MULLEN GETTING BACK INTO COACHING?! Dan Mullen talks the massive changes across CFB | OutKick 360

Life After Coaching Dan Mullen joins us former Florida Gators and Mississippi State head coach now broadcaster uh joins us on our kick 360 talk a little ball here with with Coach first off thank you for the time hope things are well the last time you and I uh and Chad were in person uh was at the Opryland hotel at a coach's convention in Nashville it's been a while you were the coach of Mississippi State at the time in fact yeah and um and at the time Dan we were talking uh in in person about the Rams opening about you getting to the NFL and a couple weeks ago we're like where is mullen's name and all of these coaching searches are you enjoying the the television aspect so much that you know nil and everything else is just not worth it you know I really am I think uh you know you never say never uh with going back to coaching and uh you know possibly the NFL and uh at that level but I've really enjoyed the TV side of things I really enjoyed the the lifestyle it brings you're still involved in the game and uh you know what it was new it was exciting for me this year I had a great time and uh it's something I want to try to continue to improve on I I had a lot of great experiences with the opportunity to be in studio to call some games um to be at the championship game and some shows on set and it was a lot of fun it was just a uh a whole different world and something that was a lot of fun to try and um but you know we'll see what the future holds you never know what it'll hold in the end now you did a really good job on television this season also um but you know you know a lot of people The State of College Football obviously in coaching and some that are out of it some that are still in it do you sense a lot of fatigue uh with the current state of college coaching within IL and transfer portal and everything with coaches currently in the profession or is it not as big of a driving force away from it that maybe we in the media might think I think there's some I think you know I don't know fatigue's not not maybe not the exact thing I do think it does wear you out wear you down and talking to some of the coaches uh that I know and that that are out there they just the uncertainty of they don't know they love exactly where the game's at and you look at what a lot of people you know the great rewards of coaching were helping young people develop and you you know you have this this young guy you go recruit out of high school and he comes to your school and you know you get a degree and you develop them and you know they go from you know not maybe a highly rated recruit then they leave when they get a degree they don't get a great job start a business start a career become a doctor become lawyers uh whatever it is they're going to do go into the NFL uh and have the opportunity to play pro and I think a lot of that uh has changed I think you can see the change coming I think one of the things the coaches are frustrated about that I've talked to and even I know is you saw the change coming a couple years ago and the NCAA and a lot of people just kind of wanted to bury their head in the sand about it and said we really don't want to listen to what the coaches have to say about it you know we want all the players need their rights and and yes and I think that they missed the boat on the coaches were on the player side I don't know if you'd ever talked to coaches and think hey we want to give the players as much as they can get what's the best way to either give them money to get them paid to find different ways to give them more and you know I mean the original one the NCAA was I remember you go back a couple years ago they can have Bagels you know I'm like okay I can have a bagel after workout we're like okay that that's that that's a step but not really where we want to go bad so I think I think a lot of the frustration brewed from that in that it's changing a lot of things and it's changing a lot of things that guys loved about coaching and developing players into more of this kind of a free agent system but as always coaches have kind of always had to adapt to the roles that are given them and I think that's what they're they're starting to do now so coach if we if we saw this on the horizon before it actually happened uh the coaches behind the scenes definitely did as you're mentioning what is on the horizon now where are we headed that's inevitable are we are we headed towards a union are we headed towards uh contracts like what what's the next phase of this that no one's talking about yet well I I think the issue is is everybody wants to talk about the problems but no one has the solution so I think a couple years ago when it when it came up you know with the coaches with nil I remember being a meeting with the NCAA and saying hey it's 100 going to be about recruiting and they're like no have nothing to do with recruiting it's only really going to be about players that you know have value to their name and can sign contracts and I mean you just sit there and shake your head and like you're kidding me the whole thing's recruiting based you know I mean the the coaches are going to look for a way to utilize this so um I I think that the the issue is and I'm not an attorney on this one is finding the legal answers to go and fix the problem you know and so you can sit there and say let the players unionize we're going to contract and put you under contract it still brings no balance if they're still naming likeness beyond that uh because you know you sit there and say okay here's your salary cap for players or what set they just have guys boosters say well we're going to get you another contract out there with endorsing a product so um I don't know the one solution maybe you go to unionize the players there's a salary cap that's agreed upon within that to give the universities a little bit more control they own the player's name image and likeness rights under that contract so that they can go back and sell the endorsements to go pay for these contracts um and raise money but then all of a sudden the endorsement money goes back to then the schools uh and they don't have the ability to go create endorsements for themselves beyond that that could bring a balance I don't know the legality of that or uh or who you could get to agree to that uh you know because I I think you see it when you when you look at the NFL there's a great salary cap but um you know players going and negotiate their own contracts beyond that uh for their endorsements but you know that's big money and you know what NFL teams aren't going to sit there and they they legally can't find ways to pay you more where boosters probably still could you know the NFL teams don't have boosters to go kind of beat the salary cap to get you to play for a team your successor at Mississippi state was Coach Mullen Remembers Mike Leach Mike Leach um we obviously lost him uh recently what was he like to deal with whether it be at SEC coaches meetings or any other time you were around him there's all these great stories about Mike Leach the person but what was your interaction with him like especially as someone who took over a job after you left it yeah I think well there was a gap in between uh between he and I but uh indeed and you know and talking with Mike in SEC meetings and and getting there was kind of interesting I think his first year was um I was only in there I think two years with him in SEC meetings and his first year was kind of a adapting to the league and it was Zoom meetings and and you know nothing in person so uh his personality doesn't come out sometimes when it's just the zoom meeting there's actually almost me laughing because it's a zoom meeting he sent a desk I'm like hey that was my desk like I'm almost like text tonight I used to sit at that desk like but like kind of goofy things that way and uh you know and but I I always thought he was great I think after the after he got a little adapted to the league and what it was all about uh I think he's extremely intelligent extremely insightful when it came to the game and she you know looked at what was good for the game he had his own unique way of doing things um I think one of the things he brought to the table was that it wasn't there's not just one way to do something you'd be successful a lot of different ways uh he had his way he believed in it but he was always a thinker and trying to learn other people's ways and thoughts and ideas not that he was going to maybe incorporate into what he was doing but just to go learn it and uh and that way I had a great time we got to go back I was in Starkville last summer where they're visiting friends uh we were out at a dinner and one of the guys that was uh you know a a booster there said hey I'm having some people over Coach why don't you stop by and Mike said if you're going to come by he'll stop by so we've got to go hang out for a little bit at this one guy's house and uh everybody's in the backyard Rocky Felker another Mississippi State head coach came by it was kind of a great time just telling stories Mike's Mike's such a great Storyteller such a great guy to be around and a fun guy and he and he can you know he can talk about it love is talking about football but he really can talk about any subject and uh you know I think it's great when you have the the coaches around that were around other people because we're all sharing stories about football how we did things and what we did and how they're a little bit different it was and uh I don't think I've ever had a bad night hanging out with Mike Dan Mullen Our Guest on outkick 360. uh your your Relationship With Dak Prescott relationship with Dak Prescott is well documented um even going back through the the year he was franchise tagged I believe even after Mississippi State in his early career with with Dallas coach he uh the story was you picked up the phone you called him whenever he dislocated his ankle I believe it was and he was out for a while yeah and that was rough what he gets hurt early on this past season and comes back Dallas is one of the top teams in the league but there's still just something missing there what what needs to happen for Prescott to reach the full potential in the NFL I think I think the big one you know and unfortunately I got to go out to see one of the games this year my son and I went out to go see him playing this game he got hurt it was right at the beginning of the season and uh and hurt his thumb and I knew it you know that was a tough one because it was on his throwing hand um so I don't know you know with something like that uh he wants to get back he wants to get on the field and play he's such a competitor uh you know and that's one of those deals in gripping a football I I don't know for sure I haven't asked him or talked him about it I just always tell them hey you know make sure you get yourself healthy get back and I know you're going to get yourself back but uh I don't know if he was ever really 100 again the whole season with something like that you know it's just something that kind of Nags and it's still there for him uh throughout the year one of the things I think and he's such a great leader and and wants to and he makes everybody else around him better I think you know when you look at it though the NFL is a tough league and the NFL's set for balance and uh you know and there's windows and and I think you know a lot of times you you look and uh you know I'm not in the locker room I'm not there every day with him and everything going on and and I think they really at times um could use another weapon maybe on the outside form I you know I always looked at football this way here's a great way to look at teams um and you got to figure it out and especially if you want to win a championship how are you going to score touchdowns right I mean you can have great players but who can score touchdowns on your team um and you know you go look at the Super Bowl coming up here this weekend you can name a bunch of guys on each team that can score a touchdown and and I don't mean from the two yard line you know it's because it's it's awful hard to go drive the ball the tighter you get to the goal line the harder it is to score in any great offensive team that I've been on has guys that can score touchdowns so um I was looking at Cowboys you know and you get to watch them and I watch Dak and and all of a sudden the NFL you get you get a guy hurt like they got that Tony Pollard gets banged up he's the guy that just score touchdowns from him from further away and you know when in the NFL you don't have a lot of those guys you look at Great college teams they have guys that can score touchdowns and you know and not you know because it's hard to go on 12 Play drives up and down the field against Great teams so at some point you're gonna need that and I think it'll be interesting to see um in the NFL a lot of times you know that people always ask me what about this team that team like all right we'll start with you know we'd always start our meetings every year let's put up the build our offense what do we want to be Ron throw Tempo no Tempo all those things let's put up on the board who can score touchdowns for us and then we'll build it off of those guys because we need to make sure they get the ball in the hands to see if they can get the answer yeah and Chad in in Philly's case Super Bowl Preview it seems like they're they're depth they've got guys on their depth chart that can do that you know you see that in college but not NFL you said everybody you know you cannot defensive coaches can take guys out of games I I if you have one guy that can score for the most part you can kind of try to take them that one guy out of the game that might not always happen but you know I mean you're gonna sit there and say okay I'm gonna eliminate this guy from the game now if you don't have anybody else that can score um I look at both these these things you know I mean you can put put uh AJ Brown's over there he can score a touchdown then then um Devante Smith can score for the Eagles and then the the tight end got her he can score and Jalen hurts can score um you go to the Chiefs and you better stop Kelsey and if you stop Kelsey though all of a sudden Mahomes if he's healthy can run around but if even if he's not they do Andy Reid does such a good job of having weapons on the field you know they you look at their team it's like they might not be a pure ex-receiver or a h receiver but they have these weapons and he puts all of them in different positions that you know I could Harris Tony play for me that's playing for the uh for the Chiefs you put the ball in his hands and he can score a touchdown and uh you know and so I think I think Andy does such a good job as good as maybe anybody in football or probably the best in football of putting those guys in positions to score him so I'm excited I have seven guys that played for me playing in the Super Bowl so it's gonna be fun that's really cool uh but going by your plan though about you know good coach can say if you got one guy who can score you can take that away um the eagles they have great depth obviously they don't really have a weakness in any spot offense or defense but if you're gonna try to implement that plan do you try to do it against the Chiefs given Kelsey and then a drop off to everyone else on that roster outside of my homes or is that still difficult because of what you said about Andy Reid and how he's going to get other guys the ball you know I I still think you're the the starting point is trying to take Kelsey away the grade the hardest thing though when you play the Chiefs that Andy does is it's like finding a wall like where's Waldo you know I mean they're gonna play every he's going to play every different position on the field and it gets a little harder schematically because all right he's in the backfield oh he's playing X receiver now he's in the slot now he's at tight end and they move him around and the structure of your defense sometimes can get out of kind of out of whack you know okay hey we're gonna double this guy but now he's in the tight end position and we just left their number one receiver all by himself out there so um you know now the benefit you know the the Eagles are going to have is sit there and say okay well we're going to use our safeties and linebackers we're gonna have a plan for Kelsey and then we're gonna go take our Corners big play slay and we're gonna go we're gonna go now he's gonna go eliminate another receiver we're going to say he can eliminate a receiver we're going to combo Kelsey on the inside and then let the next guy try to beat us and you know that that's kind of how the best way to do it if you better have some talent and depth to eliminate players how will you watch the game given that you have seven former players playing in this game what is the Dan Mullen plan to watch the Super Bowl you know I I root for my guys so you know what it's always kind of tricky so like you know I mean um right when the uh the the Chiefs have the ball I'll root for canarius Tony but you know I mean I got a bunch of guys on the Eagles defense so I want to see Fletcher Cox go out there make a bunch of plays and slay and and uh you know go out there and and CJ Gardner Johnson the defense of the Eagles I got I got a couple guys over there then you go in and the Chiefs run on the pit on Bruno probably a lot more for defense which is weird as an offense because then you know they got Chris Jones and Willie gay out there and Tommy towns it's punting uh for the Chiefs so and then um then I'll like scour the guys because I think that three out of three more guys that are in practice squads on the team so I'll be like looking at the sidelines just to see them on the sidelines uh for the guys so you just kind of got get guys and then obviously you know I think Brian you look at the one of the Eagles the huge Resurgence what Jalen hurts has done was Brian Johnson who played for him it was my offensive coordinator is the quarterback coaching out for the Eagles and you look at what he's been able to do in helping um you know develop Jalen hurts and implement the things you know so I'll I'll be like watching and I'll laugh and it you know he'll call me and then I'll just say hey that was a staple in our offense he goes you know he'll be like yep we put that in we put this in and some of the things held Jalen hurts out a lot so um always look for him on the sidelines so it'll be uh the nice thing is at the end of the game there's gonna be people I'm gonna be really happy Dan Mullen has been our guest and who knows uh maybe uh future head coach by Coaching Again? the time uh you join us again I hope not I hope it's sooner rather than later I hope you're coaching again I keep coming on on this like broadcasting deal though like oh like you know yeah this top analysts or games or whatever it is uh you know what like you guys do you guys are out here you enjoy it you enjoy talking Sports without some of the craziness you're involved in it you're in the game you're around it all the time maybe without some of the uh the drama I do miss I am coaching a little bit of helping the high school team out here locally so I uh I get my I get a little fix getting out there coaching up some of the high schoolers so you're doing just enough right to where you don't miss it so much that you're jumping right back in well as my wife says my son's out there playing now and I you know I would have never got to see him play so I'm out there you know she's like you really need to be on the sidelines because I'm pacing around I you know I the uh now that you're kind of out of it like coach coaches watching their kids are like a special animal like you just we need they need like a glass box for us in the end zone of games just because we're like a music of pacing and we know what's going on and you're like you know you don't want to like be a distraction but you're yelling out you know like hey everyone you know like this like you're just I'm chewing on my water bottle trying not to say stuff just like uh do you feel like coach that's a lot of fun do you feel like you're in a spot now though where you can be pretty picky in terms of opportunity when coaching when whenever you're ready to coach again if it's the time that you can kind of sit back and wait on the right opportunity yeah well I don't know I you know I it's tough because like the right opportunity might not if I'm ready might not the right opportunity might not be there I think timing's a lot of things that are out there and you know I don't know what the right opportunity would be there's so many great opportunities and so and you know a lot of coaching and it's what you make of it uh you know I I thought you know a lot of people were scratching their head when I went to Starkville and I stayed there for a long time and I I loved I loved being the head coach of Mississippi State I love the community I love I love the Mississippi State fan base and everybody there and everything about it and uh it just was the place I wanted to be there were opportunities a lot when I was there and I just never felt ready to take one and uh when the Florida opportunity came around I I thought you know what I I thought I'd done an awful lot for Mississippi State and I was ready for a different Challenge and I'm you know I thought you know they're baby ready for somebody new at this point you know and you get the you could stay there forever you could do this and but you know what I thought in college football everybody you know the the today's world everybody gets a little bit bored of you right I had somebody tell me once you know you get your first year you get a grace period coaching maybe two years you know then you kind of annoy ten percent of the fan base every year after that so I mean I was a Mississippi State for nine years about 80 of them are about fed up with me at that point you know uh the uh but you know you get opportunities to go do that and go move on so we'll see you know I think a lot of it I'm enjoying time with my family um I do I really enjoyed the TV side of things and I want to see where that takes me and all of a sudden like anything you know I guess as a coach I'm a competitor and you know I'm coaching you want to go out there every week you want to be the best I want to try to be the best I can be on the broadcasting side now and um see if I can continue to improve I you know I'm excited this off season get to spend with some you know being on ESPN to spend some time with people on ESPN and say take me through what I did well take me through what I did poorly how am I getting better uh you know if I'm gonna be what am I going to be doing and how do I do those things better uh to perform at a higher level and it's just kind of how I was raised and brought up and that's that's what I'm going to look at doing this spring follow them on social at coach Dan Mullen thanks so much for the visit always great and hopefully we'll do it again soon yeah anytime sounds great to be with you guys have a great time enjoy the Super Bowl this week it's the saddest thing about the Super Bowl I think when the game ends it's like oh my goodness there's no more football until the countdown is on until it's a long I mean it's a long way till we get to watch the football guy just like it's sad at least we have like the usfl and the XFL and some of that stuff coming up I remember growing up when I was young I loved the uh the uh the original usfl I thought I kind of got into it I gotta try to find a way to get into some of these these spring leagues a little bit oh and then yeah here comes the debate about the quarterbacks too in the draft so I mean that's already starting five NFL draft also and she'll be nice yeah yeah that'll be fun we'll we'll get into that one and break that down so I appreciate you man we'll catch up soon sounds great have a great day all right you too thank you uh always enjoyed our conversations with him yeah and uh this one no different uh very cool dude and I I do hope he's back into coaching soon yeah I remember uh that conversation you referenced at Opryland hotel here in Nashville at the Coaches convention and talking to him then and his you could hear his interest in the NFL oh yeah when he was talking about that as Mississippi State said coach you can hear him talk about the Super Bowl there and it's not difficult to bridge the gap there and say it's got a lot of interest in the NFL I don't know where his next coaching opportunity is going to come but it may be an NFL opportunity