What was your Uh-Oh Moment in the Mac Era?

[TheSaintThing05]

I was never a fan of the hire, but accepted it and tried to support him. I really think he struggled with recruits because he has such a goofy personality and looks like a dweeb. That doesn't connect with kids these days. But still, I held out hope.

The 2016 Arkansas game is when my doubts became serious. I kept hanging on, and when we got a little recruiting momentum this past summer I thought we were about to take off as a program. Then...the Michigan game happened and that is when I slammed the door on Mac. I said I would support the players and cheer them on, but I wouldn't defend Mac at all. I knew with all the fluke wins over UT and UK, and the uninspiring win over Vandy we were still hanging on by a thread and it was just a matter of time before the bottom fell out.

An elderly Texas A&M fan sat in front of me at that game, and told me during the game that McElwain wasn't only a bad coach, but a jerk in real life and UF would be wise to grab Scott Frost while they can. Lets hope that's what happens.

 

[Since65]

This may seem odd but for me it was not necessarily a football moment but the Belk TV commercial. When he crossed his arms and tilted his head toward his wife looking for approval for his apparel I just thought "this guy is not elite". I couldn't imagine Saban or Meyer or any other top-notch coach doing such a silly TV ad. I know lots of coaches have done bad tv ads but that one screamed "Cheeseball" to me.

The last straw related to football was when he yelled at Malik Davis for scoring a touchdown late in a close game. That philosophy that says "keep the game close" is old and flawed.

 

[Chomper]

My Mac moment was his walk-off interview as he was leaving the field at halftime of his first Gator game. Don't remember exactly what he said, but I sat there thinking, "something is not right with this guy" and hoping it was just first game jitters. But nope, it was who he is and I got to where dreaded any interview with him.

 

[soflagator]

For me, the in-game moments were the obvious--ut and Ark last year. The loss in knoxville reminded me of WM' loss to uga. Your predecessors have laid a perfect foundation of mental and physical ownership in this series, and you can't find a way to keep it going? The Ark game just confirmed my suspicions on him.

But as others have mentioned, his opening press conference mannerisms and speaking left a lot to be desired. I actually liked the pick initially, and the excitement of the new era kind of skewed my vision. But I remember thinking "this guys is rambling", similar to WM's insistence on finishing every sentence with "aight" in his opening remarks. Public speaking isn't everything, but it says a lot about the genuine confidence level of an individual. And it wasn't there.

The Grier situation felt like the moment that would ultimately be his undoing, and I posted as much then.

And Law touched on his second class(first full class) in Feb 2016. For me, it was less about the quality and quantity of the class. It was more about the fact that we had 2-3 stars taking officials to places like VT, ECU and and Temple in the final weeks, meaning we hadn't even commanded their respect, much less the 4-5 stars that we needed to get back to championship caliber. But truthfully, I think the absolute worst thing, and what officially told me we were in trouble was the faux "hat selections" that we orchestrated with our current commits on NSD to make it appear that we had momentum, when we totally did not. It was down right embarrassing and all our rivals saw straight through it. That one move told me that this guy not only didn't get it, but was basically trying to create a fake presentation instead of buckling down and doing a better job. If someone's unwilling to admit that they're failing, there's no chance of them actually improving. That was his moment of admission.

 

[g8tr72]

My Mac moment was his walk-off interview as he was leaving the field at halftime of his first Gator game. Don't remember exactly what he said, but I sat there thinking, "something is not right with this guy" and hoping it was just first game jitters. But nope, it was who he is and I got to where dreaded any interview with him.

 

[GMDGator]

Do you see the other"pumpers" stepping up to take responsibility?

I will admit my lateness to leap from the pumper train.... I just wanted to believe that butters could turn it around that i let my fandom blind me to the mounting chaos. The Michigan embarrassments really made me nauseous... Then, getting upset about the Vandy score really opened my eyes... But the made up death threats... That was when, no matter what he had to go!

 

[gingerlover]

Everything after season 1 ended. Tried to give the benefit of the doubt year one. Told myself that our line couldn’t even block simple pee wee plays so they couldn’t learn a new system mid year.

Then the recruiting class came and we struggled against Umass and N Texas. Tennessee was a cluster and the Arkansas game did me in. Teams are a reflection of the coach and you can see it in them. Always snarky, don’t seem to care much, and think they are better than they are.

 

[cover2]

This may seem odd but for me it was not necessarily a football moment but the Belk TV commercial. When he crossed his arms and tilted his head toward his wife looking for approval for his apparel I just thought "this guy is not elite". I couldn't imagine Saban or Meyer or any other top-notch coach doing such a silly TV ad. I know lots of coaches have done bad tv ads but that one screamed "Cheeseball" to me.

The last straw related to football was when he yelled at Malik Davis for scoring a touchdown late in a close game. That philosophy that says "keep the game close" is old and flawed.

His "modeling" in the Belk ads...



I'm embarrassed for Belk. Looks like he thinks he's in an Armani photo shoot, but actually brings to mind a portly Rick Nielsen deciding between General Tso's Chicken and Beef Lo Mein at the Chinese buffet.

 

[Ancient Reptile]

I will admit my lateness to leap from the pumper train.... I just wanted to believe that butters could turn it around that i let my fandom blind me to the mounting chaos. The Michigan embarrassments really made me nauseous... Then, getting upset about the Vandy score really opened my eyes... But the made up death threats... That was when, no matter what he had to go!

Pretty much my trip. I had decided and declared that he was not the coach for us before the death garbage. The alleged death threats made it clear he had to go immediately--couldn't wait until the end of the year.

 

[diehardg8r]

Pretty much the whole tenure to be honest. When they hired him I was like..huh? And then he came in and it just never felt like it was "It". I could see it with Meyer and even thought WM might have been it. This guy never had it for me and the uh oh moment if I had to pick one was when we got destroyed by Michigan at Jerry world. The whole off season and that was what he had to put on the field? Oh hell no!

 

[maheo30]

Mac's first season. The way he handled the offense with Treon at the helm after Grier left. He stated repeatedly he wasn't changing his offense no matter how much Treon struggled. Stubborn coaching can be good or bad, but that caused me to wonder. In the second season, the UT loss confirmed by suspicions. It was the bad kind. I knew then he wasn't the guy. I hoped differently, but I knew.

 

[FlGator19382]

The 2016 Tennessee game did it for me, being up 21-3 at half-time and losing to a loser like Butch.

 

[gatorkev85]

When he was hired! I was never on the Mac train. He never did anything at CSU that made me go man he could be a good coach.

 

[Alumni Guy]

This may seem odd but for me it was not necessarily a football moment but the Belk TV commercial. When he crossed his arms and tilted his head toward his wife looking for approval for his apparel I just thought "this guy is not elite". I couldn't imagine Saban or Meyer or any other top-notch coach doing such a silly TV ad. I know lots of coaches have done bad tv ads but that one screamed "Cheeseball" to me.

The last straw related to football was when he yelled at Malik Davis for scoring a touchdown late in a close game. That philosophy that says "keep the game close" is old and flawed.

That Belk ad was so cringe-worthy. No one with a set of balls worthy to coach an SEC team would ever agree to that.

I am so glad the Belk commercial will never see the light of day again

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

I had a lot of head scratcher moments. SQ already mentioned the Tampa Gator Club meeting in which he hemmed and hawed his way throgh a variety of questions and never answered a single one directly when he was being faced with a LOT of people who were responsible for a chunk of that cash he was about to earn. But I thought ok, he's playing things close to the vest, I get it.

The Kelvin Taylor thing never bothered me. I saw it as Mac making an example of a star player acting like an idiot and costing us yards/points. There was one time in my high school playing days (junior year) I celebrated a little too much after a touchdown and the OC lit into me so hard I had to use a bulldozer to dig my way back out of the smoking crater he left me behind in. And guess what? I behaved after that (until I was a senior).

My first real "uh oh" moment was FAU. Even with terrible Treon, we should have smoked them. Then we got annihilated at home by FSU the next week. The Bama blowout didn't bother me because hello, it's Bama. The bowl game against Michigan didn't bother me, either, as bowl games don't mean sh*t to me. They're fun to watch, I just don't put much stock in them. Hell, we boat raced Iowa last year and look where we are this year.

Then the Tennessee comeback happened, but they had that "team of destiny" thing going on early last year, so maybe we just caught them at the wrong time. The real cracks in the ice started at Arkansas. You don't come off a solid win against UGA by laying an egg against a garbage team with a garbage coach like that. And we weren't even competitive. That was the worst part. But once again, he saved face by beating LSU. And then once again, he got embarrassed by FSU and Bama in back to back weeks.

This year, I was on the edge after Michigan and scraping by Kentucky, especially after he was blubbering and almost in tears after needing two uncovered receivers to beat UK. SQ was done after UK. LSU did me in (as seen in the horsesh*t thread I posted). Throwing the team under the bus after TAMU just reaffirmed my stance. The guy could just never build off any momentum he had built up. He'd take a step forward, you'd think the offense was improving, and then a week later, take four steps back, all the while never taking on any responsibility himself until he knew his goose was cooked after the UGA debacle. That was at least the one thing I always respected about Muschamp. He'd say "that's on me" after a sh*tty loss (and there were lots of them). You can't be a head coach at this level and not accept that losses more often than not are directly your responsibility. Maybe he'll learn that lesson before his next gig, but I'm not putting any money on it.

 

[KronoGator]

I didn't care much for the hire, but it was better then Muschamp so why not give it a shot.

Lost me the same time it looks like he lost a lot of people, not making the O fit Treon, playing garbage teams close and then ending the 1st season with 3 blowouts all while telling us how great winning the east was then an average recruiting class.

Decided then it was Muschamp 2.0, things just got worse.

 

[Gatormac2112]

Honestly, I had a lot of hope for this guy, but the first “uh, oh” moment for me was his introductory presser. He had an uneasy, nervous warble in his voice that was as unsettling as his body language. It screamed lack of confidence, it screamed pretender.

We also witnessed it every time he was interviewed on the sideline. But I first noticed it in his introductory press conference.

 

[diehardg8r]

He was fking lazy IMO.

 

[NovaGator]

The first time he flashed those pearly yellows. I mean, My God! The man makes millions and he
has no more pride in his appearance than that?
And then he gets caught riding that shark? I mean. come on, man! I still have nightmares of
that fat, bare ass sticking up in the air!
But seriously, to throw Will Grear under the bus in favor of Franks is a real head scratcher.
Also, the fact that none of our rivals did anything but laugh when Butters was announced was telling.
I know that none of them really wanted the hire to work out, but that never happened when Meyer was hired.

 

[CaGator91]

Honestly I knew it wasn't going to work from the moment I saw he was hired. I remembered when he was the oc at bama and remember thinking that his offenses were stupidly simplistic. MacElroy throwing little screen passes and running Ingram and Richardson up the middle.