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How Gators head coach dan Mullen prepares to lead his team to success

For Gators coach Dan Mullen, preparation is about making an impact.

By Jennifer Markert for Amway Coaches Poll

It’s Dan Mullen’s second year as head coach, but it seems as if he’s been preparing his whole life for the opportunity to coach the Gators right here, right now. Sitting down on behalf of Amway Coaches Poll to reflect on how preparation shapes a team, Mullen divulged what has shaped him as a coach, from his formative moments as a football-loving youth to his hard work readying today’s young Gators for action.

...the first multiplication table I learned was seven, just because of touchdowns

His story begins with — and continues to center on — education. “In first grade, when I started doing multiplication tables, the first multiplication table I learned was seven, just because of touchdowns,” Mullen said of his childhood fandom. Come senior year of college, after spending years on the field, he took the leap into coaching. “I thought, ‘Boy, there’s no better way to be involved in athletics than to get into coaching,’” Mullen said. “The first time I did it, I was done — this is all I’ve ever wanted to do.” The biggest reward of coaching, Mullen quickly realized, was not the rush of the game itself: “I loved educating and being around and mentoring young people.”

Mullen bonds with his team through fun activities including paintball, basketball tournaments and even community service.

That’s truer than ever today as Mullen prepares the Gators for the kickoff of football season, an effort that starts before there’s even a team to mentor. During recruiting, he looks for tangibles and, more importantly, the intangibles. “You get their height, their weight, their time; you watch their film; and you judge the talent and where they’re at,” Mullen said of the process. “(But) one of the more important parts of recruiting for me is to find out more about the young men. We want young men that have great character, great work ethic, because if you have that character and work ethic, you’re going to continually improve throughout your career.” These are the traits that help Mullen develop and transform the 17-year-olds he sees in recruiting videos into well-rounded adults. “They’re going to become the 21-, 22-year-old successes that are going to help us win championships and really be positive role models for everybody in the community,” he said. Practice involves tactical preparation like strength training, workouts, learning from last year’s mistakes and implementing new plays based on new team dynamics. But social preparation and trust-building are also key, especially in a team sport like football. Mullen bonds with his team through fun activities including paintball, basketball tournaments and even community service. “If the guys care about each other, both on and off the field, and you have that close-knit unit, you’re going to have the opportunity to have a really great year,” he said.

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All of this preparation will come to a head in what is easily the most exciting and terrifying game of the season: the very first match. This year, the Gators will head to Orlando to compete against a historic rival in the season kickoff. “It’s a great honor for us that we’re playing the kickoff game for the 150th anniversary of college football,” Mullen said. “Getting to play that game against a great rival, Miami, at a neutral site, it’s going to be a really exciting game.” But the team still has to keep its focus and execute, no matter how big the game or how charged the energy is. “We’ll watch a couple of extra highlight videos of the atmosphere that we’re walking into,” he said. “We practice with crowd noise — just to prepare our guys for the scene that they’re about to walk into so that they’re comfortable with that atmosphere and they’re not going to let that atmosphere distract them.”

I learned from a lot of people, but I never try to imitate them

And preparing to deal with the outcome? That’s another challenge. “The difference between winning and losing is very small. The emotional difference between the two is massive,” Mullen said. “What we have to do is look at what we did well in the game, what caused us to win the game, or what caused us to lose the game, and make the corrections so that it doesn’t happen again.” The difference between a good team and a great team may be wider than that of a narrow victory or defeat, but it’s important to strive for.

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“You need everybody doing their job at the highest of levels,” Mullen said. “I’m talking about every position coach, grad assistant, strength and conditioning coach, the trainers, the student assistants, everybody on the scout teams that might not even be playing in the games, and the players. If you do that, you have the opportunity to go from good to great.” To prepare others, coaches must be prepared themselves. An avid list maker and note taker, Mullen has watched, learned and evolved over the course of his career. “I learned from a lot of people, but I never try to imitate them,” Mullen said. “I take what they do, I take maybe the outline of how they coach or an outline of a strategy — an outline of an offense or how to run the program. Then I build it around my own personality and what I believe in as a coach.”

But the secret sauce isn’t about Dan Mullen; it has always been about the players. Every moment in Mullen’s career coaching college football has been geared toward developing not just athletes but also the next generation of men. “We use the game of football to teach them so many life lessons to give them a foundation to be successful in life when they go on to become husbands, when they go on to become fathers, when they go on to have their own careers,” Mullen said. Whatever happens this season, the universal lesson of hard work and perseverance will have an impact that lasts long after the final touchdown. “I’ll be honest with you: I can’t tell you my record; I can’t tell you what games you always win and what games you always lose, or how you’ve been through the years,” Mullen said. “But I can tell you the impact I’ve made on young people’s lives. That’s what stays with you.”

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And preparing to deal with the outcome? That’s another challenge. “The difference between winning and losing is very small. The emotional difference between the two is massive,” Mullen said. “What we have to do is look at what we did well in the game, what caused us to win the game, or what caused us to lose the game, and make the corrections so that it doesn’t happen again.” The difference between a good team and a great team may be wider than that of a narrow victory or defeat, but it’s important to strive for.

“You need everybody doing their job at the highest of levels,” Mullen said. “I’m talking about every position coach, grad assistant, strength and conditioning coach, the trainers, the student assistants, everybody on the scout teams that might not even be playing in the games, and the players. If you do that, you have the opportunity to go from good to great.” To prepare others, coaches must be prepared themselves. An avid list maker and note taker, Mullen has watched, learned and evolved over the course of his career. “I learned from a lot of people, but I never try to imitate them,” Mullen said. “I take what they do, I take maybe the outline of how they coach or an outline of a strategy — an outline of an offense or how to run the program. Then I build it around my own personality and what I believe in as a coach.”

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