Tennessee football: Ranking all head coaches of Vols 2019 opponents

Tennessee football is 0-2 against Dan Mullen all-time, losing to him once with the Mississippi State Bulldogs and last year with the Florida Gators, when they became a turnover machine. Mullen, in his 11th year overall, may actually have the most impressive resume of any SEC head coach except for one.

His accomplishments at Mississippi State far exceeded what Sylvester Croom did, and he got a 10-win season his first year in Gainesville. However, a couple of things are worth noting. Mullen didn’t match what Jackie Sherrill did at MSU since Sherrill did win the SEC West one year.

Meanwhile, Croom took over MSU when it was a wreck of a program and on probation. He actually laid the foundation for Mullen to succeed. Finally, we have to mention that despite his 10 wins, Jim McElwain actually had 10 and nine wins his first two years at Florida and won the SEC East both times. So on paper, Mullen hasn’t surpassed McElwain’s peak yet.

Now, onto reality, Mullen coached in a much tougher East last year. And he also coached in a much tougher West than Sherrill ever did. So his accomplishments given what he dealt with were much more impressive. And he’s one coach, given his resume and what he has at Florida, who is leading a program that is a circled loss for Jeremy Pruitt this year. So he belongs up here.