Mullen takes Miss. State job

Tim Tebow’s coach is leaving.

Dan Mullen, Florida’s quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, has accepted an offer to become the new head coach at Mississippi State, where he will replace Sylvester Croom. Mullen will be introduced at a news conference today in Starkville.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday there has been no decision yet on whether Mullen will remain with UF through the Jan. 8 national championship game in Miami.

“It complicates things a little bit,” Meyer said. “Dan’s going to be the head coach at Mississippi State. That’s fresh, just as the plane landed in Fort Lauderdale (for a pre-BCS Championship Game news conference). I know the questions are going to be about the bowl, about this, about that. I don’t know, we’re working on that.

“The main priority is to make sure our team is ready to play on Jan. 8. I haven’t had a chance to evaluate that (whether Mullen stays) yet.”

In Mullen, the offensively challenged Bulldogs will be getting a coach who has coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Tebow) and the first player taken in the NFL Draft in 2005 (Utah quarterback Alex Smith).

This season, the Gators’ spread attack led the SEC in scoring and total offense, and Tebow is a Heisman finalist for the second consecutive year.

Meyer said he had a chance Wednesday to talk to Tebow about Mullen leaving.

“His reaction was the same as a lot of other guys,” Meyer said. “You don’t get too many chances to become a coach in college football, let alone in the Southeastern Conference. So doggone it, but we wish you well.”

Mullen has been on Meyer’s coaching staff since Meyer took his first head-coaching job at Bowling Green in 2001. Mullen was Meyer’s quarterback coach at Bowling Green and Utah (2003-04) and was elevated to offensive coordinator when Meyer came to Florida in 2005.

“Dan and I have been together for nine years. He’s a great coach,” Meyer said. “I made a comment, someone was showing me an article, and I said ‘boy his resume looks pretty good.’ You work with a guy and you don’t realize that. He was with me as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame, we worked together at Bowling Green, we developed Josh Harris, went from there to Alex Smith at Utah and then came here with Chris Leak and Tim, so the resume is pretty strong. We wish him all the best.”

With so many head coaching openings around the country, Meyer’s staff could get targeted again. Defensive line coach Dan McCarney has already interviewed for the New Mexico job (that was filled by former UF assistant Mike Locksley on Monday) and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong is a possibility for several jobs.

“There’s always a concern because we’ve managed to put together an excellent staff,” Meyer said. “So the concern is there, but that’s not to say there’s anything else going on that I know about.”