Sorry for the delay....I went out to a few bars afterwards last night then had to spend time w/ family today, first chance to get online since yesterday.
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The event was very good. The National Press Club is a neat place w/ a lot of history. It was a great location to host the event, they had a spread of heavy app's before hand and a cash bar. I'm guessing there were at least 300 people there. It was a nice night in DC, not too cold or windy, and a good night to head into the city. The Press Club is a few blocks from the White House.
Mullen was introduced by a local news personality who was a Miss Florida 2004 (I think) and UF grad. He spoke for about an hour and did a Q&A session that lasted at least 30 minutes, then he signed autographs and took pictures for another half hour or more. I got a picture w/ him at the very end and mentioned that I met him in 2005 when I was a Gator Club president and he was our guest speaker before he ever coached a game at UF. He laughed and said he remembers and always points out the place when he's in the area recruiting.
Anyhow, he spoke a lot about the usual rah-rah stuff: happy to be here, the "Gator Standard", how he likes cheering on the other programs at UF, how UF is a great academic university, mentioned the big basketball win vs. Alabama, the baseball teams win, he talked a little bit about his time at Miss State and that he came to UF to win a national title - he said his son wasn't too keen on moving to Gainesville, so he gave him his 2006 NC ring to wear and his son said something like "can we get more of these?" Mullen said, "that's the plan!". He did a great job w/ the crowd, had people laughing, made fun of himself some, talked about running the Boston Marathon, how tough it was - and this was the funny part for me; he says, "Anyone here run the Boston Marathon?" I causally raised my hand, not too high....but I was the only person in the room to raise my hand. So he starts talking about how tough "Heartbreak Hill" was....and he's looking at me for confirmation. So I just shake my head "yeah, yeah" every time he looked in my direction.
He spoke about how tough the S&C program is and how great Savage does with the kids. He said, "If you're name is "Nick Savage" you were born to be a Strength Coach!" which got a good laugh. He said a lot of what they do is based off of Navy SEAL training. There was a lady in the crowd who was a friend of his (I think from his childhood in New Hampshire) who's brother was a Navy SEAL. He talked about their relationship and how tough the guy was/is. The SEAL got brain cancer and Mullen found out in 2006, just after the SEC Championship game - they had concealed it from him until after the season so it wouldn't be a distraction. Anyhow, that led into him talking more about the S&C program and how some kids can go through the tough workouts just fine - like most SEALS just keep pushing through when things get tough - and that some kids fail before the workout even starts. He mentioned the Valentine's Day workout and how tough it was.
He talked about the new coaching hires and he's happy with both Gray & Turner. He talked about Grantham interviewing and said the new contract was signed well before the interview came up and it had nothing to do with trying to keep him (by outbidding the NFL teams). He said Grantham told him he loves working for him, his kids love Gainesville, and that he feels he may want to coach in the NFL someday again so he wanted to do the interview just to see what they say and are offering.
The Q&A had a few interesting responses. Of course there were some stupid questions like "who's the better golfer, you or your wife?" Which led to him talking about how good his son was at golf (taking away from talking about football!"). This was the most interesting response to me all night, he was asked which position group in the signing class most excited him.....he said the WR's. He didn't mention Henderson at all, but he talked about Whittemore, Marks, and Weston. He said they were all 3-stars. He said, "...the only time stars matter is on signing day, so we can say we had a top 10 class and all of you are happy" (that got a laugh out of the crowd). But he talked specifically about all 3 of them; said Weston & Marks didn't go to many camps, if they had they would have been highly rated. He said they all watched Marks tape sitting around the room....they said, "Who's offered this kid? FIU?" They watch more tape....then he asked, "What do you think?" They all agreed, (and this is word for word): "He's the best WR in the country!" He said Whittimore is nearly 6'4, his mom is a legacy, dad is a coach and he is a very good football player - Mr. Football & Basketball for the area.
Was asked if Toney can get 10 touches a game? He said Toney is an exciting player and will continue to be a big part of the offense.
Was asked what his favorite play in UF history is and he talked about the jump pass....then said "any play involving Percy". Said Percy is the best football player he's ever seen.
Talked about Tebow some and their relationship.
Talked about Franks a little. He said he gives him a hard time all the time about "shushing" the crowd. "You're the only QB in the country who shushed his home crowd!" Said he still has work to do, but has come a long way.
Said when he got here he asked the team, "How many of you want to win a championship?" They all raised their hands....and he said, "You're lying. Because if you did you wouldn't have gone 4-7 last year!"
It was a mad rush to get pictures w/ him afterwards; families w/ kids, the DC Gator Club people, at least 100 people waiting. We hung around towards the end and got a picture w/ him - me and another Coast Guard buddy (the guy taking the picture is my CG buddy who played football at Oregon State). After we took the picture and Mullen was done signing that's when we quickly chatted about meeting in 2005....then I said, "I was the guy in the crowd who ran the Boston Marathon." My other buddy said something like "he said he didn't have as hard of a time on the hills as you did!" Honestly, I can't believe how engaging he was. His posse (the UAA people) were trying to get him out the door saying he had a flight to catch....but he talked to anyone that came up to him. He may or may not win one here but if you don't like the guy as a person you're probably an unhappy person and your life sucks.
I'm sure there's some more I forgot to include.....I'll add later if I remember. I'm in the last picture below on the left. I'm coming off of hernia surgery, so I'm usually much more handsome!!! (the other guy is my CG buddy who is a 99 UF grad. His brother is an Alachua County firefighter - I think he's the EMS Chief). Great night and I'm excited about the future of UF football!