whether or not you agree with Spencer Hall, I find him to be a fair minded college football fan who loves the Gators above all. He's a stick to it guy, who despite all of his bitching, really seems to find the silver lining to seasons and coaching staffs. If I were a Gator fan, I think this would probably echo my opinion. I think that I too might be done with Muschamp. He doesn't say those words, but he's perilously close. http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2013/11/4/5064918/blatant-homerism-georgia Blatant Homerism is normally a fun, tongue in cheek kind of thing even in defeat. That was like watching a drunken, broken man admit to his wife's infidelity before everyone at the family holiday party. (I actually witnessed one of those once, it was as glorious as it was tragic)
Good article.... thanks for posting it. Sums up pretty well what's going through the minds of most Gator fans right now.... well..... except for maybe a couple... :wink: I like this quote in particular: " After three years, this is Will Muschamp's team, and his brand of football. We have seen it, and it is, above all else, dumb, and not deserving of a longer word. It is outstanding talent recruited to play a half-brilliant style of the game" This last three years makes a Gator fan really appreciate just how brilliant a coach Urban Meyer was and just how much heart and talent Tim Tebow had and ultimately just how good of a recruiter Ron Zook was. What do you think of Charlie Strong as a serious candidate to replace Muschump?
Corey and Dave, I agree with that article to a large degree. However let me point out the couple of areas I do not. First and foremost the OL, more injuries that he admits, I believe 2-3 starters, from the beginning of the season, are out. Then we have a QB who is doing his best and I like but as games go by I am having to conclude he will not be the answer next year. As far as firing Muschamp I agree with him not now, in fact I am of the opinion that he can still be a good Head Coach. But what I do think he has to do is get a different OC then turn the offense over to him. Champ's job is on the line and if he doesn't get some offense he will be gone after next year. I tried to find an article I read last week where it stated that losing like we are with a boring offense is double bad. I agree. I don't know is Strong is the guy or not, he has lost games he shouldn't have, UCF, and has a good situation where he is. In fact if I were a coach I would be very wary of taking the job right now. Our fan base has turned into one of the worst whiney bunch on the planet. To summarize, I would give Champ at least one more year but insist he has a more imaginative offense.
Bill, I know of a school in northern Indiana whose fans could give your fans a run for their money. Not all, of course. Just the vocal minority. :wink:
Problem with our fan base right now Sid is that the vocal minority is bigger than it was. But the people I know are not ready to fire Muschamp yet. I do think he needs to do something to spice up the offense.
In 2007 the Gators lost a bunch of games due to a porously young defense but it was fun as hell to watch Tim Tebow win the Heisman with a great offensive cast supporting him. In fact.... one of those cast members just caught 4 TDs this past Sunday at the next level. I would like to see one of our WRs catch 4 TDs all season!! Near the end of year three there is no reason to think the stubborn Muschamp will change his offensive strategy but I will give him the chance. However.... Foley should monitor this change in strategy very closely and if he doesn't see real progress WM should be fired by mid-January.
It's funny how coaches are sometimes flawed. Charlie Weis never had a good defense at ND, although he had good offenses and it was probably his undoing as a HC. Mike Leach at Texas Tech always had great offenses but not so much on the defense, but Tech fans were much more forgiving of that flaw than most. Kevin Sumlin never really had much of a defense at Houston, but he was lights out on offense. That has continued at Texas A&M, no he talks about getting the defense built up and they have certainly signed a lot of young outstanding defensive kids so maybe he will develop the Bob Davie Wrecking Crew part 2. Muschamp as noted has had great defenses, struggled with offense it could be his waterloo if he can't get it turned around. Some coaches just get it. Pete Carroll at USC had it going on both sides of the ball, Nick Saban does as well. Les Miles seems to always have a great defense but somewhat struggles to get a great offense going although in his defense he has had some great offenses in his time there. That was Urban's deal, his teams were great on both sides of the ball and he recruited great players on both sides of the ball. That is continuing at Ohio State.
I think sometimes you can say that a guy who comes up on one side of the ball or the other frequently has a hard time getting both sides going when he is the HC. He tends to focus a lot on what he knows (offense or defense). That can be a case for the CEO style of coaching, which Bobby Bowden and Mack Brown are prime examples. When they had great coordinators to go along with the talent thing were rolling, when those coordinators moved on the replacements weren't always as good and the program declined. FSU started to decline when Mark Richt moved to Georgia. Mickey Andrews kept the defense going but the offense seemed to become sluggish and the scheme never seemed to be that fast paced high scoring machine that FSU was before.
Terry makes a strong point about Saban and Carroll. Both of those guys are control freaks, but they held enough self-discipline to know their own limitations. Every single problem USC ever had (under Carroll) stemmed from him getting involved with the offense and pissing off the OC. (who it would turn out was right, but Pete couldn't admit that) Saban still clearly puts his finger in the pie, but I think he's strong enough to know when he's messing things up. With each of these 2 guys, it's always so clear to see when they get involved with the offense because the offensive immediately looks nothing like it has all season. Will Muschamp find that self-discipline? I guess that's the $20,000 question.
It might be a lot more than a $20,000 question Corey, his contract is probably close to $3,000.000. MCG, your dumb comment is dumb.
hahaha so true. I wasn't sure about the exact cost of that. I guess honestly, because I do think firing him is premature even if this whole season goes crashing down, the question becomes 'what OC is out there that is a sure fire quick fix?" Florida can spend with anyone so money isn't a concern. I was only half tongue-in-cheek when I said they should be fired by Thanksgiving. I think something to be worried about is coaching staff changes that will bring sweeping overhauls to entire staffs in major programs. By waiting, you might lose out on someone.. but who is out there?
If Muschamp can't get his claws off the offense in time to save his job then he is indeed being dumb about it. I believe when he hired Pease he didn't ask Pease what he was good at creating but rather did Pease think he could create an offense that Muschamp himself would like. Maybe it's not too late for Pease if Muschamp let's go..... but I just can't fathom another year of such moribund offensive production and if it's same ol same ol then it's adios Coach Chump.
MCG, why are you so sure that this is not Pease's offense. The common thought in Gatorland has been that Muschamp held him down. However recently I have read some places that it might not be true. What I do agree with is that Muschamp either needs to find another OC or give Pease more freedom. Either way he needs to give the guy a lot of freedom to run the offense. Just my thoughts.
It could be that the Boise State offense works well for Boise State and their schedule but not so much once it's taken out of Boise State. Dirk Koetter was the first big time Boise State coach...parlayed that into the ASU job...failed. Then his replacement, Dan Hawkins took it up a notch and got the Colorado job, failure. Now Chris Petersen maybe has learned that the grass isn't always greener and is staying put, but his coordinators have both moved on to jobs at Texas (Byron Harsin) where things didn't work out very well and Fla (Pease) where things aren't doing so hot either. A lot of Texas folks were hoping that Harsin would get the offense in gear and Mack would retire and Petersen would swoop in and take the job and we'd be Boise State with bigger, better players. Careful what you wish for...
I remember when people said the same things about Jim McElwain being hired from Fresno State to Alabama. Dirk Koetter was not the first big time Boise Coach, Houston Nutt was. Terry, you keep looking at the Boise thing all wrong. There's one constant at Boise that entire time they kept winning... Chris Peterson. Peterson was their OC from 2001-2005. He's been the HC since 06.
Sid I did see that and I'm really surprised, the word was that Oliver Luck was going to be the new AD. This supposedly turned on the request by Luck that the Mack issue be decided before he took over...ie Deloss to fire Mack or force him out. He didn't want to come in and be the hatchet man. Steve Patterson said give me the hatchet. Corey, so Petersen was the real guy who make Koetter and Hawk good? As far as Houston Nutt, REAllY? He was there 1 year (1997) and went 5-6. :roll:
Could be that Muschamp has made two shitty hires in a row at OC... with Weis and now Pease. Maybe he really doesn't try and influence as much as we think he does. If so he had better send Pease packing soon and get an OC that can make it work in the SEC.... not the WAC.... Big Sky or whatever.
The times I have been able to watch Florida, for some reason it seems to me that the considerable talent that Florida has does not match the offensive scheme. It's like a Tebow offense without Tebow. Little running backs , a drop back passer, with a spread type line. For some reason to me, the Florida offense just seems out of synch. :?