Urban Meyer Steps Down - Is Mullen A Candidate?

The few days around Christmas is usually down time for college sports. Sure, there are a few bowl games that really only matter to the fans of the teams playing, but for the most part, it is a dead time. Players are home for the holidays, there aren't any practice reports or anything like that.

But yesterday, the message boards and blogs lit up like the Griswold's house at Christmas with the news that Urban Meyer was stepping down as the head coach of Florida. He is retiring after more than 20 years in coaching for health reasons.

Immediately, lists started popping up of who would replace him as head coach of one of the best jobs in college football. Big names like Bob Stoops, Kyle Whittingham, and Jim Harbaugh have been posted all over the blogosphere. Then the name that Mississippi State fans feared would be mentioned - Dan Mullen.

Mullen was a long-time assistant to Urban Meyer, and has coached with him at Notre Dame, Utah and Florida. His familiarity with the Florida system, the state and its high-school players and the administration make him seem like a natural choice.

Bob Stoops would also seem like a natural choice. He was an assistant at Florida under Steve Spurrier. His name was thrown in the hat once before, but he had only been at Oklahoma for 3 years and he felt he needed to stay for a little longer.

Chris Petersen is sure to be lured away from Boise State soon. He seems to be too good of a coach to stay Boise for much longer.

Whoever it is, the Bulldog faithful are just hoping that Mullen stays put and continues to build the program that he started this year.