Twitter Updates 2022

Except everyone who has made these kinds of posts over the last 11 years and been mocked for them has ended up completely and totally vindicated time and time again.

 

Say that same thing to the mirror and you’ve just taken your first step away from the ledge

 

In an interview with On3, Mikeska was quoted as saying UF is not taking a TE this cycle. The On3 reported said he was told thru sources that the coaches want to focus on other positions and most likely will not take a TE with one exception, the #1 you said (whose mother went to UF), but even that didn't seem likely

 

I don’t really agree with that. They’re still the same people on forums and twitter bitching and whining. They didn’t prove anything or get anything done. The guys that make decisions, made decisions. Just like they always have, just like they always will. Nobody got fired because a bunch of crabby fans that think way too highly of themselves spent their every waking moment complaining on a sports forum. The average fan matters not, in the grand scheme of things. You want a seat at the table? Break out the checkbook. With the NIL floodgates open, you can buy the best players. Stop bitching and get it done. Put up or shut up. $2 a week aint gonna cut it though. Neither is 100k.

The gators are my team and they’ve been my team since I was old enough to say Go Gators. I like em better when they win, but they’re still my team when they lose. I ain’t forking out the kinda dough that gets things done, so I don’t sweat the small stuff as much as some of you. I don’t feel entitled to championships because I bought some clothes, or some tickets. I celebrate championships, but I understand, in the grand scheme of things, I contributed very little to make it happen as did the overwhelming majority of the folks whining. They may feel like they contribute a lot, but they’re not even a blip on the radar. Big money makes things happen, and lets be honest, big money doesn’t hang around bitching on these forums. Big money makes phone calls to people who matter.

 

You have to wonder if Harris made his decision.

 

2nd OV after Bama. Next is USC, Miami, then Tennessee

 

I want to clarify one thing that I think you are not getting..Florida has busted out the check books (booster/alumni wise). The gator guard and gator collective has millions atop millions for NIL. Floridas bank for NiL is at the top echelon of all schools total NiL raised.

UF has decided to play by the NIL “rules” and that has a negative impact on high school recruiting when peers are not. It is not about putting your money where you mouth is or put up or shut up. The money has been put up. Florida just isn’t willing to induce players to come with that money. Others are. The business model chosen (NIL for current players and for recruits once on campus vs paying recruits to sign) for lack of a better term, doesn’t have the short term boost to some of those who donated. Maybe it will pay off in the long run. But the money some are donating don’t feel it is getting or will “buy the best players” (your words) when our sales pitch is sign here and get rewarded with NiL deals of x dollars when another school has and will provide guaranteed money before they are on campus. fans can be mad if they feel 5th donate to a cause that they were sold would help lift UF talent level to a championship caliber roster and don’t see that happening.

While you are correct that message board chatter is irrelevant to a coaches job security it is also not very practical for you to claim that the average fan matters not - in football or in any business. When the stands are empty in any stadium, coaches get fired. While big time boosters have the most impact, do you think the coaching staff wants say 1000 fans who donate $1000 a year to the collective to stop donating cause they are bummed out by perceived success on the recruiting trail? That million dollars that goes bye bye in that scenario is a big deal to the coaches. And there are thousands of fans who donate that much. The average fan donations in total are not a blip on the radar (as individuals, yes, they are irrelevant).

 

So transparent.

 

Completely and totally? Uh no. Sometimes yes, sometimes no....that's recruiting

 

Here are some facts that are well researched:

* On field performance has little to no impact on recruiting class rankings early on in a coach's tenure.
* Recruits are much more likely to stick to a team once committed early than they are to flip late in a cycle.
* High ranked recruits statistically lead to more success than lower ranked recruits.

The late signing day collapse for highly ranked recruits by this staff last cycle, transition class or not, does not inspire confidence that they will be able to come in last minute and get recruits to sign.

History of successful class rankings has shown this staff MUST close on some highly ranked recruits early in the cycle, no later than summer. Low 3* takes aren't going to build that momentum and currently our class average is .88.

Here's to hoping they close a few this summer.

 

All of that is true I guess. But coaching is still far more important in my book. We had the talent..especially the last 2 years. We’ve played BAma down to the wire the last 2 meetings…literally threw a shoe to lose at home to LSU. Go back and watch last year’s George game. We imploded before the half..with a very young QB. But I would still take Richardson over Stetson…wouldn’t you? It’s coaching.. player development..player buy in. We have an improvement coming are way. At least that’s what I think.

 

I mean, sure, there have been some specific recruits where the optimists have been right and the pessimists have been wrong. But going back over the last decade+, it's pretty indisputable that the people who were saying that recruiting wasn't good enough to meaningfully compete for championships were right, and the people telling the first group that they were ledge-jumping negative nellies who need to trust the coaches were wrong.

If I say Candidate X is going to win a state and you say that Candidate Y is going to win that same state, and then Candidate Y wins, it's not much of a defense for me to say, "Well, Candidate X won a bunch of counties and the first debate, so who can really say who was right?"

 

I hope the improvement is coming too! There's definitely talent on the team (we were 7th in talent composite going into last season) but what we've been lacking is those highly ranked top 50ish difference makers.

I never said coaching wasn't important, it very much is, but great talent makes great coaching easier.

The point is that history has shown on-field performance has little impact on recruiting highly ranked players early on in a coach's tenure.
Eventually when enough time has passed, on-field performance is noticed and more often than not has a negative impact. (see:Muschamp) A coach has to get ahead of the curve early on.

Also, yes, I'd rather have Richardson. Richardson was a .92 ranked 4* recruit and Stetson was a .83 low 3*. But do you know what Stetson has that Richardson didn't? A boatload of 5* playmakers around him. Rising tides raise all ships. Stack the high end game breaking talent and it allows the rest of the guys to execute their jobs.

 

I would argue the combo of inconsistent recruiting, subpar coaching, and a variety of ancillary issues (facilites, culture, refusal to get dirty in recruiting, smaller staff, etc) all were causes for a lack of championships. To just lay inconsistent (we have had some really good teams too) results simply at recruiting is far too easy. By and large our recruiting has actually been fairly solid. Muschamp was too defense oriented, Mac let things get away from him, Mullen wasn't recruiting oriented/had Hevesy and Todd around his neck....but we still have generally been in the mix recruiting. Not top 5, but I have always felt top 10-12 was fine IF you evaluate well, fill needs, develop.
All that said, my issue isn't that we need to recruit well. Of course we do. But the overreactions and petulant tantrums are always silly. Serious conversation, criticism, and debate are great....but let's at least wait until we have a real sense of where things are at. Especially in the new NIL world that no one fully understands how will play out.

 

Now, a more truer statement cannot be found!

 

I fully understand that people are donating. What I think you are not getting is that you have a whole lot of individuals wanting to take individual credit for what the collectives are doing as a whole. They think their pennies entitle them to something. It doesn’t. If you don’t like what they’re doing with the money, don’t give it to them.

The guard and the collective are two vastly different things. I would imagine the fellas moving big money around in the guard have a better idea of where their money is going and are also way less emotional about it. You think there are thousands donating thousands to the collective. I think there are thousands donating $2 with big mouths that run around telling everyone they’re doing their part and everyone else in the chain of command is a complete failure. There’s a few people donating more money there, sure, but by and large, the individual money moving around there is pennies compared to what the guard is doing. We’re not going to miss too many individual donors there.

UF has, for the most part, played by the rules since we got hammered by the NCAA. Why do you expect that to change now?

I said YOU can buy the best players. I didn’t say you can give your money to a collective and hope they do what you want with the money. I said YOU, the individual can go get it done on your own. You don’t like the way the collective is doing things, so don’t give them your money. Ruiz isn’t routing his money through a collective. He’s brokering deals himself. That’s what you want right? The big money, flashy deals? Do it. You can’t, because you are insignificant, just like the majority of us here on these forums.

The average fan does not really matter as an individual. The sooner you realize that, the happier you will be. Buying tickets, merch, and donating a grand to the collective doesn’t entitle you to anything, and nobody is going to miss you if you don’t. 100k fans, sure. A dozen? A hundred? A thousand? Sorry, nobody is going to miss you. If the stands are empty and the money is all dried up, things are beyond broken already, but for the most part, I think our admin (and big money) have made moves in a timely manner. Not everybody is as unhappy as you. Not everyone is going to stop buying merch and going to games. I will still be rocking my gear and going to games, no matter how unhappy you are. I always have. Does that mean I’m always happy with the way things are being run? No, not really. Not at all, really. But I don’t spend my every waking moment whining about it, because I am insignificant. Nobody cares what I say about it. Even if I had millions to throw away and could move enough money around to get things done, that’s not how I operate. A few bucks on entertainment is one thing, flushing millions is another. I’ll just sit back and be grateful that there are guys out there throwing that kinda money around and let them work with the admin to get things done. However they choose to use the insignificant amount of money I throw in the pot is up to them. I can stop contributing if I’m truly unhappy about the way things are going, but I realize it’s very unlikely that anyone will miss what I was throwing in the pot anyway.

The craziest thing about all of this to me is that we’re having this conversation before this staff has even had a chance to play a game. Some folks are never going to be happy. They just live to be miserable.

 

Nice post. However, I am not able to use my billions like Ruiz is doing. UF does not allow any booster/fan or business to sign kids to NIL prior to them getting to campus and/or induce recruits to coming to UF with contracts prior to getting on campus. Rumor is that is what Ruiz is doing. UF will not allow it. Openly discourages it, and would probably tell coaching staff to not sign a player that I induce ahead of time. I can use my billions to sign every player I want after they arrive to whatever lucrative deal I, willing to.

one slightlyrelated problem…I don’t have billions.