Is Dan Mullen’s apparent lack of leadership a sign of deeper issues at the University of Florida?
Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I am 100% Florida Gator through and through. My paternal lineage goes through the University of Florida stretching back four generations; I was born in Gainesville; my first spoken phrase was “Go Gators!” I have been through many highs and lows over the past four-plus decades, from the depths of the scandal-soured 1980s to the peak during the mid-aughts. I bleed orange and blue.
But lately, it has been getting harder and harder to appreciate my undergraduate alma mater. First and foremost, three (possibly four) university professors were recently prohibited by the school from providing expert testimony in a voters rights lawsuit, which does not sit well with me. Then there is the medical school’s involvement in the hiring of anti-vaxxer Dr. Joseph Landopo as the state’s surgeon general, which has roots that stretch all the way to Criser Hall.
Those travesties overshadow the women’s basketball abuse scandal involving its former head coach. There have also been moments during the COVID pandemic when I found myself concerned about who was running the show at my beloved university. Things are not great, Bob!
The latest issue is one with far less gravity than the aforementioned topics but gets far more attention from the fanbase, and that is the state of affairs with the football team — specifically, head coach Dan Mullen and his staff. Coming into a season with mixed expectations and an incredibly difficult schedule, it might not be unfair to suggest that the fourth-year skipper had something of a Sisyphean task ahead of him.
But what concerns me is not the results we have seen, but how the games have played out, in addition to some rumblings from current and former players on social media as well as Mullen’s mum approach to questions about recruiting. The issues have been quickly piling up.
To me, this is not just about Dapper Dan’s reluctance to give Todd Grantham the boot or to adopt a more flexible approach in his game plan or even his penchant for sticking his foot in his mouth in the face of fair questioning. This feels like it runs even deeper than the field in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, into the heart of the entire athletic program — and possibly beyond.
I spoke with Pat Dooley, who has been covering the Gators for longer than many of our readers have been alive, about the difference between former athletic director Jeremy Foley, who was responsible for the golden age of Gators sports, and current AD Scott Stricklin. His simple answer was that the former focused on the personnel themselves while the latter is all about infrastructure first and foremost.
Dooley’s observation struck a nerve with me, as I had noticed a significant change in the overall philosophy of the athletic department since the Stricklin era began. To be fair, Foley’s train had run its course by the time he retired in 2016, but he had already established Gainesville as a premier destination for student-athletes — even if some of the facilities were a step behind.
Mind you, that infrastructure gap in football and other sports has been narrowed thanks to the efforts of the current AD, but with faith in Mullen and his staff rapidly deteriorating, does that leave the athletic department in any better shape than before? Especially considering that football’s grandiose training grounds are designed explicitly to attract top-level high school talent, the head coach’s recent response to a press corps question regarding recruiting leaves one wondering if the reins are in the right hands.
Circling back to my earlier point, the Stricklin era has not exactly been smooth sailing, especially more recently. He deserves little credit for the baseball national championship in 2017 as his predecessor assembled that program, and really, the same can be said for most of the other sports as well. The former Mississippi State AD inherited a job that had an immense amount of inertia behind it which gave him a great deal of leeway to work with.
Now five years later, Florida’s bread-and-butter sport is severely lagging behind in recruiting despite sitting in the national hotbed for talent because of personnel issues on the Swamp’s sidelines. Then when you consider the fact that legendary soccer coach Becky Burleigh left what was essentially a tenure position in Gainesville for the pros, it raises yet another eyebrow, especially considering how poorly incoming coach Tony Amato’s squad performed this season. And let us be honest — Mike White has not lived up to expectations on the parquet with the men’s basketball program either.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Back in September, former Gators Wire contributor Zachary Huber broke the story on women’s basketball’s ex-head coach Cameron Neubauer’s alleged abuse of players while in Gainesville. It was later reported that Stricklin was aware of some allegations during the coach’s tenure but did not directly address them. Further, the official statements made in the wake of the breaking story were unsatisfactory given the severity of the situation.
Sure, Florida continues to rack up the SEC and national championships in sports like men’s tennis. But be honest, are you really watching those matches and spending your money because of them? Sadly, what matters are the sports that pay for themselves and the others — specifically football and men’s basketball. And when those two are floundering the way they have been, it is not a good sign.
When I take in the gestalt of all these pieces, I get the feeling that we are just scratching on the surface of what could be a much bigger institutional issue. Maybe this does not even stop at Stricklin, but goes all the way up to president Kent Fuchs? The sixth-year head of UF began his Gainesville stint in 2015 and was responsible for Stricklin’s hire, which inevitably trickles down. Even considering a grace period of a few years for his influence to set in… well, there is still a bit to be desired from the university’s 12th president’s time at the helm of the state’s flagship university so far as well as one of his most important hires.
Hence my reference to the freedom of speech issue that has been a severe black eye on the institution this past month: where there is smoke there is usually fire. And right now, that smoke is coming from the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street.
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