Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!
  1. Gator Country Black Friday special!

    Now's a great time to join or renew and get $20 off your annual VIP subscription! LIMITED QUANTITIES -- for details click here.

The Root Cause of Florida’s Decline

Discussion in 'RayGator's Swamp Gas' started by duggers_dad, Sep 15, 2024.

  1. MaceoP

    MaceoP GC Hall of Fame

    3,215
    511
    418
    Apr 3, 2007
    The defining moment in the race to the bottom was when Chump hired the Cheeseburger. Meyer's team was built for speed and the spread option. Muschamp took that team and put in a man who ran a conventional TOP O. It turned out Charlies O was not schematically superior, as the Cheeseburger called it. From that point on, they used Brantley. We did have Jordan Reed on the team, who could have been a very effective Spread QB.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. wingtee

    wingtee GC Hall of Fame

    13,888
    23,695
    3,248
    Apr 11, 2007
    Daytona Beach
    Mccalwain was after Champ was he not
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
  3. ocalaman

    ocalaman GC Hall of Fame

    7,723
    3,081
    2,498
    Jun 30, 2018
    Should have used "Free Fallin'" instead.
     
    • Funny Funny x 2
  4. phideltdj

    phideltdj GC Hall of Fame

    2,132
    359
    1,963
    Aug 7, 2007
    When Saban left the Dolphins job for Bama...big turning point.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Winner Winner x 1
  5. Wanne15

    Wanne15 GC Hall of Fame

    16,910
    4,304
    3,088
    Jan 18, 2015
    That creates losers immediately. I mean , what type of person makes such a weak decision.
     
    • Winner Winner x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  6. Wanne15

    Wanne15 GC Hall of Fame

    16,910
    4,304
    3,088
    Jan 18, 2015
    Saban got rid of him knowing he needed a better offense to keep up.
     
  7. crescent_beach

    crescent_beach GC Legend

    586
    167
    1,818
    Sep 25, 2016
    How about since the elimination of the “Gator Bait” chant?
     
    • Agree Agree x 7
    • Like Like x 1
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  8. scooterp

    scooterp GC Hall of Fame

    2,182
    1,235
    2,703
    Feb 15, 2012
    2 & 1/2 good seasons with Mullen, but that’s about it. But I wouldn’t go there. It’s a pretty cool tradition we started. Don’t want it to go away.
     
    • Dislike Dislike x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
  9. BrianUF5220

    BrianUF5220 Junior

    169
    63
    1,758
    Feb 2, 2015
    Palm City, FL
    Or Molly Hatchet "Dreams I'll Never See". Jacksonville is close enough.
     
  10. Wanne15

    Wanne15 GC Hall of Fame

    16,910
    4,304
    3,088
    Jan 18, 2015
    Since our coaches and players weren’t the best money could buy and we started bargain shopping
     
  11. gatorinmi

    gatorinmi GC Hall of Fame

    15,182
    403
    643
    Apr 8, 2007
    And I'm pretty sure Meyer's last recruiting class was ranked #1.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  12. gatorbreeder

    gatorbreeder GC Legend

    569
    256
    193
    Jun 23, 2023
    Someone do the W/L since they got rid of the Gator Bait cheer. We all know it isn't in any way racist. Who cares if some black child was used as alligator bait by his father in some OBSCURE book?

    Edit: Wouldn't you know it, that happened in the summer of 2020. The shoe toss didn't start this horrible football, the loss of our cheer led to the shoe throw and all the rest. "If you ain't a Gator, you're Gator Bait, baby!" Lawrence Wright.
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Winner Winner x 1
  13. partdopy

    partdopy GC Hall of Fame

    1,534
    365
    1,973
    Feb 1, 2012
    Turning point was Brantley's injury against Alabama. He looked pretty good that year and his injury got driskel in who was not prepared and broke his confidence. Never regained long term continuity offensively after that.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  14. airgator96

    airgator96 GC Legend

    645
    211
    1,873
    May 16, 2007
    Jacksonville
    The root cause is people (AD's) trying to hire the next big thing without the candidates having the history (more than 5 years) of proven success as the top dog.

    Meyer had success everywhere and then did it at UTAH. It was a logical hire.

    Billy Donovan was more of a risk, but it was a home run.

    Spurrier had success in the USFL and at Duke, again a logic hire.

    Look at our coaches who have failed, they all had similar stories. Small schools with little track records or life time coordinators with no head coaching experience. 95% of the time this is not going to end well.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  15. gbranton

    gbranton GC Hall of Fame

    Yep. Somewhere out there on the internet there was a well written story with a timeline of all the Newton/Brantley events along with Urb’s statements and fake retirement that puts it all in perspective but I can’t find the story now. Think hard about the players that were passing through the program at that time and how Urban Meyer covered for them when they broke the law or failed drug tests and contrast that with the laptop story and tell me it makes sense.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  16. gatorwalrus

    gatorwalrus GC Hall of Fame

    3,378
    881
    1,873
    Sep 24, 2022
    The problem is AD's not having a deep understanding of what the job they are hiring for requires. Then they get sold a vision and next thing you know everyone is asking about what the buyout is.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. MarineG8R

    MarineG8R GC Hall of Fame

    3,962
    1,588
    2,648
    Nov 19, 2014
    I blame bourbon.
     
    • Funny Funny x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  18. 31g8r

    31g8r GC Hall of Fame

    1,269
    1,779
    2,008
    Oct 20, 2013
    No the defining moment was when JF didn't have a short list of viable interested candidates already in his possession. Hell he had all of 2010 to compile the list. There were no lessons learned when the ol ball coach said see ya after the 2001 season.

    Always have a list of people you want working for you. The last 4 hires were down the list hires to save face while under criticism for failing to land initial candidates. Every hire is a risk but you cant repeat the same terrible process over and over
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2024
    • Agree Agree x 1
  19. KronoGator

    KronoGator GC Hall of Fame

    2,142
    7,569
    2,913
    Apr 10, 2007
    Oh Foley had a shortlist, there was one name on it, he was enthralled with Muschamp.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  20. CHFG8R

    CHFG8R GC Hall of Fame

    5,782
    509
    393
    Apr 24, 2007
    St. Augustine, FL
    Who said it wasn't?