Dan is done.
Can’t wait to see whom they come up with as a replacement.
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UPDATE: Oh, and one more thing…
Here’s hoping Strickland has to settle for his seventh choice. That worked really well for Tennessee.
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UPDATE: Shockingly, this Mike Bianchi column, written before the firing, contains a fair warning.
For the sake of Gator Nation, I hope Stricklin makes the correct move; I’m just not sure firing Mullen is the right decision.
I certainly understand the logic of making a coaching change. It is the easy and popular decision for an AD to fire a coach who is now 5-6 this season (the first time he has had a losing record at UF) and is 2-9 against his last 11 Power 5 opponents.
However, unless Stricklin has some huge, hush-hush ace-in-the-hole hire up his sleeve — unless he has clandestinely convinced Bob Stoops to come out retirement (and, yes, I’m hearing Stoops might be interested) or unless he believes he can persuade Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell to come to Gainesville — then perhaps Stricklin should keep Mullen.
Other than Stoops or Fickell, who could the Gators hire that would be better than their current head coach? Let’s remember that the available list of candidates aren’t always what you think they will be. The last time the UF job opened up, the three top candidates were Scott Frost, Chip Kelly and Mullen. Frost is currently 3-8 at Nebraska, has never had a winning record (15-28 overall) and just took a pay cut just so he could save his job for one more season. Kelly, meanwhile, is 17-25 at UCLA and has had three losing seasons in four years.
… If you ask me, the head-coaching talent pool is especially shallow now for the number of good jobs available. It’s no secret the Gators would be competing with other top programs should they fire Mullen. The LSU and USC jobs are open, and a case could be made that those are just as good if not better than the Florida job. The Miami job will likely soon be open. Washington, Virginia Tech and TCU are also open.
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