Has administration learned its lesson?

I guess I’m missing something with all this talk about the culture of our administration. Only “problem” I see is their stated position of not getting into bidding wars for players. I get the complaints about Tigert Hall and admissions, but I’m also guessing Stanford and Michigan hold to higher standards as well. We’ve reached the top of the mountain under 2 different coaches — that suggests it can be done in spite of Tigert Hall

 

But Tigert Hall is not the same as it was in that era. There are numerous observations of administration issues in this thread. I would call that their "culture." Two of note is their almost parsimonious nature of expenditures particularly on the 2 revenue generating sports: 2 examples of note come to mind: Foley approving a 60 yd indoor practice field until he had to hire a Football Coach that said he wouldn't come unless a full length field was built. Another is the decision to put lipstick on a pig with an overpriced renovation of a woefully outdated O'Connell center rather than building a new, state-of-the-art basketball-only facility.

The second is that they appear to be consistently unprepared and slow to act to the ever changing environment of college athletics. An example is that Florida was the second State in the nation to pass an NIL law right behind CA. Was the UAA prepared when it took effect? From the outside it certainly didn't appear to be at all.

 

There’s always a few of those too. So many reasons why it could be and we will never know unless the kid says something.

 

I wouldn’t get into bidding wars either. Pay a solid number and they can take it or leave it. Stanford is a bad example as they aren’t a good team. Mich maybe

 

They have been consistently behind the times. They appear to be in denial about the real world of college athletics.

I don't believe that scUM's and even TAMU's model is sustainable, but we all have to realize that we will have to pay some of those 5* at some point. We are not Alabama or Georgia. We don't have the cache to lure them without money. That is until this program is elevated to their level (or pretty close to it).

 

While Michigan is a historic blue blood program (something we are not), they haven't won a national championship in 25 years (and it was a split title with Nebraska). That historic performance (despite recent developments) would be unacceptable to the vast majority of fans and alumni of UF.

BTW, I would perfectly fine with our program if it could match the recent Michigan performance. I'm a little more pragmatic at the moment.

 

Did you find out yet OP?

 

It’s like they have to be forced to compete instead of ever being a leader or having any kind of innovation.

 

You used the words “at some point”. I’m inclined to agree - the “at some point” may be a year from now after CBN and staff have assembled a real team of guys who want to be Gators and play like it. After we go to a bowl without the mass of “sit outs”. And…. Maybe after we’ve all had a chance to see the effect of the scUM and TA&M approach to ‘NIL’.

That would be far more responsible and purposeful than seeing who can win a game of chicken with John Ruiz while we are trying to manage mass turnover of our roster.

 

Yeah Stanford might not be a good example, but they, and Michigan are two of the schools we are in good company with academically. Bama and Ga, not so much.

Some on here have no value for UF rising from party school to the nation’s elite in a span of 40 years. Personally I’m mixed on it — I’d like to see a higher priority put on football and bball too. But I do like that UF is now respected far more than it was back when I was being chased out of The Rat clutching a glass beer pitcher I’d taken a strong liking to sometime between Brown Sugar and Jumpin Jack Flash

 

LSU couldn’t form a 2 deep. They had less than 40 players. No way they were deeper

 

We are actually awful compared to other big schools that are good academically…

UCLA is #1, we are probably in line with them athletically… although bball may put them over the top

Michigan #3… crushes us. Bball and football much better

UVA #3… recent bball title

UNC #5, crushes us. Bball elite and football better than us now

Texas #10, basically our comp. Good academics major athletic suckage

Wisconsin #10, they’ve seen more success than us

Ilinois #13, occasionally good basketball but the first on the list I feel confident we are better than

OSU #16, way better

UGA #16, way better. Acting like we are so superior to them academically is laughable. The gap is quite small and for nearly all students the post grad opportunities would be similar

FSU is 19th. If we care about the top 5 thing then we have to respect them as a good academic institution. Can’t have it both ways

(I didn’t include the multiple iterations of Cal)

 

They made a good showing in the playoffs. If their fans aren’t happy with that, they are off their rocker. I’m not saying to be content with losing but their program is in a good place.

 

Academics is something to be proud of but has little to no bearing on football other than football players must attend class. Spouting off about how our real students get a premier education will not impress any players and may actually be a detriment as jocks and nerds aren’t usually frat brothers.

 

Somewhat true. I was happy to get out of the south and move to SoCal as a young teenager. I’m happy to leave those nuts behind now and be back in Florida. All things will never be equal. They will always have many pros and cons and what is important to one may have no value to another. Everyone has different interests and even for football players, many places are a different world. The world is so much smaller these days and these kids have a lot to chose from.

 

I live in East Tennessee and I'd be careful declaring UcheaT is back after a single good year. They've been claiming it every November for decades. This year is different because they beat Florida. Let's see what happens next year in The Swamp. Where you come up with them being back after 2020 is unknown. Last year UcheaT was 7-6 . . . NOT out of the desert.

 

As has been pointed out, generically blaming the "administration" is incomplete at best. The UFAA screwed up under Foley by not putting money into football (facilities and support staff). That has been fixed. I've not seen us lose a ton of players due to academics (nor get them, really), so Tigert is not the issue. Our academic reputation did not lead us to getting thumped by Oregon State or cause us to lose to Vandy.

If wealthy alumni define success, Michigan, USC, Stanford, etc will rule college football as they have more billionaire alumni than any other of the major powers. I do think the alumni culture of giving matters. UF recent gifts include $100M AI supercomputer, $100M for the Scripps campus, and tens of million for research on brain tumors. Do Alabama alums make different choices? Probably a higher percentage of them give to athletics (no data though), but two reactions. First, it is the alums money to give so who am I to second guess their choices, and two, I sure am not going to second guess the types of choices I see (like above). If folks think we need more NIL $ to players, give your money. Complaining about others supporting programs they care about is strange.

It is clear to me that we have failed because we hired poor coaches (admin did do that). Not b/c of money but b/c one guy was one dimensional (No O in Muschamp), one guy was a complete cultural misfit, and one guy was a great game coach (3 new year bowls) but quit on the team and has personality deficit disorder. Do our impatient fans harm us by being immediately demanding? Maybe. Harbaugh would likely have been fired by UF. I do think our fans were spoiled by Spurrier/Meyer and think things should be turned on a dime. I'm generally demanding but do recognize in Napier a plan to change our culture and will give him the benefit of the doubt for 3 years. Why? Because he is moving big things despite the many issues this year, and because I know being negative does nothing to change the timeline. He will get three years and if we do not see on field results from his efforts by then, questions can legitimately be very pointed. Indeed, if play calling and the defense do not improve in year 2, maybe staff roles needs adjusting. The UFAA needs to work with BN to support that as necessary (salaries, buyouts, etc), and I think they will.

As for the players, the great game by Bama players in a pointless bowl was impressive (and lack of portal losses by them/UGA). They have a culture we simply have not had. That too is on the coaches for allowing/fostering "me" attitudes. Culture alone is why I really want to see what BN can build here without constantly being torn down from the inside - he may not have Mullen's game day play calling ability, but the culture is more important long term (he can hire an OC but you can't hire commitment/passion).

 

I’m not Betty on us just yet, we may be headed in the right direction but we don’t have a starting lineup yet.