Florida cancels media availability after Dan Mullen press conference

The Florida Gators are going radio-silent this week, a troubling sign for the program that’s floundering after a stomping from Georgia. Florida will not have any media availability outside of Dan Mullen’s Monday press conference and his Wednesday SEC coaches’ teleconference call.

The media typically meets with several Gator players during the week but none will be made available ahead of Week 10. Also evading questioning is defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. Grantham usually takes the podium for questions on Monday but he won’t this week.

Dan Mullen’s offense got suffocated by the Bulldogs on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. A Mullen offense hadn’t been held to fewer than 10 points since 2017 at Mississippi State.

The Gators managed to tally just 194 passing yards and 161 rushing yards, all while committing three turnovers — two via Anthony Richardson interceptions and one from a Richardson fumble.

Press conference turns awkward

The 2021 season has not gone as planned for Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators. They’ve fallen way short of expectations. The latest 34-7 loss to Georgia paints a far different picture than the Gators’ preseason AP No. 13 ranking would suggest.

In Mullen’s weekly press conference, the Florida head coach got short with the media. Dodging a question regarding the Gators’ effort to recruit top talent consistently, Mullen made a comment that’s very atypical of any DI coach.

“We’re in the season now,” Mullen said, when asked about Florida’s recruiting process. “We’ll do recruiting after the season — when it gets to recruiting time we can talk about recruiting.”

According to Gators Territory beat writer Nick de la Torre, Mullen’s ill-advised comment led to another strange moment on Monday. Florida ended its weekly press conference shortly thereafter.

“Dan Mullen’s press conference ends abruptly, no players made available. I was in line to ask a question, not called on,” de la Torre tweeted. “Not sure what’s going on at UF.”

Finebaum questions Mullen’s security

Florida climbed up as high as No. 10 in the AP poll, but the Gators — now just 4-4 and 2-4 in the SEC — have lost their ranking. As the Gators continue to falter, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum had some concerns regarding Mullen’s job security in Gainesville.

“If there is good news for Dan Mullen, and there really isn’t, he got shamed into starting [Anthony Richardson] because that’s what the fans wanted, and he did it, and that worked out brilliantly,” Finebaum said sarcastically on The ESPN College Football Podcast. “Florida, the rest of the way, is at South Carolina, Samford, at Missouri and Florida State. I will tell you what: those are all very winnable games. Should he lose one of those games, he would — just beware. It’s already nasty and negative in relation to Dan Mullen.”

On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.