By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:
SPRING FOOTBALL PRACTICE BEGINS TODAY
There is a new sheriff in town and his name is Billy Napier. When Napier and his staff take the field this afternoon when the Gators hold the first of their 15 allotted practices this spring, perhaps the single most thing to keep an eye on is discipline, an obvious sore point the last two seasons in which the Gators have gone from the brink of winning the SEC Championship Game to a losing season that resulted in Dan Mullen and his staff getting pink-slipped.
There are plenty of questions that the new coaching staff will be hoping to answer such as who’s going to emerge as the No. 1 quarterback – Anthony Richardson probably has the inside track but there will be plenty of competition – but nothing will be more important that a disciplined approach on the practice field. Napier is said to be the closest thing to a Nick Saban clone there is, and if there is one thing Saban won’t tolerate, it’s sloppy, undisciplined practices.
In his previous press conferences, Napier has given straight to the point answers. He doesn’t duck or dodge questions unlike a certain yellow-toothed, sockless coach from years gone by. Instead he seems to live by a tell it like it is philosophy, so it will be quite interesting to hear his post-practice remarks later in the afternoon and throughout the spring when practices conclude.
SEARCHING FOR A NEW BASKETBALL COACH
The more I think about it, the more I talk with people who are just now getting over the surprise of Mike White leaving Florida for the Georgia job, the more I’m convinced that Scott Stricklin has to make a home run kind of hire. The reason is quite simple. The very last thing Stricklin can afford is for White to suddenly begin channeling his inner Dean Smith, turning Georgia from SEC doormat into the unexpected success story of the decade by cleaning up when it comes to recruiting Metro Atlanta. Five years from now, Stricklin can’t be looking at Mike White giving him the finger from Athens because he’s winning 25 games a year while the Gators are still floundering at the 19-20 wins per year level.
There is only one way to make sure that doesn’t happen and it is by hiring a proven head coach from the highest levels who has a record of success wherever he has been and who knows how to recruit. As a friend told me Monday morning, Scott Stricklin has to use the Papa John’s approach: Better players equal better basketball teams. You don’t get better players if you don’t have a coach who has a successful track record on the recruiting trail.
Getting better players also means hiring a coach who understands that the rules of recruiting are off-the-charts different than they were seven years ago when Billy Donovan left for the NBA. Billy grew weary of coming in second for top recruits because an impermissible benefit or two may have been received. What was illegal during Billy’s day is legal now thanks to NIL. Since kids can sell their name, image and likeness to the highest bidder, Scott Stricklin has to find a coach who knows how to make NIL work.
There are some fine coaches at the low-to-mid-major level and some outstanding assistants but I’m of the opinion that unless they have a pedigree of working for a blueblood coach, they should be avoided at all costs. Let the young guys who haven’t worked their way up the ladder apprenticing with a top program learn to ride without the training wheels someplace else.
Here are five coaches who I think could be on the move, all of whom could be categorized as home run hires:
Scott Drew, Baylor: I’m sure you’ll see the Louisville, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina and Maryland all list him as a home run hire. He’s been at Baylor 19 years and build the program from the absolute depths to a national championship in 2021. He may do it again. If Florida has a chance it’s because Drew and Scott Stricklin go way back. Stricklin was the assistant AD who is credited with hiring both Kim Mulkey and Scott Drew to Baylor. Mulkey won three NCAA titles as the women’s coach before she left for LSU. Would Scott Drew also be willing to leave? This is a long shot, but you have to go after him to at least gauge his interest. Salary is somewhere in the $4 million range.
Brad Underwood, Illinois: He’s won at Stephen F. Austin, Oklahoma State and recently won the Big Ten regular season title at Illinois. His teams score points, rebound the basketball and shoot the 3-ball well. Landing him probably means Eric Pastrana stays on as an assistant (worked for Underwood at SFA). Pastrana is the recruiter who landed Malik Reneau and Jalen Reed. Salary $2.4 million.
Mark Pope, BYU: He played on Rick Pitino’s 1996 NCAA championship team at Kentucky, has NBA experience and he’s worked as an assistant in the SEC (Georgia) and ACC (Wake Forest). He resurrected the program at Utah Valley and is 66-25 in three years at BYU, playing in the same league as Gonzaga. He’s 6-10 so he understands how to coach a big and he’s well regarded as an offensive coach. Thought to be making less than $2 million a year.
Danny Hurley, UConn: The entire UConn athletic program swims in debt and it’s not going to get better. He won at Wagner and Rhode Island before UConn. His teams play excellent defense and they don’t turn the ball over. He’s an excellent recruiter who runs a great offense. Makes $2.75 million.
Mick Cronin, UCLA: He’s 428-199 as a head coach at Murray State, Cincinnati and UCLA. He’s gone to the Final Four at UCLA. His teams run up and down the floor and play a style reminiscent of Rick Pitino and Billy Donovan. He makes $4 million a year at UCLA. With the state income tax what it is in California, Florida could offer him the same thing and he’d be getting a 13.3 percent raise. Dad was a high school coach and he worked for Bob Huggins and Rick Pitino as an assistant.
GATORS BLANK MISSISSIPPI STATE, 3-0, TO TAKE SERIES
An inside-the-park home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth and a 2-run homer off the scoreboard backed up the 4-hit pitching of Elizabeth Hightower (6-0, 1.06 ERA) Monday night as the Gators (23-2, 2-1 SEC) won their first SEC series of the season, 3-0, over Mississippi State.
Falby simply outran the ball when she led off the inning with a high drive off the top of the fence in left center field that ricocheted back toward the infield. By the time the Mississippi State outfielders got to the ball Falby was already rounding third. She slid into home but it wasn’t necessary. Hannah Adams then walked, stole second and took third on a throwing error. Wallace ran the count full, then got a pitch she could drive off the scoreboard in left center field for her team-leading fifth home run of the season.
Hightower, who struggled with control her last two outings after sitting out a week with back issues, was particularly sharp. She walked only one batter and struck out three. She was only challenged one time and that was in the top of the sixth when Katie Kistler bailed her out with the defensive play of the game, a perfect strike from left field to catcher Emily Wilkie to nail Phoebe Florian at the plate for the third out to end the inning.
The Gators will travel to DeLand to play Stetson Wednesday and travel to Texas A&M for their second SEC series Friday.
D1Softball Top 25: 1. Oklahoma 20-0; 2. Florida State 23-1; 3. UCLA 22-3; 4. Alabama 21-2; 5. FLORIDA 22-2; 6. Virginia Tech 18-3; 7. Duke 21-3; 8. Arkansas 17-4; 9. Northwestern 15-4; 10. Washington 19-5; 11. Oklahoma State 16-5; 12. Oregon 19-3; 13. Kentucky 19-2; 14. Tennessee 18-6; 15. Michigan 15-6; 16. Missouri 16-6; 17. Auburn 24-1; 18. Clemson 16-6; 19. LSU 19-7; 20. Arizona 19-4; 21. Georgia 22-3; 22. South Florida 22-4; 23. Oregon State 22-4; 24. Arizona State 18-5; 25. Texas 16-9-1
UF BASEBALL: GATORS MOVE UP IN THE POLLS, HOST FSU TONIGHT
After a 3-1 week, the Gators moved up to No. 9 in both the D1Baseball and USA Today Coaches polls. Florida will play host to No. 8/12 Florida State (10-5) tonight (6 p.m., SEC Network+) at the Florida Ballpark. The Gators open SEC play this weekend when they travel to Alabama.
D1Baseball Top 25: 1. Ole Miss 13-2; 2. Texas 13-4; 3. Arkansas 11-3; 4. Vanderbilt 13-2; 5. Oregon State 11-2; 6. Notre Dame 11-1; 7. Tennessee 15-1; 8. Florida State 10-5; 9. FLORIDA 13-4; 10. Georgia Tech 13-3; 11. Oklahoma State 9-6; 12. Stanford 9-5; 13. LSU 13-3; 14. Liberty 12-2; 15. North Carolina 14-2; 16. Arizona 12-4; 17. Texas Tech 14-3; 18. Clemson 14-1; 19. Virginia 14-1; 20. Georgia 13-3; 21. TCU 11-4; 22. Texas State 14-3; 23. Mississippi State 10-7; 24. Maryland 12-2; 25. Gonzaga 11-4
USA Today Coaches Top 25: 1. Ole Miss 13-2; Texas 13-4; 3. Vanderbilt 13-2; 4. Arkansas 11-3; 5. Tennessee 15-1; 6. Oregon State 11-2; 7. Notre Dame 11-1; 8. LSU 13-3; 9. FLORIDA 13-4; 10. Georgia Tech 13-3; 11. Stanford 9-5; 12. Florida State 10-5; 13. Texas Tech 14-3; 14. Liberty 12-2; 15. Oklahoma State 9-6; 16. Arizona 12-4; 17. Virginia 14-1; 18. North Carolina 14-2; 19. Clemson 14-1; 20. Georgia 13-3; 21. TCU 11-4; 22. Maryland 12-2; 23. Texas State 14-3; 24. Mississippi State 10-7; 25. Gonzaga 11-4
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL STUFF
Alabama: Wide receiver Ja’Corey Brooks and center Darrian Dalcourt will miss spring football practice. Brooks caught 15 passes for 192 yards and two TDs, while Dalcourt started 11 games.
Auburn: Bruce Pearl’s 8-year contract extension is worth $50.2 million, plus there are plenty of incentives.
Georgia: Arch Manning will visit Georgia on March 19.
LSU: With the firing of Will Wade, 4-star signee Devin Ree (6-8,185, Terry MS) is asking out of his signed letter of intent.
Mississippi State: Reports of basketball coach Ben Howland’s demise are greatly exaggerated. He has not been fired. He will at least coach the Bulldogs in the NIT. Beyond that, it’s a toss-up.
Missouri: Freshman guard Anton Brookshire has entered the transfer portal in the wake of firing basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.
South Carolina: After 10 years on the job and a 171-143 record that included a 2017 trip to the Final Four, South Carolina fired basketball coach Frank Martin.
Tennessee: Basketball assistant Mike Schwartz is expected to be hired as the HBC at East Carolina.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: When it self-imposed sanctions such as reducing scholarships and opting out of a bowl game in 2020, LSU was already in damage control. Hoping the NCAA would bite on self-imposing for football violations, LSU was trying its best to keep football separate from the basketball violations that ultimately cost Will Wade his job. The NCAA didn’t bite and lumped the two together in the Notice of Allegations received last week on the eve of the SEC Basketball Tournament.
LSU knew Level I violations were coming against basketball but its attempt to keep football out of the equation was an attempt to avoid lack of institutional control. That’s important because
even the equivalent of a parking ticket in ANY sport is deemed a major violation and can result in heavy sanctions against all sports in the athletic department. Since it’s so easy to run afoul of the NCAA when it comes to football recruiting, when there is lack of institutional control even a self-reported Level II or Level III violation will be considered a Level I.
Here is what Paul Finebaum had to say on WJOX Monday, “When you throw around lack of institutional control, throw around Level I violations, accusations of Level I, you’re talking about a real problem in an athletic department. It goes way back, but to me, LSU has played the long game in this, and they lost.”
The only way LSU could have avoided certain lack of institutional control sanctions would have been to fire Will Wade when it had the chance. LSU chose to wait for the Notice of Allegations so it could fire Wade without paying buyout money. They played the long game and indeed they lost.
florida.rivals.com
