Was Toney forced to leave?

That is a moot point... and unimportant.

 

I think we came out ok regardless

 

All common knowledge...

 

Who knows. I think Toney looked worse than he actually was due to the dearth of talent, but I'm happy that we have AA and wouldn't trade it.

 

I think we came out better off with AA. Nothing personal against Toney. Even if Toney was commanding sub par talent, I did not care for his prevent/non aggressive type of D. AA brings excitement with his style of play and that will bring in some big fish recruits to Gainesville. If you listen to the defensive players in their interviews, they ALL love playing for AA, which only bodes well for the Gators.
GO GATORS!!!!

 

Yes. This is how a CEO head coach handles the hard job of firing a friend. Dan Mullen could not do this with Todd Grantham and look what happened. Maybe under Toney the defense would look similar in 2023, but I think the situation worked out because Armstrong’s defense is similar enough but with a few tweaks to make the transition seamless while adding unique features that make a positive impact.

Napier’s next test will be the hiring of an OC. In essence he will need to fire himself. Let’s see how he handles it.

 

Meh

 

He has tge better part of a season to continue his audition. Sale is supposedly the oc. How many points a game and wins keeps the oc his job. I’d be very surprised if we can average 30 points and win 9 games. It doesn’t look likely to me. I wonder what Spurrier would call with this offensive line. What rabbit do you pull out of your hat if you can’t run or have time to throw. Loading the box obviously means take the top off but Mertz gets sacked or pressured two seconds after the snap. I don’t think you can scheme an offensive line. Our line is average at best from what I’ve seen. I guess it’s better to have a qb that’s more mobile if you can’t keep a pocket, at least you can buy time for receivers to run around. We are rolling Mertz out to buy time because they can’t protect him. I may want a high end oc too but I’m afraid we need better blocking more than better routes. Looks to me they are calling quick plays because that’s the time they are working with. The same coaches were calling longer passes last year because our guys blocked better.

 

I wish Gators would stop with this mindset.

I know it's probably useless to write this in response but I really do. He has a very definite approach and is likely to stick with it. Why keep acting as if we sit on a Board of Directors and have decided to micromanage the guy?

My preferential theory for what happened Saturday night is simple: no Kingsley Eguakun in the lineup. A smart, experienced Center in Napier's "execute-centric" offense apparently makes a huge but overlooked difference overall but most especially in the running game. Think back to Utah. Right?

 

The first half against Tennessee with Wilson looked pretty good to me. It was still quick plays and not much over the top but we threw long last year so it’s not like they don’t know how.

 

It's water under the bridge and I'm happy with the final outcome, regardless how it came to pass. But I always thought it was quite a coincidence that Toney found true happiness elsewhere - just as BN identified and quickly snapped up the best young DC I've seen at UF since a baby-faced Bob Stoops made some noise here. Muscramp doesn't count because he hired himself as DC. Obviously, failed HCs don't count.

 

I agree with the bolded, but would add Dan Quinn was the best DC since Stoops.
Quinn was our DC in 2012 and the Seahawks hired him right after that as DC, so they must have seen something.

But back to the point- I think Toney was encouraged to look elsewhere as CBN thought he could upgrade.
And for those who think this is not important- you are completely wrong.
Again- look at mullen/ Grantham/ Hevesy and Meyer/ Addazio and so many many more.
Good coaches fire their friends- even when it's not all the coordinators fault.

Toney was def not dealt the best hand, but he could have done better.

 

Dan Quinn was a very good one to be sure. But IMHO, AA, to this point at least, is looking like a natural phenomenon of sorts. Also, your point re BN doing what has to be done to advance the program, as opposed to holding on to a losing hand out of stubbornness or misplaced loyalty, is spot on IMO.

 

No idea but Armstrong is doing well so I'm happy about that.

 

fwiw, most assistant coaches salaries in the league are not published. Carry on..

 

He was not pushed out the door

 

I wonder how many people around here would be defending Mullen for "maybe" firing his friend Todd Grantham if Grantham found his true happiness in the NFL and disappeared from the Gator sidelines. Friend or not your the head coach and your defensive coordinator just turned in the worst defense in the entire history of UF football. The guy should have been canned day 1 after the season ended if not before. To infer he was "encouraged" to leave rather than fired is presumptuous and missing the point. The guy had no business on our staff period. Friends may be friends but Napier has a job to do and that is to field a group of coaches who put the best product on the field regardless of their friendship status. Honestly it shouldn't have been a very hard thing for a coach making $6,000,000 a year to do...just like it shouldn't be hard to move on from a special teams game changing whatever he is to something which would improve our special teams performance.

 

No recruiting!
Nuff said.