Lol that’s funny. Penn State would probably drop $15 mil per year to ensure they don’t regress. That’s also why I love the Mullen fans. We would probably have to pay $6m/year to get him. And then we are paying $6m/year for Dan Mullen. Dan Mullen.
For as epic as this thread is, this is a small microcosm of Gator fandom. You have a couple thousand people generating a million views and probably 50 posters generating 80% of the posts on this thread. But in real life, most fans aren’t following the search that closely. I have probably talked to 20 or 30 of what I would consider avid Gator fans over the past week and none of them were as dialed into the hype as those of us on this thread are. When all is said and done, the story will be UF and Stricklin hit a homer in with the hire or that CK chose to go somewhere else. My opinion, but I don’t think it will be portrayed as UF lost him or somehow failed in the process. If you were to fire Stricklin after this, you would guarantee that no AD would ever swing for the fences and we would always go to plan B to begin.
Am I reading this correctly, we fire McElwain, take time vetting candidates. Wait maybe 2 weeks or more before we contact Kelly as our top choice. By the time we get serious with Kelly, other firings occur. So instead of pushing to ink him fast, we waited. Now we may have lost him. I don't buy the NFL contract nonsense. UCLA fired their coach and reports indicate they met with Kelly and/or his reps the next day. Sounds like we farted around too long before getting serious. I can only speak for myself, but most of the other candidates will a major downer. I'm tired of hiring coaches and hoping they are good, instead of hiring a coach that has a strong track record of being very successful.
I just took a look at the new UCLA football facility and frankly I'm not impressed. http://www.uclafootballfacility.com/ We can and should set our sights much higher. I will repeat: I think this is why Fuchs went to New Hampshire to meet with Kelly. Fuchs is the only credible person who could lay out our plans for a new football facility and make CK believe it. He probably told Kelly that he would have the opportunity to be in on the design of the facility at least that is what I would have offered Kelly. Bottom line: CK ain't going to UCLA because of the new football facility. I think he's seen a weight room or two.
Clearly cancelling official visits is a sign an announcement is forthcoming. The UCLA rumor was dead yesterday but like the walking dead, overnight it's back. I heard a podcast yesterday and the host posed a question to the guest. Has any major program announced a coaching hire DURING the season? They could not name one. Makes sense to me. The Taggart thing is an odd one, there was no official info that Oregon allowed him to speak to anyone. No info on a formal interview, nada. That hire though would be greeting by howls by the fans and groans by the boosters. Funny how without any concrete knowledge, people are acting all butt hurt about CK. We have not heard one verifiable fact about the negotiations. I still think SS is playing us, the whole cloak and dagger. Splashy presser Monday announcing him as coach. CK stands up there and in mic drop moment. "New day in the GatorNation, time to bring back the trophy. We'll be faster, better conditioned, better prepared and tougher than anyone in this conference."