Dan Mullen got the “Coaches Saying Stuff During Spring Speaking Engagements” season off to a flying start with these comments made at a Signing Day event for donors and season ticket holders last night in Florida’s indoor practice facility.
Dan Mullen takes shot at rival Georgia, saying that one SEC championship doesn’t make you a ‘dominant program’
Mullen’s got some jokes for the rival Dawgs.
Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images
Mullen made these comments, apparently in jest, after being asked how the Gators will keep up with rival Georgia’s success both on the field and on the recruiting trail:
“Listen, winning one SEC Championship Game doesn’t make you a dominant program, you know what I’m saying?” Mullen said with a laugh. “In two of the last three years, we’ve been to the SEC Championship Game. So even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.”
Georgia is flat out dusting Florida at pretty much everything. The Bulldogs’ recruiting class was historically good, and is lapping its SEC East rivals.
Georgia has signed more four- and five-star recruits in the last two years (43) than Florida and Tennessee combined (35). Georgia has signed more four- and five-star recruits in the last two classes (43) than Florida (37) or Tennessee (39) have in the last last four years.
UGA also blasted UF in The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail party last October.
Mullen’s not afraid to take a jab at a rival, and it appears that that trend will continue now that he’s at Florida. Mullen’s also not afraid to set big goals for his program. While at Mississippi State, he said the Bulldogs would win a national title. His boss in Starkville and now in Gainesville, Scott Stricklin, understands.
“That’s what Dan does,” Stricklin said. “He is not afraid to be aspirational. There are leaders who are afraid to put themselves out there because if you put a high bar and don’t reach it you’re afraid of being criticized.
But Mullen never won the SEC West or even beat Alabama while at Mississippi State. And while Florida went to two SEC title games under Jim McElwain, they got blown out by the Tide in both those games.
Florida’s got a tough hill to climb before the Gators are back to the level their fan base expects, or even is competing on the same playing field talent-wise as the Dawgs, but Mullen is prepared to write a check with his rhetoric.
The Gators have to cash it on the field though.
