Just Ask UF: Don't Give The Keys To The Caddy To The Cabana Boy
If you are a Florida football fan you can relate. You know exactly what they’re feeling in Tuscaloosa and throughout the state of Alabama right now. Gator fans have been there twice before, the first time when Steve Spurrier called it quits after 12 seasons in 2001 and the second when Urban Meyer did in 2010 what he should have done in 2009, which is walk away.
When Spurrier retired after 12 seasons with nine or more wins, a 122-27-1 record that included the 1996 national championship and the first six Southeastern Conference championships in University of Florida history, shock waves reverberated throughout the Gator Nation and all of college football. Some Gators cried and asked, “How could he do this to us?” Angry Gators asked the exact same question. In Athens and Knoxville there were celebrations. Spurrier went 11-1 against Georgia, 8-4 against Tennessee.
In the days afterward, the entire college football world expected Florida to replace a legend with either a legend named Mike Shanahan or a legend in the making in Bobby Stoops. Jeremy Foley’s plane landed in Denver but there was no announcement that the Gators had snaked their former offensive coordinator away from the NFL Denver Broncos. When the plane landed in Norman, it was assumed that Stoops, Spurrier’s former defensive coordinator just one year removed from a national championship upset of Florida State had to be the guy.
Snake eyes.
It was Ron Zook. Foley to this day says with a straight face that Zooker is the only coach he interviewed. Twenty-two years later, you’d be hard pressed to find a Florida fan who was around in those days who won’t ask why? If Foley is telling the truth, then why the hell didn’t he interview more than just Ron Zook, who had never even been on a head coaching radar much less been in charge of his own program. The keys to the Cadillac were given to the cabana boy. A very fine assistant coach who made a name for himself as one of the great special teams coordinators in the National Football League was allowed to learn on the fly how to be a head football coach.
Zooker wasn’t a complete disaster. He won games he shouldn’t have won against Georgia (2002-03) and national champ LSU (2003) but the Gators struggled against ranked teams. Eleven of the 14 losses during Zook’s three years were to ranked teams. He kicked Florida State and Georgia on the recruiting trail. It should be noted that 20 of Florida’s 22 starters on the 2006 national championship team were Zook recruits.
He got fired for the famous frat boy incident of 2004. The pink slip wasn’t delivered until weeks later when the Gators lost to a Mississippi State team that finished the season 3-8. UF president Bernie Machen wasn’t about to let the frat boys have the upper hand, so he waited until an appropriate loss to fire Zook.
Lesson No. 1. You don’t replace greatness (Spurrier) by giving someone an owner’s manual and letting him take over.
Ron Zook was replaced by Urban Meyer. One step removed from the legend of Steve Spurrier, Meyer delivered two SEC and two national championships in his six years on the job. Meyer had three 13-win seasons over a four-year stretch. The pressure got to him in 2009, Tim Tebow’s fourth and final season. When Florida lost to Saban and Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Meyer thought he was going to die when he got back to Gainesville. Anxiety mixed with some other health defects had taken their toll. He should have walked away after the 2009 season, but came back for one more year and went 8-5.
Lesson No. 2. Don’t repeat Lesson 1.
Bob Stoops could have been had. Instead of replacing a legend (Meyer) with a legend (Stoops), the replacement was Will Muschamp, who had never been a head coach. Well, at least Muschamp had been on head coaching radars, but the results were similar to those of Zook although it should be noted Zooker never had a losing season. Muschamp was 28-21 in his four years on the job.
Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and now Billy Napier. Florida is on its fourth coach since Meyer, its sixth coach overall since Spurrier resigned. Except for the pocket of success enjoyed by Meyer (65-15 in six years), the Gators are 97-66 with the four non-legend coaches since 1990 when Spurrier was first hired.
Replacing a legend is next to impossible. About the only place one legend has been replaced by another one is Nebraska. Bob Devaney went 102-20-2, winning the 1972 national championship in his final year on the job. Dr. Tom Osborne replaced Devaney and went 255-49-3 with three national championships. It should be noted that it took Dr. Tom 20 years before he got his first national title. Nebraska is on its sixth head coach since Dr. Tom retired after his third national championship in 1997.
At Oklahoma Barry Switzer retired in 1988. The Sooners went through three coaches before finding Stoops in 1999. The legendary Paul Dietzel (1958 national title) left LSU for Army after the 1961 season. LSU didn’t win another national championship until Saban did it in 2003, six coaches later. Ole Miss is still searching for its next Johnny Vaught. Michigan State is still looking for its next Duffy Daugherty. Since Ara Parseghian retired at Notre Dame after the 1973 season, the nine subsequent coaches have won two national championships (Dan Devine 1977, Lou Holtz 1988).
Bear Bryant won six national championships at Alabama before retiring in 1982. Seven coaches tried to fill Bear’s shoes before Saban was hired in 2007. Seventeen seasons and six national championships later, athletic director Greg Byrne has to find someone willing to be the guy who follows the legend. History says unless he can find the next Dr. Tom Osborne, who had immediate success replacing Bob Devaney, that Alabama is going to take some steps backward.
Ideally, you replace a legend with another legend but if there are no legends available, you go with someone who has all the ingredients to become one if given the right circumstances. Urban Meyer is a legend but he’s happily retired and living the good life on Longboat Key.
The closest thing to an active college football coaching legend right now is Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who went from Romper Room to PhD in coaching at Saban’s feet. Kirby would be stupid to leave Georgia, which is his alma mater, which leaves Byrne and his staff sorting through numerous very good coaches in search of someone willing to defy the odds of following in a legend’s footsteps.
Not an easy thing to do.
Joe Namath, an Alabama legend in his own right, told CNN, “It’s going to take a brave heart to come in here.”
If you are a Florida football fan you can relate. You know exactly what they’re feeling in Tuscaloosa and throughout the state of Alabama right now. Gator fans have been there twice before, the first time when Steve Spurrier called it quits after 12 seasons in 2001 and the second when Urban Meyer did in 2010 what he should have done in 2009, which is walk away.
When Spurrier retired after 12 seasons with nine or more wins, a 122-27-1 record that included the 1996 national championship and the first six Southeastern Conference championships in University of Florida history, shock waves reverberated throughout the Gator Nation and all of college football. Some Gators cried and asked, “How could he do this to us?” Angry Gators asked the exact same question. In Athens and Knoxville there were celebrations. Spurrier went 11-1 against Georgia, 8-4 against Tennessee.
In the days afterward, the entire college football world expected Florida to replace a legend with either a legend named Mike Shanahan or a legend in the making in Bobby Stoops. Jeremy Foley’s plane landed in Denver but there was no announcement that the Gators had snaked their former offensive coordinator away from the NFL Denver Broncos. When the plane landed in Norman, it was assumed that Stoops, Spurrier’s former defensive coordinator just one year removed from a national championship upset of Florida State had to be the guy.
Snake eyes.
It was Ron Zook. Foley to this day says with a straight face that Zooker is the only coach he interviewed. Twenty-two years later, you’d be hard pressed to find a Florida fan who was around in those days who won’t ask why? If Foley is telling the truth, then why the hell didn’t he interview more than just Ron Zook, who had never even been on a head coaching radar much less been in charge of his own program. The keys to the Cadillac were given to the cabana boy. A very fine assistant coach who made a name for himself as one of the great special teams coordinators in the National Football League was allowed to learn on the fly how to be a head football coach.
Zooker wasn’t a complete disaster. He won games he shouldn’t have won against Georgia (2002-03) and national champ LSU (2003) but the Gators struggled against ranked teams. Eleven of the 14 losses during Zook’s three years were to ranked teams. He kicked Florida State and Georgia on the recruiting trail. It should be noted that 20 of Florida’s 22 starters on the 2006 national championship team were Zook recruits.
He got fired for the famous frat boy incident of 2004. The pink slip wasn’t delivered until weeks later when the Gators lost to a Mississippi State team that finished the season 3-8. UF president Bernie Machen wasn’t about to let the frat boys have the upper hand, so he waited until an appropriate loss to fire Zook.
Lesson No. 1. You don’t replace greatness (Spurrier) by giving someone an owner’s manual and letting him take over.
Ron Zook was replaced by Urban Meyer. One step removed from the legend of Steve Spurrier, Meyer delivered two SEC and two national championships in his six years on the job. Meyer had three 13-win seasons over a four-year stretch. The pressure got to him in 2009, Tim Tebow’s fourth and final season. When Florida lost to Saban and Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Meyer thought he was going to die when he got back to Gainesville. Anxiety mixed with some other health defects had taken their toll. He should have walked away after the 2009 season, but came back for one more year and went 8-5.
Lesson No. 2. Don’t repeat Lesson 1.
Bob Stoops could have been had. Instead of replacing a legend (Meyer) with a legend (Stoops), the replacement was Will Muschamp, who had never been a head coach. Well, at least Muschamp had been on head coaching radars, but the results were similar to those of Zook although it should be noted Zooker never had a losing season. Muschamp was 28-21 in his four years on the job.
Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and now Billy Napier. Florida is on its fourth coach since Meyer, its sixth coach overall since Spurrier resigned. Except for the pocket of success enjoyed by Meyer (65-15 in six years), the Gators are 97-66 with the four non-legend coaches since 1990 when Spurrier was first hired.
Replacing a legend is next to impossible. About the only place one legend has been replaced by another one is Nebraska. Bob Devaney went 102-20-2, winning the 1972 national championship in his final year on the job. Dr. Tom Osborne replaced Devaney and went 255-49-3 with three national championships. It should be noted that it took Dr. Tom 20 years before he got his first national title. Nebraska is on its sixth head coach since Dr. Tom retired after his third national championship in 1997.
At Oklahoma Barry Switzer retired in 1988. The Sooners went through three coaches before finding Stoops in 1999. The legendary Paul Dietzel (1958 national title) left LSU for Army after the 1961 season. LSU didn’t win another national championship until Saban did it in 2003, six coaches later. Ole Miss is still searching for its next Johnny Vaught. Michigan State is still looking for its next Duffy Daugherty. Since Ara Parseghian retired at Notre Dame after the 1973 season, the nine subsequent coaches have won two national championships (Dan Devine 1977, Lou Holtz 1988).
Bear Bryant won six national championships at Alabama before retiring in 1982. Seven coaches tried to fill Bear’s shoes before Saban was hired in 2007. Seventeen seasons and six national championships later, athletic director Greg Byrne has to find someone willing to be the guy who follows the legend. History says unless he can find the next Dr. Tom Osborne, who had immediate success replacing Bob Devaney, that Alabama is going to take some steps backward.
Ideally, you replace a legend with another legend but if there are no legends available, you go with someone who has all the ingredients to become one if given the right circumstances. Urban Meyer is a legend but he’s happily retired and living the good life on Longboat Key.
The closest thing to an active college football coaching legend right now is Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who went from Romper Room to PhD in coaching at Saban’s feet. Kirby would be stupid to leave Georgia, which is his alma mater, which leaves Byrne and his staff sorting through numerous very good coaches in search of someone willing to defy the odds of following in a legend’s footsteps.
Not an easy thing to do.
Joe Namath, an Alabama legend in his own right, told CNN, “It’s going to take a brave heart to come in here.”
