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 final step in his lifelong obsession with football when he was named 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. He’ll take his high-octane brand of spread option offense that has helped the top-ranked Gators move into position for a second national title in three years 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. “I think with those one-on-one matchups we can put ourselves in the position to win.”

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 the coach helped lead the Gators to a 31-20 win over then-No. 1 Alabama and a spot in the BCS national title game.

Byrne first contacted Mullen by phone on Monday, then the two met Tuesday evening in Atlanta. Their first conversation didn’t end until 1:30 a.m., and when Mullen awoke after about two hours of sleep Byrne offered him the job.

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

“When we got done I could not believe this was his first head coaching job interview,” Byrne said.

“He looked like he had been doing this for years and years. He knew the direction he wanted to carry this football team, and that is why I felt comfortable with him. We were 30 minutes into it and I knew this was our man.”

Mullen began calling recruits when he and Byrne reached an agreement Wednesday. His first priorities are to assemble a coaching staff that will likely include some current assistant coaches and hit recruiting with the same intensity that has helped build Florida into a national power under Meyer.

“One interesting thing I found out is there are more players per capita playing in the NFL from Mississippi than any other state,” Mullen said. “There is a lot of great talent here.”

Most Mississippi State players have gone home for the holiday break, but news of Mullen’s hire was a hot topic of text, e-mail and phone discussions over the last 24 hours. Quarterback Tyson Lee attended the news conference and said players are excited about their new coach.

“He’s got passion, he’s got energy, he’s got a vision for what he wants for this program,” Lee said. “When you see that, it only makes you the same way.”

Meyer and Mullen first met while on Bob Davies’ staff at Notre Dame where Mullen was a graduate assistant for two years. They left together for Bowling Green when Meyer was offered that job, then went to Utah and Florida.