The Pac 12 is a way tougher for Kelly that what he'd face in the than SEC East, no question about it. He has to go through USC, Oregon, Washington, Cal, Stanford, ASU, and UA each year, plus some tough OOC opponents like Memphis and Texas A&M. That's a gauntlet. In the SEC East, you play Georgia and a spotty Tennessee and that's about it. Then you get the doormats like Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, and Mizzou to beat up on. You have to play one tough OOC (FSU) and LSU each year, but that's so much easier a route than what he has to face in the Pac 12. If he would have come here, he'd have 10+ win seasons for as long as the eye can see.
He's getting more money from the 49ers anyway. It's clear, that money was not the reason for his decision. I agree with you there
The Pac-12 is ripe for the picking. It's not much and neither is cross town rival USCw. When he was at Oregon Chip recruited mostly in California, it will be very easy for him to plug back in. It will be push button recruiting out there for him. Recruiting kids in Cali and recruiting kids in the southeast is very different, as are the kids. He went where he is comfortable, all the way around. He will be the king of the Pac-12 soon, outside of there, we'll see.. Interesting read: https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ys-decision-makes-all-the-sense-in-the-world/
FWIW, UCLA friend told me Wasserman and Aikman were talking to Kelly's agent two weeks into the season. The athletic department wanted to keep Mora while the boosters wanted Kelly and were working on that all year. CK's agent told them Kelly was going to make a deal with UF, they prevailed on the AD, which led to Mora's firing. Kelly preferred UCLA to UF, but was going to be our coach if Mora didn't get canned. Kelly ended up where he wanted to be - and it obviously wasn't about the money since he would have made more coaching at UF. I think he preferred (1) being "the guy" at UCLA if he builds something successful, as opposed to being another guy at UF behind Spurrier and Meyer, and (2) living in LA versus Gainesville. I'd like to say he was afraid of SEC competition, but that seems silly. Bottom line: I don't think CK played us, he just got whatl he wanted. There was nothing our side could do about it once the UCLA job opened up. Good luck to Coach Mullen, and GO GATORS!
Back from the game... I got very sick on the way back and have not turned on anything until this morning. The pic for of Mullen getting off the plane with that massive smile and big Chomp is priceless and says it all AFAIAC. Getting "who wants YOU" is better than someone who wants just to use you. I thought we had them 24-16 in the 4th. We got this. I high fived Feleipe at Gator Walk and told him"go get em, man!" . I absolutely HATED what happened. We will see better days. Go Coach Mullen.
I posted this somewhere deep inside, as a reply to one of "those people" who like their clothes pressed. What we built was akin to one of those public art displays that are bits and pieces of, um, stuff that is lying around and it is put together with remarkable flair. But you have to see it in its whole. If you look too close you just see the leftover pizza box with the dried cheese. I sincerely hope everyone who was/is a part of it will take the time to reflect and take a bow. Bravo!
@tilly with the information that has come to light since the conclusion of the great search and the never ending thread I think you have been further vindicated. I think the information you were being fed was dead on accurate to the people who were providing it. Unfortunately, I also think there were two distinct camps within the Gator nation when it came to the coaching search. One side of the camp wanted Kelly and was trying to make that happen (I can guess who one or two of the members of that team were) and this team was getting you information through a channel of some sort. The other side of the gator camp wanted nothing to do with Kelly and wanted Mullen all along ( I can guess a few members of this camp). It seems at the end of the day the pro Kelly camp who was trying to get this info out to the public/ Gator fan base in order to put pressure on the anti Kelly camp to make them hire Kelly but ultimately lost out. If you go back and read some of the Twitter posts and interviews of the important gators during the search it all becomes more clear.
Perhaps, and that is an interesting take. I think it is more likely though that UF was all in on CK and CK just bailed. I think the rumors of division were somewhat overblown.
I could be completely wrong but go back and look at the information flow and the end result coupled wt what CK said and then how fast DM deal got done after his last game. .... Also who is Dan Mullins agent?... Is it Jimmy Sexton?
Thanks everyone for making this thread so fun. Made the coaching search something to remember. remind me?
