Former Mississippi State head football coach Dan Mullen has taken the position as head coach for the University of Florida.

After the most successful tenure that Mississippi State football has ever seen, Mullen will not be returning for a 10th season.

Students, fans, alumni and athletes alike were in complete disbelief when the news broke Sunday just hours after the bulldogs lost to Ole Miss in the rivalry Egg Bowl game.

Mullen built a competitive program. His first big win at MSU was the 2009 Egg Bowl. Then in 2010, when MSU beat Florida and then Michigan in the Gator Bowl. And then in 2014 MSU jumped to No. 1 in the country for the first time and were able to hold that place for five weeks. Mullen was 69-46 as the Bulldogs’ head coach. He guided MSU to unprecedented heights.

It is no secret that Mullen’s strong suit is offense. He has molded some of the best in college football over the years such as Alex Smith, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald.

It is no wonder that the Florida Gators, who have not had the best year offensively, found it necessary to hire Mullen.

Mullen was Florida’s offensive coordinator from 2005-2008 before taking the head coach position at Mississippi State and after nine years he will be returning to the swamp.

“I don’t like to speculate on that stuff,” Mullen said earlier this month. “I’ve been here long enough, everybody knows that as the year goes on it gets into that silly season of who’s going where and what’s going to happen. … And I’m very happy with what we’re building here. We’re building a great future at Mississippi State.”

I guess he found that he needed to build a great future else where.

Through the heartbreak and shock , Mississippi State is left wondering, along with all of college football, who will fill the big shoes Dan (no longer) the man Mullen is leaving as head coach in the seasons to come.

His daughter is feeling how every Mississippi State fan is feeling…. and that is not a new found love for the Florida Gators.