Penn State, swallow your pride and call Dan Mullen to save this disaster

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Penn State, swallow your pride and call Dan Mullen to save this disaster

Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY · USA TODAY Sports

Wed, Dec 3, 2025 ·

4 min read

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John Currie thought he had his man.

The then- Tennessee athletic director swapped texts with Dan Mullen , a sizable catch who would have placated Vols' fans desires for a big fish. Mullen texted Currie to wish him "good luck" as Tennessee prepared to play its season finale.

"Hope the cold ones are good!" Currie replied to Mullen, before messaging Mullen's agent to have him get deal terms to Mullen.

Currie nearly had his catch in the boat. Then, Mullen wriggled off the hook.

Mullen accepted the Florida job instead of Tennessee. Currie's search promptly jumped the rails. Tennessee became a punchline. It fired Currie and got stuck with Jeremy Pruitt as coach. Major faceplant.

College football coaching grades: Grading each hire, how they fit

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Penn State hired Matt Campbell as its next head coach. Campbell, 46, coached 10 seasons at Iowa State and was the winningest coach in school history.

(Nirmalendu Majumdar, USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Kyle Whittingham is finalizing a new deal to be the coach at Michigan after 177 wins in 21 seasons at Utah. Whittingham replaces Sherrone Moore who was fired Dec. 10.
(Rob Gray, Imagn Images)

UCLA hired Bob Chesney as its next head coach, ending the longest coaching search in country of a coach fired midseason in 2025. Chesney spent two seasons at James Madison and led the Dukes to the Sun Belt championship game this season after coaching Holy Cross, where he won five conference championships.
(Bob Donnan, Imagn Images)

South Florida hired Brian Hartline, replacing Alex Golesh, who left to become head coach of Auburn. Hartline has been an assistant at Ohio State since 2017 first as wide receivers coach then offensive coordinator and helped the Buckeyes win the national championship last season.
(Adam Cairns, USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Florida hired Jon Sumrall as its next head coach, replacing Billy Napier, who was fired midseason. Sumrall, 43, spent two seasons at Tulane and two at Troy and led his teams to the conference championship game in each of those four seasons.

(Stephen Lew, Imagn Images)

LSU hired Lane Kiffin as its next football coach on Nov. 30. Kiffin spent six seasons at Ole Miss and led the Rebels to a spot in this year's College Football Playoff, though he won't coach in it.
(Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger)

Virginia Tech hired James Franklin as its next head coach. Franklin was fired earlier this season at Penn State. He replaces Brent Pry, who was fired midseason by the Hokies.
(Brian Bishop-Imagn Images)

Michigan State football hired Pat Fitzgerald as Jonathan Smith's replacement. Fitzgerald coached 17 seasons at his alma mater Northwestern, posting a 110-101 overall record.
(Michael Reaves, Getty Images)

Auburn is hiring South Florida coach Alex Golesh to be the Tigers' next head coach. Golesh is 23-15 in three seasons with the Bulls, with three bowl bids.
(Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)

Ole Miss promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach after Lane Kiffin left for LSU. Golding is in his third season as Rebels DC and served as Alabama's DC before.
(Justin Ford, Getty Images)

Morgan Scalley is taking over as Utah coach with the departure of Kyle Whittingham following 21 seasons in the job. Scalley, a former Utes defensive back, was an assistant under Whittingham for 18 seasons and coach-in-waiting since 2024.
(Rob Gray, Imagn Images)

Arkansas is set to hire Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield to lead the Razorbacks program. Silverfield is 50-24 in six seasons in Memphis with a fifth bowl appearance on the way.
(Wesley Hale-Imagn Images)

Oklahoma State hired Eric Morris from North Texas to be the Cowboys next head coach. Morris replaces longtime OSU coach Mike Gundy, who was fired earlier this season.
(Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images)

Stanford hired Washington Commanders quarterback coach Tavita Pritchard to be the Cardinal's next head coach
(Eric Canha-Imagn Images)

Colorado State hired Jim Mora Jr. as its new head coach. Mora led UConn to back-to-back nine-win seasons and replaces Jay Norvell, who was fired midseason.
(David Butler II-Imagn Images)

Kentucky moved on from Mark Stoops after 13 seasons and hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein to fill its vacancy. The Kentucky native previously played for Louisville.
(Ben Lonergan, The Register-Guard)

Iowa State hired Jimmy Rogers as its next head coach. Rogers, 38, spent one year as the coach of Washington State after coaching South Dakota State for two seasons and an FCS national championship in 2023.

(James Snook, Imagn Images)

Kansas State has brought back former player and assistant Collin Klein as its football coach after Chris Klieman stepped down after seven seasons. Klein spent the past two years as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
(Peter Aiken, Getty Images)

Tosh Lupoi is returning to alma mater California after the school fired Justin Wilcox. Lupoi, a longtime college and NFL assistant, was defensive coordinator at Oregon for four seasons.
(Ben Lonergan, The Register-Guard)

Charles Huff is the new Memphis football coach after one season at Southern Mississippi after leading the Golden Eagles to a bowl game. He previously was at Marshall for four seasons.
(Matt Bush, Special to the Clarion Ledger)

Connecticut hired Toledo coach Jason Candle to replace Jim Mora. Candle won 81 games in 10 seasons with the Rockets.
(Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

James Madison moved quickly to hire Billy Napier, a former coach at Florida and Louisiana-Lafayette, after the departure of Bob Chesney to UCLA.
(Matt Pendleton, Imagn Images)

After losing Jon Sumrall to Florida, Tulane elevated offensive coordinator Will Hall to the job. Hall previously coached four seasons at Southern Mississippi.
(Matt Bush, USA TODAY Sports)

Toledo found the replacement for Jason Candle with the addition of Mercer's Mike Jacobs, who led the Bears to consecutive FCS playoff appearances in two seasons at the school.
(Will McLelland, Imagn Images)

Oregon State hired Alabama co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard as its head coach, replacing Trent Bray who was fired after an 0-7 start this season.
(Jason Clark, Getty Images)

North Texas hired former West Virginia coach Neal Brown as the replacement for Eric Morris, who departed for the head coaching job at Oklahoma State. Brown spent six seasons with the Mountaineers and won 35 games in four seasons at Troy.
(Ben Queen, Imagn Images)

Ohio promoted interim coach John Hauser after the team defeated UNLV in the Xbox Bowl. Hauser replaces Brian Smith, who was fired in December.
(Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images)

After the departure of Jimmy Rogers, Washington State hired Kirby Moore, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Missouri after previous stops at Fresno State and Washington.
(Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports)

Caostal Carolina filled its coaching vacancy after the firing of Tim Beck by hiring Ryan Beard from Missouri State, who led the Bears to a bowl game in their first FBS season.
(Michael Gulledge, Special to the News-Leader)

Southern Mississippi promoted offensive coordinator Blake Anderson to fill its coaching vacancy following the departure of Charles Huff. Anderson was previously the head coach at Utah State and Arkansas State.
(Michael Madrid, USA TODAY Sports)

Alex Mortensen took over as interim coach of Alabama-Birmingham after the firing of Trent Dilfer. Mortenson was promoted to full-time coach after going 2-4 to finish the season.
(David Butler II, Imagn Images)

Tennessee's derailment comes to mind after Penn State 's sizable catch, Kalani Sitake, slipped off the hook . Sitake is staying at Brigham Young, and athletic director Pat Kraft's search drags on.

Nittany Lions fans are getting restless. It's been 52 days since Kraft served up James Franklin's head , but the euphoria of a firing placates rabid fans for just a day or two. Then, they want a savior.

How about Mullen?

I'm serious.

Swallow your pride, Penn State. Dial Dan.

Mullen's twist toward Florida once served as a pivot point for Tennessee's disastrous coaching search, but he can become the solution to Kraft's problems.

Dan Mullen could save Penn State football coaching search

Mullen might be a better fit for Penn State than Sitake anyway. He's a native of Pennsylvania .

Sitake's team is 11-1. He's a good coach. He's a great coach for BYU . Mullen's UNLV team is 10-2. He's a good coach, too.

Mullen crushed it at Mississippi State . He produced one bad season at Florida. That cost him his job. Fair enough, but that doesn't make him a bad coach. He's not. He'd be a good solution for Penn State's predicament. Unlike eight years ago, Mullen doesn't have a better offer on the other line.

As other potential targets come off the market — Jeff Brohm reportedly has decided to stay at Louisville — Penn State needs to move Mullen to the top of the board, especially at this late hour.

Naysayers would remind you Mullen got fired from his last big-boy job. Sure, he did, but guess what. Mullen's Florida tenure looked better with every Billy Napier loss.

Of the six guys to coach Florida since Steve Spurrier, Mullen remains the best one not named Urban Meyer. He's won at least 10 games in three of his past five seasons.

"Offensive genius," Adam Breneman , a former Penn State tight end turned podcaster, wrote of Mullen on X.

Genius. Guru. Mastermind.

All words that have been used to describe Mullen.

Everyone's a genius until they get punched in the face by Arvell Reese and Caleb Downs , but Mullen's offense did once hang 46 points on Nick Saban's defense.

How to sell Dan Mullen hire? Talk quarterbacks

The narrative Mullen is a poor recruiter is exaggerated. He signed a pair of top-10 classes at Florida. Three of his four classes at Florida outranked Penn State's haul in those years.

Mullen didn't recruit well in his final season at Florida. Also, the Gators didn't have their NIL house in order. Seems relevant.

Mullen develops talent well, and we've never seen him cook from a perch like Penn State in the transfer era. Forget outdated in-home visits, where Mullen seems like he'd be a pickle out of its jar. The portal seems made for someone like Mullen, and Penn State will need plenty of transfers after this wasted recruiting cycle .

You could say Mullen has an inferior coaching record than Franklin. Well, it's time to face reality. Someone with a better resume than Franklin isn't walking through that door.

Anyway, that doesn't mean Mullen wouldn't get Penn State back to the playoff — and quickly. He would've qualified both Mississippi State and Florida for the 12-team playoff, if it had existed during his tenures.

He possesses a sharp mind for offense. He's an excellent quarterback developer. UNLV leads the Mountain West in offense. Think Penn State could use that? That's how you sell this hire.

Introductory news conference: "We're pleased to announce we've hired a coach who developed Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott and Kyle Trask. The days of plodding offenses at Penn State are over. Pair Penn State's resources with Dan's record of quarterback development, and we can't wait to see Dan coach Penn State's first Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Look out, Ryan Day. We are coming."

Then, crack a cold one. Toast the hire of a good coach who played a role in a coaching search gone haywire years ago, but now can pull Penn State's search out of the ditch.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Penn State football can save coaching search: Call Dan Mullen

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Penn State, swallow your pride and call Dan Mullen to save this disaster

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Dan Mullen could save Penn State football coaching search

How to sell Dan Mullen hire? Talk quarterbacks