Florida hires Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen

One of South Carolina’s division rivals is going back to a familiar face and SEC presence to fill its vacant coaching spot.

Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen was hired Sunday to become the next coach of the Florida Gators the school announced. He’ll replace Jim McElwain, who was fired during the season, weeks before UF played at Williams-Brice.

This season, USC broke a two-game slide to the Gators. South Carolian went 2-1 against Mullin’s teams, winning in 2011 and 2013, but dropping Will Muschamp’s second game in Starkville last season.

Mullen spent nine seasons in Starkville, going 69–46 with seven winning seasons and a pair of Top-25 finishes. Before that, he won a pair of national titles as offensive coordinator at Florida and was part of Urban Meyer’s staff as far back as 2001 at Bowling Green and Utah.

Spurned by Chip Kelly and seemingly unwilling to risk waiting for UCF's Scott Frost to possibly do the same, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin turned to Mullen. Stricklin and Mullen worked together in Starkville, Mississippi, from 2009 to 2016. Stricklin was Mississippi State's athletic director for seven of those years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Florida hires Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen."