New Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen is up on stage. Here's what the first-time head coach had to say:

• Mullen joked he was only going to take questions via Twitter or Facebook when he got on the stage so that he could be the cutting-edge coach. He then fake (or possibly really) Twittered something, slowly saying it as he typed. "I ... am ... on ... stage." Solid opener.

• Mullen said he's been welcomed by Mississippi and made sure to note that his newborn son was born in the state. "He's not a Yankee like me," he quipped.

• He said back when he was just starting coaching at Syracuse under Paul Pasqualoni that he started taking notes about what he would do as a head coach. Now he's thrilled to finally get the opportunity to implement them.

• "The excitement for the program is off the charts." 31,000 fans showed up for MSU's spring game, a record for the state.

• Mullen is an offensive-minded guy, but he hired a veteran defensive coordinator Carl Torbush. "Somebody's who's been a little bit weathered as a coach, gone through a lot of things," Mullen said. He said he's used Torbush, a former head coach at Louisiana Tech and North Carolina, as a sounding board, since this is Mullen's first time as a head coach.

• He's a spread guy and wants to create favorable matchups for players to make one-on-one moves. Mullen said it's still a process to see if he has the right parts.

• Mullen said that he has probably only used 60 percent of his playbook in any given season, whether it was at Utah or Florida.

• "Our quarterback battle will go on until we find we have one true leader who can win football games for us." That might be during two-a-days or afterward. He's not in a rush to make a decision.

• His main defensive philosophy: getting 11 guys to run to the football. "That sets a tone for your team, sets tempos for the game."

• Mullen talks a mile a minute. I bet the transcribers in the room are having trouble keeping up. He's been going for at least 15 minutes and it doesn't seem like he's taken a breath.

• He joked that he would prepare a 39-minute, 15-second speech and get out the door having answered one question. He darn near came close.

• "A champion's not a sometimes thing. It's an always thing. It's a way of life." That would make a good T-shirt.

• Mullen said he was a big Steve Spurrier fan early in his career, so getting to be a head coach in a league with coaching stars like the SEC is a pretty big thrill.

• "As it is, I'm the only undefeated coach in the league." Well, not necessarily true. Gene Chizik and Lane Kiffin haven't lost any games in the SEC either.

• Mullen thinks the QB competition is going to be pretty stiff. He's high on Tyson Lee because he's a senior and a leader, citing championship teams in recent memory. He thinks teams will take on the personality of the quarterback. That said, he hasn't ruled out rotating quarterbacks until he can find the right one.

• He said the talent level of the SEC is pretty high and that you have to game plan players, not necessarily just schemes. He thinks that's the toughest adjustment as a coach and a quarterback is taking into account how talented a safety might be and whether or not he can disrupt a play that normal safeties wouldn't be able to.

• The best way to combat that, Mullen said, is to put quarterbacks in positions to succeed by having them do things they do well. He cited Tim Tebow early in his career, when he was primarily used in short-yardage situations near the goal line. That helped him gain confidence and progress at an early age against tough competition.

• The toughest challenge so far as a head coach? Not much. Mullen said Urban Meyer did a good job of preparing him for stuff that might come up -- both on the field and off -- that might come up once he got a head coaching job. But he doesn't think you can prepare for it until you're actually sitting in the hot seat.

• Mullen's all-SEC quarterback? Tebow. No surprise there. He said it will be strange to coach against Tebow. "When you spend more times over three years with Tim Tebow than you do with your wife, which I did, then that's going to be strange," he said. He doesn't think it will affect any past they've had together, though.

• On going up against Meyer, Mullen thinks it will be a fun challenge. He joked that both sides will have to change their signals. "I look at is as more of a fun day than something that's crazy," he said. Mullen and Meyer worked together for 10 years, by the way, so they know each other pretty well. "That goes both ways," he said. "I'll have to think of doing something, then do the complete opposite."

• Anything annoy him about Tebow? "He can be a little stubborn in his beliefs," Mullen said. He said that if you identify a weakness in his game, Tebow will do everything he can to correct that. "There's nobody who stays the same in this life," Mullen said. "You're getting better or getting worse." Tebow, Mullen said, is in the first camp. He also said Tebow is one of the most unique people in the world. "Just an amazing kid," Mullen said, choking up a bit as he said it.

• Mullen said he doesn't feel revolutionary for bringing the spread offense to the SEC and succeeding. In fact, he doesn't take credit for it, acknowledging that some other coaches probably did it well before that. "Our goal is to always stay ahead of the curve," Mullen said, commenting on his and Meyer's mind set.

That's all for Mullen. Kentucky's Rich Brooks is up next. I won't have time to live blog him because I'll be working on a Mullen story for tomorrow. I'll try to pick some of the finer points out of the Brooks transcript and get it up online later.