Gators players react to coaching changes

Within minutes of the news breaking about a coaching staff shakeup, Florida Gators players took to their Twitter accounts to weigh in on the team’s coaching changes.

It certainly was a dizzying day of news for fans and players. Sources say players received mass texts Thursday afternoon to inform them of the news.

Just to recap, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has been hired to the same position by the Seattle Seahawks and DJ Durkin was promoted to defensive coordinator shortly after.

Durkin has been coaching linebackers and serving as special teams coordinator. Florida coach Will Muschamp said he would be searching for a replacement in a release that announced Durkin’s promotion.

By all accounts, Durkin and Quinn are well-liked and highly respected by players, and their tweets clearly reflect that.

Jonathan Bullard ‏‪@JBullard90
S/O to DQ I hate it but he had to do what’s best for him so good luck DQ!!

Jaylen Watkins ‏‪@jwat14
Congrats to coach Quinn though..Great coach and great guy wish him the best of luck!!

Chris ‏‪@MitchellUF
Congrats to caugh Quinn on the hire!!! Great guy and an excellent coach!!!

Colin Thompson ‏‪@ColinThompsonUF
Congrats to Coach Quinn on becoming the D-Coordinator for the Seahawks! He will be missed he is a great guy and coach!

Lerentee McCray ‏‪@LMC34
Shout out 2 DQ!

One of the more interesting exchanges was between Watkins and Matt Elam, a junior safety who has declared for the 2013 NFL Draft. Apparently, the news helped Elam justify his decision to leave even more.

Matthew Elam ‏‪@ElamVsElo
Sheesh, good thing I made that move…

mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.