Some fans were a little confused and even disappointed when Dan Mullen chose linebackers coach Christian Robinson to call the defensive plays for the remainder of the season following Todd Grantham’s firing.
Robinson is only in his ninth year in coaching, and Florida is his first full-time coaching job. His linebackers have played poorly at times this season and contributed to the combined 605 rushing yards that they surrendered against LSU and South Carolina.
Meanwhile, secondary coach Wesley McGriff was Ole Miss’ defensive coordinator from 2016-18, and former special assistant to the head coach Paul Pasqualoni has four years of coordinator experience in the NFL and 17 years of FBS head coaching experience.
Why turn over the defense to the most inexperienced coach on the staff when there were more experienced options?
Mullen said that Robinson’s familiarity with Grantham’s scheme was one of the biggest reasons why he chose him. Robinson played for Grantham at Georgia from 2010-12 and then got his coaching career started as a graduate assistant for him in 2013. He later joined Mullen’s Mississippi State staff alongside Grantham in 2017, and both of them followed Mullen to Florida.
With only three games left in the regular season and no bye weeks remaining, the Gators don’t have a choice but to finish this season with the same defensive scheme that they’ve been running all year. Robinson knows that scheme the best, which earned him the nod from Mullen.
“He’s been with the defense, he’s been with me a long time,” Mullen said. “He knows our defense inside-out, really well. I think he’s a really sharp, bright, up-and-coming, young coach, so give him the opportunity to go call plays and bring some energy and excitement to the defense. I’m really excited to go watch us play on Saturday.”
One of Robinson’s biggest strengths is his youth. He finished his playing career less than 10 years ago, so he can relate to what the players are going through or thinking in certain situations better than most. That relatability has made him one of the Gators’ best recruiters, and Mullen hopes that the current players will respond to his energy just as well now that he’s calling the shots.
“I met with our defense and talked about rallying around him and buy into it and create the excitement,” he said. “I know he’s going to be bringing energy, and he’s going to be excited for the opportunity, and I need them to match that energy with him.”
Now, as is the case with every other member of the defensive coaching staff, Robinson’s future with Florida beyond the next three games is uncertain. Mullen is likely going to hire somebody from the outside to serve as his new defensive coordinator, and that coach will probably have a large say in what the staff looks like, though it will ultimately be Mullen’s decision.
While Grantham didn’t work out, Mullen has had some success with hiring defensive coordinators in the past. He hired Manny Diaz to be his defensive coordinator twice at Mississippi State. Each time, he turned around their defense in one year and moved up the coaching ladder. He’s currently the head coach at Miami. Geoff Collins ran his defense from 2013-14. He left for a successful two-year stint at Florida and is now Georgia Tech’s head coach.
Mullen hopes to hit the jackpot again this time around.
“We’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “We’ve had some great defensive coordinators throughout the years, and two of them are now currently Power Five head coaches. I think as other people see that, too, it makes it a pretty attractive job to being able to come not just to Florida but the opportunity and looking and seeing what has happened and the development of those coaches and what it’s led to in their futures in their careers.”
He has a few simple characteristics that he’ll look for in his next coordinator.
“Any time you’re hiring a coach, it’s finding a guy that fits, that’s going to hold the players accountable, that’s going to be sound in what they do, is going to have the energy to get our players playing with the level that we expect them to play at and that’s going to fit in with the staff,” Mullen said.
Until he finds that guy, Robinson will get the chance to make a name for himself.