Pretty sure Mark Richt was Georgia's top coach in winning percentage for a long time at 145-51 (.740). Georgia was definitely considered a top job when Richt was here. Smart simply took it to the next level, going 94-16 (.855) in eight years, better than anyone we had at Florida. But the more frequently a school swaps out coaches, the less likely a school gets a "right" coach. What top coach would want to go to a school where immediate success is demanded, and that 8-win coaches are thrown under the bus? Today, perhaps we finally began to understand what TRUE mediocrity is... Zook: 23-14 (.622) Muschamp: 28-21 (.571) McElwain: 22-12 (.647) Mullen: 34-15 (.694) Billy is currently 11-14 (.440). Even with a 7-6 record this year, he'll still have a losing career record at 18-20 (.474), and FAR behind Zook, Mac, Mullen and even Muschamp, all of whom were considered "The Worst Coach Ever." I like Billy and I'll root for him to greatly succeed, but IMO, he is pretty much Dead Coach Walking.
I hear you. I didn’t mean that the list never changes. Just that I don’t think it moves much when you have a few down years. Nebraska’s descent began 20+ years ago.
The only thing separating Florida from Florida State with respect to the big picture (right now) is strength of schedule. Year to year, the better team generally changes, but it's not like there's a whole lot that separates FSU from Florida. If I had to guess, Florida has more advantages (school prestige, fanbase, game day atmosphere, etc.) than FSU, but it also has more barriers to success (generally strength of schedule and maybe lack of an all-in commitment from the university, and that is not necessarily a bad thing) which evens things out from a football perspective. To me, Florida is in the same category as Texas A&M, Auburn, and FSU. What separates these programs from each other at any given time in the last decade or so is the right combination of factors at the right time. Florida has had atrocious luck when it comes to putting everything together in one year since Urban left. Tiers make more sense for a list like this than rankings. Tier 1 probably has 4-5 teams (probably Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, and Texas) tier 2 has maybe a couple that a notch below T1, but clearly above T2 (my thoughts would be Bama now that Saban is gone, Michigan, and perhaps even Southern Cal based on the respectable gamble they took with the Lincoln Riley hire), then T3 is a big list of teams like Florida, Auburn, Clemson, Oregon, FSU, and Texas A&M.
Agree w/part 1. We are not the hotbed of greatness many gators seem to think(but we COULD BE) But disagree with part 2. I tire of fans getting blamed for “being negative/impatient/running off coaches/recruits” etc etc It’s a critical core. But a smart core. The base knows football and wants excellence. I tire WAY more of the “all kinds of weather/sunshine all the time” crew than the critical crew. this fan base is no different than LSU/Auburn/Ohio state etc… Gator fans spend money, fill seats, lavish praise and yeah they’ll run you off if you lose
They’re on the cusp of greatness that appears to be sustainable considering their advantages, but yeah that may be jumping the gun a bit there. They were excellent last year and they have as many advantages as any other program in the country in my opinion.
Oh I'm not giving you grief about it. I hear many people suddenly lump Texas into tier 1. They've always had the resources but they were pretty irrelevant most years since their last title, like Florida. Just think it's funny to hear standards applied to Florida that get thrown aside when talking about other programs. Notre dame is still considered a top job. Michigan won it finally but they too have had long periods of drought. Bama was mired in coaching changes and mediocrity until Saban came along.
Yeah, isn't it funny how all these "sleeping giants" all of a sudden become actual giants when they get the hire right? It's impossible to take the current staff out of the equation, so it is impossible to truly measure the strength of the institution/program itself. UF is top 10 easily with the correct people in place. Factoring academics into the equation is laughable. If you want to argue moral standards and such, that is much more relevant.
Agree with this although there are schools that probably have ceilings due to location and various other factors. For Florida, there is no ceiling other than self made ones by the UAA and university admin. It seems like we might finally be "all in" as an institution though and now the rest is up to the coaching staff. "All in" has different meanings for different people though and I still don't think our boosters and administration have the experience or desire to take it as far as Bama, Georgia, Texas, OSU etc.
A college football program's ranking and potential, for a coach, should be heavily waited in the direction of what is needed to be great and win. Location to talent, resources, size and wealth of Alums, facility, stadium, tradition, and culture are what is needed to be successful and UF checks all those boxes. Actually, there are only a few schools that do at Florida's level. It is a wrong thinkingness to put the current coaching staff and win loss record ahead of those things, because coaching staffs change those things do not.
These and similar facts have been posted multiple times here. Some folks just don't want to believe it and it's easier to blame the administration, foreign students, academic superstars, spring sports, etc, than placing blame where it belongs, i.e., poor hiring decisions.
Seriously, they have two of the most storied coaches of all time. Gators are lucky to have one, maybe two. I don’t mean to be cross but I’m just saying not recognizing legends is not right. Im not saying they didn’t get those coaches for any particular reason but there was magic at Bama before Saban. If Meyer and Mullen were magic and definitely Spurrier was than do was Saban, and The Bear. The OG legend of college football tbh.
It’s all about having the right guy, you either do or you don’t. Most aren’t content with the in between either, imho.
My little brother went to UF and I’d guess he was considered a state resident as military prepaid college. There’s a ton of military that keep Florida residency their entire career.
Cool, but what's ur point? There's over 50K students at UF every year. You really think the $ of military students at UF distort the #s?
I’d be interested in seeing how many kids in the state of Florida have military parents with prepaid tuition for state schools. I grew up around a lot of military kids who had that deal. They are all over the country. Military probably only adds to the number but the prepaid tuition in Florida is a big number.
Just took a look and 626,00 in the last 35 years since they started the program and 1.2 mil in the pipeline. Most of any state. I’m not sure how many are military but I grew up a navy brat and I can tell ya the military takes advantage of it and keeping Florida residence because of no state tax
I think you’re missing my point. Obviously Bama is one of the best jobs and always has been and always will be. My point is that even they require having the right person in place. Bama was good cause of Bryant. Bama was bad because of Perkins. Bama was good because of Stallings. Bama was bad because of Franchione, Dubose, Shula. See what I’m saying? We’ve made sh***y hires. If we get the right guy we can be amongst the best again.
