Dan Mullen out as Florida football head coach

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - After losing in overtime to Missouri on Saturday to fall to 5-6 on the season and 2-6 in Southeastern Conference play, the Florida Gators have parted ways with Head Coach Dan Mulllen.

Mullen, who was an instrumental offensive coordinator in the two national championships Florida won in the 2006 and 2008 seasons, took over the program in 2018, his first two seasons he went 22-5 and the following two seasons went just 13-10.

In his last 11 Power 5 contests he was just 2-9, including losses to Kentucky, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, and Missouri.

Mullen started out strong with the program. He had back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes in his first two years at the helm. Followed by back-to-back New Year’s six bowl games.

But in his third season as head coach, despite guiding the program to unprecedented offensive numbers, the team finished 8-4. The Gators dropped their final three games of the season, including a 55-20 blowout loss to Oklahoma.

During that same season, the defense gave up a historically bad 30 points per game to opposing offenses and allowed over 400 yards of offense.

Mullen hung on to embattled defensive coordinator Todd Grantham for another season, despite cries from the fanbase that a change was needed.

Mullen eventually fired Grantham after the team lost to South Carolina, 40-17 during this current season.

After allowing FCS Samford to score 42 points in the first half of their contest at The Swamp on Nov. 13, which was the most amount of points given up in any half, against any team the Gators have ever played, the team did overcome the seven point halftime deficit to win, but it was a low-point on the season.

In his final game as head coach of Florida, Mullen oversaw the team’s stunning, overtime loss to Missouri to fall to 2-6 on the conference schedule. It’s the first time since 1992, when the league expanded that Florida has had this poor of record.

Greg Knox, Florida’s special teams and running backs coach will step in as interim head coach for the team’s final contest of the season against Florida State.

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