June 7, 2012 | Football, Chris Harry
NEWBERRY, Fla. -- Mike Mularkey has yet to coach a game for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but clearly the guy knows his audience.
Mularkey came to the Gainesville area Wednesday as part of the Jaguars Caravan 2012, a grass-roots effort by the club to get out and get the region excited about its closest NFL team. So on a stage in the middle of Tioga Town Center -- about six miles west of the University of Florida campus -- former Jags All-Pro offensive tackle Tony Boselli introduced the franchise's third head coach as a crowd of several hundred cheered.
Mularkey took the microphone and knew exactly what to say first.
“Go Gators!”
Those two words, no doubt, have come from his mouth before. Mularkey played tight end at Florida from 1979-82 and was part of a freshman class that went 0-10-1 its first year, then as sophomores went 8-4 and defeated Maryland in the Tangerine Bowl on the way to winning 23 games over their final three seasons.
Memories of that remarkable turnaround, the camaraderie shared with teammates and the fact he met the woman he'd eventually marry always makes returning to the Gainesville something Mularkey, now 50, looks forward to.
“Things have changed a lot since I played there,” said Mularkey, who was here for UF's pro day in March and thought about having lunch at Joe's Deli until realized it had been closed for years. “But I have a lot of great memories of my time at Florida. ... And I left a lot of body parts on that football field.”
Nearly 30 years later, his homefield is now EverBank Field, home of the Jags. Mularkey was hired Jan. 11 to succeed Jack Del Rio and reverse the fortunes of a club that has missed the playoffs the last four seasons and posted just three winning records -- and only two playoff berths -- since 2000.
And a Gator shall lead them.
“I'm all for it. I'm at home with it,” said former Jags running back and franchise career rushing leader Fred Taylor, who also took part in the caravan stop. “I have the utmost respect for Coach Mularkey. I know he will do well. The icing is the fact he's a Gator.”
This will be Mularkey's second gig as an NFL head coach. After catching 102 passes and nine touchdowns over nine big-league seasons (five with Minnesota, four with Pittsburgh), Mularkey started his coaching career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1994. Within a decade, he had carved a reputation as an innovative offensive coordinator with the Steelers.
In 2004, Buffalo General Manager Tom Donahoe gave Mularkey his first head NFL job. The Bills went 9-7 that first season, but 5-11 the second season. Donahoe was fired and replaced in the front office by former Bills coach Marv Levy, who came out of retirement to take the post.
Levy's plan and vision for the Bills differed from what Mularkey signed up for. The two sides agreed to disagree and Mularkey did something few NFL head coaches even consider when not under pressure.
He resigned.
At the time, Mularkey felt it was something he had to do, but also realized it was a decision that ultimately could undermine his chances of ever being a head coach in the league again.
“I wasn't really sure what to expect, but when my wife and I made this decision we knew it was not going to be viewed in a positive way,” he said. “We were ready to move on, even with what we thought would be negative consequences.”
They weren't totally negative.
Nick Saban, in his first year with the Miami Dolphins, hired Mularkey as his offensive coordinator immediately. Two years later, when Saban bolted for Alabama, Mularkey was named offensive coordinator under Coach Mike Smith with the Atlanta Falcons and was charged with grooming rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 draft. 
How's that worked out?
The Falcons were one of the most high-powered -- and balanced -- offenses in the NFL the last three seasons.
“That's been his reputation wherever he's been as a coach,” Boselli said.
It'll be up to Mularkey to make believers out of skeptic Jags fans when it comes to the direction of the club under second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Of course, having tailback Maurice Jones-Drew and tight end Marcedes Lewis, two of the best in the league at their positions, plus the addition of some new weapons at receiver (including talented-but-troubled rookie first-round pick Justin Blackmon) gives the new coach some toys to work with.
“We're going to mix it up a little differently than people expect on offense. And the defense is going to be very sound,” Mularkey said. “I just think [the fans] are going to see a team that is disciplined, not out there to beat themselves, and plays with great effort and is very physical.”
That all sounds good, but to the orange and blue that mixed with the teal Wednesday it sounded even better coming from a Gator.
“They love football here, and they love the Gators -- but they don't have to settle for watching it once a week,” Mularkey said. “We're not that far away. If they want to see really good NFL football there's plenty of it to go around.”
