Daily 4 Sports Blog
by Matt Kingston
December 18, 2010
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The attitude that surrounded the resignation of Urban Meyer was something that I had never experienced before. Usually when a coach leaves a team, especially college football, there are two ways that it is usually received. The first is white-hot, raw hatred. Just an effigy-burning, curse fest from fans and students alike (Nick Saban knows what I am talking about). The other is a celebration of sorts, a mutual, amicable understanding between coach and administration that it is time for both of us to part ways (Nick Saban has no idea what I am talking about). Urban Meyer's farewell from the top spot at Florida was neither. It was an attitude of, "OK, who's coming in next?" from every Gator fan that I talked to.
I think this stems from the fact that Urban Meyer was not a Gator. Jeremy Foley called him the ultimate Gator, but I disagree. You can hold up as many crystal footballs as you want, but after the confetti is swept up off the turf, some people get it and others do not. If you are not a Gator at heart, you have no idea why people are telling you that they can't wait to win it again next year not a day after you win the National Championship. Urb called it the "Gator Craziness." Some fans and students call it breathing.
Sam told me a story that happened to his oldest daughter that typifies what I am talking about. Just a couple of weeks after he was hired by Florida, Sam's daughter and other friends saw Urban backstage at a Jimmy Buffett concert in Tampa. At this point, he hadn't even blown his whistle at a practice one time. Sam's daughter and her friends came up to him and said, congratulations on getting the job and told him how excited they were to have him as their coach. Meyer kind of blew them off and mumbled thanks. Sam's daughter then said, "No, you don't understand, we're Gators!" He blew them off again and wandered somewhere else. A Spurrier, a Hall, even a Zook would have gotten it and understood how Sam's daughter and her friends just wanted to have their new coach be as excited as being a Gator as they are. I think that is something that Urban definitely did not grasp when he took the job, and was something that in the end may have driven him away from holding on to it.
Just three days after Pope Urban stepped down from his throne, black smoke rose from the Vatican, errr, The Swamp announcing the newest to be bequeathed with the title of Head Ball Coach. Athletic Director Jeremy Foley said that it would take about 2 weeks to find his man, instead it took 72 hours to name Will Muschamp the next head coach at Florida. Muschamp had been the defensive coordinator and head coach in waiting at Texas for the last couple of years. He is no stranger to the SEC, walking on at Georgia and playing his way to a scholarship and captaincy, then defensive coordinator at both LSU and Auburn. Foley said that Muschamp was the only coach he interviewed and the only coach that he offered the job to and after his 25-minute introduction speech, I can see why. It may have taken Foley a whole Saturday to visit with Muschamp and his family in Austin to decide to offer him the position, it took just 3 minutes for my friend Gator Dave to text me during his speech to say that he loves him already.
On our way down to Gainesville, Sam and I were talking and I told him that Muschamp has a real opportunity to endear himself to the Gator Nation with his first words as the head coach. We still talk about Spurrier's first speech 20 years later. Sam added that the students and die-hards just want to like this guy so much that short of mispronouncing Florida, he had them in the palm of his hand. After he mentioned living in Gainesville for 10 years and going to the stadium to see Charlie Pell coach and how he was Tony Lilly when he and his brothers played football in the front yard, the Gator Nation went from in his hand to melting right through his fingers with joy. He used words and phrases that I had not heard from the head coach at Florida in at least 6 years like, "nobody is going to push us around" and "blue-collar." Muschamp said that his relentless work ethic is something that he demands from his team and his staff. He said that he is not smart enough to be able to walk away when there are still things to.
He did and said all the right things last week during his coronation so to speak. He was fiery, he was loud, and he was exciting. I was most excited right after he said "There is no 5-year plan. I plan to win right now." I hope he has the talent to do it, because I know he has the determination and the drive to win right now. He admitted that with his specialty being defense, the offensive coordinator that he hires is going to be the most important piece to the puzzle and he said that there is no timetable on that important hire. In the meantime, he is going to watch bowl practice and soak it all in. That may be a good thing, because after January 1st, Will Muschamp has a lot of work to do. And I think he would have it no other way.
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