Early into the month of December, Dan Mullen was seemingly on top of the world.

The Gators were 8-1 and firmly in the discussion to make their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. Of course, it all fell apart from there.

Following the incredible start to the season, Florida went on to lose at home to an LSU team that entered that matchup with a 3-5 record before falling short against Alabama in the 2020 SEC Championship Game and ending on a dreadful note, as the Gators failed to show much fight in the Cotton Bowl showdown against Oklahoma.

In addition to the disappointing ending to the season, Mullen did himself no favors with his postgame press conference behavior during the year and quietly managed to receive a show cause order from the NCAA following some recruiting violations.

What does that all add up to according to SEC Network host, Paul Finebaum? An uncertain future in Gainesville for Mullen.

Here is what Finebaum had to say on the latest edition of the Saturday Down South Podcast when asked about Mullen’s future in Gainesville.

“Shaky,” Finebaum said. “That’s a pretty big thing to say when you think about what he’s accomplished. He had a brutal year in spite of everything. The ending was bad. Even if you dismiss his comments at Texas A&M, the Missouri game, even if you throw all that out and just start the clock beginning at the LSU game and then the week of the bowl game was a disaster.

“His comments before the game, his comments after the game. The report by (Adam) Schefter that he was looking around the NFL, the really almost ignored revelation that he got a show cause. That’s a big deal.

“Knowing Scott Stricklin, he’s a straight shooter. He’s a stickler for things, and I would like to really get a sense for how Scott Stricklin feels about all of this.”

Who knows, if Finebaum is on to something with these comments, all the Mullen to the NFL talk could have been started by the coach himself to see how much interest he could generate from the league.