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Megan Mullen, the wife of Mississippi football coach Dan Mullen, met Republican presidential candidate John Kasich on a plane nine years ago. Mullen was an anchor for Golf Channel covering the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and Kasich was returning from a speech in Mississippi when he recognized her on their flight to Atlanta.

As the story goes, Mullen and Kasich talked about golf and the TV industry. Then, while Mullen waited for her bag, Kasich gave her his business card and asked her to call if he could ever help.

“That doesn’t happen often in your life,” Mullen said. “There’s somebody you barely know and he’s so genuine and wants to help. I thought it’s the coolest thing ever.”

Mullen said she did not reach out to Kasich over the past nine years but followed his career as Ohio’s governor. Now, she’s doing something very unusual for anyone associated in major college sports: Publicly supporting a presidential candidate.

An extensive search of OpenSecrets.org found no prominent and active college football or basketball coach who has donated to a presidential candidate this primary season. Wading into politics can be a sensitive area, as Ohio State coach Urban Meyer acknowledged last month when asked by the Toledo Blade if his voice has a place in this campaign season.

“No, my job description is very clear and that’s to coach Ohio State football and the focus is on 17- to 18 to 22-year-olds,” Meyer said, according to the paper. “I have strong beliefs, but I’m not going to share that with you guys. I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

On Thursday, Meyer changed his stance -- as is his right -- and appeared in a video with Kasich endorsing him. "I'm a true supporter of what you stand for," Meyer said. "Go win this thing."

Meyer and Dan Mullen coached together at Bowling Green, Notre Dame, Utah and Florida. Megan Mullen said she played no role in securing Meyer's endorsement but planned to call the Meyers today before they beat her to the punch with Ohio State's coach endorsing Kasich.

"How funny that the Meyers in Ohio and the Mullens in Mississippi go to bat for John Kasich," Megan Mullen said.

Meyer is going against the grain in college sports. Times have changed as the money increased for college coaches and the political divisiveness in America got louder. College coaches used to be very active in politics.

Joe Paterno gave a seconding speech for George H.W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention and appeared at rallies for George W. Bush. Tom Osborne got out of coaching and immediately was elected to Congress as a Republican. Lou Holtz has contributed extensively to Republicans through the years and ruffled feathers in 1983 by filming a TV ad for Jesse Helms. Bobby Bowden and his son Tommy regularly talked about voting for Republican candidates.

When Rick Majerus said at a 2008 rally for Hillary Clinton that he supports abortion rights, a Roman Catholic archbishop asked Saint Louis University officials to take “appropriate action” against their basketball coach. Dean Smith was an avowed Democrat who in 1990 reached out to Michael Jordan to see if he would endorse Democrat Harvey Gantt as Charlotte’s mayor. Jordan refused, leading to the famous remark attributed to him that Republicans buy sneakers, too.

These days, coaches tend to stay out of politics publicly -- and understandably so. A coach never knows who he might upset with political comments, including recruits, boosters or his entire fan base.

“Most importantly, I think (coaches) don’t have the time to do that,” Megan Mullen said. “Dan’s first day off from July 13 on is like Christmas Eve, for heaven’s sake. I don’t think anybody, including myself, wants to push their views on anybody. I kind of feel like I had a unique story to tell, a feature story. As a voter, if there’s something good about somebody, I think you’re obligated to share it.”

Mullen has told her story about Kasich through an op-ed piece and letters to the editor in Mississippi newspapers. She has done a couple interviews retelling the story of meeting Kasich.

Dan Mullen is mostly staying out of the conversation about Kasich -- as is his right -- while supporting his wife’s efforts. On March 4, Dan Mullen tweeted a photo of his wife with Kasich and wrote, “My wife Megan excited to see a friend and proven leader she admires.”

Dan Mullen declined to comment for this article.

Megan Mullen became involved when she learned Gregg Harper, a Republican Mississippi congressman she knows, chairs Kasich’s campaign in Mississippi. She went to Kasich’s event last week in Mississippi and reached out to his super PAC to share her story about the candidate.

“I think John Kasich’s cause is worth speaking about,” Mullen said. “Most people you’d talk to would say, ‘Megan is really quiet about this.’ I’m the biggest lover and supporter that any wife could be of a college football team. But this is kind of my stomping grounds a little bit.”

As a student at Ohio University, Mullen minored in political science and was on the student senate every year, “but I’ve stayed quiet my entire 39 years of existence,” she said. “Politics is my hobby, which is probably crazy for SEC people to think that about me.”

She attentively watches the Republican debates, which have been dominated by outlandish comments and bickering that’s focused around the frontrunner, Donald Trump.

“It’s wild to watch. It’s like a circus at times,” Mullen said.

Trump won Mississippi with 47.3 percent of the vote, beating Cruz (36.3 percent), Kasich (8.8 percent) and Rubio (5.1 percent). Kasich’s last stand likely comes next week in his home state of Ohio.

“You can say Trump’s dominating and there’s this huge movement and whatever,” Mullen said. “I know who’s a true and proven leader. I know what I believe in to be right. I’m not scared to go against the grain.”

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Megan and Dan Mullen walk togther in Starkville. (USATSI)
Megan and Dan Mullen walk togther in Starkville. (USATSI)