The Gators hired Coach Tom Lieb from Loyola Marymount to restore the program in 1940. Having been an assistant under Knute Rockne, Lieb was a practitioner of the “Notre Dame box” (option) Offense which utilized motion and ball-faking which he would implement in place of the power based Offense the Gators had utilized without much success in the late 30’s under Josh Cody. In 1940, the team went 5-5 with notable wins over Georgia, Georgia Tech and scUM, and losses to Auburn, Texas, Tennessee.
The 1941 season proved to be a disappointment at 4-6. Although the Offense was slightly more effective than the year before especially with the outstanding play of Ends Forest “Fergie” Ferguson and Nick Klutka, the team still struggled against SEC competition as it had for much of the 30’s going 1-3 in-conference. Two weekends after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Gators played their final game of the season against UCLA in Jax. 1942 saw a mass exodus of students from the all-male campus and the football team was no exception. Some programs (like Georgia) were able to keep their teams partly or completely intact depending upon a variety of factors while others lost almost all their players to the war effort. UF was one of the latter.
Though severely depleted, the university decided to field a team from the students who remained. The team finished 3-7. UF did not field a team the following year due to a severe lack of players. The campus was largely empty. The team was reconstituted in 1944 and played an abbreviated 7 game schedule in which it finished 4-3. In 1945 with World War II in its final stages, UF played a full 10 game schedule. The 4-5-1 record and continued inability to beat Georgia however led to great frustration on the part of students and alumni and as an expression of their frustration, students hurled coach Lieb into a lake. His contract was not renewed.
Raymond “Bear” Wolf was hired as head coach in 1946. He had been a TCU standout and then the head man at North Carolina until the military brought him to the rank of Major during WW II. Returning war veterans arrived on campus in force in the fall of 1946. The 1946 Gators finished 0–9, the worst football season in Gators history. Wolf’s debut run of 13 consecutive losses upon taking over in 1946 earned his coaching tenure the sarcastic term of "The Golden Era" - because it wasn't. His Double Wing offense never really got off the ground with 1948's 5-5 record the high-water mark. Even with talented HB Chuck Hunsinger, famous enough to have a song written and sung about him throughout the South and a good 28-7 win over an uncharacteristically weak Georgia team, Wolf's 4-5-1 record in 1949 would not be enough to hold his job. Florida would remain a tough place to win until changes were made in admission policies.
One bright spot during the immediate post-war years was “Mr. Two Bits”, who attended his first home game that fall, and began his personal sixty-year tradition of leading Gator fans in the "two bits" cheer at Florida Field. Even the governor became involved, wanting the state to have a football-playing university that was representative and could on occasion, beat their neighbors from Georgia. On January 6, 1950, Baylor head coach Bob Woodruff was hired but only after he insisted on a commitment that would at least give him a fighting chance to compete. He insisted upon and received the commitment to expand Florida Field and play home games there instead of barnstorming all over the state as had been done previously. Increased admissions standards instituted because of Florida’s expanding population including a placement test and the need for higher grades made the Gators’ admission requirements much more stringent than those required for other SEC schools-which hampered recruiting and left many excellent Florida players to attend out-of-state rivals. Florida’s 33-50-3 record (40.1% winning percentage) marked the 40’s as the worst decade in the history of the program.
The 1941 season proved to be a disappointment at 4-6. Although the Offense was slightly more effective than the year before especially with the outstanding play of Ends Forest “Fergie” Ferguson and Nick Klutka, the team still struggled against SEC competition as it had for much of the 30’s going 1-3 in-conference. Two weekends after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Gators played their final game of the season against UCLA in Jax. 1942 saw a mass exodus of students from the all-male campus and the football team was no exception. Some programs (like Georgia) were able to keep their teams partly or completely intact depending upon a variety of factors while others lost almost all their players to the war effort. UF was one of the latter.
Though severely depleted, the university decided to field a team from the students who remained. The team finished 3-7. UF did not field a team the following year due to a severe lack of players. The campus was largely empty. The team was reconstituted in 1944 and played an abbreviated 7 game schedule in which it finished 4-3. In 1945 with World War II in its final stages, UF played a full 10 game schedule. The 4-5-1 record and continued inability to beat Georgia however led to great frustration on the part of students and alumni and as an expression of their frustration, students hurled coach Lieb into a lake. His contract was not renewed.
Raymond “Bear” Wolf was hired as head coach in 1946. He had been a TCU standout and then the head man at North Carolina until the military brought him to the rank of Major during WW II. Returning war veterans arrived on campus in force in the fall of 1946. The 1946 Gators finished 0–9, the worst football season in Gators history. Wolf’s debut run of 13 consecutive losses upon taking over in 1946 earned his coaching tenure the sarcastic term of "The Golden Era" - because it wasn't. His Double Wing offense never really got off the ground with 1948's 5-5 record the high-water mark. Even with talented HB Chuck Hunsinger, famous enough to have a song written and sung about him throughout the South and a good 28-7 win over an uncharacteristically weak Georgia team, Wolf's 4-5-1 record in 1949 would not be enough to hold his job. Florida would remain a tough place to win until changes were made in admission policies.
One bright spot during the immediate post-war years was “Mr. Two Bits”, who attended his first home game that fall, and began his personal sixty-year tradition of leading Gator fans in the "two bits" cheer at Florida Field. Even the governor became involved, wanting the state to have a football-playing university that was representative and could on occasion, beat their neighbors from Georgia. On January 6, 1950, Baylor head coach Bob Woodruff was hired but only after he insisted on a commitment that would at least give him a fighting chance to compete. He insisted upon and received the commitment to expand Florida Field and play home games there instead of barnstorming all over the state as had been done previously. Increased admissions standards instituted because of Florida’s expanding population including a placement test and the need for higher grades made the Gators’ admission requirements much more stringent than those required for other SEC schools-which hampered recruiting and left many excellent Florida players to attend out-of-state rivals. Florida’s 33-50-3 record (40.1% winning percentage) marked the 40’s as the worst decade in the history of the program.