Potential Candidates to Replace Dan Mullen At Florida

After dropping its last four games to Power Five opponents, Florida decided to relieve Dan Mullen of his duties as the head coach.

"I met with coach Mullen shortly before noon today in his office and we had a conversation. I just told him I felt like we needed to go a different direction for the Gators and our football program," Florida AD Scott Stricklin shared. "He understood. It was actually a very productive conversation."

Florida joins several prestigious programs in looking for a head coach, and we take a look at several of the names being thrown around to replace Mullen.

Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin reached out to multiple programs during the last coaching carousel, according to numerous soruces, and he appears to be at it again. His name has been linked to the Miami job, which is not even open yet, and he is already gaining momentum to be the next coach in Gainesville. According to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, the Gator faithful have serious interest in Kiffin. On Sunday, Forde wrote about several potential coaches that Florida could hire, including Kiffin. He reported that some UF boosters have already grown an affinity towards the Ole Miss head ball coach, "eager to ride the Lane Train," he states. The drawback, however, could be with Stricklin, who is not exactly the Kiffin type. Kiffin being in the SEC East would certainly make this heated rivalry even more heated.

Bill O'Brien

The former Houston Texans head coach and now Alabama Offensive Coordinator name immediately surfaced among potential coaching candidates. The match between Scott Stricklin and him would be ideal, but O'Brien is also drawing interests from the likes of LSU. O'Brien was excellent during his time at Penn State, and his stop at Alabama always looked to be a one-year detour, so we will see if he continues to draw steam.

Billy Napier

Napier, the head coach at Louisiana, turned down multiple Power Five coaching opportunities last year, but that is almost certain to change this year, in the opinion of many. Napier has strong ties to Louisiana, but he is viewed as one of the brightest young coaches in the country, so the appeal is certainly there for Florida. Napier should at least get an interview unless Florida has their guy and is set on him.

Bob Stoops

It seems trivial to put Stoops on another coaching search list, but they say Vegas knows best, and he is the favorite to land the job, according to multiple sports books. Stoops has experience running a successful program, and he could recruit well, so he might serve as a solid transition coach, if the Florida administration did not feel like they were able to lock down a young coach they had confidence in. The biggest question is would Stoops want to return to the game? He seems to be enjoying his role on Big Noon Saturdays.

Mario Cristobal

Cristobal's name seemingly comes up for every SEC coaching vacancy, and for good reason. He has been exceptional at Oregon. He has won big games, and his recruiting prowess has been evident. He has built the Oregon trenches into an SEC caliber unit, which likely stems from his time at Alabama. Cristobal has strong ties to the state as he served as the Head Coach at Florida International from 2007-2012, in addition to being a former coach and player at Miami. His name makes a lot of sense, but Oregon has upped the ante every time someone else has came calling, so we will see if getting back to the Southeast is that important to him.

Mullen was fired one year after having Florida in the SEC Championship and one score away from a trip to the College Football Playoff.

Other names being potential as potential candidates include, Mark Stoops, Luke Fickell, Matt Campbell, James Franklin, Dave Clawson, and Dan Quinn.