The Florida football program’s lost decade

Slug

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) Meyer’s laissez-faire management of star players and disciplinary issues?

2) The loss of Mullen and Strong as assistants after the third title? (Oh, will Law go off on this one. :lol:)

3) The lackluster loss to Alabama in the 2009 SEC Championship?

4) Meyer’s sudden retirement after that game?

5) Alabama’s rise to power?

6) The hiring of Will Muschamp?

Yes
 

TheDouglas78

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It all went to hell when we hired Mushchamp and followed it with Butters.
I’m so sick of folks complaining about Meyer. He left a well stocked trophy case and a helluva roster for the next three fuchtards to destroy.

Fixed if for you MJM.
 

stephenPE

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The downfall. When players began reading GC and believing this is how all fans think. Most of those 5 stars went "fckkk this, I aint going where I won't be loved." besides bama's and the dwag bagmen look more effluent with that big Escalade than Jeremy's boy in the Hyundi...........( i purposely wrote effluent)
 

Concrete Helmet

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I’m so sick of folks complaining about Meyer. He left a well stocked trophy case and a helluva roster for the next two fuchtards to destroy.
We had a chance to recover but Fooley flew right over Fayetville on his way to Colorado
bretlook.0.gif
 

Gator By Marriage

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It all went to hell when we hired Mushchamp and followed it with Butters.
I’m so sick of folks complaining about Meyer. He left a well stocked trophy case and a helluva roster for the next two fuchtards to destroy.
The run Meyer had was amazing and a great time to be a Gator fan, but don't kid yourself about the roster he left. The offensive side of the ball was horrendous. Meyers last few years of recruiting were fairly uneven and the NFL drafts of his last couple of classes bears this out.

2011 (after Meyer's last season): 4 Gators drafted; 1 first rounder, a 2nd, a 5th, and a 7th.
2012: 2 Gators drafted; a 4th and a 5th
2013: 8 Gators drafted; 2 1sts, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, a 5th, and a 6th
2014: 4 Gators drafted; a 1st. a4th, a 5th and a 6th.

The 2013 draft reflected the cream of the 2010 class; #2 in the nation. The rest were all pretty forgettable, and were very unbalanced. Of the 18 players drafted over those four years, only 7 were on offense and none were QBs or WRs. The break down was 4 OLs (3 of whom were drafted in 2011- Pouncey #2, Gilbert, and Hurt; Halapio was drafted in 2014), 2 RBs (Rainey and Gillislee) , and one TE (Reed).
 

GatorJ

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I’m going to go a different way. I’ll say Meyer winning the MNC in 2008.

It empowered Foley to believe that he was untouchable. That he was the reason we won championships. We had the back to backs in B-ball and then the football championships separated by a year.

He’s the one who decided we would not update facilities with his ridiculous “we won’t get into an arms race” statement. He’s the one who got cute with his coaching picks in Chump and Maclestain.

He’s the one who would not invest in coaching staffs, believing that Florida could just recruit itself.

He’s the one that held up the indoor practice facility.

And he’s the one who is remaining around the program, infecting it with his ineptitude.
 

Mornengswede

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2010 we couldn’t block anyone. Opposing DLs were teeing off on every play. Urban failed to get enough OL on campus. He knew it would take years to recover from that and the broken culture. A week before his sudden retirement, he vowed to fix this thing. The day before his sudden retirement the FBI notified his good friends at the OSU athletic department about several infractions involving their head coach. I’m sure that’s coincidental.
 

GatorJB

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I’m going to go a different way. I’ll say Meyer winning the MNC in 2008.

It empowered Foley to believe that he was untouchable. That he was the reason we won championships. We had the back to backs in B-ball and then the football championships separated by a year.

He’s the one who decided we would not update facilities with his ridiculous “we won’t get into an arms race” statement. He’s the one who got cute with his coaching picks in Chump and Maclestain.

He’s the one who would not invest in coaching staffs, believing that Florida could just recruit itself.

He’s the one that held up the indoor practice facility.

And he’s the one who is remaining around the program, infecting it with his ineptitude.
This is a good answer. Foley's arrogance that grew from this event triggered the "fall from grace." He had many opportunities to stop the downward spiral and correct his mistakes, but everything he did only made things worse.

I don't think we're spiraling down now, but we're no longer trending up. Now we're just stuck in the mud, and the current coach (and presumably AD) seem perfectly fine with that because we're not in the quicksand anymore.
 

Gatormac2112

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It begins and mostly ends with Fooley. However, I simply have a hard time forgiving Meyer for retiring over a decade and 2 jobs ago, setting this schit in motion.
 

Alumni Guy

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Crappy Facilities, and strict academics. Hands down.

Johnny 5-Star ain’t gonna live in section 8 housing so he can cross the street to go to practice like high school.

Then, Johnny has to share the gym/cafeteria with the badminton team.

And, for the privilege of these luxuries, Johnny must get a higher SAT and GPA compared to the players at resorts like Clemson and Bama.
 

BMF

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I’m going to go a different way. I’ll say Meyer winning the MNC in 2008.

It empowered Foley to believe that he was untouchable. That he was the reason we won championships. We had the back to backs in B-ball and then the football championships separated by a year.

He’s the one who decided we would not update facilities with his ridiculous “we won’t get into an arms race” statement. He’s the one who got cute with his coaching picks in Chump and Maclestain.

He’s the one who would not invest in coaching staffs, believing that Florida could just recruit itself.

He’s the one that held up the indoor practice facility.

And he’s the one who is remaining around the program, infecting it with his ineptitude.

This was my thought before I read through the list in the OP, "We're not getting into an arms race". I think at THAT very moment we were doomed. Foley arrogantly announced to all of Gator Nation and anyone else listening, "We're not going to do what it takes to compete with everyone else...because we're the Mighty Gators and it's worked just fine up to this point!" And here we are.....11 years later. smh
 

78

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Let’s go back and recall a revealing November 2014 interview of Foley, which came in between the firing of Muschamp and the hiring of McElwain.

A few of these lines have not aged well — at all. You can sense resentment from Foley over the notion of answering with plush facilities the effort to lure top football talent to Gainesville. This was new ground for him, and he wasn’t giving in without a tussle.

“I wear orange and blue goggles a lot, and I’m certainly willing to have wide-open eyes, but I don’t agree with the assessment that our facilities have fallen behind,” explained Foley. “We judge our facilities based on [whether] they help our programs be successful. Do they make an impact on their ability to be successful? Whether that’s a weight room for football or a gymnastics practice studio, whatever have you.”

“As you look around our facilities, we’re not into bells and whistles. We’re always looking to upgrade our facilities, but we’re not getting into an arms race.”

“We’re putting a major, major expansion into our academic center. We’re designing that right now. I think when you bring young men and women on campus with their parents, our commitment to their academic success and their personal development as human beings is really important.”

Florida Gators AD Jeremy Foley: ‘We’re not getting into an arms race’ with our facilities | OnlyGators.com: Florida Gators news, analysis, schedules and scores
 

Swamp Donkey

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“As you look around our facilities, we’re not into bells and whistles. We’re always looking to upgrade our facilities, but we’re not getting into an arms race.”

“We’re putting a major, major expansion into our academic center. We’re designing that right now. I think when you bring young men and women on campus with their parents, our commitment to their academic success
Hall of Shame.

Does this moron have the pulse of young athletes or what?

We re always looking to upgrade our facilities... like we did in 1981.
 

t-gator

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Hiring muschamp was obviously the beginning of the end. Keeping him after 2013 was possibly the biggest eff you ever sent to our fan base. Muschamp killed the public perception of the program. Butters said " hold my beer" and torpedoed the roster the roster.

I'm not sure who the right guy would have been after Meyer. I damn sure wouldn't have hired the DC from a 5-7 Texas team. I can't help but wonder if Mullen would have done better if we was handed the program directly after meyer left. And I also remember that we flirted with dabo after the muschamp firing. I think it's safe to say that we're probably not still talking about the lost decades if we make that hire.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Dildo Dan would have been Dildo Dan in 2011 or 2014.
 

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