Mediocrity never looked so good.

There is so much to love about the first two paragraphs of Robbie Andreu’s paean to Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease:

Successful coordinators at Florida tend to not stick around very long. They move on and move up to a head coaching job. It’s a natural progression that many have followed, including Bob Stoops, Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong.

Brent Pease seems to be on that path now, especially after his UF offense decimated the No. 1 defense in the nation in the Gators’ victory over Florida State a few weeks back. Pease is on the path, but if you listen to him, it’s obvious he’s not blindly streaking down it ready to grab the first opportunity that comes along.

My first thought as I read that was at a high-profile program like Florida, three coordinators in fifteen years progressing to head coaching jobs isn’t a particularly spectacular track record.  (And as for not sticking around for very long, Charlie Strong spent eight years as Florida’s DC before moving on.  But I digress.)

My second thought was “what, no Charlie Weis?”.  Hey, he fits the pattern.  Although we can debate whether the term “successful” applies to him.  But in any event, I’m sure as hell having a hard time seeing how it applies to the guy whose offense finished twelfth in the conference in yardage and tenth in scoring this season.  If that’s how Andreu measures success, there are a bunch of SEC offensive coordinators who are more than ready for prime time.  I’ll have some of whatever he’s drinking, thanks.

14 Comments

Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles

14 responses to “Mediocrity never looked so good.

  1. UFTimmy

    There were others that have gone on to be head coaches, he just didn’t mention them.

    2011 – Weis, head coach Kansas
    2009 – 2010: Adazzio, head coach Boston College
    2005 – 2008: Dan Mullen, head coach Miss. State
    2002 – 2004: Larry Fedora, head coach North Carolina
    2002 – 2003: Zaunbrecher: Never was a head coach
    1990 – 2011: Spurrier.

    So going back to 1990 (or 2001, since you can’t really count Spurrier), there was only offensive coordinator that didn’t go on to become a head coach. And he shared CO-OC duties with Fedora before being demoted and Fedora taking full control.

    Defensive coordinators are a little different, mostly due to Strong being shafted for so long.

    As far as Pease’s results, yeah, they’re not great. But the offense was significantly better than they were a year ago. Hopefully they can continue to improve.

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  2. RobA

    There’s also Ed Zaunbrecher, Larry Fedora, and Steve Addazio.

    As far as Pease’s performance, I’m sure Bulldog fans can understand that when you watch a game there can be a disconnect between the quality of a team’s offensive stats and the playcalling in the game. UGA typically puts up good offensive numbers, but there is still the “blame Bobo” faction. Pease is experiencing the reverse of that phenomenon.

    Pease is seen as being a good playcaller despite his team’s results, and I think there is some truth to that perception. This year’s UF offense was bad, but occasionally competent. That is an improvement over the previous two years that you can’ necessarily pick up on from the stat sheets.

    Florida fans attribute this year’s offensive shortcomings to (1) a complete lack of receivers, (2) incredibly injured O-Line, and (3) a young quarterback that can’t grasp when to throw the ball away. I’d add in penalties, but Florida is generally more heavily penalized than other teams and that has held constant over the past four coaches.

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  3. AlphaDawg

    It’s not so much as where UF’s offense finished the season verse SEC defense’s or how they looked against the “No.1” defense, its that FSU made their money defensivly against horrible Offense’s all season, inflating their defensive stats.

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  4. Debby Balcer

    I seem to remember the Gator fans wanting AAddaizo gone.

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  5. What fresh hell is this?

    Brent Pease a successful coordinator? Holy shit…bupkis for 11 weeks and then run it up on an overrated ACC defense. Wow…just wow.

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  6. Joe Friday

    Much better track record of coordinators-to-head coaches than any other SEC program outside of (maybe?) LSU. Which makes sense, given their titles during their success over the last 15 years.

    Not a Florida fan (go Dawgs), but a UGA fan’t can’t exactly point to their former coordinator’s career paths in a comparatively negative light.

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  7. Stoopnagle

    Pease is awesome. I can’t remember the last time UF didn’t score a TD in Jax.

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    • Sneaky Short

      They havent scored (TD) since the second qtr in 2011. The ball crossed the line,this year,
      the human kangaroo was not connected to it.

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