Dan Mullen is a Great Coordinator, He's a Good Coach

Dan Mullen of Florida has proven time and time again that he is a great offensive coordinator, but is he a great head coach?

Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen cut his teeth in the coaching industry as an offensive coordinator and a very good one. His teams have always scored points and done it in bundles. In each of the last six years as a head coach, his teams have averaged at least 30 points per game on offense. Simply put, give him a quarterback and points will be the result.

There are very few questions about his ability to run an offense at an elite level, but can he run a program at that same level? 

Recruiting

Mullen is not a poor recruiter, but he's basically average. In his two full recruiting classes — 2019 and 2020 — he's added the No. 9-ranked class both years according to 247sports.com's composite rankings. That might appear as if Mullen is a borderline great recruiter, but apart from Jim McElwain's time at Florida, the Gators are a perennial powerhouse in terms of recruiting. It's hard not to be, being positioned in the middle of a state that produced 141 SI All-American candidates, more than any other state in the country in the class of 2021. 

There are currently 17 members of the SI99 in the state of Florida in the class of 2021, Mullen has landed just one of them, cornerback Jason Marshall. He's simply not landing the elite of the elite; he's landing the very good. 

Mismanagement 

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an indication of how tightly run a college football program truly is. It's difficult to ask college students to completely isolate themselves, but the team that handles the control of the virus the best will likely have the best chance to win a national title. Florida has had several instances of multitude COVID-19 positives. So much so that they had to postpone their Oct. 17 game against LSU from Oct. 17 to Dec. 12, and move the proceeding Oct. 24 Missouri game back to Oct. 31, due to COVID-19 protocols.

It could be bad luck, but a spread to 37 players - plus members of the staff, including Mullen - in one month is not a result of luck. Alabama hasn't had an outbreak. Clemson has had one player test positive this season, but it was to the most heralded player in the sport, quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Georgia hasn't had a problem with the virus to this point. Ohio State just started their season, but the Buckeyes haven't had a problem yet. 

There are also other items of concern. Mullen also has a propensity to burn timeouts during vital games. Against Texas A&M this season, he used two timeouts at the beginning of the third quarter during a close game. Against Georgia a year ago, Florida burned two of their three first-half timeouts within the first two offensive possessions, both because they had the wrong personnel on the field. 

Missouri vs. Florida Brawl

At the end of the first half between the Tigers and Gators last Saturday, Florida quarterback Kyle Trask was the victim of a cheap shot from a Missouri defender. As Trask calmly walked to the locker room, Mullen ran after the officials at midfield. It was Mullen whose players followed his lead and were in the middle of the field face-to-face with Missouri players. 

That altercation ended in fisticuffs being exchanged, fines being levied, and suspensions for Saturday's game against Georgia handed out. Mullen was fined $25,000 for his role in the altercation and Florida defensive linemen Zachary Carter and Antwuan Powell were suspended by the SEC for the first half of Saturday's game. 

This doesn't mean Mullen is a bad coach; he's a very good coach. However, he's not a great head coach, but is a great offensive coordinator. 

To be fair, the same could be said about Kirby Smart at this point in his head coaching career. He's proven he can put great defenses on the field, he's proven he can put together great recruiting classes. What he hasn't proven is that he can put together a championship-caliber offense.  

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