Starkville, MS (Sports Network) - Mississippi State made it official on Thursday and introduced Dan Mullen as its new head football coach.

Mullen has spent the past four seasons as Florida's offensive coordinator and has been a part of Urban Meyer's staff at both Bowling Green and Utah.

The 36-year-old Mullen helped a Florida program that produced last year's Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Tim Tebow. The SEC champion Gators finished the last two years first in the conference in scoring offense and total offense.

"We feel coach Mullen is the right fit for our football program," said Mississippi State athletic director Greg Byrne. "We began this search looking for someone with high energy -- a strong recruiter that was innovative offensively and had passion for college football -- and coach Mullen brings everything we were looking for in our football coach."

The Bulldogs needed a replacement for Sylvester Croom, who announced his resignation one day after a season-ending 45-0 loss to arch-rival Ole Miss. Croom spent five years at the helm and guided the Bulldogs to a record of 21-38, including just 4-8 this past season.

Mississippi State had just one winning season under Croom, an 8-5 finish last year that included a victory over UCF in the Liberty Bowl.