Dan Mullen
Dan Mullen went 117–68 as a head coach, 2009–2026, at Mississippi State, Florida and UNLV. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 4–2); by them his record is 117–67. Share
- Record
- 117–68 career
- Seasons
- 15
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Apr 27, 1972
- Alma mater
- Ursinus 1994
- Best season
- 2019 11–2, No. 6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Mississippi State | 5–7 | T–4th (Western) | |||
| 2010 | Mississippi State | 9–4 | 5th (Western) | Gator Bowl W | 15 | |
| 2011 | Mississippi State | 7–6 | 5th (Western) | Music City Bowl W | ||
| 2012 | Mississippi State | 8–5 | 4th (Western) | Gator Bowl L | ||
| 2013 | Mississippi State | 7–6 | T–5th (Western) | Liberty Bowl W | ||
| 2014 | Mississippi State | 10–3 | 2nd (Western) | Orange Bowl L | 11 | |
| 2015 | Mississippi State | 9–4 | T–5th (Western) | Belk Bowl W | ||
| 2016 | Mississippi State | 6–7 | T–5th (Western) | St. Petersburg Bowl W | ||
| 2017 | Mississippi State | 8–4 | T–4th (Western) | TaxSlayer (not coached) | ||
| 2018 | Florida | 10–3 | T–2nd (Eastern) | Peach Bowl W | 6 | |
| 2019 | Florida | 11–2 | 2nd (Eastern) | Orange Bowl W | 6 | |
| 2020 | Florida | 8–4 | 1st (Eastern) | Cotton Bowl L | 13 | |
| 2021 | Florida coached 11 of 13 games | 5–6 | 6th (Eastern) | |||
| 2022–24: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2025 | UNLV | 10–4 | T–1st | Frisco Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | UNLV | 4–3 (Wikipedia: 4–2) | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Kadarius ToneyNo. 20 pick, 2021- Kaiir ElamNo. 23 pick, 2022
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 53 | 12–41 | 23% |
| Against top-10 teams | 29 | 8–21 | 28% |
| Against rivals | 52 | 22–30 | 42% |
| Conference games | 117 | 62–55 | 53% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 11 | 7–4 | 64% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 58 | 32–26 | 55% |
| At home | 93 | 66–27 | 71% |
| On the road | 73 | 41–32 | 56% |
| At neutral sites | 19 | 10–9 | 53% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 114 | 90–24 | 79% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 71 | 27–44 | 38% |
His own 185 games on file, 2009–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Saban 2009–2021 | 0–11 | Alabama | 11 | |
| Mark Stoops 2013–2021 | 6–3 | Kentucky | 9 | |
| Kevin Sumlin 2009–2017 | 4–4 | Houston, Texas A&M | 8 | |
| Les Miles 2009–2016 | 1–7 | LSU | 8 | |
| Gus Malzahn 2013–2019 | 3–3 | Auburn | 6 | |
| Bret Bielema 2013–2017 | 4–1 | Arkansas | 5 | |
| Hugh Freeze 2012–2016 | 2–3 | Ole Miss | 5 | |
| Ed Orgeron 2017–2021 | 2–3 | LSU | 5 | |
| Kirby Smart 2017–2021 | 1–4 | Georgia | 5 | |
| Derek Mason 2014–2020 | 4–0 | Vanderbilt | 4 |
Dan Mullen’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Kentuckyseries | 13 | 10–3 |
| LSUseries | 13 | 3–10 |
| Alabamaseries | 11 | 0–11 |
| Arkansasseries | 10 | 6–4 |
| Ole Missseries | 10 | 6–4 |
| Auburnseries | 10 | 4–6 |
| South Carolinaseries | 7 | 4–3 |
| Texas A&Mseries | 7 | 3–4 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Florida’s 2006 staff (offensive coordinator; quarterbacks) · the staff · source
- Won a national title on Florida’s 2008 staff (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks, part of the season) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
- Hired by Florida for the 2018 season from Mississippi State, where he was head coach. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–95 | Wagner | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1996–97 | Columbia | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1998 | Syracuse | Graduate assistant | |
| 1999–2000 | Notre Dame | Graduate assistant | |
| 2001–02 | Bowling Green | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2003–04 | Utah | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2005–08 | Florida | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2009–17 | Mississippi State | Head coach | |
| 2018–21 | Florida | Head coach | |
| 2025–present | UNLV | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Ray TellierColumbia
- Paul PasqualoniSyracuse
- Bob DavieNotre Dame
- Urban MeyerBowling Green, Utah, Florida
- Kyle WhittinghamUtah
Assistants who became head coaches
- Carl TorbushNorth Carolina, Louisiana Tech, East Tennessee State
- Greg KnoxMississippi State, Florida
- Mark HudspethLouisiana, North Alabama, Austin Peay
- Rockey FelkerMississippi State
- Tom KaufmanMarietta
- Manny DiazMiami, Duke
- Geoff CollinsTemple, Georgia Tech
- Brett ElliottLewis & Clark
- Tim BrewsterMinnesota, Charlotte
- Billy GonzalesFlorida
- Maurice LinguistBuffalo
- Ron EnglishEastern Michigan
- and 7 more
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Tellier | Columbia | 1996–97 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Paul Pasqualoni | Syracuse | 1998 | Graduate assistant | |
| Bob Davie | Notre Dame | 1999–2000 | Graduate assistant | |
| Urban Meyer | Bowling Green | 2001–02 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Utah | 2003–04 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Kyle Whittingham | Utah | 2004 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Florida | 2005–08 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (19)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Torbush | Mississippi State, 2009: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | North Carolina, Louisiana Tech, East Tennessee State | |
| Greg Knox | Mississippi State, 2009–13: running backs coach; 2014–17: running backs and special teams coach; Florida, 2018–21: running backs and special teams coach | Mississippi State, Florida | |
| Mark Hudspeth | Mississippi State, 2009–10: wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator | Louisiana, North Alabama, Austin Peay | |
| Rockey Felker | Mississippi State, 2009–17: director player personnel | Mississippi State | |
| Tom Kaufman | Mississippi State, 2009: graduate assistant | Marietta | |
| Manny Diaz | Mississippi State, 2010, 2015: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Miami, Duke | |
| Geoff Collins | Mississippi State, 2011–12: co-defensive coordinator; 2013–14: defensive coordinator | Temple, Georgia Tech | |
| Brett Elliott | Mississippi State, 2012: graduate assistant; 2013–14: offensive quality control coach; 2017: quarterbacks coach | Lewis & Clark | |
| Tim Brewster | Mississippi State, 2012: wide receivers coach; Florida, 2020–21: assistant head coach and tight ends coach | Minnesota, Charlotte | |
| Billy Gonzales | Mississippi State, 2013: wide receivers coach; 2014–17: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach; Florida, 2018–19: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach; 2020–21: passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach | Florida | |
| Maurice Linguist | Mississippi State, 2016: safeties coach | Buffalo | |
| Ron English | Mississippi State, 2017: safeties coach; Florida, 2018–20: safeties coach | Eastern Michigan | |
| Larry Scott | Florida, 2018–19: tight ends coach | Howard | |
| Sal Sunseri | Florida, 2018: defensive line coach | Pittsburgh | |
| Tim Skipper | Florida, 2018: linebackers coach | Fresno State, UCLA, Cal Poly | |
| Garrick McGee | Florida, 2020: analyst; 2021: quarterbacks coach | UAB | |
| Paul Pasqualoni | Florida, 2020–21: special assistant to the head coach | Syracuse, UConn, Western Connecticut | |
| Tyson Summers | Florida, 2021: defensive assistant | Georgia Southern, Colorado State | |
| Paul Guenther | UNLV, 2025–26: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | Ursinus |
Other assistants under him (19)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| John Hevesy | Mississippi State, 2009–13: running game coordinator and offensive line coach; 2014–17: co-offensive coordinator, running game coordinator and offensive line coach; Florida, 2018–19: co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach; 2020–21: running game coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Les Koenning | Mississippi State, 2009–13: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Chris Wilson | Mississippi State, 2010: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach; 2011–12: defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Will Windham | Mississippi State, 2011–13: graduate assistant | |
| Danny Verpaele | Mississippi State, 2013: graduate assistant | |
| Brian Johnson | Mississippi State, 2014–16: quarterbacks coach | |
| Ephraim Banda | Mississippi State, 2015: defensive quality control coach | |
| Brian Baker | Mississippi State, 2016–17: defensive line coach | |
| Peter Sirmon | Mississippi State, 2016: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Ryan Osborn | Mississippi State, 2016–17: graduate assistant; Florida, 2018–19: graduate assistant | |
| Dean Kennedy | Mississippi State, 2017: graduate assistant; Florida, 2018–20: graduate assistant; 2020: offensive quality control coach; 2020–21: assistant quarterbacks | |
| Todd Grantham | Mississippi State, 2017: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Florida, 2018–21: defensive coordinator | |
| Charlton Warren | Florida, 2018: cornerbacks coach | |
| Chuck Heater | Florida, 2019: quality control coach | |
| Brian Johnson | Florida, 2020: offensive coordinator | |
| Christian Robinson | Florida, 2021: defensive coordinator | |
| Akeem Davis | UNLV, 2025–26: cornerbacks coach | |
| Corey Dennis | UNLV, 2025–26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Michael Scherer | UNLV, 2026: linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $1,150,000; $150,000 in bonuses paid | $4,500,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $900,000; $200,000 in bonuses paid | $4,200,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $900,000; $390,000 in bonuses paid | $4,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $710,000 | $3,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2013 | Mississippi State | head coach | $2,700,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2012 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $650,000 | $2,600,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2011 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $650,000 | $2,500,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2010 | Mississippi State | head coach | $1,208,295 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2009 | Mississippi State | head coachbonuses up to $100,000 | $1,200,000 USA Today via Leeds |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Mullen’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 38% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 25.1 seconds a play, 2009–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 12 g | Mississippi State | 24 of 93 26% | 40% | 35% | 26.1 | −0.13 | |
| 2010 13 g | Mississippi State | 19 of 95 20% | 35% | 34% | 24.6 | +0.01 | |
| 2011 13 g | Mississippi State | 18 of 107 17% | 21% | 43% | 22.9 | −0.07 | |
| 2012 13 g | Mississippi State | 21 of 99 21% | 27% | 52% | 26.2 | +0.02 | |
| 2013 13 g | Mississippi State | 27 of 96 28% | 43% | 46% | 25.8 | +0.11 | |
| 2014 13 g | Mississippi State | 21 of 97 22% | 32% | 45% | 22.6 | +0.11 | |
| 2015 13 g | Mississippi State | 22 of 94 23% | 43% | 57% | 21.6 | +0.13 | |
| 2016 13 g | Mississippi State | 28 of 107 26% | 34% | 46% | 23.6 | +0.09 | |
| 2017 13 g | Mississippi State | 25 of 96 26% | 42% | 37% | 25.9 | +0.01 | |
| 2018 13 g | Florida | 20 of 94 21% | 33% | 43% | 25.6 | +0.11 | |
| 2019 13 g | Florida | 26 of 87 30% | 53% | 57% | 26.7 | +0.10 | |
| 2020 12 g | Florida | 12 of 64 19% | 33% | 59% | 25.5 | +0.23 | |
| 2021 13 g | Florida | 26 of 93 28% | 45% | 47% | 25.6 | +0.10 | |
| 2025 14 g | UNLV | 24 of 90 27% | 53% | 49% | 27.2 | +0.20 | |
| 2026 7 g | UNLV | 14 of 54 26% | 50% | 45% | 26.4 | +0.01 | |
| All 188 g | 327 of 1366 24% | 38% | 47% | 25.1 | +0.07 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.