Fewer Bama Coaches, More Gator Coaches

[Gator2222]

Here's an article about the current arms race in support staff. Clemson and Alabama are apparently way out ahead.

"Getting an accurate number of everyone working in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility is difficult -- in 2012, there were 146 non-coaches on the athletic department payroll -- but a few big names stand out over the past few years. For instance, when McElwain was offensive coordinator, he had former Power 5 offensive coordinators Mike Groh (Virginia) and Billy Napier (Clemson) on his staff. Kevin Steele, who had been a head coach at Baylor, served as director of player personnel in 2013. The next year, former Washington assistant and ace recruiter Tosh Lupoi joined the staff as an analyst. This year, former Maryland O.C. Mike Locksley will hold a similar position."

Saban generally has 2-3 former offensive coordinators that due to the loophole in the rules can spend unlimited time working with players. It's definitely an advantage.

"A Florida support staff member paces near the 50-yard line, staring across the field of the Georgia Dome. It's December and the SEC Championship Game will begin in an hour -- No. 18 Florida vs. No. 2 Alabama. Players from both teams warm up, yet it's not an athlete who has this young, up-and-coming coach's attention. He looks over at the opposing sideline and marvels at the size of the crimson-clad throng of coaches at Nick Saban's beck and call. (The size of Saban's armada grew again this week with the hiring of former USC coach Steve Sarkisian as an analyst.)"

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...olution-size-college-football-coaching-staffs

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

Before 1950 Florida football was a loser. Fuller Warren was elected governor of Florida in 1948 and he vowed to do something about the dismal state of Gator football. Bob Woodruff from Tennessee was the head coach at Baylor when he was hired at the then astronomical salary of $17,000 dollars to be the head coach of the Florida Gators. The Gators were off and running in pursuit of the Southeastern Conference Championship. It took a long time coming. In 1984 the Gators vacated their first ever SEC title due to probation. It wasn't until 1991 and the Fun-N-Gun of Steve Spurrier that Florida won its first SEC Championship out right. It took 50 years from the time Bob Woodruff was hired.

There have been up and downs over the years. The following synopsis of Gator football might not be entirely true but it does point up one very interesting fact.

Bob Woodruff Tennessee grad tried to make Florida Tennessee in the 1950s.
Ray Graves Tennessee grad tried to make Florida Florida in the 1960s.
Doug Dickey Florida grad tried to make Florida Tennessee in the 1970s.
Charley Pell Alabama grad tried to make Florida Alabama in the 1980s.
Galen Hall Penn State grad tried to continue what Pell started in the 1980s.
Steve Spurrier Florida grad tried to make Florida Florida in the 1990s.
Ron Zook Miami of Ohio grad tried to make Florida Miami of Ohio in the 2000s.
Urban Meyer Cincinnati grad tried to make Florida Ohio State in the 2000s.
Will Muschamp Georgia grad tried to make Florida Georgia in the 2010s.
Jim McEwan Eastern Washington grad trying to make Florida Alabama in the 2010s.

In the last 66 years of Florida football we have had only one head coach who was a Florida grad and who tried to make Florida Florida.

That was "when the moon was in the seventh house,
And Jupiter was aligned with Mars
When peace guided the planets
And love then steered the stars".