Paul Finebaum on why Florida had no choice but to fire Dan Mullen
It felt like it wasn’t an if, but a when Dan Mullen would be fired. That happened on Sunday, and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum offered his thoughts on why it had to happen before season’s end.
Florida has a 5-6 record this year, missing out on a bowl game for the first time since he took over. Finebaum talked about how things unfolded in Gainesville and why Mullen couldn’t coach against Florida State this week.
“Well, he had no choice, Matt” Finebaum told co-host Matt Barrie on The ESPN College Football Podcast on Monday. “I said to you mid-morning that I felt like he was on life support. The tug-of-war down in Gainesville was, ‘Do we wait a week? Do we owe it to the players and let them have senior day?’ The old line that Stricklin’s predecessor, Jermey Foley, once said, ‘If it’s inevitable, do it immediately,’ I think ruled the day. They figured, ‘Why wait?’
“By the way, what if he wins that game? It really doesn’t mean anything, the atmosphere down there had grown toxic, many of the former players — and I’m talking about pre-Urban Meyer days — had turned against Mullen, and Stricklin had no choice.”
Finebaum also addressed the speculation that Stricklin would’ve kept Mullen around. He pointed to one important reason why that wouldn’t happen.
“For all of the pundits who thought that Scott Stricklin would save Dan Mullen because they were together at Mississippi State, they forgot one important factor: that Scott Stricklin can lose his job, too, if he’s not careful,” Finebaum said. “So he did exactly what Dan Mullen did two weeks ago by sacrificing two coaches. Scott Stricklin sacrificed Dan Mullen today because it was the right thing to do.”
Paul Finebaum pulls back the curtain on Florida coaching search
As if the coaching carousel wasn’t crazy enough, Florida threw another opening into the mix when it fired Dan Mullen this week. That leaves plenty of names on the table — and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum shared some insight on the process.
Some names thrown around include Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and Louisiana coach Billy Napier. Finebaum said Napier looks like “the flavor of the month,” but talked about how these names have come up.
He attributed some of the smoke to sports agent Jimmy Sexton, the head of coaching for the Creative Artist Agency.
“Listen, we’ve watched this before,” Finebaum told Matt Barrie on The ESPN College Football Podcast. “James Franklin was the absolute choice at [USC] and Mel Tucker was the guy at LSU and things change with time. What you’re hearing and reading today, I am telling you, is being fed by Jimmy Sexton. I just know how that game is played. Don’t ask me how I know.
“I don’t know who the right choice is yet, but I have a feeling Scott Stricklin has a pretty good idea who it was. I don’t think he would’ve walked in today and pulled this trigger to start a coaching search. I think he’s been thinking about it for a couple weeks. It’s a feeling that he has one or two guys well-established in his head.”