Auburn football: Could Derek Mason replace Dan Mullen as Florida HC?

Auburn football took a tough loss over the weekend to the Texas A&M Aggies, but the worst loss of Week 10 arguably came from the Florida Gators, who lost on the road in Columbia to the South Carolina Gamecocks.

A Florida team that went to the SEC championship just last season is now struggling with a losing record and falling to the bottom of the conference. Following their third straight loss, the Gators parted ways with both their defensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

Dan Mullen still has his job for now, but it’s very possible there could be a coaching change in the Sunshine State at the end of the season. In a scenario where multiple SEC head coaching jobs are up for grabs, there could also be a shake-up in first-year head coach Bryan Harsin’s staff on the Plains.

Tigers defensive coordinator Derek Mason is one of the names being thrown into the Florida head coach conversation. Before joining Harsin’s staff, Mason was the head coach at Vanderbilt from 2014 to 2020. With that much experience in the nation’s most competitive conference, he’s an obvious candidate for the job.

Mullen had the opportunity to hire Mason or another defensive coordinator to join his staff but made the decision to retain Todd Grantham. Now, Grantham is gone and Mullen could be next.

Florida Gators players took to Twitter after the loss to apologize for their fans, and All Gators reports that true freshman linebackers streamed on Instagram Live during the game to comment on the blowout loss. With forced changes to the coaching staff and players that are clearly unhappy with their team, a change has to be on its way for the Gators.

Would Derek Mason leave Auburn football to be a head coach again? It’s too soon to make any real predictions, but should the Gators begin a coaching search his name would definitely be in the mix.