I can’t say that I understand the Muschamp hire any better this morning than when I first heard about it last night. There are schools where hiring Muschamp would have been a resounding step up, but Florida isn’t one of those places. In fact, Foley has gone out and hired an assistant coach from one of the few programs which had a more disappointing 2010 season than Florida did. (At least the hire won’t affect Texas’ bowl preparation.)
There are hires that would have put a bigger fear of God in me than Muschamp. (Somebody had a great line about a potential Petrino hire – it would have been like handing a terrorist a nuclear bomb.) That isn’t to say that Muschamp won’t work out, just that choosing him wasn’t a slam dunk move. And Florida’s the kind of program from which I would have expected a slam dunk.
So what was Foley’s reasoning? It’s all speculative, of course. Maybe he really, truly believes he’s got the best head coaching candidate in the country. After all, that’s what Texas thought. Maybe he wanted to let all the pundits speculating on coaches like Stoops and Mullen know that Foley’s his own man. John Pennington speculates that perhaps there’s something more, dare I say it, Kiffin-esque going on here.
* Muschamp is a hot, hot name in the coaching business. In the last round of coaching changes, Muschamp was Tennessee’s first choice to replace Lane Kiffin but he turned the Volunteers down. (Think Gator fans don’t love that?)
* Muschamp’s move also signals that either a) Mack Brown figures to be at Texas a lot longer or b) Muschamp believes Florida is a superior job to Texas. (Think Gator fans don’t love that?)
* There are probably a lot of Georgia fans who are upset tonight. As a Georgia grad, Muschamp was viewed as a “someday” coach of the Bulldogs. You can bet the folks who wanted to blow out Richt and hire Muschamp this offseason are bummed. (Think Gator fans don’t love that, too?)
…
* Interesting timing by Florida, by the way. As millions sat down to watch former Gator Cam Newton win the Heisman Trophy, Foley and crew put out a press release naming Muschamp as their coach. They didn’t do it at 7pm. They didn’t wait and do it at 9pm. They did it right as the Heisman presentation was getting under way. Now maybe that was a coincidence… but I wouldn’t bet on it.
* With Bobby Petrino and Dan Mullen staying put, it looks as though Gus Malzahn’s choices just became a lot more limited. But wait… what if Muschamp and Florida come after Malzahn as offensive coordinator?
Before you completely dismiss his last point, keep in mind that the rumors about Muschamp’s first target for defensive coordinator are consistent with that attitude.
But that last point brings something else to mind here. This hire is going to be the biggest break in continuity that Florida’s had since 1990. Charlie Strong was the bridge from Zook to Meyer (Strong had also been a member of Spurrier’s staff for three years). There isn’t a similar figure likely to match that in this transition. And since Muschamp isn’t coming in as an existing head coach with his own staff, at least in part, there’s going to be a clean slate from that direction as well.
All in all, lots of questions.
- What happens to Meyer’s offense and the players recruited for it?
- Speaking of recruiting, how well does a coach who for the last three recruiting seasons been with a program that’s had to do little more than cherry pick the best in-state recruits transition back to the rough-and-tumble of SEC (and national) recruiting in Florida?
- If Florida is serious about assistants like Smart, how much is it ready to spend on Muschamp’s staff? It’s not like the Gators can’t afford it, after all, but it would be a dramatic change in approach for Foley.
- Does Foley choose better candidates when the situation is forced on him, as opposed to when he controls the situation? In other words, he did a lot better in the wake of the Zooker’s fire than he did with Spurrier’s resignation. This round is more similar to the latter than the former for Foley.
The other guy I wonder about today is Charlie Strong. How’s he supposed to feel about the praise lavished on Muschamp, like this?
“We are thrilled to have Coach Muschamp lead our football program,” Foley said. “When we started the search for our next head coach we wanted a coach who was familiar with the Southeastern Conference. We wanted a candidate who was a relentless recruiter and was familiar with recruiting in the state of Florida.
“We wanted a candidate who was high energy and had been on the big stage. We wanted a candidate who was respected by his players and his peers and we wanted someone who had a passion for the University of Florida. Coach Muschamp is all of those things and more. He is a grounded family man with a wonderful wife and two children and we welcome them into our Gator family.”
All of which you could say about Strong, not to mention that, unlike Muschamp, he’s got a year of head coaching experience under his belt that saw his program improve its record from the previous season. Strong’s also got Meyer’s former offensive coordinator at Utah as his OC, which would presumably have made for a smoother transition. So you’d have to say that Foley’s comment that Muschamp was his only choice for the position has to sting a little. Think he’d like to get back to the SEC as a head coach one day to show Foley what he missed on?
Get The Picture 
Having played for Ray Goff, maybe Muschamp will introduce Florida to the concept of getting “buttah and buttah”.
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Mushchump was his nickname in my day, and he really couldn’t take a punch
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Never good to follow a coach with the record of a Meyer.
This will change alot of recruits because Mushchamp has been out of the SEC grounds for a few years. Can he reconnect? Hire was quicker than what CMR went through with his DC.
Just do not see UF to continue with the success they have had in the past.
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I, for one, have never been one of those people insisting we make a run at Muschamp if/when Richt moves on (or is requested to). Georgia is a program that has the name brand and resources to be able to make a run at an established, experienced name. Apologies in advance to Muschamp for the slight, but I think we can do better.
The fact that Florida evidently doesn’t is kind of strange to me. But I gotta say I’m not exactly upset about it.
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I agree about Muschamp. I’ve never understood it either.
I don’t agree about the relative prestige of the Georgia job. The bottom line is we’re not Michigan, we’re Wisconsin. It’s not that it isn’t a great job, it’s just not as high on the list as some of us would like to think.
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I agree we’re not Michigan. But Wisconsin? Really? I’m not saying you’re necessarily wrong, I’d just like to hear your reasoning.
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Sure. I’m only thinking in terms of the perception over the last 5-10 years, mind you. I went through Phil Steele about a year ago and tried to figure out who Georgia’s true peers were across the other leagues. Wisconsin was, in my opinion, the best fit. If you tally up the number of BCS bowls, conference titles and wins, then up through 2009 it was a fairly close approximation.
Wisconsin is by any measure a successful program which wins a lot of games, snags an occasional league title, but doesn’t get the publicity of Ohio State or Michigan. This year is a perfect example.
Georgia, at least up to ’09, could be described the same way. Obviously, in the moment, Wisconsin is doing much better than Georgia; but the Badger’s ’10 is a lot like our ’05. They have one loss and you barely heard a peep about them in recent conversations regarding the best one-loss team.
I wrote out all the statistics at one point. I’ll see if I can dig them up.
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Actually, I came up with Penn State. Which is probably even closer to truth after two seasons.
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UGA SHOULD be at the highest level, but our coaches have either never capitalized on, or squandered, our resources – an excellent school, faithful/generous alumni and fanbase, large media market in nearby ATL, a top conference, and a state chuck-full of fine HS players. We really don’t have much in-state competition for players from gtu. Anyone notice a GA kid just won the heisman. It’s a reflection of our ineptness when one considers that other sec teams have won championships over the past 14 or so years while we haven’t done much of anything (ut, lsu (2), fl (2), bama, and now auburn?). When will we get our ship together?
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We had our ship together in 2002 just as well as LSU or UF did during their MNC years this decade. We were just unlucky enough to have two major unbeaten teams in front of us, unlike LSU or UF.
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To be fair we didn’t take care of business in the WLOCP that year. So there is no argument for that season. And even if we would have won, we would have been the 2002 version of the ’04 barn school. If I remember correctly that year Miami and OSU were pre-season 1 & 2.
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But my point was that both LSU and UF had games their championship years in which they didn’t take care of business either, yet luck allowed them a chance at the MNC.
I pretty much gave up wishing for the MNC after 2007. Now all I care about is getting back to the SEC championship. Of course, nowadays that’s pretty much punching your ticket to the MNC anyway.
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If you are undefeated, yes.
If you aren’t and you aren’t Florida, Alabama or LSU, then it isn’t.
Of course, Tommy Tubberville would like to have a word.
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I don’t get it. I just don’t see what Muschamp has accomplished for him to be the hot commodity he has been the last couple of years. Foley has definitely stepped out a limb with this hire. Can you imagine the backlash if Muschamp turns out to be Zook v2.0? The timing of the announcement however, was genius.
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he was impressive enough to be hired by Nick Saban, Mack Brown, and Jeremy Foley. Why are dawg fans so paranoid?
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Because our team (the team our own fans perpetually bitch about uderachieving) has owned his ass every time we played his defense.
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“we wanted someone who had a passion for the University of Florida”
That statement gets me right there. The only passion WM should have had for the turds is hate.
And by the way rodfather, the zooker was 2-1 vs some of CMR’s best teams.
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Not my point. Zook followed SOS with seasons of 8-5, 8-5, 7-4. The fact that he was 2-1 vs. UGA is more telling of Richt. Meyer is gonna be one tough act to follow. Especially with the perception that WM was the one and only target.
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Yeah, Zook is a much better coach than he gets credit for being from the turds in Gainesville. Big-10 Coach of the Year a few years ago as I recall. He has taken one of the bottom Big-10 programs and turned it around to at least respectability. He was a victim of that “following a legend” phenomenon that we have seen so often in college football. Which leads to the point of this post. Foley has to understand that phenomenon. Meyer won 2 BCSNCs at FLA and would certainly qualify for “legend” status. The Florida fanbase is spoiled and feels entitled. All of those things combine to form a recipe for failure for the poor schmuck who gets to follow Meyer. Everything I have ever heard about Foley says that he is downright Machiavellian. Wrap your mind around this for a second. Suppose Foley is serving up Muschamp to take a fall? He hires someone who might have been a future UGA HC and the guy gets fired by the Gators 3 years later making way for someone Foley really wanted, like Mullen, all along. This ruins Muschamp’s prospective career at UGA by making him radioactive to Georgia fans. If Muschamp turns out to be all world at HC all the better. He has robbed UGA of a future terrific HC and benefited FLA both ways–stealing a future all-world UGA HC and gaining one for FLA. The downside? 2-3 mediocre seasons before Foley signs his FLA “savior.” Just sayin…..
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The problem with your whole scenario is if Foley fires Muschamp, obviously he wasn’t a future all-world UGA HC, so we didn’t miss out on much anyways.
So while I see your point, if Muschamp doesn’t work out I doubt too many UGA people are going to be upset we didn’t get a chance to see him fail on our sidelines.
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The good Mayor writes;
“The Florida fan base is spoiled and feels entitled.”
We are indeed spoiled. We feel that it is our Almighty given right to have one of the best athletic programs in the country. A point of view that happily is shared by our AD.
As to your black helicopter musings, while Meyer is indeed a legend, his tenure was a brief one. I think following in his footsteps might be a bit easier than the ones Zook had to step into.
And for all your admiration of Zook, as a Florida fan I can personally tell you that the guy was a very decent man, one I would happily count as a friend or neighbor. But as a football coach, he was/is a bit of a goof.
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Mike, reread what you just wrote. You are the living, breathing Exhibit “A” that the FLA “fan base is spoiled and feels entitled.”
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I don’t need to reread it. I know that is what I am. Hell, we are proud of it. We demand it.
And like I said, we are very happy we have an AD that feels the exactly the same way and dedicates his professional life to make that happen. Not only in football, but in all sports.
The proof that he is successful is the Director’s Cup. Florida traditionally sits atop that ranking almost every year.
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“An asshole and proud of it.” That’s Mike’s motto. It certainly fits.
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Hey, we may be assholes, but at least we don’t have to make wardrobe shit up just to try and dig at rivals. Nothings quite says you are a man like making fun of another man’s wardrobe, right buddy?
On a more serious note, it is instructive that Georgia fans don’t consider it their birthright to be great in ALL sports and Florida fans do. And demand that it be so.
So yes, we feel obligated to be the best, if not outright entitled.
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What’s this “we” shit Mike. I didn’t know you actually played yourself. You just live vicariously through others (20 year old kids at that) and act as if it is your birthright if the actual players win something. Pretty pathetic.
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Jeebus.
You are kidding, right?
For someone that lives and dies UGA sports, you are giving me a hard time for doing the same thing for my team?
That sand in your vagina, does it itch?
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Then why don’t you just do it on some Florida blog? I always thought that there was something particularly twisted about someone who goes to another team’s blog to talk about how great his/her favorite team is. You prove that every day with every post. For crying out loud, your team was 7-5 this year and probably is going to get waxed in its bowl (hell, your coach quit because of it) yet you still show up here bragging. You set a new record for douchebaggery with every post. That said, it is sort of nice to have you for the UGA fans on this site to kick around. So it’s OK with me for you to stick around here and make a fool out of yourself on a daily basis.
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“Florida traditionally sits atop that ranking almost every year.”
Except the years when Stanford sits atop it which are
1994 through 2010.
http://www.ask.com/wiki/NACDA_Directors'_Cup#NCAA_Division_I
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Well, shame on me. I meant to write “in the SEC” but failed to do so.
I dont give a crap about Stanford and their 33,000 different sports, but I do care about how we do against the best competition in the best conference in the nation
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Mike,
I believe that many non-Florida fans see Florida through this lens – a sports program that, for whatever reason, thought they were the best when they were far from it. Now that FL has achieved what they always had the potential to do, they see themselves as *always* being on top. That view, by definition, is extremely arrogant based on the # of other fine programs at say, UGa or LSU, etc. Now I know you’re intelligent enough to know that nothing lasts forever, certainly not the run that the Gators have had against the Bulldogs – it’s the lack of objectivity and humility is what angers opposing fans.
The older generation of Gator fans are much easier to tolerate b/c they remember things like the Florida Flop, 4th and dumb, 1979, and the classic saying “Florida has the arrogance of Notre Dame with all the history of Vanderbilt”.
Florida will always be good, but please show some humility unlike your other fans who believe that Florida will run the show just because….
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Well that just about covers the conspiracy front. Seriously with the SEC, NCAA and now UF all making moves to keep the Dogs down, it’s a wonder they ever win anything. I can see how nothing but failure can be expected when all the stars are aligned against you.
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The Dawgs haven’t been winning anything, at least not lately. I feel better about the Dawgs chances though , not just in football, but across the board in all sports because of one guy–new UGA AD Greg McGarity. He will get things in the Athletic Department going in the right direction no matter what it takes. Only time will tell, but I think that Foley made a big mistake by not hiring a proven HC. Sometimes when a team starts going in a downward trajectory it is really difficult to turn it around. UGA and FLA are both at a crossroads in football IMO and how they each respond to that challenge should set the stage for their respective success or failure for years to come.
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All I’m saying if he was tainted by this hire, he should’ve been tainted when he was hired by LSU or AU. I also don’t think the Foley had UGA on his mind when the decision was made. UF thinks UGA is a joke and we play into it by thinking that they are out to get us in any way possible. They are only out to beat us on the football field and have been doing quite a fine job of it.
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You forgot the most powerful force in the CFB universe, the WWL. Why they even don’t bring gameday to the Classic City, thus denying the opportunity for our frat boys to begin drinking earlier! Not to mention, two of the talking heads actually picked The aU and Cammy to beat us in November. Shocking, has to be a conspiracy!
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Wasn’t he known as a great recruiter at both LSU and Auburn?
A good gauge here is how Texas Fan is reacting this morning.
That reaction…is not pretty.
http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/category/football/
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Holy s##t, talk about a spoiled entitled fanbase. Yeah, Texas, Mack Brown really sucks let me tell ya.
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Would someone email me when one of CMR’s former assistants ever gets a decent job?
Oh yeah, I forgot about Van Gorder, who ran as fast as he could from UGA to a 1-AA school, because he knew his career would go nowhere if he stayed in Athens.
Damn, Saban has his minions all over the SEC.
Even Donnan had assistants that were successful elsewhere. Coach Richt’s tree doesn’t have any branches. That should speak pretty loudly about why the program is in the shape it’s in right now. No accountability, no performance demands. Laziness is accepted and encouraged under the guise of being a “family-man.”
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I thought he left Georgia for an NFL gig. Or is that how you define “ran as fast as he could” to 1-AA?
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Oh, that’s right, I forgot about him taking two step backwards to get an internship with the Jaguars. Seemed like a crazy move at the time, but I guess it got him his current gig.
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Yeah, there’s no telling what heights he’d have reached by now if he’d turned down Richt’s offer to become DC in the first place.
/switches off sarcasm meter
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Wow……crickets from Cynical…..well played, Senator.
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No crickets, the Senator simply chose to parse out the least important part of my original point, as usual, only to ignore the fact that Van Gorder is the only Richt protege to achieve any modicum of success elsewhere, and Van Gorder felt he needed to take less-than-lateral moves away from UGA to achieve that success.
There is obviously no point for me to continue to point out that no other schools want UGA assistants and what that says about the program’s direction.
I think Muschamp is a terrible hire for UF, and am quite excited about UGA’s offense repeating the results against UF that it did against Auburn when Muschamp was the DC there. I hope that this is the sort of seismic shift in history that we needed to put UF back into its pre-1990 form.
Perhaps Muschamp will inquire about Bobo and Searles?
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I for one would be extremely unhappy to see Bobo and Searles go. Bitch how you want about Bobo’s playcalling, his QB development is fantastic. And I am looking forward to seeing what happens with our o-line after the changes in Strength and Conditioning take affect.
I also think we’re putting way too much stock in who is coaching at Florida and not nearly enough emphasis on what Georgia is going to do to get better. Part of that has to do with what’s hot on the press today, but I think part of it has to do with our fanbase mentality of “maybe something will go horribly wrong at Florida and we’ll take advantage of it and start winning” instead of “We want to beat Florida and we’re going to stand up and take it from them regardless of who’s running the program”
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+1. The most intelligent post of the day.
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Dawgwalker07 wrote: “…and not nearly enough emphasis on what Georgia is going to do to get better.”
And unfortunately, the answer to that is “next to nothing.’ CMR has recycled 2 staff members. Big whoop! That looks eerily like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to me. I hope we see much improvement next year, but I’ll be shocked if we do.
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I am no fan of BVG, especially his decision-making process, but Mr. Cyanide’s hate for CMR knows no bounds. JD, is that you?
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Why “no fan of BVG”? He’s without question the best assistant coach Dawgs have had since Erk, and his hire was by far the best management move CMR ever made. Dawgs haven’t recovered since BVG left the program. At least BVG gave the Dawgs 100% effort and some great results when he was with the program. He’s been a total gent since leaving too – never a word bad to say about anything related to UGA. I think BVG certainly ranks with the best DC’s in football – college or pro, and was very disappointed when we let him get away. I’m curious why any Dawg fan would ‘dis’ him.
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I have no problem with the job he did while DC at Georgia, not so sure that is among the top of either the pro, or college ranks. He had some outstanding talent to work with but I agree he got the job the done.
My biggest issue was him leaving us high and dry in the middle of recruiting for a position coach position on a team whose season was over. This seems to be more a knee jerk reaction because of not getting his way. The decisions that followed that one were just as poorly handled (GSU and SC). While it doesn’t undermine his credibility as a DC, it certainly shows he has a long way to go before being handed the keys to a head job at a major program. Somehow there are stil some who bring his name up occasionally. Just my opinion but not me. You only quit and leave me hanging one time.
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Kirby Smart moved up in the world.
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Um, what? Van Gorder wanted to be an NFL coach. He went to the Jags and eventually wound up as the DC in Atlanta. He spent a year in I-AA to pad his resume. I’m pretty sure he didn’t leave because working under Richt was going to destroy his career. But then, I’m not insane.
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Not insane? Really? Heh, heh, heh.
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Well, there were a couple on Jim Donnan’s staff that were hired away to other gigs: Chris Scelfo left to become HC at Tulane when Tommy Bowden left, Mickey Matthews left to be HC at JMU where he’s still at and having great success, there might be others, I don’t know.
I suppose my point is that having highly sought after assistants can be a blessing and a curse. Take a look at Phil Fulmer. He had pretty darn good success at UT with no staff turnover. There’s something to be said for that. And it really wasn’t until Cutcliff left for Ole Miss, and then again for Duke, that the wheels really came off for him.
Oh, and Niel Calloway is at UAB, but I agree that hardly counts at all.
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The under-the-radar genius behind the recent UF success was Strong. As we at UGA have discovered the hard way, A high scoring offense needs to be complemented with at good defense to reach national champion level team success. What if Strong had waited one more year? Would Foley have hired Muschamp over Strong? I wouldn’t mind hiring Strong if Richt’s ship is not righted.
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1. I could definitely get behind hiring Strong if Richt leaves in the near future.
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That was supposed to be 1.
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Damn text messaging formatting.
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“Muschamp was on the same LSU staff with new Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and the two are close friends. They own a beach house together in Florida.” Gainesville Sun.
One thing is for sure, if this was say…Alabama, the black helicopter crowd would be in permanent nuclear orbit.
At least he did not grow up expecting Georgia to lose to Florida.
Conversation in Foley’s office: “Boss, my esophagus-thingy is like, you know doing things….I been thinking about some time off…..”
“Urb you’ve done some great things, I accept your offer to resign so I won’t have to fire you because you don’t seem to give a shit anymore.”
“Ahhhh….wait, now Boss….uhhh I didn’t mean….”
“Yeah, Urb, I know, but I did mean it….in fact I have to take phone call from a guy in Texas….Here’s how we will spin this……”
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It makes no sense that Muschamp was Foley’s only choice. And I just don’t see Strong wanting to leave Louisville after one year, even for UF. After three or four years? Absolutely. I just can’t see him taking Foley’s comments as a slap in the face.
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I can think of a couple million reasons why Strong would leave Louisville for florida. As a Dawg fan, I’d prefer he stay at Louisville.
If I were foley, I wouldn’t schedule MSU and Louisville back-to-back any time soon.
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And, you know….what difference does it make what Georgia fans think about this hire?
What I am thinking about is that my team lost to a Florida team with the biggest cluster-fuck offense in the history of the known world, led by a coach who was a week or so away from wandering around Gainesville in his underwear.
Frankly my dear Senator I hope we have bigger fish to fry.
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hahaha thats awesome and I am a gators fan! great comment!
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Isn’t Florida hiring Muschamp, a successful assistant, similar to UGA hiring Richt, who was also a successful assistant at the time of his hire?
Yes, I do realize FSU was in the BCS Title game the year Richt was hired and Texas was 5-7 in 2010. That said, looking at the stats, it does not appear that the Texas defense was the reason for the poor showing.
This is no doubt a risky hire by Foley. In an earlier thread, I opined that Foley used 4 criteria when hiring coaches;
1.) Proven winner
2.) Relentless recruiter
3.) No NCAA or integrity issues
4.) Good spokesperson for the University, both to boosters and the press.
Since WM has never been a HC, #1 seems out of Foley’s plan. That said, Muschamps’s defenses at every stop were by-in-large outstanding and he has been the DC on several championship teams for three different programs.
As to #2, WM’s recruiting acumen is a trait everyone lauds. He will do well in Florida’s fertile recruiting grounds.
I am going to assume #3 is not an issue, but I know very little about the man’s personal life.
As to #4, he apparently has a fiery personality. Time will tell how well he does with the press, but I gather the moneyed UT boosters loved the man.
As an aside, if he does have a fiery personality, then he will probably be prone to getting in digs against rivals. I wonder if he will publicly encourage a Georgia player to choke at a critical point in THE game?
Will be an intersting year
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Georgia at the time was stuck in neutral, unable to be better than third banana in the SEC East. Florida is a couple years removed from a national championship. The two aren’t really comparable.
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Fair enough. As I said, I think this is a risky hire by Foley. Time will tell if he is right.
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UGA also had two other coaches on the payroll that were not coaching. When we hired Richt, that made 3 coaches on the payroll with only one on the sidelines. Even with relatively deep pockets, there is only so much you can take on. Richt was a spectacular hire for his pay grade.
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What I am thinking about is that my team lost to a Florida team with the biggest cluster-fuck offense in the history of the known world, led by a coach who was a week or so away from wandering around Gainesville in his underwear.
—
While pointing and staring at…nothing.
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Post of the century
😆
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you are right scorpio…once again we failed to take advantage of a cluster phuck going on down in Gainesville, ala the zook years. While I understand why us dawg fans are interested in who our hated rivals hire, its a shame that the dawgnation breathes a huge sigh of relief that the turds didn’t hire Mullen, Petrino or a host of other big names. We are hanging our collective hats on the hope that WM is a failure instead of hanging our hats on what CMR can do to beat them at their best.
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Man, what a warped year. Whitch one of ya’ll spiked the punch at the SEC meetings with acid?
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+1
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It’s kind of hard to feel betrayed over something that was only speculated to occur.
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Texas gave up more points per game than Georgia this year. Some of that had to do with turnovers by the Texas offense, but some of it had to do with their inability to stop the run. I think Muschamp is a good defensive coordinator, but I’ve never understood why he had the reputation of being the best.
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+1 Just glad UF made this move before we made that mistake, imo. I have no doubt 3/4 of the UGA faithful would have had WM at the top of their list if we were hiring this off season.
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Texas let the Big 12 in defense all three years Muschamp was DC, even with the turnover-prone offense this year. That’s why.
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It is a puzzler to me, but then I don’t want to replace Richt; I just want him to get back on track.
Foley has been doing this a long time. I can recall making fun of the CUM hire, so I wouldn’t assume that Muschamp is a mistake (and I realize many of you understand he could succeed; he is just not a slam dunk). At the same time, Foley also hired Zook who was never as bad of a coach as he was perceived to be by Gators.
So what I believe Foley has done here is hire the hot young assistant that newspaper people say is the next great coach. If he is right, Foley looks brilliant; if he is wrong, he crumples him up after a couple of seasons and goes out and gets the next CUM, but with a little more time to plan and search. It’s a no lose situation for Foley.
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plus the cabinet will be stocked with talent even if he cant coach a damn. oh yeah, how is not coaching a damn working out for LSU?
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I wouldn’t be to quick to say that this wasn’t the best hire for the gators. We didn’t think that Chezik (sp) was that great of a hire for Auburn either and we all know how that’s turned out. I think it’s going to be what kind of people he puts in place around him. I just hope it’s not a spread offense because we just can’t defend the spread.
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Auburn is really all about 1 guy—Newton–and I include Malzahn in that assessment. Take Newton off that team and Auburn is about the same as the War Eagles were last season. Cheez-it is just the beneficiary of Newton going there.
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Totally agree. We lost that game, but we played them as well as anyone, and it took Cammy Cam to get all crunked up to pull it out for them. I don’t think this was Chizik wizardry at work there this season. Chizik is good enough not screw it up, but that is about it.
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Wrong. Chicklets got the $$$$ paid and hasn’t been caught. That makes him quite the clever one indeed.
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You mean hasn’t been caught–yet.
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Unless Muschamp can recruit the next Tim Tebow or Cam Newton, I don’t know that he’s going to find the success Meyer or Chizik has. The success of both of those coaches can be undeniably linked to their star players (at least at UF for Meyer). We still don’t know what either one of them can do (or could have done) long-term without having a Heisman-winning lynch pin in their offenses.
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arent all programs defined by their stars? yall sure do like to talk about knowshon and stafford a lot…
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When did we “talk a lot” about those guys? I haven’t seen them mentioned in ages. No one is reliving the glory days of ’08.
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That’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m saying is you can’t evaluate how good of a coach someone is when they have a star player that happens to fit their system perfectly and helps them win a bunch of games.
If Cam Newton leaves Auburn and Gene Chizik doesn’t duplicate the success, or come close to duplicating the success, they had this year everyone is going to say “it was because he had a star in Cam Newton that one season” and not “he does such a great job coaching his players”
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“I just hope it’s not a spread offense because we just can’t defend the spread.”
When executed at a high level, few teams do stop the spread offense. Making the QB an equally dangerous passer and runner (ie. Cam N > T Tebow) while thinning out the defense for more running lanes for all. That hurts. That is where college FB is going. Just look at the BCS so called national title game. Neither team has a dominant defense. But both have an unstoppable offense. This, unfortunately, is the new reality. It will continue to make it in to the NFL, I predict. As C Newton, Tebow , Vick have success.
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Be afraid: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gatorbytes/2010/12/12/qb-recruit-jeff-driskel-met-with-will-muschamp-still-committed-to-gators/
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Be afraid? Is he taking Brantley’s place in the two deep next year? 😉
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As a matter of disclosure, I’ve long been a fan of hiring young, and seemingly talented coordinators that you can build a program around long term. The last season at Texas notwithstanding, Muschamp was head coach in waiting at Texas, so someone over there thought he had what it took, OR just wanted to placate him so he wouldn’t leave for another coordinator position. I tend to think it was the former.
But, what do I know? I haven’t followed Muschamp’s career other than to know he was well thought of, he’s intense, and a Saban protege. I agree its not a slam dunk, but I don’t understand the lack of excitement by the UF faithful. If you’re going to hire a coordinator, he seems to be at the top of the class. If you wanted a more proven head coach or familiar face, then ok I get the disappointment. Otherwise, this seems to me to be a hire worth being excited about, pending seeing what he can do on the field. But that’s if I’m a Florida fan.
I will say, he’s officially disowned 🙂
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like everyone else, i’m surprised and puzzled by foley’s and uf’s choice.
but the only thing that’s going to change my calculus that uf is a prohibitive favorite to the win the sec east on more or less a year-in, year-out basis (and therefore the sec and therefore the mnc) and also a mortal lock to win that game in j’ville would be some straight biblical shit: rivers turning to blood, locust swarms, raining frogs, etc. or uga beating them.
then, maybe, i’ll consider the possibility that the status quo is really changing.
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Will is calling Kirby and Bobo to put the band back together. With any luck Will will get UF to the level of UGA under Jim Donnan.
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Will, PLEASE call Kevin Ramsey. He is an integral member of that band.
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From the WM camp:
1. WM thought UF was coming in to interview him, no idea an offer would be made yesterday.
2. In advance of Foley’s (and two others) arrival WM called the Texas AD to see where he stood. He was referred directly to Mack Brown who told WM he wasn’t ready to step down yet, and didn’t know when he would be.
3. After long discussions, which ended around around 4:30 PM, WM had the job. When asked who is agent would be for finalizing the contract, WM informed Foley that he did not need one for this, he knew what he needed. I am sure an attorney will be used to review it, but Will might have saved himself about 10+% with that decision.
4. His wife, Carol, really has loved Austin where they lived downtown and could walk to restaurants, and their kids could walk to school. She had hated Miami but that is no indication she hates all of Florida since they and the Fishers share a condo at Seaside. (I doubt that joint ownership continues but the two families are close friends, and they can certainly afford their own individual units now.
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Do I feel betrayed? No. If Kirby and Mike join forces with Will I am scared, but not betrayed.
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Yep, we know how well the tandem of Bobo as OC and Kirby as RB coach worked. But I wonder who he’ll hire for S&C? Somehow I think Muschamp has more sense than to surround himself with his best man, best jogging buddy, and some recent grads for assistant coaches.
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I often sit and wonder why, with such a large pool of AD wannabees, has the SEC ever been lacking in championship material. You guys can pontificate on the wisdom or stupidity of those in power..just realize they are in power because they possess very high qualifications for the job. Check out their offices…you won’t see dartboards for decision making. I’m sure that none of you have received phone calls asking for your advice, either. Worry about your own lives..in whatever position you may be in. Amuse yourselves with the direction your favorite CFB team goes in..knowing that you have little or no control over it. Of course, if you just like to spar with the Senator, press on!
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Ehhh…you kids stay the hell off my lawn too!!
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRoFA-jr8ClabBGyiyuhW83TJfNiMpS7_u8cJMBEr_G9oWHq7avVA
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tee & hee …
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“The bottom line is we’re not Michigan, we’re Wisconsin.”
Oh come on, fer chrissakes. UGA has been more of a national power than Michigan has in the last 10 years, and we’ve done it without endless ESPN fawning as well. We’ve won consistently except for the last 2 years, and we’ve done it in the toughest conference in the world. Put Georgia in the Big Ten and I have little doubt they would crank out 10-12 wins a year.
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Amen. When you are in the Top 15 winning progams of all-time, and accomplished that in the toughest league in CFB, you don’t have to look up to anyone. Time our fans got their chins off theior chest and quit whining and apologizing. All programs go through periodic ups and downs, UGA is held in higher esteem around the country than they are within the state of Georgia. We bow to no one.
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Senator could not agree with you more with this insight. To me it all depends upon who he hires as assistants. Look with Recruiting they didn’t anything, UF gets the cream in Florida anyways. The OC he selects to me at least is UF’s MAJOR (applewhite?),seclection. If indeed it is Applewhite, I will be assured that UF has to abandon the spread.
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the way i see it, muschamp probably wouldnt take the head coaching job at UGA. Neither would kirby smart. I believe something drastically has to change (and im not talking about the coaching staff) the whole culture of bulldawg nation has to change. I dont know how, and I dont know where everything went wrong. Aaron murray said it earlier this week about a culture change and it sparked something in me. He’s right, and not just about the S&C system but in all aspects. We don’t have the winners mentality. We are passionate, but not enough. The players care more about going to the NFL and going downtown and chasing girls than they do about football. Mark Richt is a good coach, but he needs to grab the football program by the balls and run it with an iron fist. There are too many distractions in athens and these guys do not take it seriously and that reflects leadership. From the top to the bottom i do not believe there are many leaders including our head coach. Its time to wake up guys, we are loosing control of this football program and we are starting to loose control of this state. There are more non-georgia fans in this state then georgia fans and thats the truth. FSU, Florida, Auburn, and Alabama have spread like a cancer throughout the state in people jumping on the banwagon and we havnt dont ANYTHING to stop it. and now its going to be even worse now because auburn will win a national championship and boost their program over ours. This is the time to step up and market this school and make people believe we are great again.
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What do you want me to do about it dude? I’m just a fan.
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Amen brother! Unpaid tickets, emerging from alleys, reluctance to use your middle name, UNDERAGE DRINKING!!!11!!1!
The sky is falling, I tell ya!
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I’m pretty sure Strong is where he wants to be. Nobody in the SEC gave him a shot at coaching because of his wife (among other things), and Louisville did. I’m pretty sure he’s there until they don’t want him. I imagine Foley went to him first, actually. We’ll just never hear about it.
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The people that say Muschamp is “dead to them” make me sick. What’s wrong with this man looking out for his family and taking a shot a coaching a very prestigious football program? The same people had no qualms about welcoming back Greg McGarity as AD from Florida. Was he “dead” to these same people when he left Athens to go work in Gainesville? For the record, I think its a terrible hire. UF’s problem last year wasn’t the defense. It was the sputtering offense.
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