Starkville, Miss. ? Dan Mullen started playing catch at 2, wore a helmet and jersey to career day when he was in kindergarten, learned to count in multiples of seven, and decided when he was 17 he wanted to be a head coach.

He took the latest step in his lifelong obsession with football when he was introduced as the new coach at Mississippi State on Thursday to the clanging of cowbells and the cheers of about 200 fans on campus.

“Football has been my life from a very, very early age and so when I realized people didn’t want a 6-foot, 180-pound quarterback with a weak arm that made up for it with a real lack of speed, I figured I’d better get in the coaching profession soon and be able to use my mind,” Mullen said.

Mullen has used those football smarts to help rebuild three programs into winners under coach Urban Meyer, most recently as offensive coordinator at Florida. Now in his first head coaching job, he’ll take his high-octane brand of spread option offense and bring it to Starkville where fans are starved for points and wins after losing seasons in seven of the last eight years.

“We will take these great athletes in the state of Mississippi and get them the ball in space and give them the right opportunities for them to do some things in the open field,” Mullen said.

Mullen and athletic director Greg Byrne agreed to a four-year contract that will pay $1.2 million per season. Mullen was off limits until after last Saturday’s SEC championship game, when he helped lead the Gators to a 31-20 victory over then-No. 1 Alabama, a spot in the BCS national title game and a shot at a second national title in three years.

Mullen was the eighth candidate Byrne interviewed and it didn’t take the athletic director long to settle on the replacement for Sylvester Croom, who resigned under pressure on Nov. 29 after going 21-38 in five seasons as the SEC’s first black football coach.