GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida football coach Dan Mullen brought his usual fire and energy to his appearance at halftime of the Gators’ basketball game with Baylor, addressing fans and setting the bar higher for his tenure.
Mullen, who took the court wearing the same orange T-shirt that was passed out to fans for the game, started by reiterating how happy he is to be back in Gainesville coaching at the program where he won two national championships as an offensive coordinator.
Then he stoked fans’ optimism for this new era of Florida football by discussing the standard he expects for his program.
“We’re going to give you a football team — I promise you — that you can be proud of when they’re on the field on Saturdays. Our guys are working their tail off right now to live up to what we know the Gators standard is,” Mullen said. “And that Gators standard is about having a national championship baseball team, about any team that tries to come in here as No. 1 in the country like Oklahoma [gymnastics] tried to do [Friday] night, they’re going to go home with a loss.
“And on the football field, that standard is not just SEC but national championships. That’s what we promise we’re going to bring back to you here in The Swamp in Gainesville and put the Gators back on top as the most dominating team in the United States of America.”
Naturally, Mullen’s message went over well as the crowd reciprocated with a loud ovation.
Florida rising senior defensive end CeCe Jefferson also made an appearance, taking control of the T-shirt gun late in the first half.
CeCe Jefferson shot T-shirts out to the #Gators basketball fans during that timeout. Dan Mullen set to address