Dan Mullen hired by Miss. State

STARKVILLE, Miss., Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Mississippi State named 36-year-old Dan Mullen its new head football coach Thursday.

The 1994 graduate of Ursinus College has been Florida's offensive coordinator the last four seasons, and also was part of Coach Urban Meyer's staff at Bowling Green and Utah.

"We feel Coach Mullen is the right fit for our football program," director of athletics Greg Byrne said at a news conference in Starkville. "We began this search looking for someone with high energy -- a strong recruiter that was innovative offensively and had passion for college football -- and coach Mullen brings everything we were looking for in our football coach."

Mullen replaces Sylvester Croom, who announced his resignation on Nov. 29, one day after a season-ending 45-0 loss to arch-rival Ole Miss.

In five seasons at MSU, Croom's record was 21-38, including just 4-8 this season.

Croom had just one winning season, an 8-5 finish in 2007, which included a 10-3 victory over Central Florida at the Liberty Bowl.