Georgia football: Head coach mistakes the Bulldogs avoided in 2015

Georgia football 2015 head coach candidate: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s pretty hilarious to think that Dan Mullen could have been the head coach at Georgia. In the mid-2010s however, Mullen was seen as one of the best coaches in college football, particularly on offense.

He had an impressive resume of coaching up quarterbacks. Some of the notable names that Mullen has worked with include Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, and Dak Prescott. All three of those QBs would go on to start in the NFL.

After winning National Championships alongside Urban Meyer at Florida, Mullen was hired as the head coach of Mississippi State. He did a solid job of turning an otherwise doormat program into a consistent winner. His most impressive season came in 2014, as the Bulldogs found themselves undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the CFP rankings.

They would finish with a 10-3 record and made a trip to the Orange Bowl. Overall, Mullen was 69-46 at MSU.

When the Georgia head coaching job became open, some in the media said that this was “Mullen’s dream job.” I question the validity of that since he said the same thing when Florida hired him. That dream quickly became a nightmare for Mullen, and he was fired before the 2021 season ended.

As mentioned earlier, Georgia made the smart move (pun very much intended) in hiring Mark Richt’s replacement. While we may not fully know how these other hires could have turned out, it’s safe to say Georgia would likely still be waiting for their National Championship drought to end.