Mississippi State will hire Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen to be its next head football coach, ESPN.com has learned from sources close to the search.
An announcement is expected later Wednesday. Terms of the deal are not known. Mullen fits the profile Mississippi State was searching for: a high-energy personality, a strong recruiter and an offensive background. In addition, Mullen knows the SEC after four years working with Urban Meyer in Gainesville -- something that gave him an advantage over another high-profile offensive coordinator interviewed for the job, Oklahoma's Kevin Wilson. It is unclear whether Mullen will stay with Florida through the FedEx BCS National Championship Game against Oklahoma, a source said. Prior to coming to Florida, Mullen was Meyer's quarterbacks coach at Utah, where he worked with eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick Alex Smith. At Florida he tutored Chris Leak during the Gators' 2006 national championship campaign and also helped coach Tim Tebow to the 2007 Heisman Trophy and a likely spot as a Heisman finalist this season. Mullen replaces Sylvester Croom, who was the first African-American head football coach in SEC history. Croom resigned under pressure Nov. 29 after five seasons on the job. Croom's record at Mississippi State was 20-39. He was SEC Coach of the Year in 2007 after an 8-5 season capped by a Liberty Bowl victory, but the Bulldogs backslid this season to 3-9 and were again woeful offensively. In Croom's five years, Mississippi State's offense was ranked in triple digits every year out of 119 teams (120 the past two years, since Western Kentucky joined the FBS). Meanwhile, Mullen's spread attack at Florida ranked third nationally in scoring and 18th in total offense. Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. From: Gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Woody Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:02 PM To: Gatortalk Subject: [gatortalk] According to ESPN: Mullen to Mississippi State Sooooooo... hows everyone feel about this? Woody --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
