RANT: Gator Country is not reality. It is a reflection of reality, to be sure, a shadow. At the end of the day it is merely virtual, as a shadow can be seen but is without force or mass. Social media platforms like Gator Country have lulled participants into believing that this technological platform is real when it isn't. This is a message board that self-selects its participants to be people that invest their time and effort into reading/contributing about a thing of shared passion. Many on here do more than that, investing deeper in tickets, travel, etc. But it would be eye-opening, IMO, to survey every person that filled the Swamp for UK and see how many come to GC, or any other s/m platform. I reckon its a lot fewer than we think. Media easily (IMO lazily) come to fan sites, social/media, etc and think they know the reality of all of Gator Fan-dom based on what they see here, just as "journalists" can go to Tik-Tok, X, FB and believe that that is a stand-in for reality when it just isn't. Coaches act on this when they dismiss people in basements with keyboards that critique their play-calling. A full stadium is REALITY. IMO, UF admin has seen the Swamp filled with people in spite of the difficulty of this season's team. Gainesville merchants have seen people fill their establishments. The team plays hard for the coaches. The coaches leverage HS and the portal with decent effectiveness. It is arguably a positive trend towards the future. We have a generational talent leading the offense. The standards of ethics seem to be very high with these coaches and staff. I think an executive like Scott Stricklin can see enough to grant the head football coach additional time to realize fulfillment on the field. That is an arguable conclusion, certainly. Many here argue against that decision. However, this site isn't reality; it's a shadow of reality.
I agree. I haven’t really taken into account the financial implications of the 20 mill profit sharing that is coming. Money will be tighter so I can see saving some on the buyout is important.
In before the merge. Because we have NO other threads discussing this matter stickied to the TOP OF THE PAGE!
It needs to start at the top and a good coach needs to be available. Firing him just to have the satisfaction thats hes gone wont help. We never know who is truly available or interested until the deal is done. We can only speculate. Half the time these coaches are only driving up their contract and either never had any intention of moving on or already knew exactly which job they were going to take. I hope we get an established coach who has won big time on the big stage next time though.
Missoiri may have been 10-2 last year but they were still a far cry from a national championship. I do howt wish we were 10-2 and trying to make the next step to truly elite. We suck and its been forever since Urbs. My youngest kid was four years old.and knows who Tebow is of course. He just never seen the gators destroy someone in an sec championship or anything like that.
I'm grateful I attended UF from the tail end of HBC to Urban and Donavan in there as well. It was a fun time to be there. Would love to see UF near the top in football again.
This may be bias, but my belief is that the ppl that self-select to be on this site are what I would refer to as super-fans....the people that follow the teams progress and news on a daily basis. Also assuming that the ppl that post on message boards are living in Mom's basement is hugely offensive. These people are out in the community interacting with others on a personal basis as well. The other end of the spectrum is the casual fan. You know the type: the ones in the stadium that are there for the social occasion. They don't really care that much if the Gators win or lose....they're there for the party. What has happened is Stricklin has rolled the dice (our dice purchased with our $$) that the team will somehow be better next year. Playing virtually the same schedule as last year doesn't bode well for any better results than we've seen this year. That full stadium won't be so full anymore with the coaching disaster that Stricklin personally created.
Napier is making slow progress. Too slow for some. It's hard to remember all the changes he's made and challenges he's faced. I have seen the defense come alive. I waited until uga to believe. It's been fixed. We are too thin, had key injuries, but no denying we have made great progress. The next few teams will likely get too many points because we are down key players and our offense will not be keeping the defense off the field. Pointing out defensive improvement should have come sooner is true but be thankful it has come. I wouldn't be surprised to see an OC hired and plenty of NIL money spent. Hopefully the pressure is off and we'll see an even better team going forward. A. Pity we don't have 4 easier games ahead and a bowl win.
I think so, especially with Lagway endorsing the commitment to Napier. It appears that he's heavily invested in his last two recruiting classes. 2025: 35% NIL on Sophs & 35% NIL on Juniors. That leaves 30% for your Freshman, Seniors and transfers. I wouldn't expect much from our 2025 recruiting class just based on the remaining budget pie.
Good take, and nicely said. Empty seats are reality and if that happens, I think things would be different.
I agree with you except for the empirical evidence suggests that the "Vandying" of UF started the minute that Urban walked away.
This is just more of the same by the UAA...wanting to build an 80 yd practice facility to save $$. As some other poster mentioned, they are "unserious" about producing a championship level football team. They are deadly serious about milking the fan and alumni for every nickel thay can.
I don't think you are correct. The only report I ever read on this put us in the top 15 at least, maybe top 10. The information is hard to gather precisely. What sources do you have to support your statement?
