Here's the case for retaining embattled Florida Gators coach Dan Mullen
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If Florida is going to fire embattled coach Dan Mullen, it must consider two questions: Who can the Gators legitimately expect to hire? And is Florida confident it will outrank LSU and Southern Cal on the vacancy pecking order?
LSU and USC got a jumpstart on their coaching searches in October and September, respectively. Do the Gators really want to enter that brew now?
While Florida is undeniably one of the nation's top jobs, the Gators job probably doesn't outrank LSU, and it's debatable whether it is superior to USC.
On this edition of "SEC Football Unfiltered," a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams examine Mullen's hot-seat status and debate whether Gators athletics director Scott Stricklin should retain Mullen or reboot.
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This is a conversation Toppmeyer never expected to be having in 2021, and while he remains in the bring-Mullen-back-in-2022 camp, he says he's moving close to 50/50 after Florida's embarrassing 40-17 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Florida (4-5, 2-5 SEC) has Samford, Missouri and Florida State left on the docket. Lose any of those, and Toppmeyer could become convinced that a change is needed.
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Adams says Mullen is coming across as a weirdo rather than a guru these days, but he nonetheless thinks Florida should give Mullen another shot to get this right in 2022 with a new defensive coordinator, following Sunday's firing of Todd Grantham. Urban Meyer isn't walking through that door, Adams says, and he's unconvinced Florida would hire a coach better than Mullen.
Interestingly, Florida did not land its top candidate when Stricklin hired Mullen in November 2017. Chip Kelly had been UF's top target, but Kelly chose UCLA, where he's 15-25.
The best thing going for Mullen, Toppmeyer says, is that Stricklin hired him and previously was Mullen's boss at Mississippi State. If you're a struggling coach, you're better off working for the AD who hired you.
Later in the episode
Given No. 2 Alabama's inconsistencies, Toppmeyer makes that case that No. 11 Texas A&M would be a bigger threat to No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship. The Crimson Tide would have to lose another game for the Aggies to reach Atlanta. Georgia has the nation's best defense, but Texas A&M's defense ranks second in the SEC. Toppmeyer thinks the matchup could yield a low-scoring affair, and if the Aggies forced a few turnovers and caught a couple breaks, they could perhaps threaten an upset. Adams isn't buying it. He says Texas A&M is Georgia Light. He still thinks Alabama is the bigger threat thanks to having one of the SEC's top quarterbacks in Bryce Young and the greatest coach of all time in Nick Saban.
Adams normally appreciates Mike Leach's unfiltered approach, but he didn't find it amusing when Leach said he'd host open tryouts for kickers after two Mississippi State kickers combined to miss three field goals in a 31-28 loss to Arkansas. Leach should have took onus for the loss, Adams says, rather than throwing his kickers under the bus.
After Hugh Freeze's Liberty Flames lost 27-14 to Ole Miss in Freeze's return to Oxford, the Ole Miss football Twitter account razzed Freeze with a couple of since-deleted tweets. Toppmeyer sees no issue with the Rebels zinging its former coach, who embarrassed Ole Miss and left the program in shambles after his 2017 resignation.
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Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. John Adams is a senior columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. If you enjoy their coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. You can also subscribe to their podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered. They also host a podcast focused on Tennessee football, The Volunteer State.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Dan Mullen on the hot seat: Here's the case for keeping Florida coach
