Paul Finebaum takes a deep dive on how Florida got to this point

After Florida went just 4-7 in 2017 and fired former head coach Jim McElwain midway through the season, the school then hired Dan Mullen and he led the Gators to a remarkable 10-3 campaign – which included a Peach Bowl win – in his first season in 2018. Fast forward three seasons later and Mullen is no longer leading the Florida football program.

Despite putting together a 21-5 record and winning a pair of New Year’s Six bowl games over his first two seasons in Gainesville, Mullen quickly lost control of the Gators’ program – going just 13-10 over the 2020 and 2021 campaigns.

Prior to being fired on Sunday by Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, Mullen had won just five games this season and lost four of his last five. One of those wins was one most people wouldn’t necessarily celebrate as the Gators had to score 70 points in order to beat FCS program Samford 70-52.

The rise and fall of Dan Mullen at Florida

Dan Mullen’s rise and fall happened rather quickly, and now Scott Stricklin is tasked with finding a replacement to lead Florida’s program into the future. On The ESPN College Football Podcast on Sunday, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum broke down what went wrong with Mullen in Gainesville.

“Dan Mullen, when he got the job, was coveted,” Finebaum said. “Scott Stricklin, after he fired Jim McElwain, offered the job to Chip Kelly – he thought about it, almost took it and he finally turned it down. The job next went to Scott Frost … he turned it down. Dan Mullen was on the verge of taking the Tennessee job after Butch Jones, and he ended up moving from Tennessee to Florida. That was the beginning – and he lit it up, people were excited, he won New Year’s Six bowl games.

“Last year, he had a phenomenal season until the end. Really, it just came apart late – especially against LSU. … That game, they should’ve won and they didn’t against LSU, and they lost the SEC championship game and then they just laid an egg in the Cotton Bowl when half the team didn’t show up. It was just a disastrous finish, there some NCAA issues in the offseason … and the optimism this year, it wasn’t as high but it was still pretty high.

“We know the Alabama game, and then it just started to unravel. The Kentucky game was a killer, but Mullen’s career really dipped at its deepest point that South Carolina game when they didn’t show up. The Samford game followed, then the Missouri game – the clock was already ticking, the hangman’s noose had already been made … and it’s possible he would’ve been fired whether he won the FSU game or not. That’s how bad things had gotten.”

Mullen, who went 34-15 overall at Florida, will receive his entire buyout of $12 million from the school.