Dan Mullen: Florida struggles are 'on my shoulders'

After Florida’s embarrassing loss to South Carolina in Week 10, Gators head coach Dan Mullen appears to be sitting on one of the hottest seats in college football. With lots of questions surrounding Mullen’s future at Florida, he is taking full responsibility for his team’s struggles.

“Me? I’m the head coach,” Mullen said. “So I bear all of it. It’s on my shoulders. I’m the one that’s responsible for this program. I’m the one that’s responsible for this team and how we go perform. I mean that’s your job here as the head coach is to take on that responsibility. My job is to make sure that we go perform and this team plays to the Gator standard which we’re not doing right now. So it’s my responsibility to find a way to fix that.”

Saturday’s loss to the Gamecocks marked the third consecutive loss for Florida. The Gators are now 4-5 after disappointing losses to Kentucky, LSU, and South Carolina. Florida is 2-5 against SEC opponents.

After the South Carolina loss, Mullen decided it was time to do something about Florida’s struggles. Florida fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy on Monday.

“It was something that I was looking and saying, ‘Hey, I’m probably going to make changes at the end of the season,’ and I thought for the health of the program, for the health of everybody, let’s make that move now and get us headed in the direction,” Mullen said.

“I look at the way we played Saturday and some things that build up to it of we weren’t where we needed to be. Are you a better team than you were at the beginning of the year? We’re not better than we were earlier in the year.”

Mullen could be on the outs if Florida’s struggles continue

Questions about Mullen’s future at Florida have only grown stronger after the team’s latest struggles. Paul Finebaum questions whether or not Mullen can actually survive beyond this season as the Gators head coach.

“I think we need to quite acting like there isn’t a serious problem down there,” Finebaum said of Florida. “We need to quit talking about what a great coach Dan Mullen is and what an extraordinary job he’s done. That doesn’t matter any more. That has all been blown up. That is all out the window now.

“And the question you have to ask is: Do you believe, if you’re a Florida fan, do you believe Dan Mullen can get this ship righted, fixed and progressing? Not sputtering along and avoiding losses to South Carolina, but competing with Georgia. And right now, I think if you’re being objective, if you’re being honest with yourself, the answer is ‘no.’”