Mullen had big plans for former offensive coordinator Johnson

When Dan Mullen made Brian Johnson the offensive coordinator prior to last season, it felt like nothing more than a ceremonial promotion.

Johnson was a promising up-and-comer within the coaching profession who had done an outstanding job recruiting and developing quarterbacks at Florida. He figured to be in demand for some high-profile jobs at the end of the season, and “offensive coordinator” would look better on a resume than “quarterbacks coach.”

Plus, Mullen had called plays throughout most of his head-coaching career and enjoyed tremendous success.

While Johnson continued to have a say in the play-calling last season, that’s exactly how it played out. Mullen was still the one who ultimately called the shots.

But Mullen revealed on Monday that he planned to expand Johnson’s duties this season. Of course, that’s now a moot point, as Johnson left in January to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach.

“Coming into this year, I think I was going to turn a lot of it over to Brian Johnson,” Mullen said. “Then, when he left, I kind of switched it back to take control of that.

“I enjoy calling plays. I think people like me calling plays on Saturday because, if not, then I have a lot more free time on my hands to kind of yell and scream at everybody on the sidelines. So, they’re like, ‘Yeah, keep calling the plays right there. Keep yourself busy.’ I enjoy doing it, and I imagine it’s something that I don’t mind and giving other people opportunities to do it. But I’m always going to be very involved in it.”

While some head coaches might have a difficult time backing off a bit on the side of the ball that they specialize in, Mullen pointed out that he also used to supervise over special teams earlier in his career at Mississippi State. He later turned those responsibilities over to an assistant coach.

He’ll always be involved in all phases of the program as the head coach, but his ego isn’t so large that it keeps him from delegating things to his assistants.

“Probably early on as a coach you would have said, ‘Hey, is there a time, are you ever going to turn over special teams to somebody?’” he said. “Because as the head coach, I think it’s critical, your involvement within special teams. I’ve turned a lot of that over to Greg Knox. Now, I don’t cut back my involvement; I just increased his involvement. So, I’ll probably be that way as different guys come [and] different guys grow.”

With Johnson out of the picture, Mullen declined to name a new offensive coordinator for this season. Offensive line coach John Hevesy was given the title of “running game coordinator,” while receivers coach Billy Gonzales picked up the title of “passing game coordinator.”

While Mullen will continue to be extremely busy throughout the season as he puts together an offensive gameplan, calls plays and oversees every area of the program, he believes his 12 years of experience as a head coach in the SEC have taught him how to manage his time the best.

“I think the experience certainly helps with that,” Mullen said. “It helps you really understand how to balance the whole time out. I know what I need to do to be prepared to call plays offensively, and I know how to balance that within a weekly schedule.”

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.

1 COMMENT

  1. Maybe he should give up some coaching responsibilities, and start “Relentless” recruiting more inline with “The Gator Standard” so he can catch up with Nick, Dabo, Kirby, Jimbo, Ed, etc. etc. etc!!!!!!!