Mississippi State's Dan Mullen finalizing deal with Florida

ByABC News
November 26, 2017, 3:45 PM

— -- Florida is finalizing a deal to make Dan Mullen its next head coach, a source told ESPN's Chris Low.

Mullen has been the coach at Mississippi State since 2009. His 69-46 record for the Bulldogs makes him the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only Jackie Sherrill. The Bulldogs are 8-4 (4-4 SEC) this season.

Mississippi State is set to play in its eight straight bowl game, a streak that began in Mullen's second season at the school.

Mullen, 45, was a part of two national championship teams at Florida in 2006 and 2008 as Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator. Along with coaching quarterback Tim Tebow at Florida, Mullen also coached Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith at Utah and Dallas Cowboys star Dak Prescott at Mississippi State.

Mullen also worked with current Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin when the AD was leading the athletic department in Starkville, Mississippi.

Mullen was also being considered for the Tennessee job.

Florida had previously considered UCF's Scott Frost, who is considered a top target for the Nebraska head-coaching job after leading the Knights to an 11-0 regular season. The Gators also targeted former Oregon coach Chip Kelly, who was hired by UCLA Saturday.

The Gators have been seeking a replacement for former coach Jim McElwain, whose teams won SEC East titles in 2015 and 2016. McElwain was fired on Oct. 29, the day after the Gators lost to Georgia 42-7 to drop their record to 3-4. He had a 22-12 record in two-plus seasons with at Florida.

The Gators lost three of their last four games under interim coach Randy Shannon to finish 4-7, only their second losing season since 1979.

Information from ESPN's Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press was used in this report.