Dan Mullen’s time at Florida was better than it is ultimately remembered for. While things fell apart in a heartbeat in 2021, Mullen still left Gainesville as the third most winningest coach since World War II, and he would have made the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 had they been expanded at the time.
But among the reasons Mullen isn’t here is because of the coach who resides in Athens, Georgia, and on Monday, both men were in Gainesville for an award ceremony where Kirby Smart had to get in a jab at Mullen’s expense.
Kirby Smart makes a joke at Dan Mullen’s expense
The fifth annual FWAA Steve Spurrier Awards were held at Spurrier’s Gridiron Grille on Monday. The event was as much of a roast as it was an awards ceremony, with notable names like Mullen, Smart, and Miami coach Mario Cristobal in attendance.
Mullen was presented with the First-Year Coach of the Year award for guiding UNLV to a ten-win season in his initial campaign with the Rebels. Smart was there to support Ellis Johnson IV winning the FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year.
When Smart got his turn with the microphone, he made a jab at Cristobol:
“(Cristobol) came up to me and he’s like, ‘You ought to start getting on some protein shakes. You’ve had too many carbs.’
And I said, ‘Well, you probably ought to spend some time with Steve Spurrier because he’s won more conference championships at Duke than you have Miami.'”
Jon Sumrall was also in attendance and had a good laugh at that joke. That’s when Smart turned his attention to Sumrall after confirming that Spurrier’s daughter is a real estate agent:
“I don’t know why you’re over here laughing too now, Coach Sumrall... You’re the fourth coach I’ve played since being at Georgia, so (Spurrier’s daughter) is getting a lot of money from sold houses. She’s going through it.”
In case one is keeping score at home, Mullen was one of those coaches.
This isn’t the first time Smart has taken a jab at Mullen. Back in 2023, when Mullen was working for ESPN, he predicted that Florida would beat Georgia that year. When the Bulldogs dominated the game, Smart said afterwards, “(Mullen’s) supposed to be my friend. He didn’t like to recruit though.”
One coach away
If there is a silver lining with Smart’s jab, it’s actually a reminder of something we have pointed out in the past and a huge reason why we were quickly off the Billy Napier train:
At a place like Florida or Georgia, you are always one coach away from greatness.
Georgia hit a home run with Smart and has two national titles to show for it.
Florida keeps swinging and missing.
If Sumrall doesn’t work out, try again in three years and move on. Because if and when Florida does finally get its coaching search right, it can switch overnight to being the school delivering the jokes rather than being the butt end of them.