By Mia Fishman
For Dan Mullen, the quintessential time of the year is when the leaves morph into a golden hue and college football occupies thousands of televisions across the nation.
Born and bred amongst the history of the United States and of course, Pennsylvania native, Jim Croce, Mullen found his delight within the game of football. He played tight end at Ursinus College where he lettered for two years and ultimately received a first-team All-Centennial Conference selection his senior season. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Education, Mullen headed north to Staten Island to begin his graduate schooling as well as his coaching career at Wagner College.
After a couple of brief assistant stints with Syracuse and Notre Dame, Mullen hit the big stage in 2001 when he was hired as a quarterback coach for Bowling Green under Urban Meyer. He then followed Meyer out west to coach for Utah in 2003 (where he recruited and mentored legendary Utes quarterbacks, Alex Smith and Brian Johnson) and then down south just two seasons later after Meyer was hired by the University of Florida.
Mullen began his coaching legacy in Gainesville as an interim offensive coordinator, later dropping the temporary label from his title as well as earning a quarterback coaching position. He took a brief intermission from The Sunshine State in 2008 and departed to Starkville for his first head coaching gig. At Mississippi State, Mullen led the Bulldogs to a handful of record breaking seasons, several bowl game appearances and a slew of highly sought after recruiting classes. He is currently the second most winningest football coach in Mississippi State school history.
In late November of 2017, Mullen signed a six-year, $36.6 million contract with Florida and Gator-chomped his way back to the SEC East. Following his first governing season down in the Swamp, the Gators went 10-3 and ended the season ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll after a dominant 41-15 Peach Bowl win over No. 8 Michigan. In 2019, his squad went 11-2 and closed the season with a 36-28 victory over Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
During his time as head coach, Mullen pushed the Gators toward multiple winning seasons and top ten appearances. Florida appeared on the SEC East podium for three out of four seasons with Mullen as head coach. In the course of his third season, the Gators were ranked as high as No. 4 and quarterback Kyle Trask displayed exceptional numbers, breaking records and dominating FBS statistics after he threw for 4,283 passing yards and 43 touchdowns in a single season.
Mullen, who now resides just down the road in Greensboro, Georgia, volunteers on the coaching staff for the Lake Oconee Academy Titans. He currently works as a college football studio analyst for ABC and ESPN.