I knew I’d seen this addressed, and it’s here. Five things we learned from spending five days with Florida coach Todd Golden on the recruiting trail
Flipping through channels and I stumbled upon a show about "ACC greats" in basketball. A couple of teams they focused these 1 hour specials on were the 1990 Georgia tech yellowjackets featuring the great trio of Oliver, Scott and Anderson. A one hour special for a great team that didn't win a title. It was followed by another one about the Shane battier lead Duke blue devils of 98-2001 era. I was a kid during that 1990 season and revered that tech team. I was at UF for the 2000 team run. It dawned on me that as great as that Georgia tech team was and as much as I respected their program in the 90s, Florida garnered 2 titles and several final fours including one over that battier Duke team during a period of time that covered over twice as many years as I had been alive at the time I watched that tech team. It's a shame how far the program has fallen since that 94 final four team. Florida was truly established as a top 10 program and achieved great success with 2 different coaches. Just kind of struck me as I watched those specials and read this thread. A program like tech that was a world above Florida when I was a kid just had one of their best teams honored and yet they didn't and haven't won a title since.
Cuts don't have to happen anywhere. We are head and.shoulders above our backwards brethren in the SEC with respect to resources. We just have to want to win enough to top them. But those who think we should concentrate on academics think differently. Our current state government seems intent on lowering any academic aspirations we had. Since we no longer aspire to be a top academic institution, maybe we can spend all.out on our sports teams like the rest of the SEC. Keeping my fingers crossed...
I believe the UFAA got very fat in the 2000s. Lots of wins and money that coaches/players earned but administrators in the UFAA got paid for (while not funding infrastructure). Where did all the money go? That and poor coaching hires is my only explanation for our cellar status. Academics the issue? Duke? The trope that academics has impeded sports shields the UFAA from the scrutiny they deserve for having so many resources and producing such poor results.
Academics shouldn't be a real problem. We've always had higher academic requirements for athletes than all other SEC schools not named Vanderbilt. Even when we absolutely dominated the league in football and basketball.
Thanks for sharing that again. I remember reading it last August but it answers a lot of questions and gives me confidence in the plan. It says that Florida's basketball recruiting will not be what it was in November and won't be really known until spring of 2023. And that Florida's recruiting budget is comfortably in the top tier of basketball.
The coach matter. A lot. The right coach at the right time Do we have one now? I hope so. Time will tell.
Numbers without reference are really hard to analyze. It is still easy to see the fact that KY and UT are spending tons more than us.
