Gus and mullen go back 14 years

[aubiefifty 18,398]

14 years ago, Gus Malzahn and Dan Mullen ‘got to talking’

Updated 10:30 AM; Today 9:22 AM

3-4 minutes

Saturday is the first time Gus Malzahn and Dan Mullen will face each other as the head coaches of Auburn and Florida, but their history goes back 14 years.

In 2005, Malzahn was in his last year as a high school coach at Springdale High School in Arkansas. Malzahn had a nationally ranked top-10 team that year, filled with players like Mitch Mustain, Ben Cleveland, Andrew Norman, Damian Williams and Bartley Webb.

That year, he took a few of his players to visit Florida with him.

Mullen had just started at Florida as the offensive coordinator, and he was recruiting Mustain as a prospective quarterback.

The coaches “got to talking,” Mullen said, and they left an impression on each other.

“I just remember he really stood out to me as a class guy, real down to earth,” Malzahn said.

In Malzahn, Mullen said he saw an innovative coach, which is something that sticks to this day.

“He has systems that he runs and he knows and he’s not afraid to create outside the box within his system, put his players in position to make plays,” Mullen said. “I have always had a lot of respect for him as a coach and a person.”

After Malzahn and his players returned to Arkansas, Mullen returned the visit as he continued to recruit Mustain. Once again, they sat down and talked ball.

During those talks, they came away with schematic ideas, although Mullen can’t recall the specifics.

He does remember that they both started running a system called the “wildcat.”

“I should have accused him of copyright infringement on that one or something,” Mullen joked. “But then I guess the Notre Dame shift people would have come and copyright infringed me or the single-wing people from 80 years ago.”

Malzahn’s 2005 Springdale team went on to win a state championship. Then Malzahn became the offensive coordinator at Arkansas, where several members of his 2005 championship team joined him — including Mustain. It was the first recruiting battle Malzahn won against Mullen. In 2019, Malzahn has two quarterbacks Florida offered for, Joey Gatewood and Bo Nix (although Mullen said he knew Nix would probably go to Auburn based on his history with the school).

During his first season as a college offensive coordinator, Malzahn found himself coaching across the field from Mullen in Arkansas’s 38-28 loss to Florida.

Three years later, their paths crossed again. Mullen was the head coach at Mississippi State and Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Auburn. The Bulldogs and the Tigers played each other three times while Malzahn was the offensive coordinator, from 2009-2011, and Auburn came away with the win each year.

Through it all, the relationship born on those 2005 visits have continued.

“I’ve got a lot respect for Dan — the way he goes about it,” Malzahn said. “I think he’s one of the good guys and does things right. His teams are always well prepared, and he’s a very good football coach.”

[aubiefifty 18,398]

this blows my mind. i thought mullen and gus did not like each other at all? the article sounded too sugary to be coach speak......am i wrong?

[DAG 35,153]

8 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

this blows my mind. i thought mullen and gus did not like each other at all? the article sounded too sugary to be coach speak......am i wrong?

Most coaches and players have no issues at all. It is the fans with the issues. 

[Tiger 8,864]

With Mullen being behind the attempt to expose "Camgate" I'm pretty surprised at this as well 

But not surprised Gus would say nice things as he's always been a classy guy

But then again, I doubt any of their beef with one another would make it to newspaper quotes 

[gr82be 14,996]

17 minutes ago, Tiger said:

With Mullen being behind the attempt to expose "Camgate" I'm pretty surprised at this as well 

But not surprised Gus would say nice things as he's always been a classy guy

But then again, I doubt any of their beef with one another would make it to newspaper quotes 

Gus saying that he thinks Mullen is one of the good guys is relative to all the Saban disciples that are in the SEC. If you look at it with that as your measuring stick I think he is one of the good guys. 

[wareagleguy 1,398]

3 hours ago, gr82be said:

Gus saying that he thinks Mullen is one of the good guys is relative to all the Saban disciples that are in the SEC. If you look at it with that as your measuring stick I think he is one of the good guys. 

Maybe a Gustonian dig at Nicky and his imps too!

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

4 hours ago, DAG said:

Most coaches and players have no issues at all. It is the fans with the issues. 

Coaches get crossed at each other all the time. Lots of them don’t like each other. You are 100% correct about the players. 

Gus might say he likes Dan but I can go out on a limb here and say he does not trust or communicate much with Dan after 2010. If any at all anymore. Vise versa with Mullen. 

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

4 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

this blows my mind. i thought mullen and gus did not like each other at all? the article sounded too sugary to be coach speak......am i wrong?

The article may have pulled an old quote also. Who knows when Gus even said that......

At any rate......coaches usually say nice things about each other even when there's bad blood between them.

 

[boisnumber1 2,992]

1 hour ago, Tigerbelle said:

The article may have pulled an old quote also. Who knows when Gus even said that......

At any rate......coaches usually say nice things about each other even when there's bad blood between them.

 

Listen to Gus' UF press conference. It is pretty much verbatim what Gus said. It actually may be where the quote came from.