MULLEN FIRED! PRESSER UPCOMING IN ABOUT AN HOUR. SEE BELOW AND CHECK BACK LATER;

Gators Part Ways with Mullen

The University of Florida has parted ways with Dan Mullen after four seasons

GAINESVILLE – The University of Florida has parted ways with football Head Coach Dan Mullen, Athletics Director Scott Stricklin announced Sunday.

Special Teams Coordinator / Running Backs Coach Greg Knox will serve as interim coach for the FSU game.

A veteran of 20-plus seasons in the SEC, including four at Florida, Knox has previously also served as interim coach at Mississippi State in 2017, leading the Bulldogs to a 31-27 win over Louisville in the TayxSlayer Bowl.

Mullen finished with a 34-15 record at UF after four seasons at the helm.

During his tenure at Florida, Mullen won 21 SEC games and led the Gators to three New Year Six Bowls and the SEC Championship Game in 2020.

The Gators are 5-6 (2-6 SEC) in 2021.

In what seems like an eternity ago, this Dan Mullen was called "genius." (Photo courtesy UAA)

CARLTON REESE: Where's The Genius? To Save Himself Now Mullen Might Need The Game Plan Of His Life.

It’s generally fun to write criticism, but this is not fun.

Watching teams like South Carolina and Missouri celebrate as though they’ve actually accomplished something great in beating Florida makes me feel sorry for them in a way because they “just don’t know.”

By CARLTON REESE

GatorBait Columnist

The best kicker in college football just awarded you a gift that no one expected. He never misses, yet Harrison Mevis pushed his 46-yard go-ahead field goal attempt with 1:04 remaining of a tie game wide right. Now it was Dan Mullen’s turn to give his team a chance.

And what did Mullen do? Just like at the end of the first half of the Kentucky loss, Mullen decided to play patty-cake and go to the locker room. You see, 1:04 just isn’t enough time for an offense to gain around 40 yards when it is trying to win a game. This is a coach who now no longer seems to believe not only in his quarterback, but most importantly himself. Isn’t he supposed to be the offensive genius that can pull off such a feat: an average-length drive with over a minute to play. Anyone who cries about “no timeouts remaining” should try joining the rest of us in the 21st Century.

So what did we see? A handoff for a 3-yard loss and the bleeding of the clock in order to play the Russian Roulette of college overtime. Are you a Gators fan? If so, then you are royally pissed beyond recognition – and with good reason.

Mullen’s butt is on the hot seat, and this is how he prepares for one of the worst defenses in the conference? Does everyone realize Vanderbilt put 28 points on the board earlier this year against Missouri? North Texas, 35? Even Jim McElwain’s Central Michigan Chippewas hung 24 on Missouri – all in regulation time.

The defense showed up and redeemed itself after embarrassing performances against Samford and South Carolina. And how was that rewarded? We all saw.

In the second half, the Florida defense forced a 3-and-out, then scored to take the lead. Two more times the defense would get the ball back to the offense where the Guru could finally take over a game against a team blessed with so much mediocrity that a 2-score difference would take any life out of that “hotbed” in Columbia. But, no – the Florida offense needed a Division I-AA opponent on the other side.

The calls for Mullen’s firing in what was yet another boxcar added to a train of embarrassments are certainly understandable. If the guy can’t put together a game plan to put more than 16 points on the board during regulation at Missouri, then just what is this guy good for? I thought he was “The Hacker,” “The Guru,” “The Game Planner.” No more.

This Florida Gators team was handed a final four-game stretch to the season that would alleviate some of the pain felt in losses to Kentucky, LSU and Georgia. To have managed that stretch would be nothing to even write about – a Tennessee plastic record built on a weak homestretch. And what has Mullen done with this “gift” as well? Humiliations in two losses and even in a win over Samford. Every game is another opportunity for Mullen to prove this is just an aberration in the program, yet every game he seems to prove what is actually now the norm.

Mullen isn’t going anywhere this week – there is too much at stake with Florida State coming to Gainesville Saturday. It’s one more chance for Mullen to keep some believing holdouts on his side by beating the Gators’ arch-rival, an abysmal team that is trending in the opposite direction as Mullen’s. For my money, a loss at home to FSU would be the greatest humiliation of the season.

Think of where the ‘Noles were early in the year: 0-4 with a loss to Jacksonville State, a fanbase that wanted Mike Norvell gone, and absolutely no end in sight to just how deep a hole they could sink. Now FSU has won two straight games and in spite of how bad that team is, it believes it can win in Gainesville. And why not? Anyone think Vanderbilt would like another shot at Florida?

It’s generally fun to write criticism, but this is not fun. Watching teams like South Carolina and Missouri celebrate as though they’ve actually accomplished something great in beating Florida makes me feel sorry for them in a way because they “just don’t know.” Somehow, they feel like they’ve beaten Florida, but this is just some ugly avatar in its place.

There is enough talent on the University of Florida football team such that only two teams on its entire schedule can legitimately claim to be better. Four losses on this year’s slate are to teams with inferior talent and that is the most frightening prospect. Once in a season – maybe even twice – a team with superior talent will lose because, after all, it is a game. But four times?

The number “4” says something altogether different: It says there is something wrong in Mudville. As a mere fan and pundit, I can only say what I see – I don’t have access to the film room or the practices or the weight room. One not need see any of these things when we witness what we do on Saturdays.

What we see are failed game plans and uninspired play.

For the Gators to lose to FSU it will come down not to being less talented, because Florida is most certainly the more talented of the two. To lose this game will come down to Dan Mullen and his staff being out-game planned and the FSU players simply wanting it more. From where I sit, those two elements look like very reasonable prospects.

So is Saturday in Gainesville do or die for Dan Mullen? As bizarre as it may seem, that might actually be the case. Remember before the season, this was not supposed to be Florida’s year. To have made the trip to Atlanta would have been a huge surprise and more than a mild upset – in short, Dan Mullen’s greatest coup.

The narrow loss to Alabama gave fans an overestimated feeling about this team and perhaps that was a bit unfair. But the losses to LSU, South Carolina and Missouri have turned this from a season in which everyone was hoping there would be a little over-achievement to one in which we are watching a gross under=performance.

A loss at home to FSU and Dan Mullen is going to have a difficult time keeping his job. Better put together the game plan of your life, fellow.