The Sunday night dismissals of Todd Grantham and John Hevesy are unsual for Florida, which hasn’t changed assistant coaches while a season has been in progress for at least the last 30 years. Florida has changed head coaches while a season is in progress: Ron Zook (2004), Will Muschamp (2014) and Jim McElwain (2017).

Dan Mullen actually hasn’t had tremendous staff turnover during his three-plus years on the Florida job. He went 29-6 through his first 35 games as the Florida head coach, but is just 4-8 in the 12 games since with only wins over Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the SEC, both this year. It’s the 4-8 and the inconsistencies that went with it that got Grantham and Hevesy pink slipped.

Will these be the last of the changes? Mullen is going to be on a very short leash moving forward. If the Gators crater out the remaining three games, it’s dicey whether he will be given a shot at rebuilding what has gone south so quickly. But, even if he does win the next three games and perhaps a bowl game for an 8-5 finish, Mullen can’t expect to stay gainfully employed for more than another year if there aren’t significant changes in his own demeanor – which has come across arrogant and somewhat surly recently – and in the enthusiasm for recruiting by his entire staff.

It is the lack of recruiting that seems to indicate that the Sunday night changes won’t be the last.

Here is a look at assistant coaches and staff turnover from the past 20 years:

2002-04: Ron Zook’s first staff included Ed Zaunbrecher (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), John Thompson (defensive coordinator), Mike Woodford secondary, Red Anderson (defensive line), Joe Wickline (offensive line), Dwayne Dixon (wide receivers), Larry Fedora running backs, Jerry Odom (inside linebackers) and Tyke Tolbert (tight ends/recruiting coordinator)

The 2003 staff saw Charlie Strong replace Thompson as the defensive coordinator, Bill Miller replace Odom as the inside linebackers coach, and Mike Locksley take over as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. Fedora became the passing game coordinator and coached wide receivers and tight ends.

The 2004 staff saw more change. Fedora became the offensive coordinator, which he should have been from day one. Zaunbrecher lost coordinator duties but remained quarterbacks coach. Dan Disch became the secondary coach, replacing Woodford.

Conclusion: Zook had never been a head coach before becoming the surprise hire to replace Steve Spurrier. He got off to a bad start with his first staff with Ed Zaunbrecher as the offensive coordinator and John Thompson as the defensive coordinator. It has been said by people who were close to the program that Zook was so ill-prepared to be a head coach that Zaumbrecher and Thompson were thrust upon him. They weren’t very good. That first staff actually had four competent coaches – Fedora, Wickline, Dixon and Tolbert. If Fedora and Strong had been the coordinators from day one, Zook might have lasted more than three years.

2005-10: Charlie Strong was the only holdover on Urban Meyer’s first Florida staff in 2005. Strong was co-defensive coordinator along with Greg Mattison. Dan Mullen was the defensive coordinator. The rest of the staff was Stan Drayton (running backs), Billy Gonzales (wide receivers), Chuck Heater (cornerbacks/recruiting coordinator), Doc Holliday (safeties), John Hevesy (centers/guards) and Steve Addazio (tackles/tight ends).

There were no staff changes until 2008 when Doc Holliday left to become the assistant head coach at West Virginia, Drayton left to coach running backs at Tennessee and Mattison became the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. The replacements were Vance Bedford (corners), Kenny Carter (running backs) and Dan McCarney (defensive line). Hevesy was switched to tight ends and tackles, while Addazio took over the interior O-line and Heater coached the safeties. This staff of Strong, Mullen, Addazio, Hevesy, Gonzales, Heater, Carter, Bedford and McCarney is considered one of the better staffs in the past 30 years of college football.

In 2009, Mullen became the head coach at Mississippi State, joined by Hevesy as the O-line coach. Addazio took on the title of offensive coordinator and coached the entire O-line. Scot Loeffler became the quarterbacks coach and Brian White was hired to coach tight ends. The defensive staff remained intact. This was the first crack in Meyer’s armor. Addazio as the OC and Loeffler coaching the quarterbacks were a step down. The defensive staff remained the same. The Gators finished 6th nationally in total offense although scoring took a dip. The defense finished 4th.

The 2010 staff was the one that really changed Florida football and not in a good way. Strong left to become the head coach at Louisville, taking Bedford and Carter with him. Gonzales left to become the wide receivers/passing game coordinator at LSU. The replacements were Drayton, returning to coach running backs, Zach Azzanni at wide receivers, D.J. Durkin to coach outside linebackers and Teryl Austin as the defensive coordinator. The offense continued to sputter with Addazio, whose O-line suffered for a second straight year with him splitting duties between offensive coordinator and the line. Azzanni was a weak replacement for Gonzales. Austin never did connect with players and seemed to be ready to head back to the NFL by midseason. Florida went from consecutive 13-1 seasons to 8-5. Meyer resigned effective after the Outback Bowl game with Penn State. There were enough good players on defense that the Gators finished 9th but the offense dropped all the way to 83rd.

Conclusion: From 2005-08 Meyer had it going at UF. He won two national championships in large part because when he made staff changes, the people he brought in were equal to or better than the ones they replaced. Things began to unravel in 2009 when he put Addazio in charge of the offense. His 2010 staff, top to bottom wasn’t even close to the ability of the staffs from 2005-08, which is why the Gators fell off the cliff.

2011-14: Will Muschamp succeeded Meyer as Florida’s head coach. His first defensive staff was excellent, but in what would become a recurring theme, his offensive staff was lacking. Muschamp’s defensive coordinator was Dan Quinn, who later won a Super Bowl as defensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons head coach. Also on the defensive staff were D.J. Durkin (linebackers/special teams coordinator), who would become the DC at Michigan and head coach at Maryland, Bryant Young (D-line), who has been nominated to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Travaris Robinson (secondary). The issues were with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and O-line coach Frank Verducci. People who know Muschamp well say he didn’t want Weis but pretty much had him forced upon him. Weis wanted Verducci, who was terrible. Aubrey Hill coached the wide receivers and Derek Lewis the tight ends. The offense finished 105thnationally while the defense finished 8th.

The defensive staff remained intact in 2012 when the Gators went to the Sugar Bowl with the nation’s 5th-ranked defense. Weis and Verducci were gone, replaced by Brent Pease (OC/QB) and Tim Davis (OL). As good as the defense was, the offense finished 104th nationally. Lewis and Pease split the duties of coaching the wide receivers.

The 2013 staff was vastly different. Quinn left for the Seahawks, replaced as DC by Durkin. Brad Lawing replaced Young as the D-line coach. Joker Phillips became the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Jeff Choate became the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. Despite a 4-7 record, the Gators finished 8th nationally in defense, but the offense was abysmal, finishing 115th.

The 2014 season was Muschamp’s final year. Muschamp replaced Pease with Kurt Roper as OC/QB. When Phillips broke NCAA rules and lied about it, he was replaced as wide receivers coach by Chris Leak. Davis was replaced on the O-line by Mike Summers and Coleman Hutzler became the special teams coordinator. The offense averaged 30 points per game for the first time in the Muschamp era, but finished 96th nationally. The defense finished 15th.

Conclusion: Muschamp was a super defensive coordinator and one of the best recruiters to be found, but like Zook, he had never been a head coach. Had he spent four or five years at an outpost in the MAC or Sun Belt, learning all the nuances of being a head coach, he would have been prepared for all the non-football duties of the Florida head coach. When he was fired at Florida, he took a job at South Carolina, where it’s going to take a true coaching genius (like Spurrier) to win with any consistency. At Florida, Muschamp got off to a bad start when he had Weis and Verducci on his first staff. They were poison. Muschamp’s defenses were exceptional but he never had a competent outstanding offensive staff.

2015-17: Muschamp was fired after a 7-6 season in 2014, replaced by Jim McElwain, who told us at his first press conference that he was such a good offensive coach that his dog Clarabelle could be a star at quarterback. Doug Nussmeier was his offensive coordinator and QB coach. Geoff Collins came to UF from Mississippi State to be the DC. The rest of the staff was Greg Nord (TE/ST), Tim Skipper (RB), Kerry Dixon II (WR), Summers (OL), Randy Shannon (LB), Chris Rumph (DL) and Kirk Callahan (secondary). The defense, which was loaded from Muschamp’s time on the job, finished 8th nationally. Clarabelle was probably needed to help out with the offense, which finished 112th.

Year two (2016) saw Nussmeier and Collins return as the coordinators. The only staff change was Torrian Gray, who took over the secondary when Callahan was dismissed. The offense was worse in 2016 (116th) while the defense, still loaded with players Muschamp recruited, finished 5th.

There were changes to the staff after 2016. Shannon became the defensive coordinator and succeeded McElwain as head coach on an interim basis when McElwain was fired after the Georgia game on October 29. Nussmeier remained the OC and Rumph became the interim DC when Shannon became the head coach. Newbies to the staff were Brad Davis (OL), Robb Akey (DL after Shannon became interim head coach), Ja’Juan Seider (running backs), Corey Bell (secondary) and Skipper, who moved from running backs to linebackers. The defense dropped all the way to 31st, but the offense remained jammed in neutral, finishing 110th.

Conclusion: Florida would have been better off keeping Muschamp three additional years than hiring Jim McElwain. He was a bad fit as Florida’s head coach and never really embraced a fan base that really wanted him to succeed. His offenses stunk and that Clarabelle remark haunted him the entire time he was here. More than one person who has had inside access to the UF football program has suggested that the death threats story was a ploy to get himself fired because he couldn’t handle the pressure of the job. Mac is at Central Michigan now. That’s the kind of place he can succeed because there is zero pressure to win national championships. He can go 8-4 there and folks will think he’s a genius.

2018-Present: On his first Florida staff, Mullen brought with him from Mississippi State Grantham (DC), Hevesy (OL), Gonzales (WR), Greg Knox (RB/ST) and Ron English (safeties). Brian Johnson, who Mullen recruited to Utah back in 2004 and who had coached quarterbacks for Mullen at Mississippi State, rejoined Mullen after a year on the staff at Houston. The rest of the staff was Sal Sunseri (DL), Larry Scott (TE), Charlton Warren (corners) and Christian Robinson (LB). The offense finished 42nd, its highest finish since the Tebow years. The defense finished 28th.

Year two of the Mullen era saw David Turner replace Sunseri as the D-line coach and Gray return to UF to coach the corners. Florida finished 16th nationally in total offense, 9th in total defense.

Tim Brewster was the only change to the 2020 coaching staff as Scott left to become the head coach at Howard University. Florida finished 9th in total offense, but the defense slid all the way down to 83rd. The 2020 defense was statistically the worst in Florida football history.

Prior to Sunday night, Mullen’s staff had three new coaches – Garrick McGee (QB), who replaced Brian Johnson who went to the NFL Philadelphia Eagles as QB coach; Wesley McGriff, who replaced English as the safeties coach; and Jules Montinar, who replaced Gray. English and Gray were dismissed after the 2020 season. English is now the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Purdue, while Gray coaches the secondary for South Carolina.

Conclusion: The Dan Mullen of 2018-19 was one to embrace. The Mullen of the last two years doesn’t show the same love of the job. A lot of observers think he gives the impression that he would much rather be someplace else, a notion that has only grown wings and flown since that rumor that he was very interested in the NFL during December of 2020. Recruiting has not been the kind that can consistently bring championship-level football to Florida so he’s going to have to make amends in the offseason if he intends to be coaching here in the future. Since he isn’t going to win immediately with freshmen, he needs to balance this class with solid players who can be developed with careful recruiting from the transfer portal. Mel Tucker at Michigan State transformed that program with 21 transfers who have helped the Spartans become national championship contenders. Whatever choices he makes, however, Mullen has to prioritize assistant coaches who are standout recruiters. Judging by the way the remaining coaches on his staff recruit, we can only conclude that there will be several new faces on the 2022 staff, providing of course, that Mullen is the head coach.