MIAMI GARDENS — Dan Mullen stood on the podium at the 50-yard line of Hard Rock Stadium passing oranges around to his players and coaches. It’s tradition when you’re the Orange Bowl Champions but Mullen was standing where no coach has stood before.
Mullen is the first head coach to win a BCS/New Year’s Six Bowl game in each of his first two seasons.
That stat alone is impressive but what’s even more impressive is he inherited a team that had gone 4-7 the previous year. It was a team that lacked confidence. A team that had gotten all too comfortable with coming out on the losing end of games and a team that had forgotten what it took, the sacrifice that being a winner takes.