By: Jenna Ladd
It is not news that a new era is beginning for the Florida Gators football team this season under a new coaching staff after an 11-13 (7-9 SEC) record the past two seasons. However, it is one thing for the staff to say what they want to change, and another for these changes to actually come about. On media day we had the opportunity to hear about the program’s revamp firsthand from the players themselves.
Fortunately for Gator fans, Jim McElwain’s newly adopted team had nothing but praise and full support of what he is trying to accomplish — a testament to McElwain and the coaching staff for getting the players to buy in. His players sounded like a broken record as they repeated that there has been a complete turnaround in everyone’s attitude.
Even the seniors, who had spent all of their time under former head coach Will Muschamp, are buying in to this new staff. Senior defensive back Brian Poole commented on this new attitude saying, “I feel like there’s more of a winning atmosphere around, it’s a better feel. Everybody is buying in to what they are coaching, so it’s a different feel around the program.”
A team that did not have much to brag about last season, other than a few individual performances, has completely shifted their mentality to become more team-oriented. Junior defensive lineman Joey Ivie harped on this, saying that these coaches are “wanting us all to come together and celebrate together when someone makes a play.” This new staff is getting back to basics and making the Gators work as a team before anything else.
As much help as a shift in their mentality can help a program, in order to see different results on the field there had to be some changes in the way things were physically done. Senior defensive back Marcus Maye said that one of those changes was to focus on the minor details of the game.
“They basically just hop on just the small stuff,” he said. “Pretty much just the small 10-percent of the details. Just about lining up and the game in general that they’re trying to teach us to learn if you pick up on the small stuff then the big things will take care of themselves.”
According to redshirt sophomore linebacker, Matt Rolin, everything that the team does, from their meals, to the weight room is better than before.
“The weight room, the way we go about things and lift is much better than it used to be,” he said. “Everything is now more football related, the stuff that we do.”
With new attitudes, focus on the basics, attention to detail and everything that this team does coming full circle back to football, it seems that the new coaching staff is making a positive impact on a team that struggled the past two seasons.
As Poole said, “We’re Florida. We’re the Gators, we win. The last couple of years have not been acceptable and we’re ready to change that.”
So if you are a Gator fan, I would be looking forward to seeing these changes translating to the football field this upcoming season.
Thanks, Nick. Good stuff. Unlike my illustrious Gator brethren here, I actually notice the change, feel the change and welcome the new energy. And, IO hold that with a great deal of optimism. I think before, it was a kind of blind faith. as kids went through the motions. The kids have something to compare it too now. The revolving door of coordinators, the lack of accountability on the previous staff…the list goes on-piss-poor game management and coaching. Other regimes say they were building from the ground up, but Mac really is.
He’s taken control in every aspect of the program. It’s almost like he’s a project manager at a private equity firm after a merger and acquisition. He’s now taken that popular brand that is underperforming and restructuring it; completely. A completely new staff, infusion of money into the program, additional positions being added to refine all of this…how can the kids not feel better?
Just the positive mojo alone has washed that crappy taste from my mouth. That last Muschamp experiment was a poop sandwich of ginormous proportions. Hope reins supreme. Hey, I’m even ready to lose a few games if needed, because I know, in no uncertain terms, we are headed in the right direction. As of right now the energy around the programs doesn’t appear to have losing in their vernacular. That is a winning attitude. Go Gators.