Former Mississippi State and Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen Joins The Stingray Show

well come back inside the stingray show right here on tide 100.9 hope all is well wherever you are listening this evening and now we are about to get to a very special guest this evening who was the coach at Bowling Green as the quarterbacks coach also the quarterbacks coach at Utah then was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Florida under Urban Meyer then was the head coach at Mississippi State and at Florida guys I have to tell you this is one of the most Brilliant Minds in the game right now ladies and Gentlemen please help us welcome to the stingray show Coach Dan Mullen coach how are things going with you sir it's going great I'm gonna have to record that right so I get introduced that way every time I always I started to switch it to like hey just all around good guy but you know when you start with the brilliant mind or or one of those right there's there's like movies like that that it's the sequel to A Beautiful Mind a brilliant mind that'll be mine right right coach you look relaxed you looked rested uh I think you're enjoying this year off aren't you it's amazing that everyone came to me now you know and and uh you get out of the SEC for coaching for even less than a year and everyone's like well you you look like have you lost weight you look younger you look healthy what's going on are you doing something different or special I said yeah I'm not I'm doing some TV I'm just talking about football in uh instead of having to to live it 24 7 365. I'm just I'm talking about it and enjoying it well coach what was that transition like for you going from the field to the booth was that big a big transition for you you know what it was it was always something while I was coaching said hey you know one of these days if whenever coaching ends which you know you never knew and it probably ended sooner than I thought it might um but it was something that I always wanted to do and I'd talk to TV people about it and um and I'm very fortunate um you know if a lot of people that that know my wife no she she was a network TV anchor she was the main anchor at the golf channel for a while and uh so I had a lot of assistance that way uh with TV with with the TV world and and believe it or not I don't get uh she doesn't mention a whole lot about football or or you know boy I don't know if you broke that play down or said the right thing about that play but I got a lot of your hands are in this position your eye contact has to be here you gotta like you know I I was willing to ask that question coach is it does your wife over criticize you when you come home no but she coaches me up now I get coached up you know it's like when the quarterback comes out like I like just how I used to grab the quarterbacks when they'd come off the field she grabs me and I actually get texts even during the show like I mean I got my phone on me like so I'll be like looking down like a texter in the show um but it's a lot of fun you know it's um you get to talk about football you get to evaluate all the things that have gone on I've been really fortunate on ESPN to get to do some different things this year you know last year um I was at sight for the SEC Nation show and college game day shows for both the Nash the SEC and national championship game so I kind of started doing that and then done a lot of in-studio work on on ESPN and ABC this year uh uh being being on the college football final show weekly for a bunch of weeks now with the wrap-up show on ESPN on Saturday nights uh has been a lot of fun so uh and I've got to call a couple games so it's it's kind of been one of these years where they've moved me around to try different things and see where I fit or see where they like me at for the future yeah coach did you have a guy that you looked up to growing up doing play-by-play doing football I don't you know I mean I I was much more players and coaches looking up but you know I mean to me it's all about you know Keith Jackson I mean that was yeah I'm older you know so you know the uh you know you're you're looking at at the Keith Jackson and you know I haven't brought it out you know I haven't gone on and like oh these are safaboff from Talusa Alabama you know uh but you know when you you just that that's the the memories of college football when you're young and because it was different back I think and it really wasn't all that long ago for a lot of us now but you get spoiled so hurry so so quickly where you know maybe there was a three a couple of games maybe each weekend maybe a couple right um you know Thanksgiving the greatest day of the year was always New Year's Day because there were so many college football games you could watch on one day and you know now you can watch every game all the time you know I mean I I I have four of them on Saturday that I'll be you know in studio for the uh for just ESPN uh on on this Saturday so it's changed that way but back in the day when there weren't many you know it was such a big deal to see a Keisha accent cave hey coach I got some fun homework for you because I I look at it every once again and when younger people say who's Keith Jackson I'll make a Keith Jackson reference there's a clip on YouTube it's a Keith Jackson Miller Lite commercial him doing the wedding and it's absolutely hilarious and really here's here's the groom from Texas and the bride from Alabama oh it's absolutely great so yeah look that up when we get done Keith Jackson Miller Lite I have to I will I'll definitely do that well coach I would love to get your take on this because you are you know a recent coach and a head coach in your opinion what is the biggest issue going on down at Texas A M with Jimbo Fisher well I I think that a lot of a lot of there's there's a bunch of things that have compounded um one they had a great recruiting class last year and a lot of some very very talented guys coming into the program now you have to remember those guys are all freshmen and a lot of them are just showing up and you know they get 18 practices before they play a game they haven't gone through an off season they don't know the program inside now so to sit there and say okay these guys are now the face of the program it's a tough one they had an excellent team they lost a lot of talent over you know um didn't play them last year played them two years ago and they they were they were an extremely talented football team you know top to bottom so they lost a lot of talent um and then had a lot of some young talent coming in and I I think you know they had all these pre-season expectations and so when you have all these preseason expectations unfortunately and I don't know I'm not inside right but there's a lot of times you look at teams and you say okay hey you know where your team is at and you can look and say hey work pretty good you know I mean if you go back and I've been on those teams you go back um you know some that you felt could be really good I mean at 2014 at Mississippi State we're a training camp I thought boy you know we have a tough schedule and how it lines up but I and nobody picked us to be very good and you're sitting there and you're smiling because you say it people didn't expect much out of us but we got a really good football team then there's other times where people and you're looking at the expectations and this probably happened at Texas A M I'm guessing is the coaching staff got on there they looked at where they were the preseason rankings where they were ranked what was going on and they're like we're not there you know we can get there but we're not there as a team with the the Personnel that we have and where the development of the players are right now and so I I think that happened they had some negative things happen or at least some tough losses early and all of a sudden things start to spiral and when when things start spiraling they snowballing it's like you know it's like that snowball going down the hill and the old cartoons you know and it starts small but as it goes it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and that's really what's gone on is the I think they're probably not where this year's teams not where everybody thought they were or should be the coaches knew that a couple of bad things started to happen um I do know some of the guys on on the staff and and you know just in talking to them they've dealt with some massive injuries you know they and um so when you start all of a sudden you know it's like what can go wrong goes wrong and that snowball starts building and then negativity seeps in from the outside and everything about the program then with inside the building and you say hey we want to isolate our things ourselves from what's going on outside that that sounds good but it's really hard to do because you know it even more so for the players than the coaches because the coaches you're kind of in the building all day long but the players are outside walking around campus dealing with it and that negativity seeps in and it goes from hey if everyone waiting for something else to go wrong yes um I always say this like you know Jimbo's been a coach for a while you know and he's coached for a long time and if you look at his career he's had a bunch of good you some good years and some bad years he didn't forget how to coach in the bad years and remembered again how to coach in the good years it just happens and so you know the best thing that people can do and that Jimbo can do hey get through this season keep the young talented players together build for the Future Let's evaluate what we did well and what we did poorly you know and um if I want to be a coach car ticket not like oh the offense is terrible oh this is wrong all of these are wrong hey be patient within the problem they have a lot of money invested in them stand up and say hey he's our coach he's going to be our coach for a long time there's no worry sit down and say you know Jimbo let's let's what they need to do is really sit there and say what is our personnel and how do we adjust schematically around the Personnel that we have just you know you as a coach you can never sit there and say hey this is our offense we're going to run our office our offense my I've always been a Believer is our offense is what can our players do well and how do I put them in the best position to succeed and I think maybe early on at a m this year they thought they were doing that and as the season goes on they realized what we thought that's not really who we are so we need to change as a coaching staff we need to get around what these players do well put them in a position to succeed hey let's spend the next um all right we have two they have two more weeks because it doesn't look like they're going to a bowl game this year let's spend the next two weeks building with the young guys um make sure we're respectful to the seniors that are leaving the program and and you know let them finish off the right way and rally and see if we can uh you know they got a big game see if we can kind of hammer away at LSU they get to pull they get to finish with the uh the SEC West Champion and what what a finish to the season would be to knock them off a week before the championship game right uh Heath you're muted got it I had the flu a couple of weeks ago coach he was waiting but he was ran but waiting for me to keep rambling and rambling and rambling the biggest thing Texas A M can do is sit there and say Hey listen we've invested a lot of money in this coach we're not going to buy him out for that much money that doesn't make any sense instead of complaining or being negative why don't we get everybody rallying around let's go out have a second great recruiting class back to back and all of a sudden we have a young talent that can go win a championship Jimbo we're going to trust that you're going to make the adjustments inside the building that get those guys in position to succeed all those young players and let's all rally stick together and move forward instead of have people pulling in different directions because that never works uh coach fun question we we've asked uh Chris Lowe on the show uh we've had several people uh this question probably half a dozen people this question let's pretend you get that buyout that Jimbo's going to get the 81 million or whatever it is this year what's something stupid fun you're gonna do with that money I mean I didn't get that type of buyout for sure um so I'm kind of I'm just kind of like a you know listen I'm not gonna say like we're like it's the life's rough for us but I certainly didn't get the 81 million right there that's like one of those you think about if I won the Powerball to like two exactly what am I gonna do right like like Chris Lowe he talked about he was going to have a chiropractor and masseuse like in the guest house on Call of Duty it's Goring I'm a boat I'm a big boat guy now my problem is I like really really nice things so I don't even know if that would cover my tab like the the two billion dollar one yeah if I would have won the two billion dollar Powerball I definitely would have bought tried to go out by a really nice uh get a nice Yacht for some time in the Bahamas I don't need it that big okay I don't need it that big but you know pretty comfy and cozy like really nice like I mean and then one that's not like tiny um I mean you gotta got a plane to get back and forth to it and then I buy a really nice land and you know uh maybe Mike called chairman Ridley uh who I know Fred Ridley from Augusta Nationals hey let's go consult let's look somewhere really nice and build my own golf course you know that's a lot more than like hey that you need like Nick Saban buyout money to do that well it's kind of like the the quote David Lee Roth had from Van Halen he's Larry King asked him uh can money buy you happiness and David Lee Roth down and Dave said no but it can buy you a yacht and you can pull up next to it that's awesome well coach for our listeners um tell us about the hiring process when you were at Florida or anywhere um and another school comes calling tell us about the process because we heard when when you were the coordinator at Florida and looking to become the head coach of Mississippi State there were stories of planes in the middle of the night and hotel rooms in Atlanta I mean are we ordering Papa John's at one in the morning on this so is it with athletic director is it a booster is it I mean what's the process like I think the hiring process is very different when maybe you're a coordinator than when you're a head coach okay um at a school and because I think you know everyone's everyone has the dream of becoming a head coach one day all right so um when you're a coordinator when I was the offense coordinator at Florida uh and it was kind of a funny deal in in the uh we were getting ready to play we had already clinched the East and we had to play Florida State and we uh I think we had a bye week no it wasn't we're playing you know you're in the the this week coming up so we're playing a small school right then you have Florida State then you had Alabama uh or No Yes Florida State then Alabama uh in the championship game and it was really funny so Urban came in on Sunday before like a couple weeks four and he said okay hey hey you this group of guys are working on Florida State this group of guys are working on Alabama and Dan since you're the coordinator and you know you guys are doing all the advanced way Advanced prep work like our whole staff he's like Dan just you do whoever we're playing like a Western Carolina or somebody and um so I went in and did all that stuff and then uh the uh you know in that time of year this time of year there's jobs coming open and so I'm working on those game plans and I'd meet with everybody and say hey here's what we're doing you know right before we got to practice and get everything organized and then we have some of the coaches and and there were calls coming in and they're saying hey we'd like you to interview or talk about this job or interview for that job I said listen I I even as an assistant I was not in I said hey you know what my I'm committed to our team here I said you know we have these two games but the day after the SEC Championship game I'm willing to talk to anybody then I got mad because I think two of our assistants interviewed for jobs while they were supposed to be doing all this prep work they were out interviewing for a job so we got to Florida State and Alabama League I'm like you have that work like I was on job interview I didn't do any of it so I had to get all that done um but anyway so we played the SEC Championship game we beat Alabama we're getting we we're going with the national title I go in the locker room and uh some of the two of the jobs I think had already hired that wanted to interview me had already hired people and I wouldn't I didn't talk to them because after the Championship Game so I get a call and I said hey uh Mississippi State wants to wants to talk to you and I said great I gotta I got a call on Friday before the game and I said listen can we set something up on Sunday after the game I really I want to focus on getting to a national another national title and so on Sunday morning I get a call and uh it's Greg Byrne and we're on the phone for about two and a half hours and um on that Sunday and I think things go well and he's like okay hey if something happens we're gonna we'll meet you in person and we want to do this don't want anybody to know about it I think somebody said that we had spoken on the phone so like in the newspaper I mentioned someone came out and said that we had spoken on the phone so I'm like huh somebody leaked something that wasn't me but my name's out there and I guess that'll probably make it mad and I didn't hear anything from them so I guess I guess I'm probably not going to get a call so I went on the road recruiting and it was a Tuesday um I went on the road recruiting and the uh hold on one second for me real quick I have a dog issue okay I had to I had to help my guy get up right there heisman's really old right now my dog he's struggling and he was trying to stand up and he needs help getting up so on Tuesday this is it's actually a pretty pretty fun story so on Tuesday I get up I go out on the road recruiting up in Jacksonville we have a practice that afternoon but everybody's on the road so a lot of those I would go out and recruit locally and there'd be a one offense coach one defense coach and urban like hey you got practice so you're running practice that day because I'm out visiting people and um so I came back and a real lighter practice so I'm in this High School I get out and I have like 10 missed calls and I'm like uh oh and it's Greg Byrne like hey can you meet tonight in Atlanta I'm like all right so I'm driving back I'm like oh okay I really wasn't expecting this I'm like I gotta go run practice right so I call people I'm like hey I'm calling my wife John Clark whoever was um our director of operations for a long time for me was the director of operations Florida time like hey help me get some notes organized I gotta go do practice I call everybody and he's like oh well you gotta run practice so make sure you get that done uh so I'm racing back I call my wife I run the practice I've run off the practice field I take a quick shower she has a suit waiting for me I throw the suit on I grab stuff in the deal I jump in the car I think I'm on a six o'clock flight I leave the football office at 5 15 for a six o'clock flight I drive I race to the airport I'm like scrambling around like where's my phone it was luckily it didn't fly off the car it was on the windshield oh my gosh I grabbed my phone throw it in my pocket and they're like call when you get to Atlanta so because it's like all top secret right and they're sitting on the plane right no no no I'm on Delta oh wow and I'm go I'm leaving to go on a recruiting trip from there so I have like a bunch of stuff packed after the interview because I got I'm going bowed on the road to go see Jordan Reed up in Connecticut uh the great tight NFL tight end now and he was a quarterback in high school so I land in Atlanta I get off and I pick up the phone and they're like hey can you get we're going to meet uh take the MARTA Station to this stop and we'll tell you what hotel we're in it's like all like clandestine top secret stuff like this so I'm like all right so I'm on the MARTA like in a suit with like a briefcase and a suitcase I get off and they're like okay we're over at this hotel so I'm like all right and we'll meet you in the lobby and so like I'm like I'm gonna catching my breath and I mean I haven't had a chance to even breathe because it's like racing back from Jacksonville run practice get on the plane review my notes organization and it and so we go up to the hotel and honestly I think we start meeting it's about nine o'clock that night and we start meeting and so around midnight they're like hey can we take a quick break you know Greg Byrne ordered like this giant cheeseburger and he's eating a cheeseburger I don't think I've eaten but it's one of those you know they're like hey do you want something to eat well I'm not I'm not gonna eat in the interview I'll spend UPS you know if anybody people that know me know like I mean they're just about 99.9 chance that something's gonna end up on my shirt when I go so about midnight we take a break and they're like hey we got a room for you downstairs so I go put all my stuff in my room I call my I'm like hey I think this is going really well so then we go and interviewed about two o'clock in the morning I go back to my room and I'm like hey uh I called my wife I said I think they're going to offer me this job I think this is going really really well and um and then a couple minutes and I'm like thoughts and then I like I hang up like Greg comes knocks on my door one more time I'll go to my room it's like hey really love everything let's can we talk at 7am on and and like just one more thing we want to talk tomorrow morning at 7am I think I think they were probably pretty set they were going to hire me um at that time and I think everybody just wanted they wanted to go to sleep on it and before they you know wake up in the morning still feel great about it so I'm like I get I go I'm like all right great so I called Megan I'm like hey I've never seen the place they say I can't see it I can't do anything you're kind of taking it sight unseen and she's like well you know I went and covered the women's mid-am at Old Waverly she's like as long as I throw in a membership to Old Waverly take the job you know I mean you know he's a golf girl so uh the next morning they walked in and they said hey we want to offer the job and said hey you know I didn't really mention the old Waverly thing I said don't worry about I said we can afford a membership oh Waverly if we need to uh if it's not thrown in at that point we'll be at SEC head coach we'll be okay um they offer you the job and and I said absolutely and then it's a whirlwind you know I called I called Urban said hey they offered me the job I'm going to take it and I said just give you a heads up I'm busy someone needs to go Jordan Reed's waiting for somebody to come see him so let's get somebody up go see Jordan um and you know you get kind of whisked into a car like hey we're gonna go fly down and pick your wife up and um in Gainesville I'm like all right and I'm like looking at the calendar I said I'm gonna be there through right before Christmas I told her throw just everything you can that like as many clothes as you can in a bag we're getting on a plane the plane's going to pick us up so she got on the plane we had these bags loaded full of stuff you race out I remember them introducing me at the basketball game and I'd never been in Starkville before basketball game driving around we go to Greg burns house you know you really haven't slept in two days and you're like shaking hands and doing all this stuff then they drop you off and you're like holy cow this is amazing I think someone picked me up the next morning or they gave me a car or something I forget exactly but you walk in the next morning you go sit at that desk you're like holy cow what do I do now now I'm that coach you know I mean everybody's coming to look for you and I was really fortunate a young guy named named Jody Wright who's now coaching at South Carolina and he coached Alabama for a while everybody remembers Jody walked in he was a he was the administrative assistant like a grad assistant at the time and he's like coach I don't know if you're keeping people firing people what you're doing with the whole staff and all this stuff he goes this is I'm a grad assistant this is what I do but I I he goes here's honestly here's a book with everybody that we're currently recruiting and what's going on with our recruits here's a book of our current players and all this stuff uh hear some things work and if you need anything like if you need figure out how things work and I said hey I looked at him I said hey well I guess I'm hiring somebody would you like to be our new director of football operations if you're not prepared he's like yes I'm like good you got the job so I've hired one person so far wow but it was you know what's funny is and you look back at that that first team that first recruiting class we had there I got online before that job and I'm like hey my guy I knew I I had been recruiting Chad bumper so I knew him I'm like I'll get you right you know and um I'll get him come play for me because I was going to recruit him and no and I got on the first guy I looked at was Fletcher Cox they don't they don't have a coach and this guy's committed to Mississippi State I said if this guy's committed to Mississippi state currently without a coach we can win football games right there uh you know and and we we want an awful lot of them so it's a crazy it's a crazy Whirlwind when you get hired as a head coach and what goes on with it all but I'll ask this before we had to break uh who's in the room I mean obviously Greg Byrne was there so um Greg Byrne ran it off no no just me Greg Byrne Scott Strickland was there and John Cohen was actually there wow we'll bring that up after the break all right well we got to take our next break and when we come back we are going to finish up the interview with Coach Mullen that's on the other side of the break you're listening to the stingray show right here on tide 100.9 go ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Todd 100.9 ESPN Radio here in Tuscaloosa Alabama Our Guest today you can see him on college football final you saw him in the SEC Championship more than once he's the former head coach of the Florida Gators and Mississippi State Bulldogs Dan Mullen our guests coach Mullen right before we went to break uh we were talking about John Cohen I'm going to hit on that in a minute but Stingray he used to do his rants there on Farm bomb and Tosh.0 and YouTube sensation uh always hooting and hollering and screaming but uh uh did the players ever get a laugh of those rants did your wife you know is like who is this guy uh my son would you know because you know he he comes up like all the stuff like he's you know he grew up in it and he was young and all the different rants you know that he gets on and all the different funny things of people people going off but I thought Stingray was really good to me um for the most part I don't I'm sure you know I mean I did something here then right as a coach that he kind of got upset with but I thought for the most part he was probably always good to me yes sir absolutely I don't think Stephen ever said anything negative about anything maroon and white ever hey you right before we went to the break I asked you who was in the room uh when you were interviewing for your your job there at Mississippi State you you mentioned Greg Byrne who's the athletic director uh here in Tuscaloosa Alabama uh you mentioned um Scott Strickland who's the ad now uh down at Florida uh and y'all got to work together a second time and then you mentioned John Cohen who was the athletic director uh there at Mississippi State who is now the new athletic director at Auburn I guess I guess Starkville is the AAA for for athletic directors um but uh with that did it shock you when you heard that John Cohen was going to Auburn what were your thoughts on that I I don't it didn't really shock me you know I think um the opportunity he's been at Mississippi state for a while uh and you know and done there both as the baseball coach and the the athletic director so I think he's probably been there for a while maybe was ready for a new challenge um and you know I mean obviously Auburn is is a big challenge but but you know when you look at Auburn I think and when you get with athletic directors and I everyone is so passionate in the SEC about sports right um and they're and the SEC is so great in somebody but everyone's passionate about baseball and everyone's passionate about basketball and everyone's passionate about gymnastics and Auburn's very good in a lot of sports now obviously football trumps it because uh when you live in SEC country as we all know right is being good at the other sports is a bonus right and it's a it's a reason to make you feel good but it really does revolve all around football and obviously he you know I think he's he's looking at a a place in Auburn where they're excellent in a bunch of areas and they have to get the football part of it figured out so that's a great challenge for him right now and uh probably something he wanted to take on do coaches get scared I shouldn't no I don't use the word scared the coaches stay away from jobs and we're gonna pick on Auburn for a second and we're not going to throw them under the bus but you know we we've seen the boosters have run that program over there we've seen them have a very short leash you know I thought Gus didn't get a fair Shake there uh toward the end and then you bring in Brian harson who I really did think got a fair share I think I know coaches is a close fraternity but when jobs like that come open like yeah I'm not taking that Auburn job because I mean look what they did to Gus and they didn't give harson a chance I mean is it kind of red flags like I'm staying away from it there's one guy like man I'm a coordinator I'll go in and take it right now I mean I I think you look situationally at a lot of things um even at Florida you know I had I had Urban and Jeremy Foley if Florida said why would you want to go to Mississippi State um and and as I said I you know I had looked and done a little bit of research and said hey you know if if I can get some of these guys on this this recruiting list and that um and great players and then the more I looked into it and said hey you know I mean Jerry Rice is from right there and Walter Payton and I know there are a lot of other issues that go in through the years but there are so many great players in the in you know I mean Jackie Slater and um Brett Favre I mean you just keep going through these names of all these great football players from the state of Mississippi and I'm like all we got to do is go get them and we could be pretty good and so as I looked at it you do and people will question it but as a coach you want to look at your situation and how does the situation fit me and so I I think there'll be a lot of coaches that maybe are more established right now jobs that are going to look and say okay Auburn there I have they have you know they have facilities they have resources they have a bunch of things but does it fit me um in who I am and you know the Gus one you talk about and I'm really good friends with Gus mozana and the one that scratches your head right I mean if Auburn fans could win one game a year um I'm guessing it's the Alabama game right right I never I've never lived in Alabama but I I feel pretty confident in saying that one right yeah well no one's beating Nick Saban more than Gus miles on but we're gonna run that guy out of town um I still don't get it uh but you know the Brian harshen and I I'm friends with Brian I think Brian's an excellent football coach um in a like a really good football coach and when that hire happened and I think this is one that'll make people nervous it was a little bit of a head scratcher for me in I could see why Brian's looking saying hey I'm going to come for Boise State I'm going to go to the SEC I have all these resources I have all of this stuff to go succeed at a great school like Auburn right what I don't think Brian saw was understanding the makeup of the Southeastern Conference completely of not been around it a ton um if you will and so I thought it was kind of a weird fit at first and I think how that played out could maybe scare some people that aren't from around the area to sit there and say okay that you know it was weird I mean I got hired at Mississippi State and I'm from the Northeast but I'd been in the league for four years I'd wrote one and you know when I got to Mississippi State it was hey if we can get to a bowl game every once in a while and we won't miss everyone will love you you know we don't miss every other year and we get to a bowl game every once in a while it'll be a great deal and obviously that changed very quickly after we focused you know year one and then we got started going to bowl games and everyone thought that's a really good deal we like beating Ole Miss we like going to bowl games let's do that all the time um and it changes the makeup job that other people have had to walk into now but but Auburn the same way is people are going to look at it and say okay what's the setup for me to succeed and you know where am I at in my current position is that a better place for me to be obviously I don't think there's a coordinator in the country that wouldn't jump on that job uh but you know to get an active sitting head coach they're going to look at things and if you look at some of the big hires last year for example okay you have Lincoln Riley who's at Oklahoma saying okay I'm at Oklahoma great job but I'm leaving my state a lot of times to get all my top players and we're going to the SEC and so I'm going from one of the Premier jobs in my league to you know hard to say they're going to be number one when they get in the league you know they they you know they were one or two in there currently but they're gonna move it's hard to say they're they're one or two in the right in the pecking order right right I'm leaving to go to SC where I currently am like pretty much number one and I mean I I can I can drive recruiting everywhere you know I'm a national brand I have all this stuff um Brian Kelly leaves Notre Dame Notre Dame a premier job right but LSU where I don't even have to leave my state to go compete for go get players that can help me win a National Title and he had to play the SEC and saw the type of players that they had yes so are are those style of coaches out there that are looking at Auburn and thinking the same thing and I don't know if they are with what's gone on over the last couple years they're not they're saying hey resources yes players check but is the stability is everything set up for me to be better there than where I'm currently at for what I want to achieve and what I want to accomplish well coach Mullen I have two questions for you about your time at Mississippi State the first one is back in 2010 you guys had the opportunity to go back down to the swamp and take on your former boss Mississippi State pulled the upset talk about what that meant to you to go down to the swamp and beat Florida and Coach Urban Meyer I I think that was huge um for us and um I think we were you if everybody you go back to that game and we you were looking at how can we how do we win this game and I remember meeting as a staff and that Florida defense was was really town a lot of Talent on the defensive side of the ball you know they were takeaways they they had scored a bunch of defensive touchdowns on the year and you know and their offense was kind of almost struggling with with their identity and and I knew that because I knew it inside and out and knew the players and Tebow had left and they were trying to figure out what they were doing and how to do it um from the from the year before and that had a bunch some turnover within the staff for urban and so we go down and I'm sitting there and I said hey you know I remember meeting with Manny Diaz and saying hey we gotta we're gonna win this game defensively we gotta not put the defense in the bad situation but you have got to be able to stop and he said I think we can stop him um and slow them down and going to Florida if if you know and anybody that knows Florida they love points yes how do we slow this game down to like a grinding halt almost you know to get the crowd out of the game get them booing get them frustrated get them annoyed uh and then how do we go Peck away and I think we you know if we remember I think we ran the ball 43 consecutive times like I mean like we we didn't throw a pass out in the second quarter uh we didn't throw past him like we can't we got up 10 nothing I'm like hey we I think we might have enough points to win right and and we did and now we had a great defense and that was one of the big turning points at Mississippi State and I think it actually went back a couple weeks earlier playing Georgia is we were struggling you know I mean year one I went five and seven at Mississippi State it was the only year out of there I don't think we didn't make a bowl game that I was there the only way to go to bowl game was our first year now we we beat Ole Miss in the Latin the Egg Bowl and there was some momentum going into the off season but we had a tough schedule the next year we played for Georgia and Florida from the East yeah so you're looking we had lost a couple we lost to Auburn in a close game at home and they went on to win the national championship that year we've lost LSU and we found a way to beat Georgia and at that moment I think it kind of turned around my entire time at Mississippi State our players started to believe like we could be good then we win the game at Florida and we went on to go to the Gator Bowl and be have a top 15 team that year but it was listen that that was one of the one of the more exciting wins at Florida uh to go down there anytime you can go back to where you were right and you get a win it's it you know there's something that's a little bit more to it and and the players know that you know what I mean the players at Mississippi State knew they wanted to win for them and hey we're going to play Florida and all this it's great but they knew it meant a little bit more to me and and you know they came up and performed okay and the second question about Mississippi State the thing that Mississippi State fans loved about you was that you always prodded Ole Miss when you needed to when you started t-sun the school up north how did that all come about Coach was it Woody it's all goes back to Woody Hayes him with it and I've been with it with Urban and he kind of had that for we don't ever talk about a rival's name so we got to Bowling Green and we never said Toledo that was that game's this week that's great uh I think it's tomorrow night the the Bowling Green Toledo game um and some action and that is such a big rivalry then we got to Utah in the Utah BYU which holy war the holy war and if you haven't seen it and I've coached a lot of places and trust me in Biggins I think that's the nastiest of all rivalries right which and people are gonna say oh hold on and where we are in our that's a nasty one but you know what and a lot of it is you know so we had those built in at Florida you didn't really have it you know you have Florida State we weren't going to mention them and but it you know but you had kind of Tennessee was a rival to a lot of people Georgia was arriving a lot of people for so you didn't really have the one so when I got to Mississippi State I'm like okay and everyone that like this is such a big game so how do I prod and get under their skin and how do we make this such a big you know big game and and at the time um Ole Miss have been doing okay and we we hadn't so I'm like okay how do I kind of get us going build our fan base up create this excitement and do it um and calling them the school up north and everybody bought into it you know and it really and then it got under people's skin I remember going recruiting and the uh you know after we won I remember walking this high school and this this counselor was in there and this lady goes coach say Hey you know I'm an I'm I'm an Ole Miss girl and but I want you to know that we pray for you and your family every single day and I said well that's so nice of you you know what I mean I know the rivalries heated but it's nice and fresh she goes yeah we said prayer every night that you and your family get the hell out of the state of Mississippi and go coach somewhere else um the uh who then that it was working and unfortunately you know what the thing was if there's one thing that got bad it kind of got heated to a point it got really almost nasty for a lot of fans and people yeah and when both schools were down I thought it was good because it gave a lot of relevance to us yes to the schools yeah and then all of a sudden um both schools built up and both schools maybe you almost I may value will use that motivation get on the national stage and at the back end I almost kind of if you if people are and I don't know if ever anybody ever noticed I started pumping the brakes on it a little bit because we didn't need that anymore we both schools have kind of moved into this National we didn't need this kind of heated crazy in-state rivalry to get ourselves going you know I mean it was a point that we were like they were saying we're number one and number two in the country and so you don't need that as much but it at that point I think it had created such again a snowball that had become such a not that it wasn't always in the past but that became such a big deal um that it was hard to slow it down uh a little bit at the back end once we had the relevance that you didn't need that as much anymore to become a be on the national stage and become a uh you know the program where we wanted it to be which was to compete for championships it's a segment I think it was back on college game day one year where you read Maine tweets and there is a uh give that it comes from it that says Merry Christmas dinner's full talk to us about how that all came about please yeah well you know I guess people always said they're like hey they all the Ole Miss fans for sure they thought right there was two things I think one I was what's that that I was in part of the what's the Tom Cruise religion right there like that was one like I'm a Scientologist yeah there's two that like I was Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation right and uh one and two that my wife and I because we're not you know we're from up north we must be Scientology we're scientologists or something I thought and I used to play off both of them you know I thought one I said well maybe they just think we're like a Hollywood couple and so they think we're like these Hollywood type people and maybe they think we're scientologists because we're uh you know I'm kind of more time myself more as a Tom Cruise look alike than a Cousin Eddie looked like but I guess I was wrong on that one um even though when I was young people tell me I used to look like uh with Jason Bateman like Marty bird I thought it was more Jason Bateman Marty bird if you if anybody are Ozarks what an unbelief show that is uh the uh the then you know then Cousin Eddie but that was a big thing that people would put it out and you know what the one thing if you can't laugh at yourself uh you got a problem so I went and bought I had a sweater that said Merry Christmas Sugar's full sweat yes uh to award a Christmas party and took a picture and put it out one time and they everyone jumped on it so uh you know what I I love I love having a good time and you know if if you can't laugh at yourself boy you must have a miserable existence in life you know and uh people take things so seriously all the time so I was able to laugh at it have some fun and I think a lot of fans uh they laugh at it because I think they think it's something that maybe upsets you and that's a way to bother you and not just I don't know that was actually gonna be my next question coach going back to you talk about the guidance counselor at the school praying for you and they pray that you're going to get out of the state what is something absolutely hilarious a fan has said to an opposing fan where was it I want to guess oh boy well I mean Hey listen the the LSU game I mean if if anything I remember one time I'm driving in and there was like a family and it was like a grandma it looked like a family of people it was like a grandma a mom and a daughter like three generations on the side of the road the bus is coming in and all three of them grabbed their crotch area and tell me I'm number one well not with a certain with just one different fingers different ways to tell you your number one and I'm like it was it was a and it was like a grandma and the granddaughter both doing it and I'm like oh my God I'm like this is awesome right now this is unbelievable driving into the that was that was that driving into LSU for that one uh boy I Gotta Laugh the one time I went on a to go recruiting and I took uh up to Oxford uh to see a game and I took a helicopter in nice and uh and they had they had I mean of like six sheriffs around me the whole time because they were scared to death like it was gonna turn that in a hurry and I always thought like I mean you just you have fun with with all the different things you know and especially in the state of Mississippi the the thing that I loved you know in Starkville and people people say what they want about Starkville but if you want a a great place to raise a family and the the thing that made Mississippi so special to me in living there through all the years we're the people you know the the people in Mississippi are such unbelievable people the family values that are there um and and I I love it my family you know we loved it that that is just such a great place um to do that if you ask Mike I mean both my kids were born in Starkville if you ask them where they're from they'll say we're from Mississippi um you know and that's that's that's the deal and and but it's just because the people are so great there and we had so many great times it's so much fun uh but you know coaching in the SEC is such a great deal because it's so important to so many people you know you you watch and I you know what I was in studio the other night and if you want the greatest example of that is when you turned on on Saturday night we have you know I sit in a studio and there's 10 TVs up uh that in front of us now there's no volume that which makes it hard there's no volume she can't hear what's going on but you could see it the Texas A M Auburn game on Saturday night and you have two teams that are struggling right I mean Auburn's getting looking for a coach Texas A M is strong I mean just it's a matter you know trying to they're figuring so many things out and they showed that game and I said that's what that's you know people think just they always want to look at the top end mm-hmm okay if you go to the Big Ten and you go watch two teams that are at the bottom of the Big Ten play on a Saturday night the Stadium's not going to be packed it's going to be half empty if you go to the Pac-12 same thing right I mean if you go even you know I mean you go to the ACC same deal right the Big 12 same thing yeah you go to the SEC that place was sold out it looked like I didn't hear it but I mean rocking I mean deafening loud the fan base is going crazy for two teams with losing records playing on a Saturday night and one's looking for a coach one's trying to figure out what direction they're going in the future and it's like it's the national championship yes and that's what makes the SEC different that's what makes it fun to coach in to play and that's why everybody wants it and it's the fan basis and it's the people that make it such a great place coach a a fun question for you um you know coach Cheryl played his football here in Alabama here in Tuscaloosa for Bear brought and we've had a couple of Jackie stories on the show uh and so since you were there at Mississippi state is there a Jackie Cheryl story because Jackie you know he's known as that is the king but the king of Starkville uh um Jackie I love uh here's my deal with Coach well coach Cheryl called me and I love I have a great relationship great respect for Coach girl all the time what he did and uh there and man he'd come up and you could tell I mean he was so old school you know I mean they have his ring on and I mean people that know Jack I mean he's got the old school I mean his hands are like like I mean boom I mean massive when he shakes your hand and all that stuff but he would always call me he'd be like hey the best one every time we're playing Kentucky and he'd call and he's like hey coach just calling Dan want to make sure you right they have that different type of grass up there in Kentucky it's gonna be a little bit longer so they do have you met with the equipment staff make sure every year we're playing in Kentucky we have the right cleats on to go play on that house up in Kentucky and I think on earth now but right he's like make sure our cleats are right and we have the right cleats to play on that Kentucky every year we play Kentucky up there on the grass I'd get the call like hey make sure we're all lined up we have this lined up we have that lined up to go play up there and go win in Kentucky we got it we you know just make sure all those cleats but you would get those calls from him all the time like all the little things he would worry about back in the day you know the checklist and hey yeah make sure you have this and like I'd get calls like hey hey I use this speech one time this will work let's say hey be the message to the team this week but he was always great I you know what I was I always thought I was pretty fortunate I think coaches sometimes I don't know if if they can't embrace it you know um listen Jack it was a was you know such a great coach why wouldn't I embrace any opportunity I could have to have him around that program and around us while I was at Mississippi State I had the same at you know yeah coach Spurrier worked right upstairs for me that's where I was going next at Florida you know and and listen you know coach Burger is the best you got to be able to you got to understand who he is as a person and he's going to take you know he's always gonna take some Jabs that you like a little little you know break your balls but if you can't take it right boy I'm gonna keep going and you're gonna have problems you got to be able to take it dish it back a little bit and understand him you know I mean that's who he is he's awesome but why wouldn't I want to embrace having that person around the program I'm not you know I have a great relationship with Coach Spurrier and that's so much respect for him from the you know heck that's why I wore a visor um coaching on the sidelines you know um and so you know from early on so I mean to have him around you at different times always Embrace everything to have those guys around you and you just got to know who they are as people and you know and and they're that I like I am who I am and you know people are who they are and you Embrace who they are and you like it and you're not intimidated by it you just respect it almost everybody we've had on this show has told us multiple Steve Spurrier stories oh yeah and most of them keep saying I can't tell you that one I can't tell you that one I can't tell you that one we're at Florida and he came down and he's like I'm not going to do the voice because he'll get mad right um he comes in and he'll be like I was watching some film and comes in Drew up a play and he's like what do you think I like this against this team this week drew it up and he just barged into your office they come in the staff meetings Okay staff rooms but he knew he's always I mean I'd always tell yeah well you'd walk by and like or just come in and stick his head in and say hello but I mean I I I'd always say hey coach you want to come in we're watching some film man come on watch some film with us and he'd come in he's like what are you watching I said seven on seven he'd sit down watch a little seven on seven I said we're watching inside run he's like oh no no I'm quite busy I don't have time for that right now I got something else I gotta do but seven he'd sit on he'd just sit in on some seven on seven past game stuff but um you know we get to run game and stuff he'd be long gone um but he said hey shut up he's like you know I've been here I the last staff I just come down and try to help them out they never listen to him ideas but you know they scored like 13 points a game so they must had all the answers they didn't need any of my plays um you know and just his his coach fur your way of doing things right so a lot of times like if he put something up that we didn't have you know a lot sometimes he'd draw something maybe we already had in but I go and say yeah we got you know we have that in but if you drop something new I'm like we'll put it in hey we're going to call it Spurrier and um you know and and after gave me I mean he knows he's a ball guy so he'd know if he ran when we ran the play or not right so if we ran and it worked if we ran at work he definitely would be in and say hey I saw you you know you're in my play and it was good if it didn't work you know you might not might not see him on Monday more Sunday or Monday or that week you know but uh no I mean he was always he was always fantastic coming in uh uh coming in to do those things and uh and and to do it but what would come with ideas but when he said that he's like had the last staff in here they didn't they didn't they didn't like my ideas but they they had all of us had all the answers scoring 10 points a game or something well coach if you were going to come to Starkville tomorrow and have lunch and dinner where are you going and why is one of them obese and why is one what why is one of them obese I was guessing you might throw obese out there that's my personal favorite is it oh I love smokies that jambalaya Gator po-boy oh man yeah it is good I'm trying to think so unfortunately see if I'm in Starkville honestly I'm probably going to have lunch over at Waverly so I'm going I'm not going to miss the opportunity to go play golf on there right all right so I'm probably just gonna eat lunch there um boy that's a tough call for me of where I go the obese food is really good the po boys I love my Po Boys uh I would see I'm I'm gonna skip because I was there so long I'm definitely not doing barbecue because I had so much I've had enough of it I'm good to go with catfish and barbecue for quite a long time um in my life we did go back last summer and honestly we actually run in the car to go to Anthony's over in West Point oh yeah uh if you've been out no just but we had fun I loved it over there um what's my uh what's my other place they got the little downstairs underneath let's see you talking about um you know they have the little underneath downstairs part the restaurants upstairs and then the underneath downstairs uh the oh geez you're talking about um is it downtown yeah a restaurant Tyler oh yeah so if you go to restaurant Tyler um and then you go underneath downstairs they have the little area downstairs I forget what they call it a restaurant Tyler the little underneath thing downstairs that's one of my favorite spots to go to uh as well when I'm in town good deal so so no Harvey's in the fried mushrooms huh you know what the chicken so the issue you get is you have recruiting uh anywhere you do recruiting dinners so you do Umi because the kid all the recruits love the Japanese right the Hibachis like when you ever like in the players like any time the players are like all right guys you pick a restaurant where do you want to do team dinner they're like Umi Hibachi dinner like all right they all want the Hibachi right because they're all getting triple rice double chickens like I mean because those guys eat so much food there and then you used to do Harvey's and all for recruiting dinner sometimes for recruiting dinners and so after you've done that for eight consecutive weekends right I've had everything on the menu you're good for the year I'm good I'm checked out and I've had enough uh of doing it and and anywhere you are and so the hardest one like sometimes you're like you know in the life like Megan and I you're like all right you want to go out for dinner for date night and you're thinking there because now you're you get that break time a little bit in February right where it's a dead period and recruiting where it's kind of all right we don't you not having anybody on campus for recruiting in February and so all right well let's have a date night and go out somewhere where do you want to go out to dinner and you're like you know I've been out to dinner for six consecutive or however many consecutive weekends for recruiting dinners to these restaurants I'm checked out I'm good I can't take them anymore I just sit at home and you know we're gonna just stay at home and eat something you know coach we had somebody on the show and I can't remember who it was it was one of the ESPN uh college football Insiders and um it was right after the Nebraska uh job came open and uh someone asked you know um I actually I asked the question I was like I'm hearing dead mullen's name but I don't think he's going I think he's enjoying this year off and they said yeah he's enjoying time with the family and doing the lake thing and blah blah blah coach I know you're enjoying television would you return to the sideline here not necessarily this year but next year are the years to come do you think you'll get that itch to get back out there you know you never say never um with that I'm really close with Urban Meyer and he and I have a lot of conversations about you know that stuff and just life in general um I have basketball games to see my son uh every night this week he's playing on the middle school middle school and somehow they got him roped up to go play some JV as well I went to see him play a lot of football games go to my daughter's basketball and soccer game soccer games you know all fall and there's those are things you weren't able to do um in the past you know my he's got my son's got basketball game uh on Sunday sun or Monday Wednesday and Thursday middle school and a Tuesday JV gaming I would never been able to see any of those right uh coaching and there there's you realize there's things you miss and I'm really enjoying that part of it right now I enjoy the TV side of things so you never say never um with those OP you know when opportunities will present itself and if an opportunity presents itself and I know it's the right opportunity I I would see myself go back to it but um it would certainly not be me it would certainly be an entire family decision uh that we decide upon that we want to go back in and we want to go do it and that um I I think one thing that that I that I think and you know I I your audience probably knows me a lot more at Mississippi State more maybe than Florida right but I think that you know what I don't know if you find anybody at Mississippi state that says when you're in like not just me but my whole family we are all we were all in and it's a family decision I mean it's not you're not it's not a job it's a way of life it's who you are you know I mean everything uh you know 24 hours a day 365 days a year how can I help the university you know our players most importantly but how do I help promote the university and how do I promote the state of Mississippi and how do I make this a better place for everyone and you know and that's your commitment and you're all in and right um so when that time comes if an opportunity to present self and I think my family knows that that you know you're all in I mean if you look at the Nebraska I certainly hope that when Nebraska hires their coach and I Scott Frost I can guarantee you was that way and it didn't work out for him but you know what he was a guy that I think that loved his players he loved the university and he loved the entire state of Nebraska and I I think he ever for his entire time there uh he gave everything he had yes to making it a better place and I certainly did that at Florida and I certainly did that at Mississippi State and for everybody in the state of Mississippi and you know I'm I mean I'm still really good friends with with the governor um with with governor with Tate Reeves in uh in Mississippi and because I you I'd remember have you know having conversation like hey you know he what is there anything I can do you know how can I make Mississippi better right and not just the football team you know and a lot of times it would be like win some football you coach you win football games you're making this it'd be better and so we tried to do that a lot um but I think that's the all in and that that's certainly the responsibility that I took on on my shoulders uh when you became the head coach um at an SEC school and really any school around the country coach before we let you go December the 3rd it's already locked in LSU is playing Georgia could you please break down that match up for us um yeah so listen LSU is gonna listen they have talent you know I mean anytime you play LSU you always do the no look rule right don't look down the other side of the field to see what they look like in uniform you're right because you're like before the game you're like oh my goodness like guy goes running by and he's got like a three jersey on like that's their free safety like like how how big is he you know like uh so LSU's Got Talent they're writing some momentum they're getting hot Jane Daniels right now they figured out what he does well um and they're kind of they're riding that they have some some defensive Talent uh make plays and they find ways to win football games that being said Georgia has more Talent more experience your quarterback's 25 years old they're not going to be flustered by the moment they're not going to be flustered by the scene um by playing in the game and uh you know so what George is going to be able to do as you saw against Kentucky uh they're going to keep Jaden Daniels in the pocket and make him have to win the game from the pocket even though LSU maybe has the receivers to do that I don't know if that's his strength and that's not Jayden Daniel's strength to go win the game from the pocket so they will certainly slow down um that LSU offense and really limit what they can do offensively uh and then on the flip side of the ball Stetson Bennett just makes great decisions I mean every week on College we're doing the highlights on college football final and he's running in for a touchdown and you're like he's just more athletic than anybody gives him credit for in extending plays they can run the football not as good as they maybe have in the past but they run the football and they do a great job with the tight ends of you know Todd monkin does a great job with that offense of utilizing his Playmakers if they have a weakness I think um Georgia right now it's at the the explosiveness at the receiver position outside so you know Todd does a great job of utilizing the 10 tight ends as they're big play makers um I think the emotion and the talent will keep LSU in early and I think in the second half George will pull away to win by a couple of scores and Coach my last question I'm going to put you on the spot but I think you're going to smile when you hear my question I always would you ever consider coming back to Starkville I know you said it's a family decision and your kids get there from Mississippi but if the opportunity ever came up one day whether it be two or 15 years from now yeah can you go back you never say never to do anything but you know I I had such a magical run and I thought we did such a great job and I enjoyed the people and the times there so much um you know I don't I you'll never say never but I don't know if we'd you'd go back and um my pressure would be to get it back to where we were to get back to being a top team and we would want and that's what everybody would want and it's a different time and I love those memories I don't know I I'm not someone always looks back in life always try to move forward and go go move keep going to the next start of life so that might be a hard one but you never say never you know uh like I said I loved my time there I love the the all the all my players um you know I got Zach Smith that played for me there and if you ever go back you brought up the time going to Florida he's the one jump have you ever seen when the the field goal went wide right the player jumping on top of him he just started and opened his his company is built building a huge Factory right there in um out by the airport um you know and and he's from Alabama who went back there and and building the business in in Mississippi that's how the people are but he texted me this morning and you know I mean all the all the players all the fans all the all the the those things I loved about Mississippi State and we went my family and I go back my kids have a lot of friends there we go back we went back this summer uh for a little bit to hang out we always um love going back there and enjoying that but I I don't I don't know if that would be in the cards but you never say never I don't I don't right you know I think I think they got a great coach I think Mike Leach is a is a good fit um I think you always got to do things a little bit different there maybe than you know it's not it's not the most traditional like everywhere you got to think outside the box a little bit and uh Mike's I think very different than me um in my style of how I ran the program but but all of us coach but he's outside the box thinker and I think that works and you got to think outside the box of Mississippi State sometimes and I think he does a great job of that and is a great fit by getting somebody that's not afraid to think outside the box there and uh you know all we always always rooting for him to do well if you stayed one more year would you have made the playoff because you had that great deal right on everybody and there was that was one of the hard things you know I it it just shows like like for me it that was that was the whole hard decision one of the hardest things I ever do you know and to understand this I know there's all the stories when I got hired of Florida the first thing we did is I the announcement was made that I got hired in Florida I think it was at 2 p.m or 201 PM I think it was it was 201 or 1201 or it was a minute after the hour because a team meeting started a minute before that everyone's like oh he didn't even talk to the team I remember seeing those things that were out there right uh I was on the phone with Florida and I said nothing absolutely no one can know I'm taking the shop I took the job the day before um until this time and but and then and I there and nothing got out and I said I called Florida I said I'm walking into the team meeting you can announce anything you might run want right now as I walked into that team meeting so that the players heard it and after I told all the players of what was going to happen everyone's phone started blowing up because I was you know it was being announced I was leaving but the first people that knew or all the players at Mississippi state that was the first thing I did and then the unfortunate one is I think I gave a statement for Mississippi State to release because you're on a world when I got on a plane um you know like that afternoon I was in playing Florida because I had to go get going and get recruiting get on the road and and kind of move forward to that next step I gave this great statement of all thanking everybody and everything we did at Mississippi State and then you know a couple days later I started to get people calling like boy you just snuck out the back door you didn't even meet with the team you didn't do any of this and then I realized Miss mistake never released that statement they never released a statement I don't know what the problem was or why they didn't or why wow I didn't want to do that so if I don't know if anybody remembers my wife and I called the uh the Clarion Ledger in Jackson and bought a full-page ad that's where when I released my statement there because that was the statement that Mississippi State I guess the administration refused to release um that I gave wow so I it kind of leaked that I snuck out and did me with the team the first thing I did was meet with the team they knew before and they knew before anybody in the media before it was publicly released no one knew I took the job the team knew first I met with all the players and the second thing is I had to take that ad out and a week later and the Claire and Ledger because Mississippi State didn't release my my statement unfortunately coach we're in Tuscaloosa you can say things about John Cohen that's a joke that's a joke ain't many individuals but I'm just saying um that wow it was a shame that that happened that way and but just for all the Mississippi State fans you know I mean like hey I I loved my time there loved the players love the people uh you know I just blows my mind that and I'm not putting this on Cohen but he was the ad at the time but the statement never got released that blows my mind it was a shame so wow you know for me you look at you look at my life and my career you know I was able to spend four you know eight total years of Florida on two national championships but the longest place I've ever been in my life is Starkville Mississippi I've never lived anywhere longer in my life in Starkville Mississippi nine years coaching there and um interesting so a pretty blessed and had a great time there well State fans definitely love you coach thanks look man we really do want to thank you for joining us and before we let you go is there anything that you would like to give a shout out to nah I'm great you know make sure why we'll be on College I'll be on college football final again this weekend and uh who knows what who knows what the future is going to hold with on on the TV World side of things but uh hopefully I'm doing a good job and you know I mean trust me in the world of social media everybody lets you know whether you're doing a good job or not a good job quickly anyway so uh and how can we hear you on XM radio so I'm on I'm all be on uh you know on the uh with uh with Chris Childers and Rick newheisel I'm on Tuesday Mornings from 9 to 11 with those guys on Tuesday Mornings on on uh SiriusXM 84. please come back and join us yes I will great to be with you guys today have a great day thank you you too all right boy man that was fantastic there with Coach Mullen we really do want to thank him for joining us and man I'm telling you what that guy could definitely coach football what he did at Mississippi state was absolutely amazing for that program yeah you know coach Mullen um I Heard Nick Fitzgerald say this on a podcast that he has never met a greater football man in the world than Dan Mullen he said he can scheme up against anybody anything against any player any kind of Defense any kind of situation he said he is just phenomenal at scheming things and can see things that other coaches just do not see uh he said he can break things down tremendously you know it's a it's a shame and that's how dead Mullen won games um you know he he was very uh good at doing that so it with that you know you get on social media you'll help uh hear people knock about the recruiting thing and this and that uh but um yeah whatever you want to believe that's great but Dan Mullen won games by outsmarting you yeah he clearly did because he usually had less Talent than you did right and look what he did when he had more Talent than you did Dak Prescott years yes he beat everybody right and you know he took that Prescott and basically made him a starter in the NFL for Dallas you know if you don't know the story Dak Prescott's mom being from Louisiana hot in Louisiana uh and Dak Prescott proudly uh claims that he grew up in a single wide trailer there in Haughton Louisiana that's what his license plate says on his uh Fiore now yeah in a single wad but uh he um his mom wanted him to go to LSU and unless miles wanted to make him a tight end and and Dan Mullen took him and I mean highest paid quarterback in the NFL I mean Dallas Cowboys God bless you Dak Prescott thank you Dan Mullen yes okay Coach my gosh I've lost it Heath that is gonna do it for this edition of the stingray show we hope that you guys have thoroughly enjoyed it with Coach Mullen please make sure that you tune in for the Thursday evening Edition immediately following hey coach right here in Tuscaloosa and guys hope you have a great rest of your Tuesday evening a wonderful Wednesday and we are out