STARKVILLE - Although he was around only one year, Carl Torbush gave Dan Mullen exactly what he needed.

When the Mississippi State head coach hired Torbush, a 35-year coaching veteran, as defensive coordinator last December, a big reason was the head coaching experience he'd had at North Carolina and Louisiana Tech.

Torbush was the oldest coach on the staff and 21 years Mullen's senior. He's someone Mullen could learn from.

Torbush is at Kansas now, having taken the defensive coordinator's job there last weekend. As Mullen searches for a replacement, he feels his own experience will allow him to expand the search beyond well-known commodities like Torbush.

"I think having a year under my belt right now, being in this position, I think it's going to open up a much wider range of potential candidates that we would look at as a coach to fill that spot on the defensive side of the ball," Mullen said on Wednesday.

He didn't name any candidates and said there is no timetable for a new hire, but Mullen's search is in full swing. He said he doesn't expect the vacancy to negatively affect recruiting or staff chemistry.

As for the rest of the staff - which includes offensive line coach John Hevesy and strength coach Matt Balis, both of whom worked with Mullen at Florida - Mullen likes how it's come together.

"There's a learning curve for the assistants and them learning and adjusting to me and my style as a head coach," he said. "So I think there's always that. I think Year 2 is always much easier than Year 1, because everybody knows what to expect."

While assistants may come and go, one thing Mullen has shown is a fierce loyalty. That was evident in his sticking with Urban Meyer as the latter rose through the coaching ranks, from Notre Dame to Bowling Green to Utah to Florida.

And it's evident at MSU, as Mullen expects to have his contract pushed back to the four-year maximum. He wants recruits to know just how committed he is to State.

"I'm extremely happy here," he said. "I have no interest in leaving, my family's very happy here. So I think our guys that we recruit look and say, 'We can build something special with the in-state talent if we can recruit the top players in the state of Mississippi.'"

Contact Brad Locke at 678-1571 or brad.locke@djournal.com.