BCS National Championship: Miss. St. coach calling shots for Gators on game day

By Berry Tramel Comments 2
Published: January 4, 2009
Modified: January 7, 2009 at 12:28 pm

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Mississippi State’s head coach will call plays for the Florida Gators in the national championship game. And that’s just fine with the Gators.

Dan Mullen, hired by Mississippi State in December, has remained on the Florida staff, pulling double duty.

“There’s a lot of jokes, but other than that, everybody wanted Coach Mullen back,” said Florida flanker Louis Murphy. “Everybody wanted him here with us, because we don’t want to break routine. I don’t think it’s distracted any of us.”

It’s an eerie similarity to 2000, when Florida State came to the Orange Bowl to play Oklahoma for the national title. Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt had taken the Georgia job but pulled double duty and coordinated the Seminole offense for that game. OU won 13-2.

Mullen has been unavailable for comment this week, but Steve Addazio, promoted from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator, said nothing will change for the Gators.

“I will be in my exact same spot, exact same routine, exact same demeanor,” Addazio said. That means Mullen in the pressbox, Addazio on the field.

Addazio gave a quick example of how the Gator offense operates. The staff puts together a game plan, which includes approximately 10 plays for each situation — third-and-long, third-and-medium, third-and-short, etc.

Mullen will choose a play from that list, but Addazio said the game plan could be adjusted during the game, and head coach Urban Meyer will offer suggestions.

“We’re business as usual for this game,” Addazio said.

Murphy said everything seems normal. “We have a lot of mature players on the team,” Murphy said. “Everybody is a grown man. I think if it was last year, it would be a big problem. But this year, everybody knows that you have to better your life. Everybody knows that you have to move on eventually.”