Florida was ready for Dan Mullen’s time as the Gators head football coach to come to an end. Apparently, so was he.

Just hours after news broke of Mullen’s firing, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin held a press conference to officially announce the decision. He said it was Mullen that wanted the move to be made immediately as opposed to waiting until the end of the season. Florida hosts Florida State on Saturday.

“Gave him the opportunity to coach the game Saturday against FSU, and after some discussion, he actually took some time to think about it, he made the decision he thought he would be a bit of a distraction if he was around this week after this news came out,” Stricklin said. “So he made the decision to step away and not coach the FSU game.”

Mullen was fired one day after a 24-23 overtime loss to Missouri on Saturday. The Gators have free fallen from preseason expectations that had them in conversations about winning an SEC title to a 5-6 team that is 2-6 in the SEC this season.

Stricklin went on to say that Florida had no timetable to hire a coach but he would move as swiftly as possible. He had better do so with some of the competition that he’ll face. Southern California and LSU are just two of the schools looking for new head coaches. Like Florida, both would be considered premier jobs.