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

2. Hugh Freeze – Liberty head coach

Yes, the Hugh Freeze era at Ole Miss ended in scandal. However, as we’ve seen with the Texas Tech head coaching search, there is a way to sell hiring Freeze to fans. And if that can be done, the one thing that is never in question is that the current Liberty Flames head coach is one of the best when it comes to maximizing talent, finding talent, and winning football games.

Freeze had a 10-3 season at Ole Miss and consistently had winning teams (even if most of those wins were vacated). But he’s continued his winning ways at a program in Liberty that had barely gotten off the ground, going 10-1 last season and sitting at 7-3 this year. It might be a hard sell to fans and boosters but, at the end of the day, Freeze isn’t losing to South Carolina.

1. Mel Tucker – Michigan State head coach

Though putting Mel Tucker on this list after his Spartans earned a top-three spot in the first CFP rankings only to get trounced by Purdue is a bit ironic, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone around college football who isn’t all-in on Tucker and what he’s done with Michigan State. This team was projected to maybe make a bowl game and was No. 3 in the first playoff rankings.

Tucker knows how to put together a strong recruiting staff — which, as mentioned, is the bugaboo with Mullen — and can get the best out of his players. Putting him in a talent hotbed such as Florida should only raise his ceiling and he could actually end up being a better hire than another Big Ten name projected to be on the move, James Franklin.

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