Dan Mullen built the Mississippi State into something special and led them to heights they had never previously been.
Before taking the Mississippi State job, Mullen was an assistant for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, and then Utah, before Urban took over the Gators program, bringing Mullen with him as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, where they won two national titles together, and tutored Heisman winner Tim Tebow.
If anyone were qualified to give advice to Mullen on leading Florida back to the type of success fans became accustomed to, it would be Urban. And the advice he offered up to Mullen was actually quite simple.
"He was like, ‘Hey, you’ve done an amazing job. You are deserving of any opportunity that comes your way and I’m going to support you with whatever decision you decide to make.’ But he said, ‘You know, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, be you. Be who you are. Be the coach you’ve been because it works,'" Mullen shared with SEC Nation, according an article by SEC Country.
"You look at the success and you had unprecedented success at Mississippi State, take that with you and be who you are and continue to coach the way that you coach and you’re going to be successful.'"
That's good advice for most coaches, whether you're just starting off as an assistant, or being promoted to coordinator or head coach.