I believe the pressure got to him fans wanted to see big time recruits coming to Florida but he couldn't get half of them he lost some of his staff members also he made really stupid calls during some games like Kentucky and the defense of the LSU game finally he must have forgot what Florida fans once you start winning they'll be kind to you but start a losing streak they'll want you out of there he's not ready to be a big-time coach also he started the wrong quarterback
You can deal with the off field antics if you are winning but it gets old quick when you start losing. Kirby said it after the Florida game, it doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are if you don’t recruit at the top level you aren’t going to have sustained success. Dan doesn’t like recruiting and it shows a lot more at a place like Florida then it ever would have at Mississippi state.
Kirby is constantly recruiting so is Nick Saban so is Mark Stoops at Kentucky. You want to keep a program at the top or constantly keep building a program you have recruit all the time. 35% to half of the recruiting was already done for Mullens at Florida on name recognition alone was already done. It was the other 50 to 65% part of the recruiting that Mullens had a problem with. Then his after the game press conferences after a lose was an embarrassment to the university. Then celebrating like they just won a super bowl over a FCS Samford that just scored 52 points on your defense does not look good.
Crazy how every major team in FL has woefully underperformed over the last several years. There was a time where Miami, FSU, and UF were the best of the best.
@@TrumpsEarBandage, I am a Florida State Seminole, As much appreciation as Coach Bowden received, it is the 36 years of tenure at FSU, and the man won football games. Today we have NIL, the transfer portal, without sitting out anytime, and we have the coaching carousel. I hope UF learns from the mistakes FSU has made recently. The NCAA is dead and without power. I hope we don’t destroy the Student Athletes and the ability for doors to open by obtaining a college education. Congratulations on your win over my Florida State Seminoles. Protect yourself in those coaching Contracts.
@@timothyblack3322 Those with mouths and money actually run the programs in the state of Florida and are NOT the folks that should be calling the shots. They got FSU coach Mudra fired "mostly" because he liked coaching the team from the press boxes so he could see the field clearly and letting his offensive and defensive coaches call the shots for the players. He clearly had the team almost rebuilt and ready to roll when he was fired. Bowden's dark side was accepting all the praise and allowing no credit for Mudra who had a heck of a job in front of him after Jones allowed the team to rot. Now the same type crew controls the program at Florida. High praise going in; then the order to fire everyone when they don't have the requisite wins. Since Stricklin listens to them he really ought to be replaced if anything is to truly change at Florida.
Schools out of state put more money into facilities, recruiting etc . The best talent in the state started going to those schools with better coaches and facilities
@@nathanielstiles1769, That maybe true to some manner but academic funds that are distributed by the Florida Legislature to the only tier one universities of FSU & UF by their academics maintaining rankings in the top-20 by USA & World Report for Public Universities. Athletic & Academic Scholarship Student Housing built in 2014 is perhaps the best in the nation. The Indoor & outdoor practice facility is also on par with Alabama & Ohio State. The Stand Alone Football Facility money has already been raised and should be completed in 2023. This is something new with some schools already completed; such as, Clemson with this slide player can slide down and Oregon with the largest Stand Alone Football Facility in the country, but it has lots of empty rooms. It is only been 8 years since FSU won the National Championship. Florida State rushed to hire Willie Taggart who was overwhelmed from day one until he was fired. Coach Taggart never recruited a quarterback and was not a good recruiter, FSU plummeted recruiting rankings and left the cupboards bare. I think Coach Taggart has shown improvement with so many close game (-3 points), and overtime games this season. The transfer portal without having to sit out a year is not fair to the universities is destructive. In real life you sign a contract it is binding. NIL is insane! Deon Sanders at Jackson State landed that quarterback by giving the #1 recruit in the nation by giving him $1 million by a Sports bar chain, and Ohio State paid a recruit $1 million as well. Since Urban Meyer left UF they have been a carousel of coaches that has came only to be fired. The University of Florida is paying more than $1 billion for coaches not to coach at UF. The State of Florida has never paid universities for athletic purposes. It has been the Athletic Programs that have generally supported the Academics by sending a ton of money to their university. I fear college football is being destroyed. Nick Saban continues to be a force to be reckoned with for some time. The NCAA has lost all its authority. We must recruit better and figure out how to deal with NIL $$ funds.
Georgia fan here, Mullen’s biggest flaw was the way he handled adversity. He loved blaming everything but himself, and loved taking shots at other coaches instead of letting the games speak for themselves.
As a Florida fan I think you really underplayed the recruiting aspect. He consistently underperformed in that aspect, and when asked about it he had a few quotes downplaying it’s importance, like “we’ll talk about it during recruiting season”. At a program like Florida, it is always recruiting season, and I believe that was the number one reason the AD decided to pull the plug
I'm a UGA fan. Trust me. I've talked plenty of crap about that recruiting comment. That being said, I truly think he just misspoke. He was always awkward in his press conferences. I think he was looking to say something like "Let's talk about the game we just played. We'll talk about recruiting later." It just came out in the worse way possible. If that is how he meant it though...then yeah wow. I just find it hard to believe that the coach of a program like UF would actually say that seriously. Obviously you would be aware that the optics of that would be horrible. Idk
Let’s keep real: Remove Urban Meyer and Spurrier from the history of Florida football and the Gators have always performed like this. Florida has a delusional fan base like USC and Texas
@@jonpike9991 Zoom didn't recruit Tebow, he didn't recruit Percy Harvin or Aaron Hernandez, not did he recruit Carlos Dunlap or the Pounceys. Basically the pillars of those Urban Meyer FLA teams
In Florida, a large population offers a lot of talent. But it attracts a lot of competition. A 5 star recruit in Naples will get offers from Florida, FSU, Miami, *AND* Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, etc. At Mississippi State Mullen only had to compete against Ole Miss and, to a lesser extent, USM. Fewer prospects, but a lot less competition. And so Mullen could focus on play calling and development, not recruiting. Hence the success at MSU ... where if you beat Ole Miss and challenge Alabama, and make it to a bowl game most years you'll be seen as a success. At Florida, if you don't win the SEC Championship and at least compete for the national championship ... you're out.
Pretty sure he ended up coaching QBs for Urban Meyer because they worked together at Notre Dame. Meyer was the WR coach there while Mullen was a GA. Could be wrong, but I think that’s the connection
Nah he was with Urban from the start, he literally coached with him at Bowling Green went to Utah with him and then came to Florida as a result and coached QB's like Leak and Tebow and won 2 Natties as the OC
Mullen won with McElwain's players. Period. Ultimately, he couldn't recruit. Plus, his staff just wasn't strong enough. Grantham had two decent seasons and two bad ones. Last year's defense was historically bad (dating back to 1917). The inflection point ultimately was the shoe throw in Year 3 against LSU, derailing that run and hinting at the undisciplined football we'd witness this season. When the best offensive players sat out of the bowl game against Oklahoma, it was a harbinger of looming struggles. His 2019 recruiting class was overrated and bit him in 2021. This year's recruiting class is historically bad, dipping to 8th or 9th in the SEC and 30-43 nationally. When you lose to Kentucky for a second time, have UF's worst loss to South Carolina in school history, allow a national record of points to an FCS school, lose to a mediocre Missouri team, have the worst SEC record at Florida since 1979, go 2-9 in the most recent 11 games against Power 5 opponents...you're done. There was no way to recover.
Kentucky in football is not the same program it was 10 years ago. They have constantly been improving every season since Stoops took over at Kentucky on and off the field and they keep improving. Like in recruiting Kentucky use to hope for a national top 50 recruiting class. Now they are look at getting a top 15 national recruiting class or better. Like this year Kentucky and Alabama are the only two teams nationally to score 2 touchdowns or more on Georgia. We will see if Michigan can do that. Even the HOF former Georgia coach said on the Paul Finebaum before the season began that Mullen is on the hot seat in Florida. Then said Kentucky keeps improving the way they have been in the last 7 season in 2 or 3 years they will be Georgia in football and will go to Atlanta. Now if Napier can turn Florida around then it will be a 3-way race in the SEC East. But Florida is going to have to give the guy atl least 3 years to start seeing results. Now the question is will Florida do that or fire him after 2 years and give him the standard 12 million dollar buy out.
Dan Mullen did not fail at Florida. He did quite well there. The problem is the nearly impossible expectations of some schools in the SEC. I mean, some SEC schools expect their team to go 12-O every year, or the coach needs fired. Some Georgia fans are calling for the firing of Kirby Smart because he lost one game. It's insanity. The SEC has chewed up and spit out a lot of really good coaches.
Yeah that is a true statement. I get they are a really good football conference, but sometimes you have to have reasonable expectations, your not going to go undefeated every year and yeah there have been some really good coaches at SEC schools chewed up and spit out, because they don't give them a chance. The University of Texas is like that also. They expect to go 11-1 or 12-0 every year, which just isn't going to happen. They change coaches more than any school I've ever seen. Schools need to learn to give guys a chance. You can't build a winner without stability at the head coaching position. I remember Nick Saban went 7-6 in his first year at Alabama, but he wasn't fired after one season. He didn't win the championship until his third year and look at them today. They win, because they are stable. You look at Dabo at Clemson. He took over a mediocre Clemson squad and turned them into a consistent winner. You have to give coaches a chance and not expect to have them come in, and just turn everything around like that. Florida is going to have give Napier a couple of years, because Mullen basically left the cupboard dry for him in terms of recruits and players.
@@PENS68 Exactly right. You have to let a coach build his team and culture. Sometimes it takes a little bit. I mean, Dan Mullen took Florida to the SEC championship last year against Alabama - and he is fired this year? It's nuts. I give Napier and Brian Kelly a lot of props for their courage to come into the SEC.
Clock management, keeping inept coaches on his staff, moral victories, excuses, horrible press conferences, garbage recruiting, bad mouthing other coaches, are just a few of the reasons Mullen failed. Remember This is the guy that started Feleipe Franks over Kyle Trask. If Franks doesn’t get hurt, they probably go 8-4 that year.
The reason that he switched so late was that the year before Kyle broke his foot in practice the week he was supposed to start so we didn't know he was fully recovered and ready
He didn’t evolve on offense or have a good enough defense to give his team a chance to get over the top. Stayed loyal to guys too long and as you mentioned chose the wrong guy at QB.
Danny is gonna be OK. He made around 30 million at Miss St. And made 20 or 30 at Florida. The Gators still owe him 12 million over the next 5 or 6 years. And when he's ready to coach again, he'll make another 30 or 40 million over the next decade or so.
Billy Napier will be Florida's next HC. Great hire if it happens. Also, I found it surprising that Florida has had 7 different head coaches since 2001, while UGA has only had 2.
@@michaelcarpenter9004 Spurrier spoiled Florida fans. However, Strickland is right in saying that the resources at Florida are good enough to compete at the highest levels every year.
But yeah, we became a national powerhouse in the 1980s. Before that, we couldn’t win the game that could get us over the edge, but we had good teams none the less.
I think it might have been a blind loyalty to players and coaches. That explains why TG stayed so long, the right QB never started, and why there wasn't a push to recruit guys better than the ones you have.
Urban Meyer was the receiver coach at Notre Dame ('96-'00) when Dan Mullen was a Grad assistant ('99-'00). When Urban got the head coaching job at Bowling Green (2001-2002) he took the young Mullen with him and made him his QB coach. Mullens was an assistant under Urban Meyer until 2008 when Mullen took the head coaching job at Mississippi State. That's how they met.
In the last two minutes in the first half against Kentucky 2021, he let the clock run out and did not try to score because he did not trust his QB. Then against Missouri, he did the same thing in the 4th quarter when Miss missed a game-winning field goal. Missouri ended up winning in OT, lol. That is not the Gator standard🐊.
I think that diving into the Art Briles coaching tree would bring a new wave of viewers. Also the QBs that helped transition Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC and where they are now. Maty Mauk, Kenny Trill etc
Florida was obviously working furiously behind the scenes in searching for a candidate to replace Mullen way before his termination. One of the things the Ragin Cajuns did was really upgrade their facilities which helped recruiting immensely and as we all know recruiting is a Huge factor in success: One is Not going to win the Kentucky derby with a plow horse no matter how well one trains it.
Mullen went 21-5 in his first 2 years with primarily McElwain recruits. Starting in 2020 the wheels were wobbling with an 8-4 record which included losses in UF's last 3 games. We all know the wheels came completely off in the disaster of 2021. Recruiting top talent is a must in the SEC or else teams that don't are generally doomed to 2nd tier status at best or league cellar-dwellers at worse.
The 8-4 record is sorta not representative of the team cause the last two losses were against the National CHampions who we played closer than anyone and the last game everyone sat out
Great video again Scott, keep it up. My 2 cents on what went wrong for Mullen can be summed up by this: At Miss State there were lower expectations and down years were tolerated as long as they made a bowl and beat Ole Miss every other year or so. But more than that, there's a lot of under-the-radar raw talent in Mississippi that are not heavily recruited outside of the State, and often took some time to develop into great players. Thus, Mullen did well getting these players without having to fight off bigger programs and was able to get them to their potential in 2-3 years, keeping them bowl eligible yearly with an occasional down year here and there. At Florida he tried to do the same exact thing, going after lesser sought developmental players instead of instant impact recruits and basically tried to build the same exact team that he built at Miss State at Florida. The issue with that is the expectations at Florida are way different, and just being bowl eligible more often than not is not going to be accepted there. Also, there are a lot of highly regarded, highly recruited players in Florida, some who can make an instant impact as Freshmen, who generally are the majority of any of the Big 3 (Miami, UF, FSU) when those teams are good. But Mullen didn't care for recruiting enough to fight for those prospects (especially since Alabama, UGA, Ohio State, and Clemson also started raiding the State for those players), so he did not build the type of roster that produced the teams he coached when he was Urban's OC, and the results ended up being more similar to his Miss State teams than Urban's Florida teams.
Talking about MSU’s low expectations rings true. Let’s just say that the years before Mullen were called the Dark Age by MSU fans. Mullen stepped in and gave us hope again. He gave us a team that could get winning seasons, go to bowl games, and beat Ole Miss on a regular basis.
Maybe you could make a video on Ralph Friedgen and why he never got another head coaching job after being fired by Maryland despite the fact he did well there and they've been terrible since letting him go.
Expectations are at a completely different level in Gainesville . If you can't get a top ten class at Florida every year, you aren't even trying. In Starkville developmental players are accepted. Mullen is a great X's and O's guy, but he couldn't recruit.
It was that 2020 LSU game that really started Mullen's downfall. Mullen had the nerve to treat that game like it would be an easy win. He completely looked past them to the point of not playing Kyle Pitts. That may have been a historically bad LSU team, but it was still LSU and loaded with talent.
Mullin always had DISCIPLINE trouble per a player of his. NO Discipline ever where he went. So he FAILED soon after taking over 2 to 4 yrs it showed and the players would commit mutiny on him.
As a Gators fan I would love to see Lane Kiffin to Florida. I think he would bring that offensive spark we need and recruiting wouldn't be much of an issue for him in Gainesville.
Oklahoma and Notre Dame will now be pulling more dominoes down. Wouldn't be shocked if Mullen gets that next job soon. Everyone knows that if he upgraded his staff he was a threat to reach the CFP at Florida. Mullen also has to get over his infatuation with a quarterback with a run first option being his ideal. Trask showed how well his play calling works with a quarterback that can hit the receiver full stride.
Only thing I’d add to this video is the fact that he had a RB by committee scheme which didn’t help the offense… Pierce the best RB never truly got the bulk of the carries as he should have
I was at that Carolina game literally one of the most depressing loses in my fan career… by the time we played mizzou I was pulling for them because we all knew if he lost that game he was gone…. He lost the locker room and the discipline was awful. We were the worst penalized team in 2020…. So yeah
Mullen was too loyal to mediocre, at best, assistants. Grantham, the DC, is a perfect example. Mullen should have dumped him last year. He let his personal relationship with him cloud his professional commitment to winning...
Yeah and if everybody remembers that game we would have lost to Kentucky three out of the four years he was there but when Frank's got hurt Kyle Trask came in and save the Day cuz we were literally down 19 points when he came in and he brought us back to win or Mullins would be 1-3 against Kentucky
I was at that game when State rolled in to Tuscaloosa at 7-0. Had some state fans sitting in front of us. What a great game. Few things bring me as much joy as beating the absolute shit out of a Dan Mullen team.
You said pertaining to this year that after a while the players didn't care and it was basically Mullen's fault? Zach Carter said after the FSU game that the players on the team are competitors and none want to lose. I didn't see anyone QUIT out there during the year. There was poor tackling and mental errors which led to penalties, but does that equal, "they no longer cared?"
He didn't fail. He tanked the season for a 12 million buyout so he could go join Erb in Jax. You don't play Bama THAT close, and then play down to S Carolina and SAMFORD of all teams. He also used a call center in the S. Pacific to handle his recruiting. He was a selfish, arrogant, manipulative, narcissistic piece of crap that used UF as a stepping stone. I wish him nothing but failure at the next level, but with his salary he won't care about that either.
Problem is Urban is going to be one and done in Jacksonville. He's not cut out to be an NFL coach and is probably going to get fired after this season.
What are you talking about he knew he wasn't going to go to Jax or else he would've left before the season and your a clown coming from a current student we all knew it wasn't going to be as good this season all of our talent left, and you play Bama that close when you played them a couple of months ago and know their weaknesses S Carolina and Samford was weird because Todd had just been fired and C-Rob was the new DC. He didn't use UF as a stepping stone the guy literally is our third winningest coach, in addition to that he left a cush job at Miss St. to come back cause he was loyal to us cause we gave him his first shot as a top OC and win 2 NC's.
Mullen's judgement in QBs was woefully off. Trask was obviously better than Franks, but Mullens stubbornly left Franks in and we suffered until Franks got hurt. Fast forward to Jones and Richardson and it's the same deal over again. I'm excited to see what kind of team Napier builds at Florida.
Trask didn't start because he broke his foot the year before at practice the week he was supposed to start and Mullen didn't know if he was fully healed, Richardson and Jones was a combination that Richardson kept getting injured and while brilliant he was inconsistent, and as UF student I'm not that excited for Napier we could've gotten better
@@adityag485 I'm a Swamp native not a transplant, and at this point Napier can't do any worse than previous coaches. We'll know what he's about soon enough.
@@MehIgotnothing wdym he can’t do any worse he’s come into a situation where there’s a high bar set he has to take us within a couple of years to multiple NY6 bowls and win most of them and an Sec championship or is he isn’t up to scratch and individually he needs a Mackey TE a heisman finalist and multiple 1st round picks
The true down fall of Dan Mullen was leaving State the way he did. The starting QB experienced a traumatic leg injury (against Ole Miss no less) and he says after the game he's all in on staying. He was gone by the next Sunday. However, after being someone who watched Dan Mullen coached teams for the better part of ten years I can say this, his biggest flaw is that he becomes predictable. I got to the point I knew what play he'd call every 3rd down. His predictability rubbed off on Grantham as well.
I still think firing Dan Mullen was a bad idea. He had 1 bad season. 3 NY6 bowl appearances in the first 3 years winning 2 of them (we had like 6-7 opt outs against Oklahoma). It sucks because I felt he really wanted to be here. He talked about wearing a visor because of spurrier, etc. His loyalty to assistance was too much (Grantham should have been fired after 2020, we were a natty team with an average defense). I thought Mullen saved his job by firing him and Hevesy, showing he was willing to fire his friends for the job. Overall Mullen finished 34-14. Tough to fire a coach with that success.
At what point will someone look at Scott Stricklin and wonder if he is the right person to be athletic director? The women's basketball coach (his hire) was being abusive to the players, and now Mullen's downfall.
His downfall was due to two things in my humble opinion. One, not taking responsibility for anything, ever. Two, not taking the job seriously as head coach. You don’t rest on your laurels when you get your dream job. He seemed to set it on auto and sit back rather than doing everything he could to make the team better. Sad actually.
Mullen failed at recruiting top LBs' for that 3-4 defense. He also failed to recruit or develop a few tough & hard hitting safeties. Mullen mage the admin upset with some of his press comments. Mullen was reprimanded by NCAA for a minor recruiting violation (text messaging a recruit). This didn't sit well with the Florida admin. The bottom line is when you lose, the big donors pressure the admin. I wish Dan the very best and I think he would make someone an awesome OC.
Florida only wants to be playing annually for the national championship, which requires the top recruits and no rebuilding years, or the coach has failed. It will never happen but those with the mouths and money will insure that Stricklin acts as they wish. In addition to Mullen being fired, Stricklin also needs to go. You considered Mullen's comment, that the bowl team wasn't his while 8 of his best players sat it out, as a negative comment. It was spot on. Not only was it spot on but those with mouths and money probably expected him to win that game. Not going to happen.
What went wrong for Dan Mullen & Florida Football?
Playing calling
And Bama
I think his horrible recruiting tactics and unwillingness to change his personnel led to the downfall
@@Iceify_ okay
I believe the pressure got to him fans wanted to see big time recruits coming to Florida but he couldn't get half of them he lost some of his staff members also he made really stupid calls during some games like Kentucky and the defense of the LSU game finally he must have forgot what Florida fans once you start winning they'll be kind to you but start a losing streak they'll want you out of there he's not ready to be a big-time coach also he started the wrong quarterback
You can deal with the off field antics if you are winning but it gets old quick when you start losing. Kirby said it after the Florida game, it doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are if you don’t recruit at the top level you aren’t going to have sustained success. Dan doesn’t like recruiting and it shows a lot more at a place like Florida then it ever would have at Mississippi state.
Kirby is constantly recruiting so is Nick Saban so is Mark Stoops at Kentucky. You want to keep a program at the top or constantly keep building a program you have recruit all the time. 35% to half of the recruiting was already done for Mullens at Florida on name recognition alone was already done. It was the other 50 to 65% part of the recruiting that Mullens had a problem with. Then his after the game press conferences after a lose was an embarrassment to the university. Then celebrating like they just won a super bowl over a FCS Samford that just scored 52 points on your defense does not look good.
Crazy how every major team in FL has woefully underperformed over the last several years. There was a time where Miami, FSU, and UF were the best of the best.
More FL recruits are going out of state. Georgia and Alabama recruit like hell in FL
@@TrumpsEarBandage, I am a Florida State Seminole, As much appreciation as Coach Bowden received, it is the 36 years of tenure at FSU, and the man won football games. Today we have NIL, the transfer portal, without sitting out anytime, and we have the coaching carousel. I hope UF learns from the mistakes FSU has made recently. The NCAA is dead and without power. I hope we don’t destroy the Student Athletes and the ability for doors to open by obtaining a college education. Congratulations on your win over my Florida State Seminoles. Protect yourself in those coaching Contracts.
@@timothyblack3322 Those with mouths and money actually run the programs in the state of Florida and are NOT the folks that should be calling the shots. They got FSU coach Mudra fired "mostly" because he liked coaching the team from the press boxes so he could see the field clearly and letting his offensive and defensive coaches call the shots for the players. He clearly had the team almost rebuilt and ready to roll when he was fired. Bowden's dark side was accepting all the praise and allowing no credit for Mudra who had a heck of a job in front of him after Jones allowed the team to rot.
Now the same type crew controls the program at Florida. High praise going in; then the order to fire everyone when they don't have the requisite wins. Since Stricklin listens to them he really ought to be replaced if anything is to truly change at Florida.
Schools out of state put more money into facilities, recruiting etc . The best talent in the state started going to those schools with better coaches and facilities
@@nathanielstiles1769, That maybe true to some manner but academic funds that are distributed by the Florida Legislature to the only tier one universities of FSU & UF by their academics maintaining rankings in the top-20 by USA & World Report for Public Universities. Athletic & Academic Scholarship Student Housing built in 2014 is perhaps the best in the nation. The Indoor & outdoor practice facility is also on par with Alabama & Ohio State. The Stand Alone Football Facility money has already been raised and should be completed in 2023. This is something new with some schools already completed; such as, Clemson with this slide player can slide down and Oregon with the largest Stand Alone Football Facility in the country, but it has lots of empty rooms. It is only been 8 years since FSU won the National Championship. Florida State rushed to hire Willie Taggart who was overwhelmed from day one until he was fired. Coach Taggart never recruited a quarterback and was not a good recruiter, FSU plummeted recruiting rankings and left the cupboards bare. I think Coach Taggart has shown improvement with so many close game (-3 points), and overtime games this season. The transfer portal without having to sit out a year is not fair to the universities is destructive. In real life you sign a contract it is binding. NIL is insane! Deon Sanders at Jackson State landed that quarterback by giving the #1 recruit in the nation by giving him $1 million by a Sports bar chain, and Ohio State paid a recruit $1 million as well. Since Urban Meyer left UF they have been a carousel of coaches that has came only to be fired. The University of Florida is paying more than $1 billion for coaches not to coach at UF. The State of Florida has never paid universities for athletic purposes. It has been the Athletic Programs that have generally supported the Academics by sending a ton of money to their university. I fear college football is being destroyed. Nick Saban continues to be a force to be reckoned with for some time. The NCAA has lost all its authority. We must recruit better and figure out how to deal with NIL $$ funds.
Georgia fan here, Mullen’s biggest flaw was the way he handled adversity. He loved blaming everything but himself, and loved taking shots at other coaches instead of letting the games speak for themselves.
And keeping Todd Grantham.....
As a Florida fan I think you really underplayed the recruiting aspect. He consistently underperformed in that aspect, and when asked about it he had a few quotes downplaying it’s importance, like “we’ll talk about it during recruiting season”. At a program like Florida, it is always recruiting season, and I believe that was the number one reason the AD decided to pull the plug
Ron Zook recruited a lot players before Urban Meyers once those kids left Florida has been down hill
I'm a UGA fan. Trust me. I've talked plenty of crap about that recruiting comment. That being said, I truly think he just misspoke. He was always awkward in his press conferences. I think he was looking to say something like "Let's talk about the game we just played. We'll talk about recruiting later." It just came out in the worse way possible. If that is how he meant it though...then yeah wow. I just find it hard to believe that the coach of a program like UF would actually say that seriously. Obviously you would be aware that the optics of that would be horrible. Idk
Let’s keep real: Remove Urban Meyer and Spurrier from the history of Florida football and the Gators have always performed like this. Florida has a delusional fan base like USC and Texas
@@jonpike9991 pshhh Zook’s players were mostly all gone by 2008. 2008 those were all Urban’s players.
@@jonpike9991 Zoom didn't recruit Tebow, he didn't recruit Percy Harvin or Aaron Hernandez, not did he recruit Carlos Dunlap or the Pounceys. Basically the pillars of those Urban Meyer FLA teams
In Florida, a large population offers a lot of talent. But it attracts a lot of competition. A 5 star recruit in Naples will get offers from Florida, FSU, Miami, *AND* Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, etc. At Mississippi State Mullen only had to compete against Ole Miss and, to a lesser extent, USM. Fewer prospects, but a lot less competition. And so Mullen could focus on play calling and development, not recruiting. Hence the success at MSU ... where if you beat Ole Miss and challenge Alabama, and make it to a bowl game most years you'll be seen as a success. At Florida, if you don't win the SEC Championship and at least compete for the national championship ... you're out.
Pretty sure he ended up coaching QBs for Urban Meyer because they worked together at Notre Dame. Meyer was the WR coach there while Mullen was a GA. Could be wrong, but I think that’s the connection
Nah he was with Urban from the start, he literally coached with him at Bowling Green went to Utah with him and then came to Florida as a result and coached QB's like Leak and Tebow and won 2 Natties as the OC
as a Mizzou alum, I was amused to see that losing to us was considered so horrifying that he needed to be immediately fired.
He was gone after the SC game. Besides..ya pulled that win out yer ass
Mullen was gone after South Carolina.
No, it was Kentucky. You guys just cemented the deal.
Mullen won with McElwain's players. Period. Ultimately, he couldn't recruit.
Plus, his staff just wasn't strong enough. Grantham had two decent seasons and two bad ones. Last year's defense was historically bad (dating back to 1917). The inflection point ultimately was the shoe throw in Year 3 against LSU, derailing that run and hinting at the undisciplined football we'd witness this season. When the best offensive players sat out of the bowl game against Oklahoma, it was a harbinger of looming struggles. His 2019 recruiting class was overrated and bit him in 2021. This year's recruiting class is historically bad, dipping to 8th or 9th in the SEC and 30-43 nationally. When you lose to Kentucky for a second time, have UF's worst loss to South Carolina in school history, allow a national record of points to an FCS school, lose to a mediocre Missouri team, have the worst SEC record at Florida since 1979, go 2-9 in the most recent 11 games against Power 5 opponents...you're done. There was no way to recover.
Kyle Pitts
Kentucky in football is not the same program it was 10 years ago. They have constantly been improving every season since Stoops took over at Kentucky on and off the field and they keep improving. Like in recruiting Kentucky use to hope for a national top 50 recruiting class. Now they are look at getting a top 15 national recruiting class or better. Like this year Kentucky and Alabama are the only two teams nationally to score 2 touchdowns or more on Georgia. We will see if Michigan can do that. Even the HOF former Georgia coach said on the Paul Finebaum before the season began that Mullen is on the hot seat in Florida. Then said Kentucky keeps improving the way they have been in the last 7 season in 2 or 3 years they will be Georgia in football and will go to Atlanta. Now if Napier can turn Florida around then it will be a 3-way race in the SEC East. But Florida is going to have to give the guy atl least 3 years to start seeing results. Now the question is will Florida do that or fire him after 2 years and give him the standard 12 million dollar buy out.
@@davidalexander828 UK should only out-recruit Florida in basketball.
@@joeg4707 They are now out doing Florida in football now.
@@davidalexander828 It shouldn't happen, and that's why Mullen is gone.
Dan Mullen did not fail at Florida. He did quite well there. The problem is the nearly impossible expectations of some schools in the SEC. I mean, some SEC schools expect their team to go 12-O every year, or the coach needs fired. Some Georgia fans are calling for the firing of Kirby Smart because he lost one game. It's insanity. The SEC has chewed up and spit out a lot of really good coaches.
Yeah that is a true statement. I get they are a really good football conference, but sometimes you have to have reasonable expectations, your not going to go undefeated every year and yeah there have been some really good coaches at SEC schools chewed up and spit out, because they don't give them a chance. The University of Texas is like that also. They expect to go 11-1 or 12-0 every year, which just isn't going to happen. They change coaches more than any school I've ever seen. Schools need to learn to give guys a chance. You can't build a winner without stability at the head coaching position.
I remember Nick Saban went 7-6 in his first year at Alabama, but he wasn't fired after one season. He didn't win the championship until his third year and look at them today. They win, because they are stable. You look at Dabo at Clemson. He took over a mediocre Clemson squad and turned them into a consistent winner. You have to give coaches a chance and not expect to have them come in, and just turn everything around like that. Florida is going to have give Napier a couple of years, because Mullen basically left the cupboard dry for him in terms of recruits and players.
@@PENS68 Exactly right. You have to let a coach build his team and culture. Sometimes it takes a little bit. I mean, Dan Mullen took Florida to the SEC championship last year against Alabama - and he is fired this year? It's nuts. I give Napier and Brian Kelly a lot of props for their courage to come into the SEC.
Clock management, keeping inept coaches on his staff, moral victories, excuses, horrible press conferences, garbage recruiting, bad mouthing other coaches, are just a few of the reasons Mullen failed. Remember This is the guy that started Feleipe Franks over Kyle Trask. If Franks doesn’t get hurt, they probably go 8-4 that year.
The reason that he switched so late was that the year before Kyle broke his foot in practice the week he was supposed to start so we didn't know he was fully recovered and ready
Napier ain’t any better
He didn’t evolve on offense or have a good enough defense to give his team a chance to get over the top. Stayed loyal to guys too long and as you mentioned chose the wrong guy at QB.
Based on what Florida’s QB this year is doing, the kid he picked was better.
Fun fact Mississippi state was ranked number 1 in the very first CFP committee rankings
Danny is gonna be OK. He made around 30 million at Miss St. And made 20 or 30 at Florida. The Gators still owe him 12 million over the next 5 or 6 years. And when he's ready to coach again, he'll make another 30 or 40 million over the next decade or so.
All these fired coaches are in great shape financially :)
@@theman1412 Well he was a good coach the guy took a 4-7 team and went to three straight NY6 games and an SEC championship with them
can u do a video on why Justin Fuente failed at Virginia Tech??
i will!
The way he found Mullen is probably bc urban Meyer was the wr coach at ND
Billy Napier will be Florida's next HC. Great hire if it happens. Also, I found it surprising that Florida has had 7 different head coaches since 2001, while UGA has only had 2.
@@michaelcarpenter9004 Spurrier spoiled Florida fans. However, Strickland is right in saying that the resources at Florida are good enough to compete at the highest levels every year.
@@michaelcarpenter9004 Oh, the Gators had good teams before Spurrier as well. The Gators had good teams going back to the 1920s and before that.
But yeah, we became a national powerhouse in the 1980s. Before that, we couldn’t win the game that could get us over the edge, but we had good teams none the less.
Thats because UGA was content with a 9-10 win season with Richt! And UGA has won nothing since 2001!
@@uf1978 ???? Define nothing....
I think it might have been a blind loyalty to players and coaches. That explains why TG stayed so long, the right QB never started, and why there wasn't a push to recruit guys better than the ones you have.
Urban Meyer was the receiver coach at Notre Dame ('96-'00) when Dan Mullen was a Grad assistant ('99-'00). When Urban got the head coaching job at Bowling Green (2001-2002) he took the young Mullen with him and made him his QB coach. Mullens was an assistant under Urban Meyer until 2008 when Mullen took the head coaching job at Mississippi State. That's how they met.
Mullen was going to be gone at the end of the season. The Missouri loss just sped things up
Wow, is that Aaron Murray in a Florida shirt at 2:20.
That's what I said 💀
Please do a video on Texas Tech situation with Adam James and Mike Leach
In the last two minutes in the first half against Kentucky 2021, he let the clock run out and did not try to score because he did not trust his QB. Then against Missouri, he did the same thing in the 4th quarter when Miss missed a game-winning field goal. Missouri ended up winning in OT, lol. That is not the Gator standard🐊.
Bears should look at him as OC. He’s legit play calling
Him and Geoff Collins had a lot in common: They were notorious with off-the-field antics and both of them had huge egos during quarterback situations.
6:43 thought the guy in front was Luka Doncic😂😂
This was an awesome video. Your content is awesome Scott. You should definitely do a video on Justin Fuente
I will!
What topic/coach should I do next?
Penn state bust factory for qbs
What happens to Tim Tebow would be cool
The rise of Jalon Daniels
The Tat scandal at OSI . When Tressel resigned
I think that diving into the Art Briles coaching tree would bring a new wave of viewers. Also the QBs that helped transition Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC and where they are now. Maty Mauk, Kenny Trill etc
Scott Fisher can you do a video on all the fired coaches this season please?
Great video, keep up the goodt work.
Do a what happened to Cody Kessler or Landry jones
"Beating Mizzou in a monsoon" understatement of the year! All I remember that Thursday night is it DIDN'T STOP POURING
14:50, Wasn't he saying A&M had a lot of fans at the game, for a 2020 college football game :)
Florida was obviously working furiously behind the scenes in searching for a candidate to replace Mullen way before his termination. One of the things the Ragin Cajuns did was really upgrade their facilities which helped recruiting immensely and as we all know recruiting is a Huge factor in success: One is Not going to win the Kentucky derby with a plow horse no matter how well one trains it.
Mullen went 21-5 in his first 2 years with primarily McElwain recruits. Starting in 2020 the wheels were wobbling with an 8-4 record which included losses in UF's last 3 games. We all know the wheels came completely off in the disaster of 2021. Recruiting top talent is a must in the SEC or else teams that don't are generally doomed to 2nd tier status at best or league cellar-dwellers at worse.
The 8-4 record is sorta not representative of the team cause the last two losses were against the National CHampions who we played closer than anyone and the last game everyone sat out
Address the Lincoln Reily coaching situation
Thanks for making this
No problem!
Great video again Scott, keep it up.
My 2 cents on what went wrong for Mullen can be summed up by this:
At Miss State there were lower expectations and down years were tolerated as long as they made a bowl and beat Ole Miss every other year or so. But more than that, there's a lot of under-the-radar raw talent in Mississippi that are not heavily recruited outside of the State, and often took some time to develop into great players. Thus, Mullen did well getting these players without having to fight off bigger programs and was able to get them to their potential in 2-3 years, keeping them bowl eligible yearly with an occasional down year here and there.
At Florida he tried to do the same exact thing, going after lesser sought developmental players instead of instant impact recruits and basically tried to build the same exact team that he built at Miss State at Florida. The issue with that is the expectations at Florida are way different, and just being bowl eligible more often than not is not going to be accepted there. Also, there are a lot of highly regarded, highly recruited players in Florida, some who can make an instant impact as Freshmen, who generally are the majority of any of the Big 3 (Miami, UF, FSU) when those teams are good. But Mullen didn't care for recruiting enough to fight for those prospects (especially since Alabama, UGA, Ohio State, and Clemson also started raiding the State for those players), so he did not build the type of roster that produced the teams he coached when he was Urban's OC, and the results ended up being more similar to his Miss State teams than Urban's Florida teams.
Talking about MSU’s low expectations rings true.
Let’s just say that the years before Mullen were called the Dark Age by MSU fans.
Mullen stepped in and gave us hope again. He gave us a team that could get winning seasons, go to bowl games, and beat Ole Miss on a regular basis.
2:22 seeing Aaron Murray in a Florida shirt hurts my soul
Who make your thumbnails @Scott Fisher
I make them haha
That fire track is back
This was a good look into coach mullens career.....thanks
Maybe you could make a video on Ralph Friedgen and why he never got another head coaching job after being fired by Maryland despite the fact he did well there and they've been terrible since letting him go.
Expectations are at a completely different level in Gainesville . If you can't get a top ten class at Florida every year, you aren't even trying. In Starkville developmental players are accepted. Mullen is a great X's and O's guy, but he couldn't recruit.
It was that 2020 LSU game that really started Mullen's downfall. Mullen had the nerve to treat that game like it would be an easy win. He completely looked past them to the point of not playing Kyle Pitts. That may have been a historically bad LSU team, but it was still LSU and loaded with talent.
Great vid 👌🏾
As a Kentucky fan, he will bounce back ✊🏽
Mullin always had DISCIPLINE trouble per a player of his. NO Discipline ever where he went. So he FAILED soon after taking over 2 to 4 yrs it showed and the players would commit mutiny on him.
He was toast the day after my Gamecocks put a 40-17 whooping on his Gators...chomp chomp chomp
1:57 Jesus… what could have been 😳
Whyd he have to steal a laptop 😭😭😭
@@tfg_grizzly how you steal a laptop and write your name on it😭😭
What exactly went wrong starts at 18:18
Yeah we hadn't lost to Kentucky in 31 years and then in 4 years he lost to them twice that literally has to be the worst coaching stat ever
Nah not really its just that Kentucky became good and when he came in it was a weird dynamic in his first year like great win but a couple bad losses
As a Gators fan I would love to see Lane Kiffin to Florida. I think he would bring that offensive spark we need and recruiting wouldn't be much of an issue for him in Gainesville.
Need better and more disciplined players. A decent QB wouldn’t hurt either
oh Hell no! I don't want lane kifflin at Florida. Just NO!
sorry....no Limp Kitty at Gainesville!
please god no
@@markpowers5051 I wanted Lane Kiffin at Florida or Brian Kelly more than Billy and I'm a current student so that's saying something
He started coaching with Meyer as his QB coach at Bowling Green.
Michigan's sitting starters are what birthed 3 good years at UF. Ironically, sitting starters for Oklahoma was Mullen's beginning of end.
High energy? Umm, no. Especially in season recruiting. Zero energy or emphasis.
Great Qb coach I wish Auburn would hire him he probably wants a head coach job though
and you should break down the failure of notre dame football in 2005-08. Theres a lot to cover there
You left out the 06 championship that he was a huge part of also
They had Tebow,Harvey,leak,Hernandez and stacked defense's.
Mac didn't get "2 SEC Titles," no he only got 2 "SEC East Titles." Big diff, esp. in "Title Town," AKA: Hogtown.
Some coordinators are just not HC material" Examples: Will Muschamp, Da Mullen, Chad Morris as well as others.
Oklahoma and Notre Dame will now be pulling more dominoes down. Wouldn't be shocked if Mullen gets that next job soon. Everyone knows that if he upgraded his staff he was a threat to reach the CFP at Florida. Mullen also has to get over his infatuation with a quarterback with a run first option being his ideal. Trask showed how well his play calling works with a quarterback that can hit the receiver full stride.
What happened to Pat Sullivan? Why isn't he coaching anymore!
Video on FSU next
Get Well Soon man!
Hope you are feeling OK scott...
Only thing I’d add to this video is the fact that he had a RB by committee scheme which didn’t help the offense… Pierce the best RB never truly got the bulk of the carries as he should have
I was at that Carolina game literally one of the most depressing loses in my fan career… by the time we played mizzou I was pulling for them because we all knew if he lost that game he was gone…. He lost the locker room and the discipline was awful. We were the worst penalized team in 2020…. So yeah
One thing he kept talking about how close they played Alabama instead of planning for the next opponents.
He is the first coach who ever made me afraid of the miss st bulldogs as an Lsu fan
Mullen was too loyal to mediocre, at best, assistants. Grantham, the DC, is a perfect example. Mullen should have dumped him last year. He let his personal relationship with him cloud his professional commitment to winning...
What's the difference between Mullen ,Scott Frost, Harbaugh
Mullin is the best of the 3
Harbaugh eats his boogers and won't be looking for a new job. That's the difference
Florida had contacted Napier after the South Carolina game. Mullen was already gone.
Yeah and if everybody remembers that game we would have lost to Kentucky three out of the four years he was there but when Frank's got hurt Kyle Trask came in and save the Day cuz we were literally down 19 points when he came in and he brought us back to win or Mullins would be 1-3 against Kentucky
The right quarterback never started.. weird
Well now florida just lost to an 0-7 no-name team (texas southern) in a relative blowout, so seems like the whole program is failing.
Can you do Ronnie Letson
Nebraska needs to hire Mullen as the OC ASAP cause Nebraska as a fan is looking for a top hire !.
I was at that game when State rolled in to Tuscaloosa at 7-0. Had some state fans sitting in front of us. What a great game. Few things bring me as much joy as beating the absolute shit out of a Dan Mullen team.
Nice!
Bruh you gotta be more interested in the research of these videos more than cranking them out faster than others
Small school mentality dooms and another good but not great coach.. That is why if I'm LSU / Florida I would be weary of hiring Billy Napier!!
Thank you
You said pertaining to this year that after a while the players didn't care and it was basically Mullen's fault? Zach Carter said after the FSU game that the players on the team are competitors and none want to lose. I didn't see anyone QUIT out there during the year. There was poor tackling and mental errors which led to penalties, but does that equal, "they no longer cared?"
this video was made before the FSU game, also what else is a player gonna publicly say?
He didn't fail. He tanked the season for a 12 million buyout so he could go join Erb in Jax. You don't play Bama THAT close, and then play down to S Carolina and SAMFORD of all teams. He also used a call center in the S. Pacific to handle his recruiting. He was a selfish, arrogant, manipulative, narcissistic piece of crap that used UF as a stepping stone. I wish him nothing but failure at the next level, but with his salary he won't care about that either.
Problem is Urban is going to be one and done in Jacksonville. He's not cut out to be an NFL coach and is probably going to get fired after this season.
What are you talking about he knew he wasn't going to go to Jax or else he would've left before the season and your a clown coming from a current student we all knew it wasn't going to be as good this season all of our talent left, and you play Bama that close when you played them a couple of months ago and know their weaknesses S Carolina and Samford was weird because Todd had just been fired and C-Rob was the new DC. He didn't use UF as a stepping stone the guy literally is our third winningest coach, in addition to that he left a cush job at Miss St. to come back cause he was loyal to us cause we gave him his first shot as a top OC and win 2 NC's.
Mullen's judgement in QBs was woefully off. Trask was obviously better than Franks, but Mullens stubbornly left Franks in and we suffered until Franks got hurt. Fast forward to Jones and Richardson and it's the same deal over again.
I'm excited to see what kind of team Napier builds at Florida.
Trask didn't start because he broke his foot the year before at practice the week he was supposed to start and Mullen didn't know if he was fully healed, Richardson and Jones was a combination that Richardson kept getting injured and while brilliant he was inconsistent, and as UF student I'm not that excited for Napier we could've gotten better
@@adityag485 I'm a Swamp native not a transplant, and at this point Napier can't do any worse than previous coaches. We'll know what he's about soon enough.
@@MehIgotnothing wdym he can’t do any worse he’s come into a situation where there’s a high bar set he has to take us within a couple of years to multiple NY6 bowls and win most of them and an Sec championship or is he isn’t up to scratch and individually he needs a Mackey TE a heisman finalist and multiple 1st round picks
The true down fall of Dan Mullen was leaving State the way he did. The starting QB experienced a traumatic leg injury (against Ole Miss no less) and he says after the game he's all in on staying. He was gone by the next Sunday.
However, after being someone who watched Dan Mullen coached teams for the better part of ten years I can say this, his biggest flaw is that he becomes predictable. I got to the point I knew what play he'd call every 3rd down. His predictability rubbed off on Grantham as well.
I still think firing Dan Mullen was a bad idea. He had 1 bad season. 3 NY6 bowl appearances in the first 3 years winning 2 of them (we had like 6-7 opt outs against Oklahoma). It sucks because I felt he really wanted to be here. He talked about wearing a visor because of spurrier, etc. His loyalty to assistance was too much (Grantham should have been fired after 2020, we were a natty team with an average defense). I thought Mullen saved his job by firing him and Hevesy, showing he was willing to fire his friends for the job. Overall Mullen finished 34-14. Tough to fire a coach with that success.
Florida's football facilities are subpar compared to other tier one programs. Sometimes shiny wins the day.
Didn’t recruit well and didn’t prioritize defense to balance out the team
Marco Wilson
At what point will someone look at Scott Stricklin and wonder if he is the right person to be athletic director? The women's basketball coach (his hire) was being abusive to the players, and now Mullen's downfall.
Poor staff management, poor player management, and mediocre recruiting.
His downfall was due to two things in my humble opinion. One, not taking responsibility for anything, ever. Two, not taking the job seriously as head coach. You don’t rest on your laurels when you get your dream job. He seemed to set it on auto and sit back rather than doing everything he could to make the team better. Sad actually.
We would all kill to have him back right now
Mullen failed at recruiting top LBs' for that 3-4 defense. He also failed to recruit or develop a few tough & hard hitting safeties. Mullen mage the admin upset with some of his press comments. Mullen was reprimanded by NCAA for a minor recruiting violation (text messaging a recruit). This didn't sit well with the Florida admin. The bottom line is when you lose, the big donors pressure the admin. I wish Dan the very best and I think he would make someone an awesome OC.
Your next video could be on why mizzou will never get to win the SEC championship or a national championship.
Florida only wants to be playing annually for the national championship, which requires the top recruits and no rebuilding years, or the coach has failed. It will never happen but those with the mouths and money will insure that Stricklin acts as they wish. In addition to Mullen being fired, Stricklin also needs to go.
You considered Mullen's comment, that the bowl team wasn't his while 8 of his best players sat it out, as a negative comment. It was spot on. Not only was it spot on but those with mouths and money probably expected him to win that game. Not going to happen.
That’s the only thing mizzou is good at, getting coaches fired for losing to their waste of space program
So Dak has been choking since college?
Should've stayed with us all we wanted was 6-6 and a bowl game every year lol