Dumpster fire:
a fire in a dumpster. (“Look over there, Bill. That’s a dumpster fire. Call the fire department!”)- a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation. (“The current state of our economy is a dumpster fire.”)
- the Florida Gators in 2021 under Dan Mullen. (“The Gators were ranked No. 13 in the preseason, but after getting routed by South Carolina, it’s clear that the program is a dumpster fire.”)
No coach in college football has seen his future called more into question more quickly than Florida’s Dan Mullen. Just a few weeks ago, he was in the very safe “green zone” of the college Coaches Hot Seat. And that’s saying something, given that his descent started with last season’s shoe-throwing incident that contributed to a loss to LSU. But after tonight’s disastrous 40-17loss to lowly South Carolina, he’s likely to land at the top of that list when it updates on Monday.
In the past year, Florida has gone 4-8 (and 2-8 against teams from conferences that matter). They’ve also performed below par on the recruiting trail, routinely getting beaten for almost every prized recruit by almost every other SEC program. With just about a month until the early signing date on December 15, the Gators rank 22nd in the national recruiting rankings, but are just 9th out of 14 teams in the SEC. (The recruiting classes at Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Arkansas are all rated more highly than Florida’s.)
Clearly, Florida fans have become accustomed to better things than they’re currently seeing, but what has amplified their frustrations is the fact that Mullen appears so incredibly tone-deaf to the problems. After the loss to Kentucky, he was clearly smiling as he went to midfield to shake Kentucky coach Mark Stoops’ hand. His press conferences have often become contentious as he bristles at reporters’ questions about everything from players to recruiting. One reporter asked if Mullen had been outcoached by Stoops and Mullen responded by pointing out that Florida had outgained the Wildcats by a wide margin in yardage. I’m enough of a smartass to have followed that with a question about whether or not the wins and losses are decided by yardage or points.
And then there’s this. When asked about his desire to win, Mullen said this:
“I don’t think there’s anyone more motivated to win than me. I know the Gator fans everywhere will probably sit there, and everyone on this screen, ‘I want the Gators to win way more than he does.’ I don’t think that’s the case. The aspect of it, looking from the outside in, you sit there and say, ‘I’m the biggest fan, I want us to win more than anything else.’ I tell you what, the coaches, the players, the people within the program that put in the work every single day year round, want to win football games.”
Based on what we saw last night, if his desire to win is that intense, then the talent on the field must be abysmal, because the Gators were 100 percent annihilated by what most people saw as a less talented South Carolina team. And if the Gators have more talent, then the problem is either (a) the Gators just aren’t executing what they’ve been taught or (b) the Gators aren’t being coached well enough to win. In every case, the problem boils down to coaching.
If it’s a talent issue, then it’s clear that Mullen isn’t recruiting well enough to compete even with the likes of South Carolina. And that’s a big problem because the last time anyone checked, the Gamecocks usually struggle to even be bowl eligible. If the problem is execution, then it’s a coaching problem because what’s being taught in practice isn’t making it onto the playing surface. And if it’s a coaching problem, then, well, it’s a coaching problem. What goes on in practice isn’t impactful enough to prepare the team for the game, and the plays being called during the game aren’t creative enough to gain an advantage on the other team.
The bottom line is that Mullen’s supposed passion for winning doesn’t appear to be good enough. Elite coaches like Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher seem to have winning gameplans on Saturday and winning recruiting plans during the rest of the week. As of late, Mullen has neither, and the effect is one of the most embarrassing losses in program history. (And that’s the fourth time I’ve said that this season, with the others being Kentucky, LSU and Georgia.) Mullen’s smugness in his press conferences is only matched with his inability to outcoach anyone, as well as his ultra loyalty to players who shouldn’t be started and coaches who shouldn’t be coaching.
And the result is a dumpster fire.
Florida fans have become accustomed to those in recent years. The Gators thought the Ron Zook era was a dumpster fire, and he certainly didn’t get the right number of wins. But at least he could recruit. (Just ask Urban Meyer about how stocked the cupboard was when he arrived.)
Will Muschamp was absolutely involved in a dumpster fire, as was Jim McElwain. But again, both of them had recruiting strengths. (Just ask Dan Mullen and Todd Grantham about their cupboard when they arrived.)
But what we’re seeing at the University of Florida seems to outpace any of those fires. Mullen has managed to take a team that appeared poised to contend for a College Football Playoff berth last season and has engineered their descent into the 10th level of college football hell. Even if the Gators eke out a bowl berth, this is not a bowl team. Remember — 4-8 in their last 12 games. That’s not bowl-worthy unless we’re talking about the toilet bowl.
The bottom line is that Dan Mullen and his crew have put together a doozy of a four-alarm fire in Ben Hill Griffin’s dumpster, and based on the talent on hand and the talent currently in the recruiting pipeline, there doesn’t appear to be a fire hose in sight. Florida’s fireman is not Mullen, but its athletic director, Scott Stricklin. If they are to extinguish the flames, Stricklin must make the hard choice to cut loose his firebug and look for someone who will begin to rebuild the program according to the true Florida standard.
