During Dan Mullen’s early years as a football coach, he would return home to Manchester, N.H., every Thanksgiving and play pickup football games with his old teammates from Trinity High School, where he had played quarterback.

He was QB for the pickup games, too, but he wouldn’t just give the standard backyard instructions, “Get open.” No, he’d pull stuff straight from his college playbook.

“He’d come up with these plays, and we’d be like, ‘What’re you talking about? We can’t do this,’ ” recalled Gary Nelson, one of Mullen’s ex-teammates. “He’s calling all these spread offense plays … we’re like, ‘We just played high school ball.’ ”

Mullen, Mississippi State’s first-year head football coach, couldn’t help himself.

He doesn’t like losing, be it against Alabama or good friends.

His mind is stuck in high gear, just like the rest of him.

If Mullen has one distinguishing trait, it’s his unrelenting intensity, one of those intangibles that some people have, and some don’t.

His mother, Barbara Mullen, said it comes from her. She teaches ballet 60 to 70 hours a week.

“My mom laughs at me every day, she’s like, ‘I really apologize that I raised a complete workaholic,’ ” Dan said. “But you know what, it’s just always been that way.”

Barbara wasn’t feeling so well one day this past spring, and she saw her lack of energy reflected in her students’ performance. She told them, “I’m amazed how much you rely on my energy to create your own energy.”

It’s much the same way with Dan.

“We create energy around us,” Barbara said, “because that’s the world we like to live in.”

Ahead of the game

A coach with a high energy level isn’t necessarily a winning coach. Case in point: Ed Orgeron, who in three years at Ole Miss drew comparisons to the Incredible Hulk for his high-strung manner but had a record of 10-25.

The difference between Orgeron and Mullen is that the latter already has a proven track record when it comes to Xs and Os.

“He’s a great offensive mind,” said MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning.

Mullen has always stayed ahead of the curve. He was Urban Meyer’s assistant for eight years, believing in the spread offense long before it became the hottest thing going.

At Trinity High, Mullen’s smarts were apparent every Friday night.

“We came from New Hampshire, where it’s much different than down south or out west,” said Nelson, who was a defensive back. “It was a real simple offense, didn’t pass all that much, but he would call audibles at the line. That was back then in the late ’80s; no one really did that.”

Mullen expects everyone around him to keep up, which makes him a highly demanding sort – of his players, of his assistants, even of his fan base. Much credit goes to him for the record season ticket sales this year.

“He always has a high intensity level,” linebacker K.J. Wright said. “That’s one of the things he does – he’s always energetic, always into everything.”

Mullen doesn’t seem to stop – ever. Upon his hiring, he put in 14- to 16-hour work days; watched film of Oklahoma in bed as he prepared for the BCS national title game with Florida; and actually improved upon the 2009 recruiting class started by predecessor Sylvester Croom.

“Coach Mullen would’ve been a great farmer, anything,” said cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith. “He’s a hard worker.”

“He really does not skip a beat,” said Mullen’s wife, Megan.

Recharging, then charging

Mullen insists he knows how to relax and shut off his motor for a while.

“In the summer, we’ll go away for a week. I am weird on that, I can go sit on a beach, pop open a chair and read a book, and kind of absorb sitting on the beach and reading a book for a day and not have to worry about a lot of other things sometimes,” he said.

“I think when I’m able to do that, that really recharges your battery and gets me ready for the rest of the year.”

And once he’s rested, Mullen simply will not stop, especially not when the challenge is so clear. MSU has had one winning season since 2000, and the urgency with which Mullen operates is palpable.

The season begins in six days, versus Jackson State. Expect to see Mullen as fired up as ever.

“He’s got this work ethic when it comes to football,” said Nelson, “where he does not give up until he succeeds.”