STARKVILLE — For the fifth time in six seasons under coach Dan Mullen, the Mississippi State football team is looking for a defensive coordinator.

The position, filled for the past two years by Geoff Collins, is vacant after Collins accepted the same post at Florida. Collins’ move to Gainesville, Florida, was first reported Tuesday morning and confirmed by the school at noon.

Collins’ departure comes in the middle of No. 7 MSU’s game against No. 12 Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31, in the Orange Bowl.

After news of Collins’ new job spread around 8 a.m. Tuesday, he was absent from MSU’s 10 a.m. bowl practice. Mullen was asked about Collins immediately following the two-hour workout.

“I don’t like anybody leaving for what I view as a lateral move, to be perfectly honest with you,” Mullen said of Collins’ decision to take a job as defensive coordinator at a Southeastern Conference rival in the Eastern Division. “I thought Geoff did a great job for us, and pleased with what he’s done. But our psycho defense will continue to be a psycho defense out there on the field. That’s our program. That’s what we play here. Whoever the ‘D’ coordinator is we’re going to play that great defense.”

Florida (6-5) will play East Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, in the Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama. It is 49-27 in the past six seasons.

If you take out a 13-1 record under former coach Urban Meyer in 2009, Florida is 36-26 in the past five seasons.

Mullen, whose Bulldogs are 10-2, is 46-30 in six seasons at MSU. If you take out the team’s 5-7 finish in his first season, the Bulldogs are 41-23 in the past five seasons. They have advanced to a bowl game the past five seasons for the first time in program history.

Collins, 43, arrived in Starkville in 2011 after a one-year stint as defensive coordinator at Florida International. After serving as linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator for two seasons, Collins was made the team’s lone defensive coordinator prior to the 2013 season. This year, which saw MSU win 10 regular-season games for the first time in school history. MSU’s defense ranked No. 10 in the nation in points allowed and topped the nation in touchdown percentage on red-zone visits, but the Bulldogs also finished last in the SEC and No. 124 in the nation in passing yards allowed.

Collins, a recent nominee for the Broyles Award, which is given annually to the top assistant coach in the nation, will join new Florida coach Jim McElwain, who was hired Dec. 4 to replace coach Will Muschamp. Mullen said Florida’s new coach called him Monday and asked if he could speak to Collins.

“Jim McElwain called me yesterday, said they’d like to talk to him, which I appreciate” Mullen said. “We’ve had coaches where I’ve found out on radio before a coach left, so I appreciate him handling business, doing things the right way.”

Collins was introduced as Florida’s new defensive coordinator Tuesday afternoon.

“I got to know Geoff personally during my time at Alabama and have stayed in touch with him since, and his defenses have been successful everywhere he has been,” McElwain said in a release sent out by Florida. “It was important to maintain some of the same philosophies and concepts that have made the defenses around here successful with this hire, and our players will continue to progress under his direction.”

According to his contract, Collins was paid $575,000 to coach at MSU in 2014. According to a buyout clause, he will be forced to pay MSU $75,000 for exiting the contract early.

Moving forward

In addition to leading MSU’s defense, Collins also was the team’s linebackers’ coach. On Tuesday, Mullen found himself monitoring linebacker drills closely. Afterward, he announced MSU’s plans at that position.

“I helped,” Mullen said. “John Haneline is going to coach the linebackers. He’s a really good up-and-coming young coach and knows what we do. He’ll do a good job coaching those guys up.”

As for MSU’s plans at defensive coordinator, Mullen was asked how the program will proceed.

“We always play great defense here,” Mullen said. “We play great defense no matter what coach is going to be here. As long as I’m the head coach, we’ll always play great defense here, so our focus is going to be on beating Georgia Tech.”

With Collins leaving, MSU will be forced, for at least the immediate future, to scheme for Georgia Tech’s triple option without a defense coordinator. That means trying to figure out a way to slow down a running game that finished No. 3 in the country this year.

Asked if there is a plan for a current staff member to take charge of the defense, Mullen said “Nope. We’ll get it all figured out.”

MSU’s defensive coordinator position has seen plenty of turnover in recent years. Carl Torbush, Mullen’s first defensive coordinator, left after the 2009 season. Manny Diaz was next, departing for the same position at Texas in 2011. That’s when Collins arrived. He served as co-defensive coordinator with Chris Wilson for two seasons before Wilson headed to Georgia.

While Florida didn’t make the financial terms of Collins’ deal available, he was the 17th-highest paid assistant in the SEC this season at MSU.

According to a poll released last week by USA Today, Florida defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin’s salary is $500,000. The poll listed Florida’s staff salary as $3,225,900, while MSU’s was listed as $2,682,500.

McElwain said Tuesday that Durkin will coach the team’s defense in the bowl game.

Under Collins, MSU’s defense was brilliant at times. In his first full season as defensive coordinator, in 2013, the Bulldogs finished in the top five in the SEC in rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed, and total defense. While those statistics waned in 2014, the Bulldogs pitched a pair of shutouts and stayed among the nation’s leaders in scoring defense and red-zone defense for the balance of the campaign.

Florida’s defense was one of the nation’s best under Muschamp. The Gators ranked eighth in total defense in 2011, fifth in 2012 and eighth last year. They rank 20th this season.

Muschamp had similar success on that side of the ball at LSU, Auburn, and Texas. It’s the main reason why Auburn gave Muschamp a three-year contract last week worth about $1.6 million annually.

MSU players weren’t made available for comment following Tuesday’s practice.

Also one of MSU’s top recruiters, Collins is listed by as the lead recruiter on seven of MSU’s 28 current committed prospects from the Class of 2015, a class that ranks No. 15 in the country, according to recruiting service 247sports.com.

Mullen indicated it’s too early in the process to know candidates for the vacancy. He also was asked if it was frustrating to watch Collins leave.

“This is the crazy time of the year for coaches, right?” Mullen said. “I mean you look here; (MSU Director of Athletics) Scott Stricklin is worried I’m leaving, I’m worried my coaches are leaving, the coaches are worried the players are going to the NFL draft. It just is a vicious circle that kind of goes on all over the place. But that’s just the crazy season in college football. … Usually I hope our guys have opportunities to go be head coaches more than leaving for lateral positions. … Hopefully we do have some guys get opportunities to get head coaching positions.”

The 43-year-old Collins began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1993 at Western Carolina, his alma mater. He also spent time at Franklin (N.C.) High School, Albright College, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Central Florida, and FIU. His big break came in 2007, when he served as Nick Saban’s director of player personnel at Alabama.

That’s where he crossed paths with McElwain, who was Saban’s offensive coordinator between 2008 and 2011.

Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker in Twitter @BWonStateBeat

Reports from The Associated Press were included in this story.