Former offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said Monday he's balancing his new job as head coach at Mississippi State and his old one with the Gators as best he can.

But it ain't easy.

Mullen returned to the team on Dec. 26 to help with preparations for Thursday's BCS national championship game against Oklahoma.

"There's no good transition time for anybody,'' Mullen said. "We've tried to make it work as best we can and it's gone really well. I think a lot of the perception was whether or not I was going to come back for this game. Urban and I talked right away. Our plan was from the beginning we were going to try to work it out to do that. Florida needed to worry about recruiting, I needed to worry about recruiting at Mississippi State. That was the most pressing deal and we said we'll just work out all the details later.''

Mullen, who has a strong relationship with Tim Tebow, said he his primary interest in returning was for the players - he felt he owed them - especially Tebow. But once the title game is over, so is Mullen's time with the Gators.

His first team meeting with MSU players is at 3 p.m. on Friday.

"You know what, it's going to be an unbelievable feeling for me,'' Mullen said. "Not in a negative feeling for being done at Florida but a positive, the excitement to get back and get rolling at Mississippi State.''

Mullen now has two cell phones. Wondering what happens if both ring at the same time?

"This one gets picked up now; That's the Mississippi State one,'' he said. "That's my No. 1 priority is Mississippi State.''