ESPN formally announces Dan Mullen joins network, multi-year deal for Jesse Palmer
Dan Mullen’s role with ESPN is coming into clearer focus as the network officially announced the hire of the former SEC head coach on Friday. Along with bringing Mullen aboard, ESPN also announced that current analyst Jesse Palmer has signed a contract extension, while laying out the rest of the network’s college football coverage this season.
Mullen will serve as a studio analyst after previously making sporadic appearances on the SEC Network and ESPN. He’ll bring with him years of coaching knowledge from various stop like Florida and Mississippi State, appearing on ESPN2 on Saturday’s and also on ESPN during studio wraps on Thursdays and Fridays. Mullen will be working with ESPN vets Kevin Connors and Sam Acho.
Further, the trio of Palmer, Matt Barrie and Joey Galloway are locked in for another season, and probably more as Palmer signed a contract extension. Those three host ESPN’s main studio show on Saturdays, as well as the show “College Football Final” at the end of the night, and Palmer also hosts The Bachelor on ABC.
Also on ABC, Kevin Negandhi and Booger McFarland are going into their third season working together in studio on college football coverage.
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ESPN also announced Wendi Nix will continue hosting College Football Live, except on Fridays, when Jen Lada will be taking over.
Mullen has appeared on ESPN in the past as a guest analyst and is less than one year removed from his most recent coaching stint where he led the Gators. In 2021, Mullen’s last season in Gainesville, Florida went 5-6 and Mullen was fired following an overtime loss to Missouri. During his Florida tenure, Mullen went 34-15 and led the Gators to the 2020 SEC title game, where they lost to Alabama. He was replaced with former Louisiana head coach Billy Napier in December of 2021.
The 50-year-old Pennsylvania native spent 2022 volunteering as a “contributing resource” for the football team and athletic department of Georgia high school Lake Oconee Academy.