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Urban Meyer gives Dan Mullen advice after taking job at Florida
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When Urban Meyer offers advice, people tend to listen. That includes his former assistant coach Dan Mullen.
At the end of the 2017 season, Mullen accepted the head coaching position at Florida, opting to leave Mississippi State after nine successful seasons. He chose to return to a program where he experienced a load of success as the offensive coordinator from 2005 through 2008. After that decision, Meyer — who was the head coach at UF and brought Mullen aboard — reached out to his former assistant.
“He was like, ‘Hey, you’ve done an amazing job. You are deserving of any opportunity that comes your way and I’m going to support you with whatever decision you decide to make.’ But he said, ‘You know, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, be you. Be who you are. Be the coach you’ve been because it works,'”Mullen said, according to SEC Country.
“You look at the success and you had unprecedented success at Mississippi State, take that with you and be who you are and continue to coach the way you coach and you’re going to be successful.”
That’s excellent advice, especially from someone like Meyer, who’s experienced success at every single stop along his journey.
Mullen was 69-46 in nine seasons at Mississippi State, leading the Bulldogs to eight straight bowl games. His best season came in 2014, when Mississippi State finished the year 10-3 and made an appearance in the Orange Bowl.
Winning at Florida at a high level will be a new challenge for Mullen, but if he takes Meyer’s advice, he should be just fine in the long run.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB