It wasn't just about wins and losses

The simple thing to do when we evaluate the now-ended University of Florida coaching career of Dan Mullen is to look at the losses. There were far too many close calls – seven straight one-score, one-possession losses since 2020 – and there were those back-to-back blowouts at the hands of Georgia (expected) and South Carolina (shocker there).

It would be dishonest to say that the losses didn’t play a part in Mullen being relieved of his position as head coach of the Gators Sunday morning, but it turns out the losses weren’t what convinced Scott Stricklin that he had to tell a friend his services were no longer needed.

“People look at losses as a cause to get rid of a coach, but a lot of times the losses or things that don’t go right on the field, those are symptoms of other issues,” Stricklin said. “I’m not going to get into all that because I don’t think that’s fair to everyone involved, but it’s a lot of little things you have to pay attention to. We have an opportunity here to go get someone who can really focus on those things.”

Symptoms. Take a moment to ponder that word and then apply it to the Florida football program. Obviously, Scott Stricklin knows and understands that Mullen wasn’t necessarily done in by his own coaching but by things that happened on his watch. Lots of folks are already pointing to recruiting and that certainly is an issue that festered and became a running sore, but it’s more than just recruiting.

Obviously.

Stricklin didn’t arrive at this decision hastily. So many in the Gator Nation were calling for Stricklin to fire Mullen after the LSU loss, even more two weeks later when the Gators lost by 27 to Georgia. Once the Gators were hosed by South Carolina and then struggled to win with a D1AA team the following week, there was general consensus that Mullen needed to pull more than one rabbit out of the hat to save himself from going on college football coaching’s extinct species list.

Mullen indicated at the postgame press conference at Missouri that he had been talking to Stricklin about the direction of the program, staff changes that needed to be made, assistant coaches he wanted to hire and probably dozens of other things he saw as solvable issues. Stricklin confirmed Sunday that the two had been meeting. Once again, Stricklin didn’t disclose the details of the conversation but gave a generic answer that protected Mullen, perhaps from some issues that happened on his watch that weren’t necessarily his fault, but the University of Florida as well.

The last thing Scott Stricklin needs to be doing at a time when he has to make a coaching hire of this magnitude is to air the laundry in public, so the answer he gave was basically just confirmation that the talks had taken place.

“You're constantly looking at things and there's some things, conversations Dan and I have had in that time about how we get back to where we want to be: competing at a high level and having sustained success,” Stricklin said.

That answer should make it perfectly clear to everyone that whatever Mullen’s vision and whatever the solutions he offered to the problems were deemed inadequate and that it was time to move on. This was no time to allow personal feelings to determine the outcome. While Stricklin and Mullen were friends – and perhaps will remain friendly if not friends – Stricklin’s first duty was to the University of Florida. He is the CEO of a business that has a budget in the $140-150 million range and there are 20 other sports that rely on the income generated by the football program.

So while the decision wasn’t made as quickly as some would have liked, it was made after careful calculation. Perhaps Stricklin knew where this was going to end a few weeks ago but he apparently gave Mullen opportunities to salvage his career. Then came the South Carolina loss. Then came the Samford debacle. And finally, there was the loss to Missouri.

When Stricklin awoke Sunday morning, he knew exactly what he had to do.

“I'll be honest, probably this morning is when I made that decision that we were ready to go a different direction,” Stricklin said. “So, I don't know that it's – I can’t say it was 70% on this day, and then 80% on the other day – it was just that Dan was our coach and I was fully supportive of him. But, once you get that feeling it's time to do something different you need to go ahead and do it. I woke up this morning with that feeling, so we moved ahead."

Then came the hardest part – informing Mullen in a face-to-face Sunday morning that he could coach through the Florida State game next Saturday but after that his time was up. Rather than be a lame duck distraction, Mullen chose to exit gracefully.

The look on Stricklin’s face as he talked about informing Mullen that it was over, said plenty.

“Part of leadership is you’ve got to be able to identify that and be able to have those conversations,” Stricklin said. “It’s not a very fun part of the job. I wouldn’t think anybody in a leadership position enjoys doing that. It’s challenging. At the end of the day, you have to make the best decision for the organization that you’re leading.”

The best decision for the University of Florida was to part ways with Dan Mullen and start immediately with finding a replacement. This is Stricklin’s second football coach search – Mullen was the first – since he became the UF athletic director. It’s the fourth such coach search since Urban Meyer retired from Florida after the 2010 season.

Since the Meyer retirement, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and now Mullen have failed to win at the consistent level that is expected. Muschamp got the Gators to a Sugar Bowl in his second year but had a losing season the next and a barely break even the year after when he was fired. McElwain got UF to consecutive appearances in the SEC Championship Game but then lied himself out of a job and the Gators into a losing record. Mullen was 29-6 in his first 35 games, 5-9 in the 14 games since. He got the Gators to New Year’s Six bowl games his first three years, winning in 2018 and again in 2019.

Stricklin recited the University of Florida is a top five academic public institution spiel and then pointed out all the championships won – 251 SEC, 42 national including three in football – over the years. Championship-level consistency is what is expected.

“We want someone who wants to be a part of that and feels like they have a plan and want to achieve at a high, high level and do so for a long period of time,” Stricklin said.

The new coach, whoever he might be, will inherit a program that just a year ago was teetering on the verge of an SEC Championship and just three plays away from being the unbeaten No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. It’s funny how close Florida was then and how far away it seems now when UF is embarking on another nationwide search for the next Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer.

Four years ago in December, we thought Mullen was that guy. Now, we know he wasn’t and we know why. It wasn’t just the wins and the losses.

“Dan did a lot of good things and won a lot of games here and in his short time as head coach was part of record-setting offense, first-round draft picks, Heisman Trophy finalists, all those kinds of things,” Stricklin said. “Dan did a good job in a lot of areas, but what we are seeing this year is kind of symptomatic of some things we got to get cleaned up moving forward.”