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Gator staff sporting a distinct NFL flavor

January 19, 2011
Filed In Feature Stories, Football

Nothing is more crucial to the success of a new head coach than the staff he assembles. This is especially the case with the hiring of an assistant by a rookie head coach. With the announcement of Bryant Young as defensive line coach and the elimination of the Seattle Seahawks from the NFL playoffs, Will Muschamp’s coaching staff is fully assembled and free to fully devote its time to Florida football.

The primary difference between the coaching staffs assembled by previous Florida coaches and this one is, that Muschamp’s has a distinct NFL flavor to it.

For possibly the first time in its history, Florida will have a head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator with NFL experience.

While Muschamp’s experience was limited to one season on the staff with the Miami Dolphins, that is more NFL coaching experience than Urban Meyer had upon his arrival in Gainesville.

New offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, a former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots at their height of their Super Bowl runs and for the Kansas City Chiefs this season, also spent time as a position coach, coaching running backs and wide receivers. New defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has almost a decade of NFL experience coaching defensive lines in San Francisco, Miami, New York (Jets), and Seattle.

The NFL flavor is not limited to the coordinators, either.

In addition to Quinn and Weis, Muschamp has turned both interior lines over to coaches with significant experience in the NFL.

The offensive line will be coached by veteran Frank Verducci, who worked for the Bengals, Cowboys, Bills and Browns.

Young, who will coach the defensive line, spent 13 seasons in the NFL as a defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 1994, Comeback Player of the Year in 1999, was a four time Pro-Bowler, and won a Super Bowl (XXIX).

Both Verducci and Young will add considerable NFL experience to positions absolutely critical to success in the SEC where virtually everyone has elite talent in the trenches. Verducci and Young were on Weis’ last Notre Dame staff as offensive line coach and as a defensive graduate assistant, respectively, and Quinn coached Young on the defensive line for one season with San Francisco. So, there should be plenty of familiarity among the new assistant coaches as well.

Florida should benefit from the assembled NFL experience on the staff in several ways. First, their experience should give new coaches instant credibility with returning players.

There may be evidence that this is already the case, as Florida’s coaching staff lost no players to transfer. The NFL credential may have influenced John Brantley decision to return for his senior year, despite his tumultuous 2010 season.

Not coincidentally, Janoris Jenkins also decided to return for the 2011 season despite the possibility that he would be a high draft pick in the NFL Draft come April. Additionally, one would think the players will respond positively to a Pro Bowl defensive lineman coaching them, or a coach who helped Matt Cassell have one of the best statistical seasons in the NFL in 2010.

Second, the NFL-laden staff should pay dividends on the recruiting trail. While it will be tough to say how the staff will do in closing out the class 2011, their combined experience should make for an easy sell to recruits down the road.

It’s no secret that most, if not all, recruits aspire to play in the NFL one day. What better way for Florida to sell that opportunity than to point out the mass of NFL experience at the coordinator and position coach level on the staff?

Florida hasn’t exactly struggled in recruiting recently. Nevertheless, the possibility of pitching NFL coaching while in college can only help with the most elite of recruits (particularly at quarterback, running back, and the offensive line).

Finally, with their backgrounds, the preparation and game-planning of the new coaching staff figure to be highly professional.

Between the retained coaches, Muschamp himself, and the coaches brought in from the NFL, there should be nothing they haven’t seen on film before.

In a league has challenging on a weekly basis as the SEC is, the fact that Charlie Weis has game-planned for Super Bowls and Dan Quinn was just coaching in the NFL playoffs this week should give Florida fans and players alike every confidence that the coaches will be prepared no matter the opponent.

It’s important to point out that in addition to the NFL coaches on the staff, Muschamp did a fine job blending retained coaches and well-connected college football coaches to give the staff the best of all worlds.

Hiring former Gator player Aubrey Hill from Miami to coach the wide receivers was a big plus, as Hill is intimately familiar with the Gators program and is well connected in the fertile recruiting grounds of south Florida. He’ll make a fine recruiting weapon along with Stan Drayton and the other holdovers from the Meyer staff that know the targets and targets areas well.

Finally, don’t forget that Muschamp himself has been in some of the biggest stages in college football as a defensive coordinator for LSU, Auburn, and Texas. No one is more intimately familiar with the college game or with recruiting the southeast than Muschamp.

The Florida coaching staff has more of the NFL experience than it has ever has and that should be a good thing. Between their abilities to coach up the returning players, recruit in the future, and to work alongside veteran college coaches and recruiters, the Gators should have no problem competing in the SEC and continuing the momentum established over the past two decades.

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Cam Newton’s adventure

January 11, 2011
Filed In Feature Stories, Football

For all those critics out there who thought the balance of power in college football had shifted and that the Southeastern Conference had lost some its luster, think again.

Auburn wrapped up the perfect season Monday night, completing the “Cam Slam” and bringing the crystal ball home to the SEC for the fifth straight season, thus concluding the remarkable adventure of quarterback Cam Newton. Newton’s improbable journey from junior college anonymity to the big national stage, from the doghouse at Florida to the penthouse at Auburn, was one of the most epic transformations in college football history.

The former Florida quarterback, who once backed up Tim Tebow, led his team to a 22-19 victory, relying on a stout defense led by defensive tackle Nick Fairley and true freshman Michael Dyer. Even though he didn’t win the offensive MVP — it went to Dyer — Newton already has plenty of bling in his trophy case. Fairley was defensive MVP.

Although he got off to a slow start and didn’t play his best game of the season, Newton was the beneficiary of outstanding performance by his defense in a game that produced a little more than half of the total points expected to be scored by the two high-powered, fast-moving offenses.

It wasn’t a great night statistically for Cam Newton, but a great night nonetheless.

Asked to describe his journey from Blinn Junior College to the BCS championship, Newton said:

“It’s just a God thing. I thank God every single day. I’m just His instrument and He’s using me on a consistent basis. He’s using me to extend His word. And I’m a prime example of how God can turn something that was bad into something that was very great.”

He said what he and family learned from this experience:

“Anything is possible. I guarantee you five or six months ago, nobody would have bet their last dollar to say that Auburn University was going to win the national championship. January 10, 2011, we’re smiling right now, saying we did it.”

So Auburn won the national title, the SEC and produced the Heisman trophy winner in 2010. Now Tiger fans just have to hold their breath and hope they get to keep all the loot.

* * *

To paraphrase Dickens, these have been the best of times and the worst of times for Cameron Newton.

For one day, unbeknownst to the entire football universe except the utmost highest at Auburn, Newton was actually declared ineligible in December, the week before the SEC Championship game. In one fell swoop, Auburn reported an NCAA violation involving their star, suspended him and applied for reinstatement. We learned about it after it was over when Newton was reinstated.

Just one more bizarre incident which added to the intrigue of the back-story and fueled the drama of the national championship game.

By all accounts, Newton was liked by his teammates at Florida. Joe Haden was among those who publicly hailed him. And as a Gator, though his legacy was marked by scandal, Cam had a chance to learn a new persona he would unveil at a later date.

Meanwhile, think about this: Had Newton stayed at Florida and accomplished all the things that he did at Auburn, he would have been the fourth in the Gator Heisman genealogy as “son of a preacher man” to win a Heisman and a national championship.

Oddly enough, it was his minister father whose unethical practices nearly cost him all of it — and leaves a giant shadow cast over Auburn’s program and his son’s glory.

* * *

If you watched Newton closely, he brought the Tim Tebow paradigm with him, crow-hopping around the field to fire up the fans, leaping in the stands after a touchdown, taking a victory lap after beating South Carolina to win the SEC.

At Auburn, he also seemed to bring a certain joy to the fans in the Loveliest Village on the Plains. Amazingly, Newton played with grace and poise, like a man with a clear conscience. That is the greatest testimony to his intentions.

One advantage to playing behind Tebow is that he could take notes of the model he would someday try to emulate.

Tebow’s former teammate and understudy might be able to someday match his skills on the football field, but Newton could never have lived up to the true Tebow icon. (Not that anybody else could, either.) On that count Newton failed after his brush with the law over his purchase of the stolen computer which he then ditched out the window when police came to his door. And then there was the story charging him with being caught cheating on an exam one or more times.

It has never been proven why Newton suddenly decided to withdraw from Florida and enroll in junior college — the Newtons say it’s because Tebow chose to come back is senior year — but little did he realize what a profound impact it would have on college football.

Never mind that he wound up winning the Heisman and playing for the BCS championship. How might have he changed the destiny of the 2011 Florida Gators?

Think about this Part II: Urban Meyer had two Heisman Trophy winners on his roster at once, both playing the same position.

* * *

The paradoxical ride of Newton defies the stereotypical image of a football hero. In American sports culture, college stars are deities. They are paragons of virtue, gifted with physical and mental strength, roles models to youth and inspirational voices of their community — an image that borders on the impossible. On that count, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner comes up short. Yet he also seemed gracious in victory and by all appearances may find redemption of sorts.

Then there was Cecil Newton, who comes off as the villain in this story because he was in the eye of the storm of an FBI and NCAA investigation about soliciting money in return for his son’s talents. Cecil was practically banished and reportedly didn’t attend the BCS title game Monday night. He had become an embarrassment to Auburn, college football and maybe even to his family. Yet his son continued to say his father’s support gave him peace and confidence.

Even if Cam really didn’t know his father was peddling his wares on the open market, allegedly asking for upwards of $180,000 for his services at Mississippi State, there is still Cam’s poor lifestyle decisions while at Florida.

* * *

Heisman winners don’t always plays lights out in championship games and quite often come out on the wrong end of the score — as Ohio State’s Troy Smith and Oklahoma Sam Bradford did against the Gators.

How would Newton perform against Oregon?

We kept wondering if there was enough bad karma to impact the plight of Newton and his team’s mission. Perhaps that riddle was solved in part Monday night in Arizona. He played well enough to lead his team to victory after a season of scrutiny perhaps like no other college football player has been forced to endure.

For the first quarter he did struggle, but it was a scoreless period and that gave him time to refocus. He did miss two other chances for touchdown passes, under throwing a wide open receiver in the end zone and overthrowing wide receiver Darwin Adams, who had beaten the Oregon secondary and would have easily scored.

Yet it was two defensive plays — a safety and a goal line stand — which sparked Auburn’s victory. After a slow start, Newton warmed up and finished with a pair of touchdown passes, 280 yards (258 in the second quarter alone) and a 16-11 lead at the half.

Thanks to a brilliant goal line stand at the 1-yard line and a near second half shutdown of the high-powered Duck offense, Newton only had to do just enough to win the game. However, he almost became the goat, because Oregon’s Casey Mathews stripped him of the football with just under five minutes to play while the Tigers were trying to protect at 19-11 lead. Oregon drove it in from 40 yards out, however, scored on the shovel pass, went for two and scored to tie the game at 19.

It was a bizarre play in a bizarre season for Auburn that finally decided the game. With under two minutes to play, true freshman Michael Dyer ran for a short gain and appeared to be down, but was encouraged by the players and coaches on the Auburn sideline to keep on running and restarted, rolling 34 yards down to the Oregon 24. And it was Dyer who broke off a long run to the ½-yard line with 10 seconds left in the game.

Taking no chances, Gene Chizik elected to go for a field goal instead of punching the ball in, sending Wes Byrum on the field to kick it. However, Oregon took a timeout and Chizik sent the offense back on the field to kill eight seconds off the clocked, calling time out after the play and putting Byrum back on the field.

Again, more irony — two explosive offenses, but the only points in the second half were field goals. And a field goal decides the outcome.

It took nothing away from Cam Newton’s Adventure, however, and the remarkable ending. There was the matter of Newton being slammed to the ground at the end of the game and appearing to be injured. He cut short his interviews and went to have X-rays, presumably of is back, which has been troubling him. Asked how he felt, Newton said, “I’m fine. I just feel blessed.”

Newton’s future as a football player will depend on whether he elects to return to Auburn for his senior season or leave early for the NFL draft. For now, however, there is plenty of glory in his present to carry him for a long, long time.

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How the NCAA stays on top of social media

January 10, 2011
Filed In Basketball Recruiting, Football Recruiting

As the overarching organization that oversees college athletes and their recruitment, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has its own set of rules that athletes, coaches and boosters must follow when using social media.

The NCAA’s managing director of communications, Ronnie Ramos, sat down with me to discuss the organization’s evolving guidelines for social media — territory the NCAA entered in just the past few years. The NCAA regulates social media particularly to maintain an even playing field when it comes to recruiting student athletes, applying its more traditional recruitment guidelines to the ever-changing social technologies available.

Ramos delves into the NCAA member schools’ reasons for doing this, as well as which types of social media use are permissible, and which are prohibited. He also explains the relationship between the NCAA and its member schools in making and enforcing rules.

Read more at Mashable…

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Nobody could see Auburn’s title run

January 10, 2011
Filed In Feature Stories, Football

Here on the final day of the 2010 college football season, when we reflect back on the expectations from Day One, we are struck by just how little we could see around the corner.

Oregon, perhaps — the Ducks were among the top 10-to-15 of most preseason polls. But nobody had Auburn contending
for a national championship last August. In fact, nobody had the Tigers in their top 15. The AP poll projected them as the 22nd best team, the USA Today Coaches poll 23rd.

In fact, Alabama was everybody’s darling and ranked No. 1 in all the polls, so Auburn wasn’t even the seen as the best team in its state — let alone the SEC West.

Giving credit where it is due, the one person who saw Gene Chizik’s team as a contender in the west was Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN, who picked the Tigers to beat the Tide in the Iron Bowl and go the Atlanta.

Worst picks? Clearly Florida and Texas.

A look at the AP’s SEC top 15:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Oklahoma
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10.Virginia Tech
(Oregon No. 11)

USA Today’s top 15:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
(Oregon No. 11)

* * *

If Michael Vick throws that last pass just a bit higher, Riley Cooper might be a hero today for catching the winning touchdown toss against the Packers. We’ve all seen Coop go up and battle for the ball and, given an equal opportunity, I like the Eagle rookie’s chances of coming down with it instead of Packers cornerback Tramon Williams turning it into a game-winning pick.

* * *
Janoris Jenkins has decided to come back for his senior season — apparently after conferring with his family, his head coach and NFL sources — and that might prove to be a good thing for both he and Will Muschamp. It would give Muschamp a shutdown corner, providing Jenkins rehabilitates from surgery.

“Coach Muschamp was very supportive throughout the whole process, regardless of my decision, but he wanted to make sure I had all of the facts. I’m looking forward to working towards my degree, completing my rehab and getting back on the field with my teammates,” Jenkins was quoted as saying in a press release. Muschamp commended him for making a “mature decision.”

* * *
Good News, Bad News: Eight early enrollees, including Jeff Driskel, expected to be announced at Florida. The bad news: Florida State’s verbal commitment from Glades Central wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin. It’s still three weeks away from national signing day, however, and these are just “verbals” —- there still could be some movement one way or another among other recruits.

* * *

I’m wondering what Billy Donovan’s team might look like once everybody gets on the same page and the games of Alex Tyus and Kenny Boynton start to ascend. Perhaps we’ll find out some of that Tuesday night in Knoxville. Actually, we saw flashes of Boynton Saturday night in the win over Ole Miss and he has started to move in that direction the last couple of games.

* * *

My Belated New Year’s Resolution: I vow this year not to blow up untested freshmen who’ve never taken a snap –- no more Andre Debose is “the next Percy” or even that Jeff Driskel as the next superstar. Let’s let them compete and play it out, because they’ve got a long way from high school stud-dom to Gator stardom.

* * *

More and more it looks like Urban Meyer is leaning toward an ESPN announcing career. I’ve heard he signed a five-day contract with the Boys From Bristol, having used at least one or two of those with his studio work at the Las Vegas Bowl.

Next he will show up for the BCS title game tonight to work with Nick Saban. ESPN is only saying that if Meyer decides to pursue TV full time they are “interested.” Methinks that’s a big understatement.

* * *

Gatorade (Pepsi) sold 553 million cases last year. I know it seems like a lot, but the fact is that Powerade (Coca-Cola) is moving in on the market. Sales of Powerade were up 32 percent in the third quarter of 2010 and its market share was up 27 percent for the first nine months of last year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You wonder if the fact that it’s “Gator”ade factors in Powerade’s grips on markets like Tallahassee and Athens, Ga.

* * *

Whatever happened to one of the best walk-on players who ever suited up for Urban Meyer — Joey Sorrentino? Well, he’s already one year deep in dental school and says that when he tells fellow students he played for the Gators, they star at his 5-7 frame and then give him a funny look.

“Being a smaller guy, most people laugh when they hear I play football, ‘There’s no way,’” said Sorrentino. “Which is fine with me. I’ve always enjoyed the unassuming underdog role.”

* * *
I’ll have ask my friends in Denver to interpret these words of John Elway, who re-explained his position on Tim Tebow with this Tweet:

“To clarify my thoughts on Tim Tebow. I think he’s a very good football player, and if anyone can turn themselves into a great quarterback, Tim can. Myself and our entire organization think very highly of him. We are pleased with his first year as a Bronco. Any speculation that the Denver Broncos are considering moving Tim is completely false.”
* * *
Incidentally, if you were wondering whatever happened to the re-airing of Tim Tebow and Everything in Between, small wonder. ESPNU had planned to show twice Friday, but because it contained NFL footage there were rights issues. Seems ESPN has the rights — ESPNU does not

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Will Muschamp takes center court — briefly

January 9, 2011
Filed In Football

Football took center court briefly as the 19th head coach at Florida received a warm ovation and mini-standing ovation at the O’Connell center, saying briefly and to the point that football was “only 238 days away.”

Will Muschamp met briefly with the media and said hello to part of The Gator Nation Saturday night during the first time out, reminding everybody that football was just around the corner.

Then he got out of the way so Billy Donovan’s team could get back to the business at hand of trying to win its first SEC encounter of the season, which it did by beating Ole Miss, 77-71.

Muschamp has come out smokin’ since the Outback Bowl, working hard to make the transition smoother so as not to have a break in recruiting momentum. He’s had his Gator pom-poms out and has been checking in on the talk radio circuit with interviews in Orlando, Miami and the Dan Patrick Show on Fox radio.

In the short meeting with the media Saturday night, he talked about filling the last coaching spot and the process of hiring: “When I hire somebody, I really just describe what I want at the position, the critical factors — a lot like recruiting a player. You decide what you want, what you’re looking for, then go get it. We’ve been very fortunate. The support of our administration’s been outstanding. (I am) real pleased with where we are.”

Although he didn’t say who it was or what the spot would be, Muschamp said he did have someone in mind. He also explained that Charlie Weis fit all the criteria he had in mind for an offensive coordinator, with both pro and college, and that he was not surprised that he could hire Weis because “It’s Florida. It’s a great place. A lot of people want to coach here.”

Of course he’s working hard to catch up on recruiting, but doesn’t feel that having his two coordinators away in the NFL playoffs have hurt the process at all.

“I think it’s great,” Muschamp said.” We’re watching the Gator coaches coach tonight and tomorrow. I think that’s exciting. If I’m a high school football player and I have aspirations of playing on the next level, which most kids do, they’re going to come to a great institution at the University of Florida, they’re going to get a great education and they’re watching their future coaches coach and coordinate in the National Football League in the playoffs.”

He bragged on his new defensive line coach, Dan Quinn, and called him one of the best he’s ever seen.

“He and I were together at the Miami Dolphins,” he said of Quinn. “Jason Taylor texted me the night before we announced him, realized we’d hired Dan, and was shocked that we were able to get Dan here. That’s how much he thought of Dan as a coach, how he helped him further his career. He was NFL Defensive Player of the Year under Dan’s tutelage. That tells you what kind of coach he thinks he is.”

His biggest challenge as a head coach, he said, was having to deal more with the media because of time constraints.

“To me it’s all time management, balancing the entire team instead of just one side of the ball — obviously a lot more obligations in what you’ve got to do, but it’s been fine.”
So our first official meeting with the 19th head coach of the Gators since he was announced was the impromptu, on-the-fly chat outside Gate One. I would characterize it as pleasant, business-like and pretty much to the point.

Little by little, Will Muschamp’s portrait is emerging with each interview.

Because he is so animated on the sideline and therefore nicknamed “Coach Boom” prompted by his spontaneous chest and hip bumps, some people tend to think of him as somewhat playful — almost cartoonish. He admits he gets carried away and said in an interview that his wife Carol tends to chide him about it a bit.

He told Dan Patrick that Carol wonders “who I am” on game day sometimes and wants to know if he’s having an
“out-of-body experience” on sidelines.

Some of the other things we learned on his talk show tour:

—He’s glad to have Urban Meyer around and that he (Muschamp) says he’s secure, doesn’t have a big ego and “I know what he (Meyer) has accomplished here.”

—UF academics and the setting of The Swamp are big recruiting advantages. He says of Florida Field, where he grew up watching the Gators play and later coached: “I’ve been on the wrong sideline of it too many times and it’s not an easy stadium to walk into.”

—As for the “Coach Boom” moniker, he owns up to it, but don’t expect him to walk around acting out his John Madden routine. Mike Bianchi tried to coach a “Boom” out of him on the radio and Will declined with “No, not on the radio.” He did say, “I’m excited the direction we are headed and I want our guys to play physical.”

—He will pull for Auburn against Oregon, naturally, because he coached here and the Tigers have “about nine defensive players I recruited or coached.” One of this was star defensive lineman Nick Fairly.

—He told Patrick he’s had “a lot of contact with Urban — Urban’s been great. I talked to Urban an hour the day I took the job. I also attended about 4-5 practices I was able to evaluate the team and the players.”

—As for the report that he almost got the Auburn head coaching job before Gene Chizik, he said that was a case of mistaken identity. “I was never contacted,” he said. “I think there’s a little confusion. They got confused and when it was said ‘a former defensive coordinator’ at Auburn would get the job.” Wrong defensive coordinator.

—And, finally, as far as how much longer Mack Brown will coach: “The only once person who can answer that is Mack. When we started the coach in waiting, I felt real good about it – and still I still did. But there was no timetable for Mack – we had a great relationship. It was going to be up to him.”

So Muschamp is on the loose, sprinkling a little orange blue into the lives of Floridians and maybe even writing a little imaginary graffiti on the walls. Contrary to what you may hear, however, he did not paint this real live alligator orange in Venice:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110106/BREAKING/110109882/-1/sports?Title=Orange-gator-turns-heads-in-pond-at-Nokomis-subdivision

It could be an omen, though.

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Jackie Sherrill: The Recruiting Season

January 7, 2011
Filed In Feature Stories, Football

This time of the year, you have recruiting going full steam ahead. But you’ve actually been recruiting for the whole year and also for the next class for 2012. I’ve always said that recruiting is like shaving – if you miss a day you don’t look very good. So it is a 365-day affair if you are going to recruit well.

If you look at the schools that win, they approach recruiting as very, very important and they spend a lot of time and energy to stay on top of things. They are always trying to find the best way to contact kids and evaluate kids, especially when those kids come to campus for visits.

At this point of the year, you have some kids that have not made that final decision. And even if a kid has committed, other schools are still calling and recruiting them. That is why I have always been in favor of an early signing period like basketball has in their sport. That way a kid that knows can go ahead and sign. Then you can spend your energy on other recruits instead of constantly having to babysit your commitments. You always have to babysit and make sure you don’t lose a kid that has already chosen your program and that is just as important as getting new recruits.

But I always felt if a kid gave a commitment and you then lost him, then he likely wasn’t going to come to your school anyway. I never got overly concerned or over reacted when a kid didn’t decide on our school and it goes back to the way I was recruited and also how I recruited as a coach. We are professional salesmen and head coaches can get a kid to say ‘yes’. But that may not be what the kid wants in the long run.

When I was in high school, Coach (Bear) Bryant never asked me to come to Alabama. He just talked about the school and their players. I did the same thing as a coach. I felt if you recruit that way then you would rarely lose any kids because it was truly their own decision.

Because of the internet and high-profile sites, there is a lot of mis-information out there and a lot of information that is planted by these sites. That causes coaches to constantly chase their tails in recruiting. You may read something a kid said but he was also mis-quoted. It may turn out to be false but you still have to chase it and put out the fires. Again, you end up babysitting kids that have committed.

You also now have other kids that will go down to the last week or last few days before National Signing Day. And sometimes those late additions will make a big difference on your football team. So the intensity and buildup to signing day because a 24-7 ordeal. With obviously the head coach and the assistant coaches, you want to be involved with all of your recruits, committed or not. You are stretched from one player to the next as a head coach. That is why it is so important to have coaches on your staff that are good recruiters. You evaluate each year what coaches bring in what players and of course that changes from year to year. You also note every year on a list what assistant coaches signed who so to give you a good evaluation of your assistant coaches and their recruiting abilities.

Now, switching gears a bit but staying with recruiting. I’ve always felt if you have a successful football program, you’re gonna lose assistant coaches because a lot of people will come after them. That is the reason Texas came after Manny Diaz because of how impressive our defense was this year. So coaches will always be in demand. A year ago Manny was at Middle Tennessee State and then comes here and now is at Texas in basically a year span.

But it’s not necessarily how good a coach is but also how good your players are, too. And we have a lot of good defensive players back for the next few years. And in recruiting, you have to be wise in how you handle losing coaches. If a kid picks a university then he is picking your program. If they are choosing your school because of an assistant coach then they are picking a school for the wrong reason. There is never a guarantee that an assistant coach ever stays for their entire careers.

So as a head coach, you tell these guys their choice was the university. Sure, coaches might change but your program is still here. The head coach is the one who sets the program. There are a ton of assistant coaches out there but not many head coaches. But it is the head coach that designs the program and puts the stamp on the program. So you assure those recruits that everything in the past on the field will continue and nothing will change.

During my years of coaching, it was more important to find good football players and we found a lot that not many other schools wanted. David Stewart from north Alabama is a good example. He was in the area of Alabama and Tennessee but they didn’t know how good of a football player he would be. Sometimes when coaches go to evaluate, saying looking at a wide receiver, they see his growth pattern that may not allow him to be a wide receiver. He may turn into or grow into a tight end or defensive end. We saw that with his size, David Stewart was not going to stay at defensive end or linebacker. But we knew he had all the tools to be an offensive lineman and a good one at that.

And then there were the obvious ones. We knew Eric Moulds would be a great player. Then we saw Dicenzo Miller and Keffer McGee, both from small towns, and knew they would be very talented performers. Dicenzo was not as highly recruited as Keffer but we knew he had all those certain attributes to be an outstanding player.

You could also go down a long list of guys we signed that turned out to be productive, guys that were not recruited highly by other programs. Those were guys like Wayne Madkin and Cornell Menafee.

To break it down, you really have four types of players or recruits. You have the player that is good but knows he is good. He has been spoiled for a long time and he may be a five-star player that has already reached his own level of maturity and development. Then you have good players that don’t know they are good, guys like Menafee, Stewart and more recently, like Chris White. Those guys you just give them time to develop and grow and you have great players.

Then you also have a player who is average but doesn’t know he is average, and lastly, you have guys that are average and they know they are average.

You can win with No.2 and No. 3 but you don’t win with No. 1 and No. 4 in those types of players. The No. 1 group are high maintenance and spoiled and not necessarily team players that will grow and improve. I always wanted coaches that could go find football players. Anybody can pick up a sheet of paper and see where the high-profile guys are. But I wanted our coaches to find football players.

As a head coach, I could care less how many stars a guy had beside his name. All of those stars are just for school to stick out their chest and say ‘we have the best recruiting class’. It means absolutely nothing in the big picture. Like Bob Davie used to say at Notre Dame, there are two seasons – the real season and the recruiting season. The recruiting season is sometimes more important to some but those that often follow recruiting are not the ones going to the games or involved with your program.

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Departing coaches: It comes with the job

January 6, 2011
Filed In Football

It’s this time of the year when being a coach can be a rotten profession. Almost assuredly you’ll be fired one or more times, but even when you win, your boss can leave you in limbo by walking away from the job. And it’s always around the holidays.

As one member of Urban Meyer’s staff was leaving town Wednesday, he called just to say goodbye and thanked us for being fair in our coverage at Gator Country. Here he was just 10 days after Christmas and a few days into 2011, looking for work. But he was philosophical. It comes with the territory.

“As one older coach told me,” said receiver coach Zach Azzanni, “if you’re not always looking for a job, then you’re not coaching Division I football.”

Azzanni leaves after one season but isn’t likely to have a problem getting work. He’s got several nibbles, but also knows that when you’re unemployed as a coach, it’s best not to jump at the first thing.

Looking back, although his team and position players didn’t enjoy the success anybody would have liked, Azzanni said he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had no reservations about coming to Florida.

“At least we didn’t get fired,” said Azzanni. “And when you choose this line of work, you know what to expect.”

* * *

Still waiting for Florida’s ninth coach to be named, a defensive aide. And to see where Chuck Heater, Teryl Austin, Scot Loeffler and Azzanni land.

Heater seem to have options. As Michigan alum, he’s waiting to see if Harbaugh, Brady Hoke, Les Miles — or whomever — gets the job. I hear Texas also has an interest in him. And he’d have a spot with Steve Addazio as DC at Temple if he wants it.

* * *

As much as we complain about all the post-season college games, attendance through Monday night’s Orange Bowl is about even with last year, despite a struggling economy. One of the biggest upswings was in the Outback Bowl, which was up more than 11,000 ticket-buyers for the Florida-Penn State game. Conversely, the Gator Bowl, with Florida State and West Virginia, was off 15,000.

Draw your own conclusions.

* * *

Rich Rodriguez got fired because he didn’t win at Michigan, but there were also three other contributing factors:

1. He called Ohio State “just another game.”
2. He came off as arrogant, without appreciation for the Michigan Way.
3. He wasn’t a “Michigan Man.”

Urban didn’t make any of those mistakes, and even if he wasn’t a “Florida Man” when he arrived, he was a Gator when he left.

Jim Harbaugh could erase most of those RichRod mistakes, but methinks Michigan is going to get its heart broken when Harbaugh goes to the NFL. After all, the Maize and Blue faithful might be making a bit much out of this Bo Schembechler genealogy thing.

* * *

Some of the folks in South Bend don’t see former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis staying long at Florida, but most of them give him props as a play caller/quarterback coach.

The South Bend Tribune reports that after Weis was fired at ND, he suggested Notre Dame hire Muschamp as head coach of the Irish and that Charlie stay on as offensive coordinator. Apparently the school pondered it until deciding to hire Brian Kelly.

* * *

Perhaps the answer we all were searching for when Weis decided to take a college OC job was right there in front of our face: That the father-son bonding potential was just too alluring. At least if you believe quotes by Weis in the Kansas City Star.

Weis, whose son Charlie will soon graduate from St. Pius X High School in Kansas City, is enrolled at Florida and will be a graduate assistant coach for the Gators. Said Weis:

“This opportunity is one of those unique situations where I can go to a great institution where my son goes to matriculate and be able to spend the next bunch of years watching my son grow.

“He wants to coach. It took us very long to try to find a place where he could be involved with the football program in a student assistant capacity. When I finally did talk to Will, we chatted about that and then we talked about me. I had to really reflect on that, spend time with my wife and Charlie. We talked about a whole bunch of things and at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody could understand how wonderful an opportunity it would be to be able to work at a place and see your kid on a daily basis.

“It’s a tough business. To go to a program like Florida and be able to be around my kid at the same time … is almost a dream.’’

* * *

Too bad about ESPN firing Ron Franklin, but he becomes another one of those “Jimmy The Greek” tragedies — older men who just never got the memo about the sensitivity issues of sexism, racism or political correctness. On the other hand, I marvel at the fact that Bret Favre could get away with his alleged sexting with a female New York Jets sideline reporter, although you can look for the civil suits to extract some major cash out of Favre’s account.

* * *

Great move, the Broncos hiring John Elway as the top guy in the front office. Elway brings more than just memories of a richer Bronco heritage — he’s a smart and a thrifty businessman. He also likes Tim Tebow a lot as a football player but wants to see him become a better quarterback. Said Elway:

“I think Tim has met all the expectations everyone had for him as a person, a hard worker, a great athlete, a great leader, a learner. I was impressed with what he did in the last three games, considering how few reps (repetitions) and plays in games before that, but the questions now are can he translate that grit, the winning attitude, that athletic ability into maturing into a great quarterback on the pro level.”

Having seen Elway play ever game for seven seasons, I think what bonds him with Tebow is his fire as competitor. Perhaps they can harness it.

* * *

Ohio State may have finally broken the string of losses to SEC teams, but it was more a case of Arkansas losing the game than the Buckeyes winning it. Did you see the sheer horror on the faces of their fans in the closing minutes after the Razorbacks blocked the punt?

Football coaches always tell players to fall on the ball in the open field just to be safe. Wonder how Bobby Petrino feels about that today?

* * *

With the season Cam Newton is enjoying, the guy on the West Coast has been a bit overshadowed. But if we didn’t already know, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is the real deal and will be drafted ahead of Newton if, indeed, the Auburn quarterback comes out. Luck appears to be targeted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers.

Hard to say who’s the hotter commodity: Luck or his coach Harbaugh, who can have his pick of about three NFL jobs right now and at least that many college jobs.

When all the media talk centered around Harbaugh’s future, the Cardinal coach bristled and said: “Give me a break. You know, have some respect for the game. It’s about the performance tonight of these players and I love them. Let’s talk about them. It’s all about now.”

* * *

I don’t suppose we should be surprised by the news that Will Hill is leaving for the NFL Draft. He might as well have checked out after the Georgia game, because he wasn’t present most of the season anyway.

On a more positive note, I think we can all agree that Jeff Driskel makes tomorrow look a whole lot brighter for The Gator Nation.

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Diaz entertains offer

January 5, 2011
Filed In Feature Stories, Football

Mississippi State knew this days was coming, in fact hoped it would…just not this quickly. The Bulldogs co-defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz, has become a hot commodity and that lands him in Austin, TX for an interview with the University of Texas.

When you build a staff the head coach is always looking for the best guys available knowing all the while if they perform at the level you’re looking for they may not be with you long. In the case of Manny Diaz the Bulldogs turned in a stellar season on the defensive side of the ball and he has received much of the credit.

His trip to Texas marks his first face-to-face visit with the University of Texas to discuss the defensive coordinator opening. Multiple sources have reported they expect to see Diaz receive and offer while on his visit today, an offer that would be well north of the $260 thousand base salary he currently under contract with at Mississippi State.

On the surface this seems like a slam dunk for Diaz, but BDJ has learned that UT will have to do some selling as well if they want his services. There are concerns on the direction of the Longhorns program given the struggles this season and the departure of many assistant coaches.

So, this promises to be an interested day in the life of the Maroon & White faithful as they wait to hear how the interview goes. Stay tuned to BulldawgJunction.com as we will have the latest news for you as it breaks.

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SEC Meetings: What was accomplished?

June 4, 2010
Filed In Feature Stories

By Franz Beard – GatorCountry.com

DESTIN, FL — The Southeastern Conference held its annual spring meetings at the Sandestin Hilton this week with an agenda that ranged from how to deal with league expansion to an early signing period for football to re-seeding all 12 teams for the SEC Basketball Tournament. While there were no earth shattering agreements, the conference did make some progress on all three fronts.

Expansion was the hot topic when the meetings began on Tuesday and it didn’t take Commissioner Mike Slive long to let it be known that (a) he was in control and (b) don’t expect him to leak or even hint the agenda that he has planned.

“I’m not going to say any more about it than what I’ve said,” Slive said. “I think I’ve said all I really want to say. I’m going to continue to say we’re going to be strategic and thoughtful in dealing with any conference paradigm shift and I don’t want to go beyond that.”

Later in the day at the SEC party poolside by the Gulf of Mexico that was attended by coaches, athletic directors, school presidents and administrators, Slive was asked to comment off the record about Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10 rumors. Again he declined.

“I said all I’m going to say this morning,” Slive said. “We have looked into expansion, we’re continuing to look into it and we have options. We aren’t going to comment or speculate on what other conferences are going to do or are rumored to be doing.”

Longtime SEC observer and expert Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports, who continues to blog for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said earlier in the day, “He won’t say it, but you can bet he’s got a plan A, B, C and D ready to go. He won’t get caught by surprise no matter what the Big Ten or any other conference does.”

Most of the expansion speculation has centered around the intentions of the Big Ten, which has 11 teams and is considering options to add one, three or five more. While everybody agrees that Notre Dame would be the ideal option for the Big Ten and would end the need and speculation for further expansion, Notre Dame hasn’t budged off its stance that it will remain independent, which might have something to do with the Big Ten’s announcement that expansion is still in the works but might take awhile to set in place.

Other Big Ten options would require raiding other conferences. A move that would siphon Syracuse, Rutgers and Pittsburgh from the Big East would destroy that conference. A move that would include either Nebraska or Missouri or both would drastically change the Big 12.

The Pac-10, which has remained very quiet since announcing its intentions to look into conference expansion back in April, might have made the pre-emptive strike that will force the SEC and the Big Ten to react quickly. Rumors began surfacing Thursday that the Pac-10 will invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado to form a 16-team super conference.
Such a move would fuel speculation that Nebraska and Missouri have already agreed to move to the Big Ten.

So where would that leave the Southeastern Conference? Slive isn’t saying but there are rumblings from Texas that both Texas and Texas A&M would jump at an offer to join the SEC and that ESPN has the money in its contingency plans to add the two Big 12 teams without diluting the pool of money ($17 million per year) shared by the 12 school sin the SEC.

Coaches wouldn’t speak publicly on the idea of expansion in Sandestin, mostly likely at the orders of Slive and their athletic directors, but one SEC coach speaking off the record said he felt the other coaches in the league were more amenable to a 14-team SEC than a 16-team super conference. And, apparently the Texas option is the SEC ideal because of the state population (more than 25 million), large metro television markets such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, and proximity. Under that scenario the likely divisional split up would have Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn and Alabama in the East with Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, LSU, Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M in the West.

Speaking off the record, an SEC athletic director indicated that plans to raid the Atlantic Coast Conference of Florida State and/or Miami and Clemson are further down the list of priority even if the league were to consider expanding to 16 teams. In a 16-team expansion model, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would most likely be the other two teams the SEC would target.

* * *

The early signing date was debated for the third straight year and once again there was no uniform agreement about how to implement the plan so it will be at least one more year before that debate is brought up again. The biggest obstacle to getting the early signing period passed seems to be the date. Some coaches are in favor of an early signing period at the end of spring or beginning of summer while other coaches would favor one that is in August.

The problem with the late spring/beginning of summer date is that coaches would prefer to see kids practicing with their teams during the May evaluation period and bring them on campus to their camps in June. The August date interferes with preparation for the season opener.

An early signing period during the season is uniformly rejected by coaches since they feel they have enough on their hands in preparation for their next game.

Most coaches agree that there will be an early signing period but it won’t happen until they can agree on a date that works for everyone.

* * *

The idea of re-seeding teams 1-12 before the SEC basketball tournament seemed to have some momentum heading into the Sandestin meetings but like the early signing date proposal for football, it was tabled until next year.

“As I understand we’re going to leave it as it is,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said.

By and large, the SEC coaches like the idea of two divisions and that’s where the issue of how to re-seed becomes a sticky wicket.

“I’m in favor of divisional play. I think it’s wonderful that you have a West champion and an East champion and I think it’s better to finish sixth than 12th,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said, but Pearl also stated that the SEC is one of only three (the Southland and Mid-America conferences are the others) leagues that don’t re-seed.

The problem of divisional play is that teams play their divisional rivals twice and the teams in the other division only once. Stansbury and Florida coach Billy Donovan both brought up potential problems when considering re-seeding.

“Who’s got the strongest division?” Donovan asked. “It’s not always the same and if you don’t play everybody twice, you have some problems.”

In 2010, it was the SEC East where Kentucky (14-2), Vanderbilt (12-4) and Tennessee (11-5) had the top three records. Florida, Mississippi State and Ole Miss all finished 9-7 and tied for fourth place but the Gators beat Mississippi State and Ole Miss head-to-head. In a re-seeding process, the Gators would have been the fourth seed which would have meant Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida would have all had the first day off of the SEC Tournament while the other eight teams played to advance four to the quarterfinals against the four eastern powers.

Re-seeding would have worked in 2010 but not every year. Stansbury believes the only way that re-seeding would work every year is if the SEC went to a 22-game conference schedule in which all teams play home and home. But even that creates a problem, the Mississippi State coach says.

“The bad thing about is if you re-seed you could open up with somebody for the third time right off the bat,” Stansbury said. “The way it is now that doesn’t happen very often because it’s east vs. west. I don’t think that any coach is in favor of opening up with a team for the third time.”

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