Any Gator who even remembers that scumbag Captain Ahab deserves a metal.
For those who don’t know who DeVoe is and why it is the worst of insults to compare any coach to him, you have to know Norm Sloan’s place in Gator hoops.
Basketball is a great sport and I’m grateful to the coaches who have made it relevant at UF. For me it started with Sloan - the Pell of hoops. Norm’s final 3 teams from 87-89 had the ODome rocking. Our first big taste of a national presence and our first 3 NCAA tournament teams.
In 87, my roommate and I were barhopping and ran into Dick Vitale at the hotel bar on the corner of University and 13th. It was late in the evening after UF won a rousing victory over top 10 UK on a nationally televised game. Gator hoops had roared awake.
The bar was packed with mostly adults and we went in to do some cougar hunting. We first noticed a striking tall brunette standing behind a familiar looking bald dude sitting at the bar.
We approached Vitale and asked him what he thought of Gator hoops. He invited us to sit when he learned we were student basketball junkies. We had run our throats ragged yelling at the game and he noticed. Said it was the loudest, most raucous game he’d been to that season. He genuinely loves basketball and all the fandom around it. His TV persona is just a genuine amplification from the heart. You could tell he really enjoyed covering the emergence of Sloan’s Gators.
We asked him if anyone on Florida’s roster was NBA caliber. He thought about it for a few seconds and his prediction was Maxwell 100%. When pressed regarding Montgomery and Moten, he said Moten would get a look but wouldn’t stick and Montgomery wouldn’t get an invite. This is exactly what happened. We spent about 30 minutes talking. The brunette never said a word.
It was devastating at so many levels to watch Devoe in less than a single season unravel what Sloan took 7 years to build. We often take winning as a Gator birthright. It isn’t. It takes a lot to build and is easily undone. DeVoe is the absolute worst coach Florida has ever paid. Yes, even Nord was better.