Megan Mullen, wife of Gators head coach Dan Mullen, speaks at a UAA function earlier this year. (Photo: UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: Megan Mullen Glad to be Back
Thursday, August 23, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
Megan Mullen spent the next half hour sharing stories with the Ocala Quarterback Club about what exactly that means. The wife of Gators head coach Dan Mullen spoke to the club Tuesday night at an event billed as "Family Night with Megan Mullen."
Mullen regaled the audience with slices of life from a coach's wife.
One of those tales included the birth of the couple's first child, son Cannon. Mullen was pregnant when her husband left Florida after four seasons as offensive coordinator to take over as head coach at Mississippi State.
"We moved away and had Canon five days later,'' she said. "In February this year he finally celebrated his first birthday in Florida -- it was just nine years later."
The Mullens met in the early 2000s when Dan was an assistant coach at Bowling Green and Megan worked at the local NBC affiliate as a sports reporter. Dan asked her out via email after seeing her on TV. She declined. He asked her out again. She gave in at the urging of her station's news director, and here they are all these years later with two kids, a dog named Heisman and an opportunity they could not refuse.
Megan Mullen is speaking here tonight at Ocala QB Club meeting ... she did not name #Gators starting QB pic.twitter.com/oKYsC6XWuC
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) August 22, 2018
The offer to return to Florida came via a phone call from Gators Athletic Director Scott Stricklin last November. Stricklin was Mississippi State's athletic director for more than half of Mullen's time in Starkville.
Megan said they didn't have to toss and turn thinking about a move back to Gainesville.
"In 16 years I've never seen the look on his face that I saw then,'' Megan said. "It wasn't a decision, it was a feeling. It was the one thing I didn't see coming, and I don't think he saw it coming."
Nine months later, the Mullens continue to transition back to a life draped in orange and blue. They are living in a rental house while their new house is under construction.
Megan said their new home will have ample room for when the couple's "100 big babies" come over for team functions. Megan takes the role of team mom very seriously. She told a story Tuesday about how after former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott's mother died of cancer, she tried to help fill the void. In Prescott's first season on the NFL, Megan traveled to Dallas and bought a Christmas tree and decorated it for Prescott's residence, adding a motherly touch during the holidays.
"They are family,'' she said.
Following her speaking engagement Tuesday night, Mullen mingled easily with a stream of visitors. Some new faces. Some old faces. All friendly faces for the First Lady of Florida Football.
She might have been gone for nine years, but it was as if she never left based on how she interacted with some of the Gators' most dedicated constituents.
"It's like being back at home,'' she said. "I'm right down the street where I used to be."
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