Dan Mullen Lit A Fire; Can the Florida Gators Keep It Burning?
When Feleipe Franks shushed his Florida Gators home crowd during the 2018 season, it became a rallying cry for he, his teammates and a run to a New Year’s Six bowl win that set up a program for a revitalization. It was a college football heel turn in the truest sense of the term and proved to be the perfect antidote to what had been a lackluster performance and loss of the fanbase the week before.
So when Dan Mullen ran onto the field Saturday night, irate and beyond restraint, yelling towards the head official but also in the vicinity of Missouri Tiger players and coaches, and then returned to the field a few minutes later, throwing his hands up and playing to the reduced crowd in attendance, one couldn’t help but think back to that moment with Franks two years ago.
“The Brawl”—much like “The Shush”—has the potential to define a season. As such, before contemplating how it could affect the No. 8 Gators matchup on Saturday versus the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs, let’s have one last talk as to what it was.
The Brawl was a result of, well, several things. Some would justifiably argue that it came about when Mullen stormed to mid-field and yelled at the officials and simultaneously, whether intentional or not, Missouri players.
I’d back up a little father than that. Some would justifiably argue that it came about when Tigers Trajan Jeffcoat laid a late and clearly illegal—albeit not intentionally dirty—hit on Gators quarterback Kyle Trask.
I’d back up a little farther than that. The hit wasn’t flagged and it was a long list of blatantly questionable calls made throughout the first half on both teams. By the time Mullen—who was watching the ball be batted down in the endzone off the Hail Mary—was told on the sidelines about the hit, it was the tipping point.
While we can readily agree there were better, more civil ways to handle being upset, it’s hard to judge Mullen or the Florida players too hard for essentially defending their quarterback. Be displeased with the methods, sure. But one can’t dispute the motivation.
Quarterback Kyle Trask, who typically keeps his emotions three decibels below comatose, sounded relatively and positively inspired and fired up after the win, talking about the way his teammates came to his defense.
“It was really cool just to see my teammates have my back. At the end of the day, if that happens, the whole team is going to have to back you up. That’s just how this team is. That’s just what is so special about this team. Like I said before it really caused a moment for us to just come together in the locker room, come out and play a solid second half.”
Mullen, who himself was in damage control mode (and a Darth Vader costume) by the time the clock hit 0:00 and said he was merely getting his players off the field, couldn’t fault his roster for their motivation either, even if he’d rather it have been handled more as “do as I say, not as I do.”
“You know what? Our guys told them don’t hit the quarterback.”
The Darth Vader costume was a nod to a cornerstone of Mullen’s coaching philosophy; coaches always get to spend Halloween with their families. Sure it might have fed into the narrative of the night that he was becoming the college football villain, but—like the Brawl—methods can be argued, but not the motivation.
“It’s something we started a long time ago. Mississippi State. I read a book once and it was George Allen, I’m not sure, about never being around his family. It was written through the eyes of the family and the active family. You’re never around on holidays. It’s something we did a long time ago at Mississippi State was make sure coaches, especially those with young kids, would either come in super late at night or super early in the morning and you'd be able to take your kids trick or treating.
“As your kids grew up, they could say, ‘Hey, was my family’s football coach never around.’ You do look at it. My daughter is nine. I think she spent three out of the last four Christmas’s in a hotel. At nine years old. Six, seven eight and nine, we’re in a hotel room, I’m guessing. I know it’s been a couple. That’s hard. It’s something we always did. This costume here, as you said, it’s suitable tonight. I didn’t pick this out after the game.”
The defining moment for the night though came after the brawl. Mullen’s return to the field to pump up the crowd was not the first time he’d participated in such an act. He did so during the LSU game in 2018 and the Auburn game in 2019. He emerged before the team in his first home game to ask for a raucous response and has never been above leading the “towel guys” that are employed with keeping the team juiced during games.
The timing of all of this, on top of the fight, made it a definite heel turn. It’s a reaction and attitude that wouldn’t work at a lot of programs but fits perfectly for the Florida Gators. Mullen has long held Urban Meyer’s coaching style and Steve Spurrier’s personality. Both were on display Saturday night.
Now he just needs to beat Georgia. The brawl and the fight shone in that moment, much like the fire lit by Feleipe Franks all those Saturday’s ago, could be the catalyst to finally getting over that hump.
“The halftime thing did like put some fuel to the fire, because we went back out there with the mindset that we don’t wanna even let these boys score. We didn’t want to let them have nothing. That was the kind of the mindset we had,” says redshirt freshman corner Jaydon Hill.
Adds senior receiver Tre Grimes, “I think all of the players saw that everyone has each other’s back. When it comes to our quarterback, nobody needs to touch him. That was just something that I feel like the quarterback knew that we always have his back and everybody has each other’s back. That did light a flame for everybody. We know that if one man goes down we’re all going to go down. I think that is going to carry over and it will have a fire into this week.
“We need everything we can get. We’re very excited. We’re very hyped to go out there and show the world that we are the best team in the country and we’re looking forward to showing everybody what we can do this Saturday.”
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