Hate this came from a leg humper but it is something that makes me go hmmm

With as bad as it looked in the first half, the second half looked better.

 

aTm clearly took the foot off the gas.

The game was decided by halftime.

 

You forgot lack of emotion/passion the last three years as well as no accountability the last three years.

 

Spurrier was never on good speaking terms with athletic directors, so from that perspective, no, Spurrier is not behind a coup. He may have needled a booster or two as to whether they were happy with Napier's record, but that's about it. Finebaum likes to see Florida fail, and if he can plant the seed of Florida's next failure while discrediting the coach that put Florida on the map, he will be all the happier.

The bigger question beyond whether the boosters will cough up the buyout and come up with enough money to offer a new coach, is the question of whether they will put up with the A.D. that hands out $26 million buyouts like they were candy at Halloween. I get it, the coach desperately wants to get $26 million and the agent wants his cut of $26 million, but you have to draw the line somewhere, and tell the coach and his agent to pound sand while you negotiate with the next candidate. At some point when the payment for failure exceeds the payment for success by a certain amount, there is little motivation to make the effort to succeed in a very difficult and stressful job. That's when the coach comes up with B.S. to delay dismissal for not meeting expectations, like "It's a process . . .", meaning "you need to be patient while I pocket a few more massive paychecks".

Have a significant percentage of the coach's salary tied up in bonuses, and give him a chance to make one of the highest salaries in college football . . . IF HE SUCCEEDS. A buyout is merely a courtesy payment if the coach fails. It should not be the biggest number on the contract, and it absolutely should not be more than what he gets if he wins a national championship. No one would object to paying $26 million to a coach that just won a national championship in football and starts the next UF dynasty. No Gator fan should be happy with paying a coach $26 million (really the better part of $38MM) for three years of failure.

 

huh????

They may have had a disagreement or 2 but this is completely false.

if that were true there is no way he would be involved with the athletic department after leaving South Carolina. That started when Foley was still the AD.

 

I can second this.
I have a 2nd hand contact that works with th3 USCe athletic department. He said Spurrier was well liked and easy to work with.
I’m sure it was the same way at UF.

 

What the heck dude?

 

Foley single handedly pulled Spurrier back from the NFL after Tampa papers announced the deal to the Bucs was all but done. We won the National Championship a year later

 

I turned it off so I can’t comment.

 

There’s an idea. 50 mil for a national championship. It would be happily payed . Maybe the coach would hire a coordinator even. It pays better to fail.

 

Not buying the opinions. Who is happy with Stricklin, and why?

 

Maybe "not on good speaking terms" is not the correct assessment. It might be more accurate to say, had his share of disagreements with and did not fully trust the Florida A.D. in all things. Of course Spurrier was able to work with athletic directors and get the job done. I'm not blaming him in any way. Spurrier was protective of his players when it came to cheap shots and things like that, and Foley was not.

I would also tend to assume that there was some friction between Spurrier's desire to win football games (and have top-ranked facilities), and Foley's interest in winning All-Sports trophies, and directing finances towards all of the other sports. Many other schools (like Alabama) recognized that football was the top money-maker by far, and supported the football program first, and then used the "profits" from football to support the other programs. Foley did it the opposite way, and there was nothing but All-Sports trophies to show for it.

 

I think you are assuming incorrectly. There were no such things as facility wars when Spurrier was coaching. He wasn’t consumed by recruiting - confident he could beat anyone with his guys.

It is well known that Spurrier both at UF and S Carolina donated loads of his own money to give back to women’s sports, so I think he was OK to see an AD support the whole department and not just football.

Spurrier is well known for holding grudges. If he ever had any real issues of a sour relationship with Foley - I just don’t think he would have come back for the Emeritus role with him still there.

All that said - Spurrier would want no part of any coup or any part of picking the next coach. I’m sure there are times his opinion is asked and he will give it of course.

 

Nothing but All Sports Trophies and antiquated and/or non-existent facilities to show for it.

For the record, UCF (yes, UCF) had an indoor practice facility before Urban Meyer coached his first game at UF.

 

As lerxst said- you assume incorrectly.
There was NOT friction between Spurrier and Foley about facilities.
Two reasons
1) Spurrier was/is as supportive of the non-revenue or Olympic sports as probably any other football coach in history.
2) Spurrier is a really confident guy. He felt like facilities didn't matter- he was going to beat the pants off his competition no matter who had what facilities.
It was just another bullet in his gun- just like Ga out recruiting us yet us beating them over and over.

He LOVED stuff like this. He LOVED beating other teams who had "advantages."

I do know (from my UF track coach) that Foley (and all UF admin) is VERY image conscious.
Spurrier was not- to say the least.
So where Spurrier would publicly call FSU and Bowden and Darnell Dockett out, Foley would be quiet and not want to rock the boat or jeopardize the image in any way.

Where there were conflicts- i think this was the cause. But facilities and all-sports success- no way no how.
IMO- Spurrier is an alum like me. I think he loved us winning the All Sports awards. its' the non alums who don't seem to care about that.

Also- you are really off about Bama. They didn't start winning until 08-09.
Spurrier left us after the 01 season.
Bama wasn't even on the radar back then.

 

I’ve only been alive 56 years and Bama has been a thing the whole time.

 

They might have been a thing but they weren't a top ten powerhouse on a regular basis for some time. Mediocre with a good season here and there under Mike price, Mike Shula, cheated with debose but actually dealt some fallout from that. They didnt sniff a title since 92 until they gave Saban anything and everything he wanted because they were sick of watching LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and even auburn (undefeated in 04 but no title) win titles and make Bama back page news.

 

Regardless of how many wins some were willing to allow Billy, the Miami game revealed he's in over his head! This summer BN claimed this was the most talented team he had ever coached and they played fast. PFF evaluated the Gator roster as #12 in the nation. Spurrier, Doering, Stephen Harris, and others were expecting improvements. The UM game revealed BN didn't have a better offense or defense. Many were congratulating BN on the Robert's hire as making the defense much better. I drank the Kool-Aid, but the first game was very telling. After the TAMU victory with a second string quarterback, anyone on the fence should not have any questions about BN's future at Florida.

 

Wholly agree. Never mind improvements. This team appears to be worse than last year’s, which was worse than Napier’s first year. And all three of them are arguably worse than Mullen’s worst year in 2021. Napier has been stealing from us for three years. If he does not voluntarily surrender a good portion of that buyout, I recommend the university file charges for fraud.

 

Nebraska humiliated us in the 1995 national championship, but I never doubted Spurrier as a coach. Miami caused me to see there were no improvements under BN. TAMU simply sealed Napier's fate, and it really was the Miami game that did it!