Coach Strong’s dream finally comes true. He will get the Louisville job and Florida will hunt for a new linebackers coach and most likely name Dan McCarney the Defensive Coordinator to replace Strong, McCarney was the head coach at Iowa State from 1995-2006.
Strong was known as a good recruiter if he erred on defense it was on the side of caution. While at Florida from 2003 to present his defensive teams consistently improved. The Zook years were marred by turnovers which too often bent the defense into breaking points, even then the team often lost by a field goal sometimes more.
In 2003 Coach Ron Zook’s second year as the head coach the Gators lost the come from behind game to Miami 33-38 this was the game that made Chris Leak the starter. Tennessee got them by two TDs 24-10, and Ole Miss clipped the Gators 20-17. Florida won their next five games then fell to FSU 38-34 and fell apart vs Iowa 37-17 in the Outback bowl at Tampa.
Now 2003 sounded bad but you had to look at 2002 the year before Strong that was sort of a record year for defense at Florida. That was John Thompson’s last year with the Gators. At the end of the season he and Gator Jerry Odom took jobs at Eastern Carolina the head coach and DC respectively.
Anyway 2002 was a complete disaster. The Gators suffered two of the worst losses in the Swamp in the last twenty-six years. In the second game of the season to Miami they got spanked 41-16, a 25-point home field loss. Then after the Rex Grossman 4-INT meltdown against Ole Miss the Gators suffered the first of a pair of three-point upsets to them 17-14, back home Zook’s Gators got trucked by LSU 36-7 a 29 point home loss. They lost two more games one to FSU 31-14 and again in the Outback on a crazy Ed Zaunbreaker call 38-30.
With that history you can see Charley Strong came in and made vast improvements right away. He was with Coach Zook two years, two years later working for Coach Urban Meyer the Gators won a national championship in 2006 based on two strengths: Defense and turnover margin.
A dip in 2007 due to a mass exodus of talent but just one year later in 2008 when the defense was expected to be a work in progress. It didn’t turn out that way the high powered offense was expected the defense played well above expectations. The Gators did have the hiccup game against Ole Miss in game four their final loss until Alabama in the SEC Championship game last Saturday.
And until that Bama loss the Gators had the #1 defense in the country. Alabama played a tremendous game they deserve all credit Gator players couldn’t explain why they were flat but said that’s the way they came out and played.
Coach Strong’s record at Florida has been remarkable he’s had great talent to work with, the people at Louisville hope he can be the shot in the arm they are looking for as a head coach and recruiter. It is a BCS conference with plenty of good football, this man believes in a few days Cincinnati would have come calling they are a team that’s on top right now with better players.
Perhaps that is why Louisville will have an announcement today at 4:00 PM. It’s about time for Coach Strong may he have one hell of a career there. He’s been a major part of Coach Meyer’s success. Good luck Charlie!
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