GAINESVILLE — When Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen were assistants at Notre Dame, they went on lunchtime jogs together.
Starting off at a leisurely pace, by the time they hit the final stretch, their competitive nature took over.
“I’d pick up the pace and he’d try to pull in front of me,” said Mullen, now the head coach at Mississippi State. “We’d finish in a dead sprint every day to see who would finish first.”
Mullen was Meyer’s 27-year-old graduate assistant at the time and a consistent antagonist who always thought he had better ideas than his 35-year-old boss.
But Meyer was so impressed he brought him along each time he took a head-coaching job.
Mullen will now make his first trip back to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday when the Gators (4-2, 2-2 in the SEC) host Mississippi State (4-2, 1-2) at 7 p.m.
The stadium will be marked by mementos of Mullen’s success. He helped Florida win the 2006 and ’08 national championships and recruited quarterbacks Tim Tebow, John Brantley and Trey Burton.
In recruiting, Mullen’s self-confidence was an asset and an obstacle to the Gators. While some prospects latched on to his swagger, others found him obnoxious.
“Some people and I hit it off right away; maybe some people I rub the wrong way,” Mullen said. “But as you go and you recruit and you build relationships with people, they get to know you and see the type of person I am. I think most of them, in the end, kind of like me a lot.”
Gators left guard Carl Johnson described Mullen as “weird” and “kind of off,” but said he appreciated his style.
Meyer was reluctant to rehash their history this week, but in the 2008 book Urban’s Way, he acknowledged, “Tim almost didn’t come to Florida because of him. We had to overcome our quarterback coach to get Tim Tebow to come here.”
Tebow and Mullen later grew close, and Meyer said other quarterbacks like Chris Leak, Josh Harris and Alex Smith had similar relationship trajectories with Mullen.
Meyer and Mullen’s friendship went that direction, too. In the book, Meyer said, “I was ready to fight him,” back at Notre Dame and that “his maturity and people skills needed improvement.” This week Meyer said they “get along great.”
Brantley said he had “a good relationship” with Mullen, but his father, John Brantley, was pleased when Mullen left the Gators. He credited his son signing with Florida to former assistant Doc Holliday, not Mullen.
“We’re not going to get into any much of a conversation about Mullen,” Brantley said in August.
“He’s a different cat, but he’s a good guy. But I don’t know if that was a good marriage or not.”
Burton, conversely, gravitated toward Mullen instantly. They bonded at Florida’s off-season camp before Burton’s sophomore year at Venice High School.
Burton grew up a Gators fan and likely would have ended up in Gainesville regardless, but Mullen aggressively tried to keep him focused only on Florida. After one camp, Burton’s mother, Cindy, told Mullen they were headed to Florida State the next day and Mullen immediately tried to talk her out of it.
“Why do you want to go there?” Cindy Burton recalled a panicked Mullen asking. “Will you please call me afterward and tell me what you thought of it?”
Mullen, now 38 and in his 17th season in college football, has matured as a person and a coach, Meyer said. The Bulldogs averaged fewer than four victories per season in the eight years prior to hiring Mullen and they have not had a winning record in conference since 1999.
In Mullen’s first season, the team went 5-7, including a 29-19 loss to Florida in Starkville and a season-ending win over then-No. 25 Ole Miss.
This year’s team, which runs the spread-option like the Gators, is 38th in total offense nationwide at 416.8 yards per game, nearly 100 yards better than Florida. The Bulldogs average 31.7 points per game.
“I think he’s done a heck of a job,” Meyer said. “You knew he would, though.”
Starting off at a leisurely pace, by the time they hit the final stretch, their competitive nature took over.
“I’d pick up the pace and he’d try to pull in front of me,” said Mullen, now the head coach at Mississippi State. “We’d finish in a dead sprint every day to see who would finish first.”
Mullen was Meyer’s 27-year-old graduate assistant at the time and a consistent antagonist who always thought he had better ideas than his 35-year-old boss.
But Meyer was so impressed he brought him along each time he took a head-coaching job.
Mullen will now make his first trip back to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday when the Gators (4-2, 2-2 in the SEC) host Mississippi State (4-2, 1-2) at 7 p.m.
The stadium will be marked by mementos of Mullen’s success. He helped Florida win the 2006 and ’08 national championships and recruited quarterbacks Tim Tebow, John Brantley and Trey Burton.
In recruiting, Mullen’s self-confidence was an asset and an obstacle to the Gators. While some prospects latched on to his swagger, others found him obnoxious.
“Some people and I hit it off right away; maybe some people I rub the wrong way,” Mullen said. “But as you go and you recruit and you build relationships with people, they get to know you and see the type of person I am. I think most of them, in the end, kind of like me a lot.”
Gators left guard Carl Johnson described Mullen as “weird” and “kind of off,” but said he appreciated his style.
Meyer was reluctant to rehash their history this week, but in the 2008 book Urban’s Way, he acknowledged, “Tim almost didn’t come to Florida because of him. We had to overcome our quarterback coach to get Tim Tebow to come here.”
Tebow and Mullen later grew close, and Meyer said other quarterbacks like Chris Leak, Josh Harris and Alex Smith had similar relationship trajectories with Mullen.
Meyer and Mullen’s friendship went that direction, too. In the book, Meyer said, “I was ready to fight him,” back at Notre Dame and that “his maturity and people skills needed improvement.” This week Meyer said they “get along great.”
Brantley said he had “a good relationship” with Mullen, but his father, John Brantley, was pleased when Mullen left the Gators. He credited his son signing with Florida to former assistant Doc Holliday, not Mullen.
“We’re not going to get into any much of a conversation about Mullen,” Brantley said in August.
“He’s a different cat, but he’s a good guy. But I don’t know if that was a good marriage or not.”
Burton, conversely, gravitated toward Mullen instantly. They bonded at Florida’s off-season camp before Burton’s sophomore year at Venice High School.
Burton grew up a Gators fan and likely would have ended up in Gainesville regardless, but Mullen aggressively tried to keep him focused only on Florida. After one camp, Burton’s mother, Cindy, told Mullen they were headed to Florida State the next day and Mullen immediately tried to talk her out of it.
“Why do you want to go there?” Cindy Burton recalled a panicked Mullen asking. “Will you please call me afterward and tell me what you thought of it?”
Mullen, now 38 and in his 17th season in college football, has matured as a person and a coach, Meyer said. The Bulldogs averaged fewer than four victories per season in the eight years prior to hiring Mullen and they have not had a winning record in conference since 1999.
In Mullen’s first season, the team went 5-7, including a 29-19 loss to Florida in Starkville and a season-ending win over then-No. 25 Ole Miss.
This year’s team, which runs the spread-option like the Gators, is 38th in total offense nationwide at 416.8 yards per game, nearly 100 yards better than Florida. The Bulldogs average 31.7 points per game.
“I think he’s done a heck of a job,” Meyer said. “You knew he would, though.”
