In 2008 Dan Mullen had just finished coaching the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship. Florida was heading to the National Championship game but he got a phone call with an opportunity.
It was then Mississippi State athletic director Greg Byrne and his associate athletic director Scott Stricklin. The trio met in an Atlanta hotel with no media attention or fan fare. Mullen left the room after his interview and Byrne and Stricklin were sold. This would be the next coach at Mississippi State. Dan Mullen would be the coach that took the Bulldogs from cellar dweller to a player in the Southeastern conference.
They nailed it.
Mullen went on to win 69 games and is currently the second winningest coach in Mississippi State history. He brought Dak Prescott to Starkville and in 2014 coached the Bulldogs to the program’s first ever No. 1 ranking. Mullen won like no other coach in the modern era could or had won at Mississippi State.
Two years ago after being promoted to Athletic Director when Greg Byrne left for the same position at Arizona Stricklin left Mississippi State, his alma mater, to replace Jeremy Foley as Florida’s athletic director. Some in Starkville felt jilted that one of their own up and left for another program and not just any program, but one in the same conference.
When Florida parted ways with Jim McElwain Stricklin did his due diligence but there was a coach he knew personally, one that he had already worked with and even helped hire. The decision made too much sense. Mullen had already coached at Florida. He knew, understood and welcomed the criticism and expectations. He had worked with Stricklin before and the two have a good relationship. Gator Nation was desperate for offense and Mullen can produce offense.
The decision was made after just one phone call. Stricklin called the day after Mississippi State lost a heartbreaker to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. Mullen was excited but needed to discuss it with his wife Megan, who instantly said this is what they had to do. In a matter of days an agreement was struck and Mullen was getting off of a jet at Gainesville Regional Airport and Gator chomping from the doorway.
That very same day Mississippi State fans circled September 29 in blood. That’s when Mullen and Stricklin would be back and they would hear the indignation from the fan base for their treasonous departure.
Here is how Brett Hudson of The Dispatch describes how Stricklin and Mullen would be welcomed back to Starkville on Saturday.
“Dan Mullen’s reception in Starkville will be like the reception given to an intruder by an aggressive pit bull. The reception of vegetarian walking into a Popeye’s. The reception granted to a man with no money in a strip club.”
So, uh, not friendly?
Mullen doesn’t expect it to be on Saturday but is hopeful in the long run it could be. LeBron James was mercilessly booed when he first returned to Cleveland in a Miami Heat uniform, as was Shaquille O’Neal when he returned to Orlando in a Lakers jersey. Eventually the fan base’s anger, in time, subsides and they can look back on what that person, player or coach, did for them.
“I think there will be a lot of passion on Saturday night with people there,” Mullen said Monday before the game. “But I think most of the people, the majority of people and everybody that I knew in that fan base … when I think of the fans and I think of the former players and the people of the town of Starkville, I think for the most part they were appreciative in what we were able to accomplish in the nine years that we were there. I don’t know if that will show on Saturday night but I think they were most appreciative with what I was able to accomplish in nine years there.”
Mullen knew this week was coming. All week long the focus has been less on the game, the teams, the matchups and directly centered around his return to a place he helped build. His comments about how he and his staff were able to build the program have been met with vitriol and sarcasm from Mississippi State loyalists.
He actually likes on. On the SEC teleconference Wednesday Mullen thought the pressure was more on him than his players this week because of the focus being squarely on his return. He thought it would allow his players to be more relaxed but his players know what this week is. It’s not just another game for so many reasons.
“I guess that takes pressure off everyone else. Our guys can focus on the opponent, beating an excellent team,” he said. “You look, the talent you’re playing one of the best defensive lines in the country, one of the deepest, most veteran teams out there, a team that everybody expects to be a top-10 team by the end of the season. So, you know, our guys have a lot going on and a lot to worry about, so I guess if any other outside focus is on me, it takes it off our guys and lets them prepare for the game.”
“With Florida coming to town and it being Coach Mullen they’ve had it circled on their calendar since the day he decided to join us here,” senior tight end R.J. Raymond said.
The reception Saturday night won’t be nice. Mississippi State and Florida both enter this game 3-1 with the ability to control their own destinies in the SEC. A loss for either team will change that. Mullen will say it’s just another game for him and his team. The residents of Starkville and Mississippi State fans won’t engage in that politically correct behavior. This game means more to them. It’s about revenge for a perceived abandonment of one of their own and a coach who led them for nearly a decade.
The cowbells, a tradition that Mullen himself fought to keep, will be clanging louder than they ever have on Saturday night. It will be an emotional night for Mullen and his family, for Stricklin and his.
“The people of Starkville were great to me and my family,” Mullen said. “In town, the people in town were fabulous people. It’s a great place to have kids. Both my kids were born there. It’s a great community to live in.”
It may not seem like it at kickoff but it will be the first step, win or lose, in a long process of Mississippi State fans getting over Mullen and Stricklin leaving.