Back in the days of Pell everybody in the SEC was running the same 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense. That's why/how Spurrier changed the game. Zook didn't have an offensive plan that I could discern. Meyer of course brought something that was decidedly not 'bama ball. Chump on the other hand definitely tried to emulate 'bama so we fired him. Mac was brought in to change that. Now nobody knows what a Mac/Nuss offense at Florida looks like because we've yet to see one. But apparently it needs a passing game because it damn sure doesn't work without it.
Very good summary of the hires from Pell on. Still emulating UAL has not yet worked for UF and it was tried in the 1980s and now has been tried twice in the 2010s. I guess one can say that that McElwain was only at UAL for 4 years, but without those 4 years he probably does not get the job at UF.
My expanded view on each hire is:
Pell: An blatant attempt to copy UAL's style which has long been defenses, special teams and cheating. UF played ok at times but Pell also tightened up at times and of course UF got into big probation problems.
Spurrier: Brought in to put spark back into the offense that stagnated under Hall after Bell left. He did and along with Graves earlier tenure established the style UF fans expect from their program.
Zook: Was a guy with a plan to fix up a junker but was handed the keys to a Ferrari. Zook's plan was to rebuild a program from rubble and he failed to adjust it to the program he was hired to run. Foley also wanted to put his stamp on the football program with this hire.
Meyer: This was Machen's hire. I personally did not like it at the time. I did not like what Meyer did to the program while he was there. He is a heck of a coach, but has zero confidence in his coaching so he constantly tries to win with bad guys. He runs a high school offense which matches his thought that he is not a good enough coach and must get better players than the competition.
Muschamp: Foley once again trying to put his stamp on the program and be a copycat when to the perfect bureaucrat hire: A UAL/Saban guy who was coach in waiting at UTx. Better yet the guy lived in Gainesville growing up and Foley could ignor that UGa connection.
McElwain: Foley was not giving up on his UAL/Saban dream. We shall see if it works out.