GAINESVILLE, Fla. _ UF coach Dan Mullen says he is focused on preparing for the Gators' next game against LSU, brushing away questions about criticism of his call to "pack the Swamp" to give Florida a competitive edge during the coronavirus pandemic.
Following this past Saturday's 41-38 loss against the Aggies, Mullen said he hoped UF administrators would follow Gov. Ron DeSantis's Phase 3 reopening guidelines, allowing full capacity at the state's sports facilities.
Mullen's comments received backlash nationally and were addressed by both the school's athletic director and president.
Mullen said he has not spoken to either man and lauded the way UF Health, the university and his program have been able to deal with the highly transmissible virus.
"I've been preparing for LSU," Mullen told reporters Monday. "To be honest with you, if you were look at what we've been able to do, the safety precautions that we have, that our players follow, that our coaches follow, our staff follows. I think we're a model of safety with what we've been doing during this time.
"So, I'm really proud of how we handled everything and how safe we've been with everything we've done and all the precautions we've had in place at this time."
Mullen said Texas A&M's crowd had a major impact on the Aggies last-second win. The school announced 24,709 people watched the game at Kyle Field, which seats 102,733 but has once hosted a crowd of more than 110,000.
In the wake of Mullen's postgame push to welcome a sold-out crowd at the Swamp, UF athletics director Scott Stricklin said the school had no plans to expand to full capacity. UF is allowing no more than 20% capacity at the 88,548-seat Swamp in order to practice social distancing guidelines.
"We continue to follow UF Health and campus guidelines," Stricklin told the Orlando Sentinel. "I've not heard anything about campus adjusting (its) guidelines."
UF president Dr. Kent Fuchs tweeted Sunday the schools remains fully committed to CDC guidelines for classrooms and athletic facilities.
A crowd of 15,120 watched the Gators win their Oct. 3 home opener 38-24 against South Carolina. Attendance was around 800 fewer people than the school planned to allow at stadium that can seat a little more than 90,000.
The energy and enthusiasm of the Florida crowd made its presence felt against South Carolina, as did the fans at Kyle Field.
"I think A&M created great atmosphere at the game, created an exciting atmosphere _ did a great job of doing that," Mullen said. "So, like I said, I haven't talked to people because I've been really focused on trying to beat LSU. Whatever our governing officials say and what everybody does for the game, what we need to do, however many people they allow in the stadium we need to try to work as hard as we can, the Gator fans and all of us to create the same game day atmosphere we can."
