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Florida Reveals Who It Has Hired To Be The Next Head Football Coach

(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen was announced Sunday night as the next coach for the Florida Gators.

The school stated the following in a press release about the decision:

University of Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin announced that Dan Mullen will be the 27th head coach in Florida football history.
 
Mullen, who spent the past nine seasons as Mississippi State’s head coach (2009-17), returns to Gainesville where he served four seasons (2005-08) as offensive coordinator and was a major factor in the program winning two Southeastern Conference and BCS National Titles (2006, 2008) during his tenure.
 
“Megan and I are very excited to get back to Gainesville and the University of Florida,” Head Coach Dan Mullen said. “I have such great memories of the championships we won during our time here and have a love for Florida. We are happy to be coming back to such a supportive administration, staff, student body and fan base, which is the premier football program in the country.

Mullen has had a lot of success at Mississippi State, especially when you look at the talent he’s had compared to the average SEC school he has to compete with. He’s not exactly marching out the same players that Nick Saban has at his disposal.

It’s also always fun to see a guy come home to a school he was a former coach at. The good news for Florida is that it can only go up from here. The program has done absolutely nothing noteworthy in the past couple years and finished this season an abysmal 4-7.

I don’t know if Mullen will get the school a championship. I certainly wouldn’t bet on it, but he’s a major improvement over former coach Jim McElwain. There’s no doubt about that at all.

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