Florida Gators brand bigger than any coach to recruits

This time of the year is typically a big time of the year for recruiting but for the Florida Gators things are pretty much at a stand still until a new head coach arrives in Gainesville.
Interim head coach Randy Shannon and the coaching staff is doing their best job to keep this recruiting class intact until a new coach arrives and is able to pitch his message to them.

Part of that process is staying in touch with the commits and keeping them in the loop of what’s going on and that happened again on Sunday night during phone calls.

“Yeah, we made some recruiting calls the last two weeks and made some last night [Sunday],” Shannon said of recruiting.

That message on Sunday night was a message about why the Florida Gators are bigger than any coach or player and why prospects should continue to remain with Florida.

“We did a tremendous job of communicating with the guys we have and understanding that ‘Hey it’s not about me, it’s not about anybody on this team, it’s about the University of Florida,” he said on his message to recruits. It’s about the Gator brand. You want to come to the University of Florida because you want to play at a high level. You want to get a great education. You want to get a family atmosphere.”

The response that Shannon and the coaching staff got was a positive message from each commit and that’s something that will help the next coach at Florida.

“And every young man that we talked to last night [Sunday] was unbelievable,” Shannon said on the response he got. “They was high beat ‘Yeah coach, I’m still ready to come. Coach, I’m still ready to do this.’ They’re still excited.”

Another thing that these commits and targets have to understand is that no coach at Florida is guaranteed to return but the University of Florida will always be there for them.

“And I say ‘Listen, we may not be here.’ ‘Coach I understand that but you’re right. It’s about the Gator brand.,” he said. “And those are the guys you want to be a part of this football team. The Gator brand, that wants to be a part of the Gators.”

At the end of the day players that love the University first and foremost are guys that will typically do whatever it takes to win games on Saturday. That’s something Shannon also noticed and believes are guys that Florida should want as Gators.

“When you have young men like that that really want to be a part of it, those are the guys you have to embrace,” Shannon said. “That’s the guys that you have to say ‘OK, we need this guy a part of this football team. We need this guy a part of this university. We need this guy a part of this organization.’ And that’s what we go for.”

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.