Dan Mullen sings 'Rocky Top' ahead of Florida-Tennessee game in Week 3 college football
There is no team in college football to which Dan Mullen is more closely associated than Florida.
The 51-year-old coach spent four seasons as Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator with the Gators — helping lead them to a pair of national titles in the 2006 and 2008 seasons — before returning to Gainesville in November 2017 to become the program’s head coach. As such, he knows full well the intensity of the SEC East rivalry Florida has with Tennessee.
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It's a fact that turned an otherwise-routine podcast appearance into something more unnerving, at least among the Gators contingent. While on ESPN’s "College GameDay" podcast this week with hosts Rece Davis and Pete Thamel, Mullen took the opportunity to sing — and not just any song. The former Gators coach belted out the chorus of “Rocky Top,” the Volunteers' unofficial fight song.
Nothing says Florida week like a former Gators head coach/OC singing Rocky Top pic.twitter.com/7JagrHs2Qo
— zach ragan (@zachtnt) September 13, 2023
The Gators and No. 9 Volunteers face off on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, in the most recent matchup in the longstanding series. But that's not the only slight the former Florida coach offered this week ahead of the rivalry: He also picked Tennessee to beat Florida on ESPN’s "The Matt Barrie Show," noting he’s “still on the Tennessee bandwagon until they get me off.”
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Jarring as it may be for Florida fans to see one of their former coaches sing that particular tune, Mullen at least has the luxury of being able to get a laugh out of the rivalry.
In eight all-time meetings against Tennessee, both as an offensive coordinator and head coach at Florida, Mullen is 8-0. Six of those wins came by double digits, with his four victories as the Gators’ head coach from 2018-21 coming by an average of 23.3 points per contest.
Mullen is in his second season as a college football analyst for ESPN, where he joined after being fired by Florida in November 2021 (after his final Gators team went 5-6).
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dan Mullen sings 'Rocky Top' ahead of Florida-Tennessee game
