Dan Mullen reflects on his Florida exit and the irony is impossible to miss

The Dan Mullen Era at Florida was better than history is going to remember it for. Mullen left Gainesville with the third-best winning percentage of any Gator coach ever, and he would have made the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 had there been the expanded playoffs that exist now.

But the Dan Mullen Era ended because things went south in a hurry, and even today Mullen still doesn’t seem to accept his part in why it ended so quickly.

Dan Mullen reflects on his exit from Florida

Prior to UNLV’s loss to Ohio in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, Mullen was asked about his time at Florida. He was fired before the 2021 season ended and it wasn’t until this year that Mullen took another coaching job as he spent the last three years in a TV studio with ESPN.

Mullen claimed that this year’s UNLV squad renewed his love for coaching: 

“I didn't like that as the final chapter of my coaching career. This year's team is a book, and tomorrow night, we get to write the final chapter of this book. But your book of life, the coaching part in that chapter of my life of coaching, I didn't like how it ended. But this team has really got me back to why I love coaching. 

I have not had a day when I have not been excited to come to work. Almost, you know, I know everyone gets exhausted, and you know, sometimes, at the end of the season... like I get to just catch my breath... don't get much time with recruiting and the portal coming, but just that time to even just take a breath. 

You know, I think after tomorrow night, I'm going to be sad that I'm not going in the office to be around all these guys. They made it that enjoyable to be around and fun to go to coach, because it certainly was not always easy. We have some certain characters on our team who bring some very unique challenges every single day.” 

As has been the case anytime Florida comes up with Mullen, he seems to want to engage in revisionist history.

When Mullen states, “Don’t get much time with recruiting and the portal coming,” this is the same exact Mullen who famously stated before getting fired, "We’re in the season now. We’ll do [talk about] recruiting after the season — when it gets to recruiting time, we can talk about recruiting."

Mullen talks about wanting to be in the office, but this is the same Mullen who essentially gave up on the Gators in 2021.

This is the same Mullen who watched Marco Wilson throw a shoe to cost Florida a shot at the national title, then named him captain the very next game.

We could go on and on. And frankly, Mullen probably does like it better in Las Vegas than in Gainesvilles and that’s his right to do so. 

Just acknowledge why that chapter in Gainesville had to end in the first place.