JACKSON, Miss. — Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen will be the new football coach at Mississippi State, moving from the Southeastern Conference champions to one of the league's perennial cellar dwellers.

Mullen was expected to arrive in Starkville later Wednesday and will be introduced at a news conference Thursday.

He's been an assistant coach for 14 years and spent the last eight with Florida coach Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

The top-ranked Gators won the SEC with a dominant offense led by Tim Tebow and will play No. 2 Oklahoma for the BCS national championship next month. It was not immediately clear if Mullen would stay with the Gators through the title game.

Mullen replaces coach Sylvester Croom who resigned last month after going 21-38 in five seasons as the SEC's first black football coach. Since 2001, the Bulldogs have had only one winning season.

Meyer told reporters after the SEC championship game that Mullen was in contact with Mississippi State athletic director Greg Byrne about the job. The hiring was first reported by the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson and the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo.

Byrne said he was looking for a coach who could jazz up Mississippi State's woeful offense. Mullen led the Gators to a team record for points in a season this year and has Tebow in the running for a second Heisman Trophy.

He also helped develop quarterback Alex Smith into a No. 1 pick in the NFL draft as quarterbacks coach at Utah.

The Gators led the nation in scoring last year and are third this season with 45.5 points per game. Mullen directs the nation's No. 18 offense (442.4 yards per game) and No. 11 rushing offense (229.7 ypg).

The Gators run a spread option offense, the kind of attack that would match the skills of incoming quarterback Tyler Russell of Meridian, the Bulldogs' top recruit who has left his nonbinding oral commitment to Mississippi State in place despite Croom's departure.

Byrne interviewed other candidates for the job. Chris Peterson of Boise State and Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley have both denied interest in the job and Byrne also appears to have talked with Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.

Croom left the program Nov. 29 after the Bulldogs suffered a humiliating 45-0 loss to archrival Mississippi. He said in a recent television interview that he was prepared to make changes to his coaching staff in order to please fans, boosters and Byrne, but that Byrne wanted to head in a new direction.