UF head coach Dan Mullen celebrates with his family after Florida's win over Michigan in the 2019 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Mullen Seeks to Maintain a Sense of Normalcy on a Birthday Unlike Any Other
Monday, April 27, 2020 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dan Mullen woke up Monday morning on his 48th birthday the way the rest of us did. In the midst of a global coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted our daily lives.
Still, when you are the head football coach of the Florida Gators and one of the most recognizable public figures in the Sunshine State, people are interested to hear what your life is like now compared to two months ago. They want to know what Mullen is doing to stay engaged with his team. What he thought about seven Gators being selected in the NFL Draft. What his typical day is like as the country endures stay-at-home orders and social-distancing measures.
Yeah, it's different. You can probably relate.
What does that mean, though, in the ultra-competitive world of college football and for someone who has relied heavily on a daily work routine since his first job as a teenager? Not surprisingly, something that sounds familiar.
"I get outside. I social distance, but I get outside a bunch every day,'' Mullen said Monday during a videoconference with reporters. "I just can't be inside all day long. We get outside. We go on bike rides, walk. I've played a little bit of golf. You name it, we get outside and do it."
While it was a picture-perfect sunny day in North Florida, more than 1,200 miles away in Manchester, N.H., Barbara Mullen spent much of Monday inside on a rainy and chilly afternoon. Spirited and wired similar to the oldest of her three children, Barbara took an afternoon walk around the neighborhood to get some exercise and clear her mind.
The ballet studio she has owned and operated for more than 35 years is shut down until at least mid-June. Her daughter Katie, who lives in New York City, is visiting to escape the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. Despite the altered reality and burdened with an unusual amount of free time, Barbara finds ways to stay busy.
That included a "happy birthday" text to Dan at 12:02 a.m. Monday.
"I wanted to be the first person to wish him a happy birthday,'' Barbara said. "At 7:30 this morning, I looked at the clock and thought, 'um, just finishing labor. He is about to be born right now.' It was a pretty exciting day, that's for sure."
Considering the circumstances, this is a birthday Mullen and his mother are unlikely to forget. And not in the way of those in Dan's youth when the family, during spring break, often spent the week of his birthday on the Caribbean island of Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico. Dan's late father, Bob, had a good friend who owned a hotel on the island and they would escape the spring chill of New Hampshire for a tropical getaway.
An exciting trip for most right now is a visit to the grocery store.
Florida football coach Dan Mullen at a UF men's basketball game prior to the coronavirus pandemic striking the United States. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
Like millions of others around the globe, the Mullens have social-distanced via Zoom recently. Every other Sunday, Mullen and his family join a videoconference with Barbara and assorted relatives spread around the country and Great Britain, Barbara's homeland and where most of her family remains.
Their chats serve much the same purpose as those Mullen and his staff have with their players. They check in on each other to see how everyone is doing and to make sure they are maintaining a sense of normalcy in an unprecedented time.
"We all get on. The cousins, the aunties, the great aunties. That is really, really fun,'' Barbara said. "It is hysterical because we've got farmers, we've got artists, we've got football players. We've got everybody involved."
If COVID-19 had not reared its ugly head, Mullen would have been on the sideline at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium nine days ago for his third Orange & Blue Game as UF's head coach. Instead, the Gators are spread around the state and country finishing the spring semester, working out on their own and wondering when life will return to whatever the new normal will be.
Mullen is doing the same, adjusting to a life in which football and competition is not at the forefront. Some days are easier than others. But he said there are those days when he wakes at 3 a.m. and spends the next couple of hours awake as his biological clock sorts out the confusion. In between the bike rides, family walks and online team meetings, Mullen passes time by tutoring his son Canon in math, helping his daughter Breelyn at dance, and essentially serving as the family's de facto PE teacher.
If there is a positive during a pandemic, the additional family time qualifies.
"That's something I have always tried to do,'' he said.
"There could never be enough though. Never,'' Mullen's wife, Megan, interjected.
To preserve a sense of normalcy with his players over the past seven weeks, Mullen said most of his communication has focused on their mental well-being as they prepare for final exams and attempt to stay in shape while away from the resources they have in the team's facility.
"I think the effects are a lot more emotional, psychological of helping guys that way,'' he said. "We've dealt a lot more with that than any physical ailments of the disease."
His overriding message: "When this is over, are we going to be the team that's prepared?"
The NFL Draft offered a much-needed respite last weekend as cornerback CJ Henderson went in the first round, receiver Van Jefferson in the second round, defensive linemen Jabari Zuniga and Jonathan Greenard in the third, running back Lamical Perine in the fourth, receiver Freddie Swain in the sixth and receiver Tyrie Cleveland in the seventh. Mullen was pleased at the program's improved showing in the draft.
With a 21-5 record in his first two seasons and a pair of New Year's Six bowl wins, it's another selling point to recruits as Mullen builds the Gators back into a national championship contender.
"You come play at Florida, you're not only going to get coaches, you are going to get developed,'' Mullen said. "I think that helps the program a lot. I mean, to me it makes a lot of sense to come to Florida. We're producing an extremely high number of NFL talent."
As for the 2020 season, no one knows for certain if there will be one, and if there is, when it will start, and if the season does come to fruition, what exactly that might entail. Only time will provide those answers.
Mullen left no doubt at his frame of mind.
"I would say I'm much more hopeful than optimistic," Mullen said. "To say where we'll be in four months is hard to do. But I'm certainly hopeful. I'm sure as everybody is out there."
For now, he is doing what he encourages his staff and players to do each day. Make the most of your time to be ready to return to normal when that time comes. On Monday, that meant a videoconference with reporters in the morning and some birthday cake and ice cream later.
And a very different kind of work day for a veteran coach known for his high energy.
"He's always been a wiggle worm,'' Barbara said.
When Dan was in high school, Barbara said he was "off and running" to work as soon as school ended for the summer. She encouraged him to be responsible and make the most of his opportunities.
He painted houses. He worked as a waiter. He and his best friend carted around her lawnmower as part of their gardening service. Once, he took a paper route to earn money for new bicycle. He walked the route until making enough to buy the bike.
"He has always been pretty industrious and a go-getter,'' she said.
Forty-eight years after he was born on a Thursday morning in Philadelphia, those traits have served Dan Mullen well.
At a time like this, he keeps it simple for his staff and players. Tackle the challenge.
"Let's make sure we're efficient. Let's make sure we're getting better,'' he said.
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