Florida announces hirings of Billy Gonzales and John Hevesy as assistant coaches

On Monday, Dan Mullen was introduced as the Florida Gators’ new head coach. By midafternoon on Tuesday, he had his first two assistants hired.

Billy Gonzales and John Hevesy have follow Mullen from Mississippi State to Florida as assistants, per the school’s announcement of the hirings.

The move was widely expected, and reported as a matter of fact on Monday. Both coaches’ Twitter accounts were freshly adorned in Florida regalia as of Tuesday morning, and Gonzales was even reportedly already recruiting for Florida, too.

The important link between the three? Experience on the same staff. The second paragraph of Florida’s release makes that clear.

Gonzales and Hevesy have each spent at least 10 seasons working with Dan Mullen.

Gonzales and Hevesy came to Florida with Mullen as part of Urban Meyer’s staff, but their paths parted when Mullen left for Mississippi State after the 2008 season.

Hevesy went with Mullen to Starkville, where he worked as an offensive line coach who has also worn other hats for the entirety of Mullen’s tenure. Gonzales stayed at Florida in 2009, but left under inauspicious and acrimonious circumstances — reportedly, and legendarily, with a sticky note stuck on a desk — for LSU after the season, then later worked under Tim Beckman at Illinois before finally reuniting with Mullen as Mississippi State’s wide receivers coach in 2013.

It is quite likely that Gonzales and Hevesy will reprise the roles they held in Starkville, where both were co-offensive coordinators, Gonzales was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator, and Hevesy was the offensive line coach. Prior to 2014, Hevesy had served as running game coordinator; the departure of Les Koenning opened up the room for both Gonzales and Hevesy to have the offensive coordinator title for the first time in their coaching careers.