A long look at Florida football’s history with interim head coaches

Pat Dooley takes a look at the many faces of the interim head coach carousel dating back to the 1980s.

What would a modern-day Florida-FSU game be without interim coaches?

It would have been a smoother transition if Dan Mullen didn’t punt his love for loyalty and stuck with his seniors for one more game. But this is the Mullenade that is being served for the final regular-season game and possibly the last game of 2021 period.

Both teams need wins to be bowl eligible and FSU has seen this before. The difference is that the Seminoles have won five of their last seven games after an 0-4 start while Florida has lost four of its last five.

The Gators have the interim coach this time around – the third interim from the two schools in the last five meetings and a fourth was close with Jimbo Fisher leaving after the Florida game in 2017 – although I’m not sure what a game between a pair of 5-6 teams will do for anyone’s resume.

Rather than give you the often-recited history of the Florida-FSU series, we thought we’d remember the long list of Florida interim coaches through the years: