Initially, thoughts seem generally positive. Why was he fired?
He came in with some energy and at first was a relief from the mess McElwain left. Grantham brought Jonathan Greenard from Louisville who was an elite pass rusher, so things started ok. 10 win seasons but we all thought that was his ceiling.
Once Greenard left Grantham’s defense tanked. Mullen did nothing about it.
He’s good at game planning and play calling, but most here don’t like his preferred scheme. He did adapt when Kyle Trask proved a fine passer and decision maker. But he was forced into that when Felipe Franks broke his ankle. Trask was clearly the better QB and Mullen kept him on the bench.
But why was he fired? He had a “show cause” penalty imposed on him during the pandemic for an illegal contact during a dead period (or something like that.) Then, since no one could recruit that year, the ncaa extended it another year. I think he soured on recruiting and everything else.
Then half the team quit before our bowl game with OU. Remember his post game presser? He never shook that.
Percolating problems with Grantham and several position coaches were left to fester. Recruiting wasn’t horrible in the class ranking, but key recruits never played a down at UF. He basically quit, but went through the motions enough to collect his fat buyout.
Fair to say his arrogance and abrasive personality, which we saw when he was our OC but Meyer managed well, wound up taking him down
He has been clear that he doesn’t like the current college environment with NIL and free agency.
As a pure Xs & Os guy, schemer and play caller, B+. As a QB coach - B/B+. As a vital part of a championship program? C-. As a recruiter? D.
He might last a year or two with Venables. He might cause one of those veins in Venables’s head to actually explode.
If I was at OU, I’d go after Brian Johnson - who had a ton to do with Trask’s development and success, recruits well and seems like an up and coming coach. I think we all liked him a lot and would welcome him back as an OC/QB coach.
