Florida coach Dan Mullen: 'I don't control the narrative' for Gators program

Florida head coach Dan Mullen doesn’t want to hear the narratives about the state of the Gators football program right now. The Gators defeated Samford 70-52 on Saturday. That is the only thing that Mullen is focused on.

Speculation has been circling about the future of Mullen as Florida’s head coach. Many believe that due to Florida’s struggles this season that a change could be made after the season. But Mullen doesn’t care about any of those narratives except for his own. And his narrative is that Florida just won a football game.

“I don’t control the narrative,” Mullen said when asked about whether or not Florida can change the narrative in the final two games. “The narrative is we won. We won on Saturday. 70 points. It depends what you want to look at for your narrative. We had every right to pack it in. We’re losing and then came back and dominated the second half of the game. We had a guy set the all-time record in the history of Florida football. I don’t know if there’s a bigger narrative. That’s got to be the biggest narrative since Tebow. I mean that’s a pretty big deal.”

Entering the season, Mullen had a 29-9 record as Florida’s head coach in three seasons. Florida had high hopes entering the season after making the SEC Championship last year. The Gators were ranked No. 13 in the AP Preseason poll. But Florida’s struggles have been well documented.

Mullen is only focused on his own narrative as Florida’s head coach

Mullen said that everyone has their own narrative. He told the reporters that while they write their narratives, his is solely focused on Saturday’s win.

“Your narrative is your narrative,” Mullen said to one reporter. “I think one of you guys I saw an article. It doesn’t matter what happens I’ve already wrote the story. That’s your narrative as a professional journalist that you’ve already written a story no matter what the outcome is. My narrative is, as coach, we won a football game. We had a guy set an all-time school record. That’s a pretty big deal. We had our backs against the wall, we came out, battles, and outscored a team 42-10 in the second half.

“The narrative’s your narrative. Our narrative is we won the game. I was with the team this morning. Guys are fired up. We celebrated and had a great time in the locker room. We got a great week of practice ahead of us right now and guys are excited to go play football again. That’s my narrative. You can do whatever you want to do. I can’t control your narrative.”

Mullen’s future as the head coach at Florida will continue to be in question through the end of the season. The Gators are 5-5 on the season due to a three-game losing streak that saw losses to LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina. Florida’s win over Samford might not be overly impressive. But the Gators got the job done. With games against Missouri and Florida State remaining, Mullen is running out of time to re-write his narrative for the season.