Is the joke on us? Do we care more about Gator Football than Fuchs and Stricklin?

[Tay Bang]

As Fuchs and Stricklin sit high up behind the glass in the air-conditioned press box sipping Chardonnay, snacking on carved smoked ham and roast beef with pasta salad with ice cream sundaes for dessert, the rest of us sit in our cramped seats sweating our azzes off and cheering for the Gators.

What are Fuchs and Stricklin thinking?

Fuchs is thinking about furthering UF's ascension into the "Ivy League of the South" status:

University of Florida, after hitting Top 10 status, looks to Top 5

He is thinking all those messy player arrests over the years is getting in the way of UF's academic progress. Aaron Hernanzez, Chris Rainey, Percy Harvins. Antonio Callaway amid dozens of other names are not helping his academic mission. He knows that players such as these are vital to return to the pinnacle of SEC football. It's not worth it to him. He hires a guy who will carry out his mission of sustaining a Stanford sports model: all sport teams on campus are excellent, occasionally elite, never embarrassing. Stricklin is the guy. A guy who knows that a proper Southern Gentleman wears seersucker only from Easter Sunday through Labor Day.

Of course, the right coach for this mission is not Chip Kelly. Get back on the plane after meeting the guy. It's squeaky clean Scott Frost, but he's not available. Squeaky clean Mullen is available:

Dan's mission: win 9 - 10 games a year, enough to keep the booster money flowing and , above all else, don't embarrass the University of Florida.
So, is the joke on us? Do we care more about Florida Gator Football than the people running Florida Gator Football?

 

[backstop13]

"we ain't come here to play school"

 

[gatormandan]

Would read again.

 

[Gator Fever]

The only problem with that argument is that Stricklin is the AD who let Mullen get away with a one game suspension of a player (5 star recruit) that was caught on video beating up a female.

 

[Tay Bang]

The only problem with that argument is that Stricklin is the AD who let Mullen get away with a one game suspension of a player (5 star recruit) that was caught on video beating up a female.

That was Starkville. Without an Ivy League president as his boss. This all starts with Fuchs and the UF Board.

 

[UFHealthGator]

So basically your answer is UF needs to hire crime sympathizers to recruit potential criminals, to win in football, and should turn a blind eye to them? I care about UF, and I care about having students that are not going to turn into criminals. Yea, to me, avoiding criminal activity is more important than winning football. When I send my child to UF, his /her future is not going to depend on how the criminals are doing elevating the football team, but rather the academic achievement of the school.

If that is what Fuchs and Stricklin are about, I am totally with them. I fundementally disagree that we need those kind of players to win though. SOS tore the SEC up in the 90s and lead a clean program.

P.S. Chip Kelly didn't want us. He chickened out and went west. The AD tried to hire him and even cleared him.

 

[Swampy!]

As Fuchs and Stricklin sit high up behind the glass in the air-conditioned press box sipping Chardonnay, snacking on carved smoked ham and roast beef with pasta salad with ice cream sundaes for dessert, the rest of us sit in our cramped seats sweating our azzes off and cheering for the Gators.

What are Fuchs and Stricklin thinking?

Fuchs is thinking about furthering UF's ascension into the "Ivy League of the South" status:

University of Florida, after hitting Top 10 status, looks to Top 5

He is thinking all those messy player arrests over the years is getting in the way of UF's academic progress. Aaron Hernanzez, Chris Rainey, Percy Harvins. Antonio Callaway amid dozens of other names are not helping his academic mission. He knows that players such as these are vital to return to the pinnacle of SEC football. It's not worth it to him. He hires a guy who will carry out his mission of sustaining a Stanford sports model: all sport teams on campus are excellent, occasionally elite, never embarrassing. Stricklin is the guy. A guy who knows that a proper Southern Gentleman wears seersucker only from Easter Sunday through Labor Day.

Of course, the right coach for this mission is not Chip Kelly. Get back on the plane after meeting the guy. It's squeaky clean Scott Frost, but he's not available. Squeaky clean Mullen is available:

Dan's mission: win 9 - 10 games a year, enough to keep the booster money flowing and , above all else, don't embarrass the University of Florida.
So, is the joke on us? Do we care more about Florida Gator Football than the people running Florida Gator Football?

You lost me at Percy Harvins

 

[Tay Bang]

You lost me at Percy Harvins

 

[Swamp Donkey]

That was Starkville. Without an Ivy League president as his boss. This all starts with Fuchs and the UF Board.

Sadly, I fear you are right. There is no will to win at UAA or at UF.

In fact, I suspect they'd be proud to be the other Vandy (very lite) .

 

[Tay Bang]

So basically your answer is UF needs to hire crime sympathizers to recruit potential criminals, to win in football, and should turn a blind eye to them? I care about UF, and I care about having students that are not going to turn into criminals. Yea, to me, avoiding criminal activity is more important than winning football. When I send my child to UF, his /her future is not going to depend on how the criminals are doing elevating the football team, but rather the academic achievement of the school.

If that is what Fuchs and Stricklin are about, I am totally with them. I fundementally disagree that we need those kind of players to win though. SOS tore the SEC up in the 90s and lead a clean program.

P.S. Chip Kelly didn't want us. He chickened out and went west. The AD tried to hire him and even cleared him.

It’s strictly a hypothesis. Don’t read so much into it personally that you need to virtue signal. Also, you have no idea on how the Chip Kelly thing went.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

i dont know if we care more, but we absolutely have higher standards and expectations.

 

[Gatorpastor1975]

If they want to be the Ivy school of the South, then be straightforward about it. I rather know what is their agenda than sitting around second guessing everything they do.

 

[Blacklabgator]

If they want to be the Ivy school of the South, then be straightforward about it. I rather know what is their agenda than sitting around second guessing everything they do.

I think they are being pretty straightforward

 

[Egor's Assistant]

So basically your answer is UF needs to hire crime sympathizers to recruit potential criminals, to win in football, and should turn a blind eye to them? I care about UF, and I care about having students that are not going to turn into criminals. Yea, to me, avoiding criminal activity is more important than winning football. When I send my child to UF, his /her future is not going to depend on how the criminals are doing elevating the football team, but rather the academic achievement of the school.

If that is what Fuchs and Stricklin are about, I am totally with them. I fundementally disagree that we need those kind of players to win though. SOS tore the SEC up in the 90s and lead a clean program.

P.S. Chip Kelly didn't want us. He chickened out and went west. The AD tried to hire him and even cleared him.

I gave this a dislike. While I agree with it in principle, the football fan in me knows that it is a viscous sport that requires certain types of men to play. Football is not a means toward making a better world. It a combative catharthis requiring kids from disenfranchised back grounds to compete for the opportunity to make millions of dollars. These kids often come from crime ridden neighborhoods. Mr. Rogers and his merry band of Tebows ain’t gonna win shyte no more. You need tuffs on your squad.

This is the whole reason the University is a separate entity from the UAA.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I think they are being pretty straightforward

And the world is laughing at them.

 

[Tay Bang]

And the world is laughing at them.

The football world. The academics are probably thrilled with revenge of the nerds at UF.

 

[Zambo]

I too find the notion that you have to have thugs on your team to win a sporting contest to be repugnant. I'd rather be Vanderbilt than Miami if I had to choose. Think about how shallow your life must be if you're willing to let some piece of crap attend your university just so you can live vicariously through him while he helps win a football game. Get off your ass and go win something yourself if you want to be a "winner." Win a golf tourney or a motocross race or a freaking spelling bee. Watching kids play ball doesn't make you a winner, it makes you a spectator. Nobody here is a winner just because one of our sports teams wins a trophy. Its just entertainment. Have a little damn pride and some standards rather than pedaling as fast as you can in a race to the bottom.

To the point of the thread, I have no idea what Fuchs' priorities are but I think it would be safe to say that there are plenty of university presidents out there that feel that having high standards is a more important goal for a school than having crystal trophies on display at the football stadium. Perhaps Fuchs is one of those guys, its not impossible by any stretch. And also lets not forget that before Fuchs came along, Bernie Machen made more than one derogatory comment about the academics of other school's student-athletes, most notably Michigan and OSU (Greg Oden specifically). The more I think about it the more I find it likely that these guys dream of a day when people hear University of Florida and the first thing that pops to mind is academic excellence rather than football. So the answer to the question for many folks here is probably yes, you do care more about Gator football than Fuchs.

 

[Detroitgator]

I gave this a dislike. While I agree with it in principle, the football fan in me knows that it is a viscous sport that requires certain types of men to play. Football is not a means toward making a better world. It a combative catharthis requiring kids from disenfranchised back grounds to compete for the opportunity to make millions of dollars. These kids often come from crime ridden neighborhoods. Mr. Rogers and his merry band of Tebows ain’t gonna win shyte no more. You need tuffs on your squad.

This is the whole reason the University is a separate entity from the UAA.

And is the whole reason the University just moved from #9 to #8, and UAA is, well, not ranked.

 

[78]

Third largest state in the country. We never were the Deep South, but it's more true now than ever before.

 

[Alumni Guy]

Can’t we have both?