Gators head coach Dan Mullen shares a moment with his daughter and wife, Megan, after a recent game. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
'He Put His Life On the Line for That Game'
Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the Mullen household, Sept. 29, 2007, is a date that stirs memories like a family reunion that went off the tracks. There's never been another one like it during their relationship.
Megan Mullen prefers it stays that way.
"I can't forget it,'' she said this week. "It will be a major chapter in my book one day."
In a story that was told sparingly in the immediate aftermath, UF head coach Dan Mullen revisited perhaps the most unforgettable day of his coaching career on Monday as he discussed Saturday's rare visit by Auburn to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The Tigers have not been back to Gainesville since their stunning 20-17 victory over then-No. 4 Florida on a Wes Byrum 43-yard field goal as time expired on that late September night, just a few months after Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPhone.
The loss stung deeply for the reigning national champions and eventual Heisman winner Tim Tebow. And Mullen, under unusual duress as Florida's offensive coordinator, was exhausted afterward.
But there's more to this story than what transpired on the field. Much more.
If Megan Mullen, Dan's wife since 2005 and the First Lady of Florida Football, writes her book one day, the game probably won't get much ink. Not after the roller-coaster ride of the previous 24 hours.
"He put his life on the line for that game,'' Megan said.
Megan and Dan Mullen stand on the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium prior to a game this season. (Photo: Matt Stamey/UAA Communications)
It was a difficult week for Mullen as the undefeated Gators tried to win their 12th consecutive game and 17th in a row under Urban Meyer at home.
He began to feel sick midweek and by Thursday's practice, Mullen felt so bad that he sought medical attention from the Gators' training staff. To help ease his symptoms, team doctors gave him medicine for a fever and he resumed his normal work-week routine.
Mullen coached at practice Thursday night and then had to fill in for Gators head coach Urban Meyer at Meyer's weekly radio show later that evening. He plowed through the day with hopes of feeling better on Friday.
Instead, he felt worse. Mullen arrived at the office determined to grind through the final day of preparation, which culminated by spending the night with the team at a local hotel.
He didn't make it through the night.
"I did the walk-through [after the team meal] and Megan picked me up from the walk-through and brought me right over to Shands [Hospital],'' Mullen said. "Dr. Cassisi was waiting at a backdoor for us to get us in because they didn't want me walking in the front door the night before a game."
Nicholas Cassisi is Chairman Emeritus of the Division of Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery with UF's College of Medicine. He is also a longtime board member of the University Athletic Association who has worked closely with the Gators' athletic teams for four decades.
As Cassisi arranged for Mullen to be tested at the emergency room and undergo a CT scan, Megan Mullen had already expressed to Dan that it could be his appendix. An anchor for the Golf Channel at the time, Megan only days earlier had a co-worker undergo an emergency appendectomy.
Blood tests and images soon revealed the culprit.
"His appendix was huge,'' Cassisi said.
Cassisi expressed to Mullen his concern in the simplest terms.
"This is an emergency,'' he told him.
Of course, the football coach in Mullen tried to take control of the situation. He suggested that if he could hold off until after the game, doctors could perform surgery Sunday with minimal impact on his job.
Megan Mullen greets husband Dan prior to a recent game as the team prepares for Gator Walk. (Photo: Adler Garfield/UAA Communications)
Megan stepped in as the voice of reason at a time before the couple's two kids were born.
"Where do you think you are going?" she asked rhetorically. "This is a life-and-death situation."
Several hours at the hospital followed in preparation for surgery. Finally, Mullen underwent a successful appendectomy shortly after midnight. The procedure lasted about an hour according to Cassisi. Mullen woke up from the anesthesia around 3:30 a.m., less than 17 hours from kickoff.
Megan, who had returned home to a full house for a little sleep while Dan recovered in his hospital room, said she kept the news from Dan's father and some of his friends in town for the game. Soon, she got a call to return to the hospital. Her husband was pacing around the nurse's station and guzzling water like a horse.
To be released, Mullen had to be able to eat, walk and equally important, to be able to urinate. He worked tirelessly at the urination part, taking minimal pain medication to achieve his goal of being lucid and able to coach the game.
Meeting the basic requirements for release only a few hours after surgery -- and free of a fever -- Mullen departed the hospital later that morning. By early afternoon -- following an eventful trip to the stadium that included a minor fender-bender -- he took a brief nap before the game-day adrenaline started to pump through his veins. Mullen then prepared to call Florida's plays from a booth in the press box.
"Everything's just insanity,'' he said.
To get her husband into his game-day attire, Megan helped him clean the iodine off from the surgery and get dressed in the coaches' locker room. They finished right before Meyer came down to check on him.
Once the game started and Mullen took his place in the booth, Megan found a seat in an adjoining TV booth so she could keep a close eye on him. She said that's when one of the most frightening moments of the day happened right before kickoff.
She saw Dan drop to a knee.
"I was just so concerned for him," Megan said. "All of a sudden, I went flying into that box. I thought he was down. I had never watched him like that at a game and didn't know he bent down to pray before every game."
As the game progressed, Mullen settled in and relied heavily on Tebow, who passed for 201 yards and ran 19 times for 75 yards. The Gators trailed 17-3 in the fourth quarter but rallied to tie the game. Then Byrum's kick caused Mullen more pain.
"When that game ended, that was just sick,'' Megan said. "It's one of the craziest stories in our career, hands down."
One of the craziest stories from any career.
"He's a tough guy,'' Meyer said a couple days after the game. "He did everything he possibly could and that didn't impact the game. He still called a fine game, but we still could have done some things better."
The memories from that day, never far from recall for the Mullens, have bubbled to the surface considering Saturday's opponent at "The Swamp."
Some are funny. Some serious. Some vivid. Some fuzzy.
"It was pretty crazy," Mullen confesses. "I would sit on the hospital bed and watch the game from the hospital today."
Cassisi suggested that 12 years ago. Of course, Mullen had other thoughts. The doctor bumped into the patient this week in the football offices.
They reminisced for a moment.
"You called a lousy game,'' Cassisi quipped.
Mullen can laugh about it now. The pain has passed.
