Florida football: 3 Dan Mullen replacements that wouldn’t lose to South Carolina

Dan Mullen went from possibly being on the hot seat with Florida football to sitting on a scalding-hot throne with a blowout loss to South Carolina.

Whenever Dan Mullen got the win over Georgia last season, it seemed as if the man to bring Florida football back to the Promised Land was in place. As it turns out, that might’ve just been a house of cards and the 2021 season has been a strong gust of wind to blow it all to the ground with the Gators.

Sure, losses to Alabama and Georgia are passable but, on Saturday night, Mullen delivered a listless performance from his team against an admittedly bad South Carolina Gamecocks team. And they didn’t just lose — Florida football got blown out by 20+ points in a game where they were favored by 20.5.

Dan Mullen was already on the hot seat but it seems like his time in Gainesville should be coming to a close. And they need to replace him with a head coach that, at minimum, isn’t losing to South Carolina to drop to 4-5 on the season.

Florida football replacements for Dan Mullen that would beat South Carolina

3. Luke Fickell – Cincinnati head coach

Even with Cincinnati preparing to move to the Big 12, you have to wonder if this season is the breaking point for Luke Fickell that will ultimately lead to his departure.

If ever there was a time for a non-Power 5 team to make it into the playoff, it would’ve been this year. Yet, the unbeaten Bearcats came in at No. 6 in the first set of rankings, further proving that it’s just not going to happen. And with Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12, it may be the same struggle there.

That wouldn’t be the case at Florida, though, and Fickell knows how to recruit to his strengths and, furthermore, develop players extremely well. Given the resources that the Gators can provide, Fickell could come into Gainesville and have a huge impact on the program that Mullen, as evidenced by Saturday’s loss, is not.