A Winning Debut with Style Points for Mullen and Gators

Gators coach Dan Mullen waves his visor at fans moments before a celebratory toss into the stands following his debut as Florida's head coach. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

A Winning Debut with Style Points for Mullen and Gators

Sunday, September 2, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Coaches throwing visors at the Swamp is nothing new. The Head Ball Coach made the visor toss a part of Gators lore in his 12 seasons pacing the home sideline. But when he did it, something usually went wrong.

Nearly everything went right for the Gators in their season opener on Saturday night.

So much so that at 10:56 p.m., the act took on a different meaning when Florida head coach Dan Mullen entered the tunnel back to the locker room. As fans reached down to give Mullen high-fives, he removed his visor and flung it into the stands.

Some lucky fan has a prized keepsake from Mullen's debut as UF's head coach, a 53-6 thumping of Charleston Southern. The Gators' dominant performance on a warm, muggy night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium delighted the announced crowd of 81,164 and gave them exactly what they wanted to see.

A win. And plenty of yards, touchdowns and points.

"That was awesome," Mullen said. "For me, just almost surreal, you're with the team in the tunnel, coming out in pregame, running out, in the Swamp for the first time was something really special for me.

"Something I'll always remember."

It was the Gators' night, for sure, but it was as much about Mullen's homecoming as anything else.

Nine months and five days after Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin officially introduced the 46-year-old Mullen as head coach at a packed pressed conference, Stricklin stood next to Mullen in the locker room and handed him a game ball.

"You don't have many firsts,'' Stricklin told the coaches and players gathered around. "You freshmen had some firsts tonight. You've got a head coach, first win as head coach of the Florida Gators."

With that, the room erupted. Mullen raised the ball above his head.

Moments later, he delivered his latest message as the leader of a program that finished 4-7 a season ago and needed a dose of optimism.

"I appreciate the opportunity. It's special,'' Mullen said. "Being a Florida Gator is something special. I know it's something special. I hope all of you appreciate how special it is to be a Florida Gator and all the special things we're going to do together.

"We're going to do it through hard work, sacrifice, commitment. That's what leads to success. That's what we're going to do moving forward."

More than three hour earlier, the Gators stormed out of the same locker room to a roaring stadium ready for the season finally to kick off after months of anticipation following Mullen's return.

The Gators quickly gave the crowd reason to stand on their first drive, which lasted only 2 minutes, 20 seconds, and ended when quarterback Feleipe Franks threw quick screen pass to Ohio State transfer receiver Trevon Grimes. Freed by a block from tight end R.J. Raymond, Grimes raced 34 yards down the sideline for his first career touchdown.

Mullen showed he was ready to make a statement early. The opening drive included a fourth-and-1 conversion from CSU's 36-yard line, with Jordan Scarlett picking up two yards to keep the drive alive. Freshman Evan McPherson added a field goal on the next drive, and when Ole Miss transfer Van Jefferson hauled in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Franks early in the second quarter, the rout was on.

The Gators led 38-0 at halftime behind a career-high five touchdown passes for Franks, who threw only nine in 11 games a season ago. Franks finished 16 of 24 for a career-high 219 yards – all in the first half – to become the first Gators quarterback to toss for five scores since Chris Leak in 2004.

"It's a huge confidence builder, not just for me, but the rest of our players,'' Franks said.

Adding to the first-half fun, Mullen dug into the old playbook he used as UF's offensive coordinator from 2005-08 and called a jump pass. Franks dropped back, then started to run before leaping into the air and throwing a 3-yard score to Tyrie Cleveland that put the Gators ahead 31-0.

Mullen quipped that Franks used a little more muscle than he expected on the touch throw Tim Tebow made famous at the Swamp, but he was pleased with the way Franks responded in his ninth career start.

"I thought he made some pretty good decisions for the most part, and made some plays,'' Mullen said. "Overall, I thought he played well. He was able to move the team and put the ball in the end zone."

Mullen emptied the bench in the second half as quarterbacks Kyle Trask and Emory Jones each made their college debuts. Meanwhile, the special teams added a pair of blocked kicks, the defense limited the Buccaneers to 225 total yards, and 10 different players had receptions.

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At one point in the second half with the game out of reach, Mullen shimmied on the sideline as music played over the PA. He tried to get Franks to join in.

"You gotta have some fun, right,'' Mullen said. "They had some tunes going."

Visibly excited by the events of the evening, Mullen opened his postgame press conference by talking for more than two and a half minutes, eventually taking a sip of water as his throat dried.

Jefferson could tell it was a special day for Mullen before the team left the hotel.

"He was hyped up and very excited, you know, his first time coaching for the Gators," Jefferson said. "I feel like he had a sense of urgency. He was just so happy to be out here. He had a little pep in his step. It showed."

It certainly did. Even if Franks passed on a rare opportunity to join him dancing on the sideline. After nine months of talking about what it means to coach the Gators, Mullen finally unveiled his first UF team.

He had fun, in part to those who turned out to see what all the fuss was about.

"I want to thank our fans,'' he said. "We asked them to show up and support this team and help us build this Gator Standard back to where it needs to be. They did that."