Mullen: 'I'm here to win championships'
ATLANTA - Dan Mullen has a number of things he wants to check off his list as he sets off to start his first official campaign as the Gators head coach:
-Choose and develop a quarterback to fit his offense.
-Improve said offense so that players are in a position to succeed.
-Support defensive coordinator Todd Grantham in his changes on defense to a 3-4 scheme.
-Add accountability to the team.
-Help the team's conditioning and developement through Nick Savage's program.
All these goals are perfectly reasonable goals, however, the Florida head coach always has a bigger goal in mind.
" I'm here to win championships," said Mullen at SEC Media Days. "I would certainly hope we are. That's the plan every single year, find a way to get right back here in the first week in December. I'll be honest with you, that'll be my goal this year and that'll be my goal five years from now of being here. That's always the goal, and so realistically to me, yes, that's what we're fighting for every day."
Since his arrival in Gainesville, Mullen has harped on what he calls the 'Gator Standard' - a philosophy that he expects his athletes to strive towards on and off the field. But in the past few seasons, one can argue that the program had not been living up to the Gator standard. Mullen's first priority is to change the perception around the program.
"I don't know if the brand is damaged as the brand has not been updated," he explained."In today's world it is always changing, and we need to be sure we're constantly working and improving the brand to make it better."
The first thing Mullen and his staff had to do before even considering the Xs and Os, he needed to make sure his players bought into the plan.
"There’s been minimal resistance buying into the discipline, and we are seeing constant improvement," said Mullen.
“He brought competition to the program," said senior offenisve lineman Martez Ivey. "I feel like that is what we were really lacking for a while. Now that he has come to the program, everything we do we compete, and that is what makes football fun. You know competing is what makes you better, and competition is definitely the biggest thing he has brought to the program.”
“This is a high-energy culture now," added defensive end CeCe Jefferson. ." There’s never a dull day with this coaching staff or these players. There’s always something new that keeps you on your toes."
"One of the things we’ll see when we get back in fall camp is, did we pick up where we left off or a little ahead of where we left off? Do we understand how to work in the summer and do a lot of things as a program," added Mullen. There’s not an exact timetable.. It’s just, are we constantly progressing forward in the direction that we need to go? I think our guys so far – you’ve seen them take the steps and continue to head in the right direction, but we’ve still got a long time before we play in the fall, and then you’ve got to see it in the fall from the beginning to the end of the season.”
The program has lived on a rollercoaster the last few seasons. This time has seen highs by winning two SEC East Championships and lows by experiencing two four win seasons in the last four seasons. According to Mullen, in order for him to check off his biggest goal off his list, this team needs to find consistency.
"Our job is to make sure to build the stability for them and understanding these are the things that are going to make you successful; these are the things that we do to make us successful," said Mullen. "So you know if it starts to slip, you know how to fix it and you're not kind of all over the place - up one year and down the next. We want to perform in a consistent level."