After Penn State fired James Franklin last week, one of the early names to pop up from fans in a potential coaching search was former Florida Gators coach Dan Mullen. After departing Florida in 2021, Mullen took three years off before emerging at UNLV this season, where he is off to a 6-0 start in 2025.
Mullen claims he is happy in Sin City, and if Penn State fans were smart, they would allow him to stay there.
Dan Mullen to Penn State would be a mistake
As the Billy Napier Era has torpedoed, there has been this tendency to give some revisionist history to the Dan Mullen Era. Florida had three highly competitive seasons under Mullen and was a shoe throw away from potentially winning a national title in 2020.
But what the Mullen apologists always seem to gloss over is the 2021 season and just how quickly things unraveled.
Keep in mind that in 2021, he lost to four unranked teams, and Dan Mullen got fired at Florida because he essentially gave up. His recruiting class of 2022 was virtually non-existent, even before he got fired, and there was enough behind-the-scenes melodrama that caused both sides to part ways.
But even before things fell apart, the knock on Mullen was that he could beat all the mid-tier and bottom feeders of the country, but he lacked what it took to get over the hump to win anything meaningful and fell into the category of a gatekeeper of the SEC.
James Franklin just got fired because he could beat all the mid-tier and bottom feeders of the country, but lacked what it took to get over the hump...
If Penn State is looking for a coach who can win them nine or ten games a year, constantly make the playoffs, but usually fall short when it matters most, then Dan Mullen would be their man.
But considering that's what they just parted with, we would have to imagine they are going to keep looking.