Andy Staples article on “why Florida has fallen behind”

Unfortunately, article is behind a paywall.

 

Nothing too “tough” or insightful IMO.

 

More like click-bait . . . actually titled How A Once Dominant Football Program Fell PERMANENTLY Two Steps Behind.

I capitalized the operative word. So we're shutting Gator Country down I guess. No more need to discuss anything.

I agree with @tommyvee. Just re-hashing history with a hyperbolic title.

PS -- As usual, if you have trouble reading it, just send me a PM.

 

Wish one of these guys would have the guts to write about the main reason Florida fell off as a program, Bama selling their souls and facilitating every possible advantage Nick Saban required. That along with the offensive scheme change muschamp brought in were THE two biggest issues with our decline. Well, that along with the Cam laptop fiasco and Meyer's freak out.

Seems like writing about our inability amd reluctance to get in the arms race is beating a dead horse. Yawn.

The transfer thing is also a lame argument because it should have been expected following the dismal recruiting from Mullen. Which is it? If people complain about talent why wouldn't there be massive roster turnover?

As a supporter of Napier I have other concerns than transfers and a "lackadaisical " turnaround namely some in game coaching decisions, a couple staff positions and some OC history. He's already moved on from Toney so that's a huge step in showing his willingness to evolve.

 

Since this thread is about rehashing old stuff, well then why not?

It pretty much is about how the landscape is changing in major college football (and somewhat in basketball) and it is ALL about the money. We can say with some scholarship that money has always been involved whereas it is now blatant. The easy picking is UF, with two NCs not too far in the past. Meyer did not leave it in good shape.

I go back to what I think was Foley's take: football is the blob who can and WILL eat an athletic department if allowed, and if not careful it will bankrupt (financially and/or morally) a university. I can't comment whether it was the Presidents who dictated this mantra to Foley or their thoughts aligned with his, but it was definitely the philosophy of his tenure. He sold the monied people the idea that there were more pressing needs than football facilities.

Now all this is in the rear view mirror and as everyone should know, hindsight is 20/20. We look slow. I also believe we looked unsophisticated (or worse) in the Rashada mess. And to the article, we can also say with some anecdotal certainty that alpha males today are tuned into current events and not past legacies. Not that the NIL is everything but it plays into a lot of it.

Now to the State of the Program:

No one is going to be able to correct the outsiders' takes because we "know better". Truth in "journalism" left the building a LONG time ago. It is what it is. But to me, UF has always stood for academic excellence (at least in the realm of public universities) with enthusiastic support for sports, especially football. My guess (hope?) is that the truly heavy hitters still embrace these traits. Stricklin was hired to continue Foley's trend and he was also regarded as a very good fundraiser. I know it is an easy target but I continue to say that THE biggest brain fart of the recent past was the hiring of Mullen. We can all get around the notion that, if we were paying attention, we would have realized that money was buying NCs at an increasingly alarming rate and that the allure of UF wasn't what it used to be.

But in all "State of the Union" addresses, while you take time to talk about the recent past, you also talk about the vision of the future. And this is what this thread should be all about. Time to step off the curb, whether it is comfortable or not. Maybe this is more my observations than others, but the UF I knew as a student is NOT what it is today. I seriously doubt I would be admitted, based on the numbers of applications. I am also not sure I would embrace the new ideas that seem to have permeated (hijacked?) the academic institutions of the recent past. But still, I see a gap between us oldsters and the new recruits. I don't think the university administration embraces an arms race with other universities just because it is the flavor of the month. And that is doubly so with NIL money but we shall see.

Napier has been hired to get us to a vision of the future. He is structured and committed. And I guess he is what the monied interests believe this academic institution desires. It is just that I don't think it is going to look like what other "successful" folks have built. And personally, I am okay with that.

 

Yep, it was posted on another site. But I do not agree with it... except for being late to the party on facilities.

 

I think you are correct. Pretty much everything you said is true and I think we are destined to be a second tier football team. I will be happy to get classes between five and 10 and not keep up with the very top programs. Me on the other hand can separate academics from football, and they do not have to be related whatsoever.

 

The article also references Tennessee as having built their indoor practice facility decades before UF! And they have been a winning program for how long exactly? What is their record vs Florida since they built it?

 

Yeah I don't equate the facilities alone to success or lack there of. Tennessee has been pretty dysfunctional for sometime which negated their facilities. My comment with Bama includes the wholesale changes including spending on recruits, staff, analysts, booster involvement etc

 

This is exactly why I don't see us competing again in the current atmosphere. It's literally the only thing that matters to Bama and UGA and they'll do anything to stay at the top. You could say this about most teams in the NCAA at this point. Maybe OSU or USC will challenge them. Maybe. But, outside of those two, I don't see anyone willing to go there.

 

Think of it as a metaphor for how desperate one is and how much they'll do to win. We will never be able to match this level of patheticness.

 

I think OSU and Clemson may be there already as well. I also think a couple more programs may go down that rabbit hole now that paying players is so much easier to do today. Not that it hasn't been happening forever.

 

If there is sneaking one every half decade or so, okay. But let's be honest, they're nowhere near those two.

 

Exactly. Which is why I can see programs like OSU, LSU, Tennessee and the Texas schools jump on board.

 

The point about not paying a high school kid $13M (or whatever amount) and missing the first scheduled $500k payment is not a problem I want to get rid of anytime. If success there is Gator sports please tell me what's Gator about it and why I should care about it more than, let's say, the XFL or spending time doing anything else constructive or fun?

 

LSU is in that group. And I'd put A&M and Texas right there.

But it is a VERY short list of those schools/programs both DESPERATE enough to do whatever it takes and also HAVE THE MEANS to do so. That group of seven. And, sadly, 5 of them are in our conference.

 

I still don't see it happening. Well, I guess LSU is already there in a way. What's fitting, IMO, is that UGA and Bama are literally killing the sport to the point where nobody outside of Ga or Ala even cares that much anymore. Good for them. Kings of the worst era in college football by a mile.

 

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach with the Texas schools. I think they deal with a lot of the same problems/issues we do in that they're as proud of their academics as they are their athletics. Georgia and Bama don't have that "problem".

Maybe there's another group out there waiting (and hoping) that Georgia and Bama just ruin the game to the point there is a complete restructuring. Again, maybe. I wouldn't count on it in a society that lives by the following mantra: Make as much as you can, as fast as you can, while providing as little as possible in return. Unfortunately, that's the way the world rolls these days.

 

I don't really think UF is the problem. The issues UF is having are the same issues FSU and Miami are dealing with.

We went through a couple of decades where FSU, Miami and UF were the top programs in the country. Usually at least 2 of the programs were near the top of the rankings. The rivalries between the Florida schools was so big and kids wanted to be a part of that.

Every year it seems like there are maybe 10 schools that get most of the top athletes. For a long time, all 3 Florida schools were in that group every year. And largely because of that, the top Florida athletes mostly stayed in Florida. Now none of the Florida schools are in that group.

Now all 3 programs seem to have been pretty broken and somewhat irrelevant during the formidable years of most of these kids lives. You may not realize this but most of the kids being recruited now were about 2 years old the last time we won a national championship.

Clearly there are multiple factors contributing to what's happened, but I just don't think the problem is specific to UF.