A year ago this week, Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin had probably the most important decision of his professional career to make when he set out to replace head football coach Jim McElwain after McElwain and the school parted ways a few weeks earlier. A search that may or may not have been as crazy as the reports that surfaced ensued, but at the end of the day, and a year later, Stricklin is as pleased with picking Dan Mullen and probably more, than he thought even back then.

For Stricklin, it was very important to find a guy that knew what the Florida job entailed and was ready to deal with it. One of the biggest named that was bandied about last November was Chip Kelly, however, it was no secret that Kelly wasn’t going to be a fan of the booster speaking circuit and trying to help raise money for the program, nor a fan of the recruiting process.

There are a lot of things at Florida that are different than anywhere else. Stricklin himself has likely learned that in his short time on the job at Florida. That was a big part of picking Mullen who had already been at Florida for four seasons a decade earlier and knew the expectations at every level of the program.

“You have to really want to be at the University of Florida to be the head coach at the University of Florida because of all the limelight and the notoriety and all the distractions that could come if you’re not paying attention, managing the right way,” Stricklin said a year ago. “You’ve got to really want to be here and know what you’re getting into. I’m not sure every coach we talked to had the same zeal to step into that situation.”

And in favor of the making the pick was that Stricklin already knew what he was getting in Mullen as far as his ability to build a program and someone that he would have to work with.

“Dan just checks so many boxes,” Stricklin also said last year after the hire. “I had a friend from Mississippi text me — most of them have not been nice over the last 24 hours — but I had a guy text me, and he said ‘You know, I knew it was only a matter of time until some AD would realize what Dan can do with elite talent’ and he said ‘I should have known it was a guy that knew him really well.’

“I just think the opportunity for him here is just a perfect fit in so many ways and he’s about relentless effort and the way he runs his program, the accountability he puts in place, the way he focuses on the weight room, the way he develops young people, the way he evaluates people to decide who to come into the program.”

“I mean, he changed the whole mindset of that program to one of being a winner. There’s an unbelievable game day atmosphere. The fans go to that place expecting to win and have fun and it’s because Dan’s leadership, his personality, the way his team’s compete. I’m excited that he’s going to be here.”

Fast forward a year later to last Saturday about 3:30 p.m. in the bowels of Doak Campbell Stadium and Stricklin was stopped by the media and asked about the regular season that just unfolded for the guy he picked to be the coach of the Gators. The Gators finished 9-3 after going 4-7 a year earlier. The offense, a severe point of contention for the last two coaching staffs at Florida, improved in a dramatic fashion. For the most part, the players were staying out of trouble. And the team is in line to make a major bowl appearance, something it hasn’t done since the 2012 season.

Stricklin gives two thumbs up for Mullen’s first year at Florida.

“He’s done a great job,” Stricklin said after the Gators 41-14 dismantling of FSU. “The way the players bought in and they did immediately. The way the fans have come to support. You know successful programs have alignment where everyone is on the same page and pointed in the same direction and Dan got everybody in that position very quickly. From where we were a year ago to where we are now, this is pretty fulfilling.”

Stricklin was asked a year ago about how long he expected for a turnaround. He never wavered from the belief in Mullen, but he also didn’t know how much improvement could be made and on what time table.

“I think knowing how much emphasis he puts into the offseason program and how that builds discipline, accountability and structure to the program I think that that in and of itself was going to make a big difference,” he said last November. “You still have to have the right players in the right position. I have no idea how long that’s going to take. I do know that we’re going to wake up one day and Dan Mullen’s going to be the football coach at Florida and we’re going to be winning a lot of games.”

And Stricklin was asked Saturday in Tallahassee if expectations were exceeded over the first year. Without saying it exactly, he said it.

“I don’t know, you know when you’re at Florida you learn to have pretty high expectations, but I’m terribly pleased,” he said. “You know I couldn’t be happier. It’s hard to have anticipated this year going as well as it has. Not just the wins, but from the offense getting turned around. I mean, it’s not what it’s going to be, but it’s a lot of fun now.

“I had a fan come up to me and said, ‘you know, Florida football’s fun again’. We talked about that last year when we went through the coaching search. So it’s good to see the fans are happy and get a chance to celebrate and hopefully we’ll get to go to a fun bowl this year.

It’s kind of like Stricklin knew what he was doing when he chose the guy that he thought checked all the boxes.