Not really OT: Dan Mullen & UF unhappy with each other.
This from Saturday Down South's Hayes reports there is "an uncomfortable pause between Dan Mullen, who led Florida to the SEC Championship Game this season, and the university administration, multiple sources close to the situation told me." The Gators' recent probation, along with "multiple public moments where Mullen’s antics have put the university in a bad light" seem to be the issues.
Mullen has also reportedly been telling NFL teams he's all ears. Hayes: "More than anything, the university wants a coach it can trust, and one that won’t put it in embarrassing situations."
Mullen takes an NFL job, which is possible with all the openings, and if you're Matt Campbell...and you get to choose between Michigan or talent-rich state like Florida, already in a position to compete for the division every year, with a down FSU and overrated Miami, wouldn't you consider it? Hopefully the Harbaugh situation is smoothed out sooner rather than later.
January 5th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
This is the 2021 version of "he was out on a boat".
Frack.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
This has to be from the Onion. That school had Urban Meyer and a litany of arrests by their police department that never "happened" and they are miffed at Mullen? Smells like an opportunity, not a reason, to part.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
but at the end of Urban's tenure that all became flashing headlines...plus Aaron Hernandez happened with all the documentaries and reporters around campus trying to figure out where he went wrong and what people at UF saw in him...and then Urban got in more shit and all that UF stuff was brought up again.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:25 PM ^
And then Urbs got sick and quit to spend time with his family.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
True make no mistake about it Florida would be looking the other way if Mullen had hardware like Urban.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:29 PM ^
FWIW I think this is all just smoke, but want to share some perspective.
UF administration today is much different than in the mid 2000s. This is true for the university in general, and in the athletic department too (although perhaps less so). While football is still a priority (as it is at Michigan) their preferences have shifted discernably away from being a big SEC football school and towards being a highly ranked academic university.
I don't expect Mullen is going anywhere, but UF will put up with fewer schenanigans today than 2 decades ago.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:45 PM ^
Yep.
UF is actually moving up the academic ranks, less because they are some great university, but more because the state does an incredible job of incentivizing it's top grads to stay in state. This combined with an incredibly quickly growing population means they are keeping students that used to go out of state.
I lived in Florida for two years, which were my Junior/Senior years of HS. Nearly everyone I went to school with had parents who basically pre-paid for their Florida state college (the actual state, not the university) through various programs where parents paid a severely reduced rate if they pre-paid. If your kid decides to go out of state, you lose that cash.
They also have very low standards for getting fulbright scholarships, which further reduce the cost of in-state college. I knew kids with 2.5 GPAs who got half and full scholarships to any Florida school through this program.
Combine these, and you'll basically lock in your talent that would normally go to the Ivy League or other top tier schools.
I graduated #11 in my class (out of 717, yeah, very overcrowded school in a booming area). Out of our top 15 students, only me and one other left Florida for university. Nearly all the other students (some of whom had gotten accepted to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc) were forced to stay in state because their parents had already paid for it or had full rides. So UF, which was still considered a party school 20 years ago, had an insane pipeline of academic talent reluctantly enrolling.
So yeah, UF is actually going to probably improve academically as their population continues to boom.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:07 PM ^
Very interesting background. That's a smart way for a state to retain academic talent. Was that the main reason that program was initiated years ago? I also assume all that upfront tuition money was locked away in proper investments and not raided by opportunistic politicians looking to fill budget gaps?!
I have a family member living in FL who prepaid for their child's college tuition, but didn't realize how locked in they were. It was a major stressor during a recent time period when their job in education was in jeopardy due to major budget cuts.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:20 PM ^
I don't know the history of it, but it was definitely a byproduct.
I always figured it had to be either front loading payments to pay state debts, or to keep talent from leaving. I just remember the prepaid amount was insanely low compared even to the in-state amount.
Either way, the concept in and out of state tuition is stupid.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
Thanks for the backstory! I've been watching national rankings for 30 years and Florida is the ONE school that I've REALLY noticed improve in their rankings! This has been my "stock" to watch. Their cost of in state tuition is something in like $6-7 thousand/year. Great weather. Very nice campus and have ranked in the top 10 of the directors cup annually every year (only other team is Stanford). I think they had a McCarthyism type issue mid-century that dropped their stock nationally for awhile, I think that's finally coming to an end too.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
I have a couple of friends who played at Florida in the 80's who echo this sentiment. They were not fans of Urban primarily because of the type of recruits he brought in and the lack of interest in their academic achievement. They refused to be part of his program and as they were involved in high school football they actually steered kids away from Florida. Basically, they felt Urban recruited very talented football players who were "trash" as people (Tebow aside) and let them run wild on campus with little discipline and fake academics. Post Urban the administration committed to changing the culture and they have done a great job. My friends once again are going to games and steering kids to Florida. Their feeling is Mullen, from the Urban tree, is trying to work around the Administration's commitment to bring in good kids and their focus on the student portion of student-athlete; hence the friction.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:01 PM ^
I remember some talk about how Florida didn't pursue Mullen when they were hiring for Muschamp's replacement (which ended up being McElwain) because Mullen didn't get along with Florida's then-AD Jeremy Foley (Foley had retired by the time McElwain was fired and wasn't in the picture for the search the resulted in Florida hiring Mullen). Maybe it's Mullen who has the personality issues and rubs people the wrong way...?
January 5th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
Maybe Chris Petersen can be lured out of retirement. Auburn picked Harsin from his coaching tree two weeks ago. I wouldn't be surprised if this stretched out another month.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
Pretty sure Seattle is about as exotic as Chris Petersen gets.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
Have you been to Gainesville? It's about as "exotic" as Iowa City. Seattle is a mecca of exotic in comparison.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:02 PM ^
I don't think Chris Petersen wants the unpleasantness that comes with coaching bigger programs.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
I mean it makes sense. Dan Mullen has a become an idiot and doesn't have the hardware for Florida to just go eh at his antics. They looked the other way on Meyer cause he won titles.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
Mullen bitching about aTm having fans in the stands and wanting fans in the Swamp, then getting COVID, was pretty embarrassing on his part.
He also does not seem like a guy who would succeed in the NFL.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
Campbell is a midwest guy. We all have the masochistic love for long ass winters, blue-collar romanticism, and a contempt for all things comfortable--especially warm weather.
January 7th, 2021 at 7:39 AM ^
You think 24/7 swamp ass is comfortable?
January 5th, 2021 at 4:19 PM ^
As a fan...I'm inclined to say Michigan should be able to get anyone they want, and I hope we get to great heights.
However, in reality:
If I'm an up and coming "hot" coach, then I'm most definitely going to Florida. College football is more about Jimmys and Joes than Xs and Os. Recruiting to Florida is WAY easier than recruiting to Michigan.
More recent National Championships. More recent Heismans. In the SEC, but not in the same division as Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, or Auburn. Warm weather school. Local (in state) HS talent is consistently some of the best, every year. Bowl games are in your backyard every year (essentially another home game). The media loves Florida (unlike Michigan's treatment from the media). "Rivals" are currently in down years.
Yeah, any coach would be a fool not to choose that. IMO.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:41 PM ^
All good points.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
except the one about the media, which is what literally every fanbase thinks about how the media treats them.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:48 PM ^
If Matt Campbell cared even a little how easy something was he would have never interviewed with ISU. Ease of success is not something on his rubric.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:45 PM ^
Depends on how many other P5 offers he had and their quality. Oddly ISU was the only Big 12 school looking for a new coach. BYU was also available.
Open jobs were Syracuse (Dino Babers)
VT ( Justin Fuentes)
UVA (Bronco Mendenhall)
Miami (Mark Richt)
Georgia (Kirby Smart)
Rutgers (Chris Ash)
Illinois (Bill Cubit)
Minnesota (Tracy Claeys)
South Carolina (Will Muschamp)
USC (Clay Helton)
Maryland (DJ Durkin)
Missouri (Barry Odom)
I would be surprised if any of the school son this list even interviewed him. Illinois should've since he's in the footprint. Minnesota...tough to say. They wouldn't have gotten to Row the Boat. And how many G5 coaches are plucked from across the country? Usually they move up into the nearest P5 conference right? All that to say, It's possible he wasn't considered for any of these other jobs and ISU doesn't look too bad. It's got a fairly easy path to success compared to the SEC and B1G.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:20 PM ^
I never got the Mullen love from this Board - especially given his own school doesn’t love him.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:26 PM ^
Mullen is clueless about the world in which he dwells, and comes off as being selfish. Not good traits for a leader
January 5th, 2021 at 4:32 PM ^
I thought only Harbaugh was capable of wearing out his welcome with an abrasive personality?
Honestly, Mullen has seemed like an ass for a while (he was pretty scummy at Miss St. as well but it was so under-the-radar it wasn't covered with major effect), and I'm not surprised he's looking to move on from UF. I don't necessarily think the NFL would want him as an HC, but they also fell in love with guys like Kingsberry who were mediocre college coaches but did one thing pretty well (in both cases, making QB-friendly offenses).
January 5th, 2021 at 4:46 PM ^
I'm not saying Florida wouldn't be interested in Campbell, but he's a midwest guy that's spent his entire career coaching in the midwest. Culturally he's a much better fit at UM than in the SEC. I'd guess he'd chose UM over Florida, despite the talent there. UM has to compete with OSU, but Florida has to compete with Bama & UGA, both of whom recruit at OSU's level.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
Recruiting would be so much easier in Florida, enough to where a quick turnaround is more likely? Plus a much more recent history of success at that school.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:04 PM ^
Recruiting would be so much easier in Florida, enough to where a quick turnaround is more likely? Plus a much more recent history of success at that school.
I just don't see it beyond saying UM had one really shitty year in 2020. But, they are essentially the same, plus UM has a 2-1 record against them in their last 3 meetings from 2015-2019.
2021 Class
- Florida #12
- UM #13
2020 Class
- Florida #9 (8-4)
- UM #14 (2-4)
2019
- Florida #9 (11-2)
- UM #8 (9-4)
2018
- Florida #14 (10-3)
- UM #22 (10-3)
2017
- Florida #11 (4-7)
- UM #5 (8-5)
2016
- Florida #12 (9-4)
- UM #8 (10-3)
Average
- Florida #11.2 (8.4-4)
- UM #11.6 (7.8-3.8)
January 6th, 2021 at 6:36 PM ^
the kids that florida will get and we will get are a bit different period
but i think it comes with record and expectations he has not fared as well as you would think
7-25 vs top 25 team
2-28 vs top 10
while at UF
4-7 vs top 25
2-6 vs top 10
January 5th, 2021 at 4:46 PM ^
Campbell probably isn't going to Michigan but he's definitely not going to Florida. Not a single chance.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
Are we sure Gators wouldn’t rather go with Tony Elliott, or local G5 guys (Jamey Chadwell, Billy Napier), to a guy who has never recruited the south?
January 5th, 2021 at 5:35 PM ^
Man, he's sort of a weird dude isn't he.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:45 PM ^
proving that, once again, there’s no bit of football news - college or pro - that can’t be twisted into some weird harbaugh coaching carousel crap.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:46 PM ^
Campbell won’t pick up the phone if Florida calls.
January 5th, 2021 at 10:42 PM ^
Don't think this is true. Florida is now a top five public u after decades of concerted effort to reach the top as a serious academic institution. In FL's most liberal town. Mullen calling for people to show up despite mask edicts. . . culturally, he has not been a good fit. A little bit of the same vibe as we have in A2, and a coach who's. . . quite willing to cut corners.
January 6th, 2021 at 3:34 AM ^
GTFO
January 7th, 2021 at 5:17 PM ^
Maybe Florida is PO's that he isn't Suburban Miejer.