When news broke on Sunday evening that Dan Mullen had fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy, fans rejoiced and sang from their rooftops.
A pair of embattled coaches who oversaw struggling units over the past 2-3 years were sent packing, which opened the door to a potentially brighter tomorrow for this beleaguered program.
While a couple of players tweeted happy face emojis on Sunday night in apparent reference to the firings, defensive end Zachary Carter said that the overall mood among the players was anything but joyous when they found out.
“Things are emotional,” Carter said. “Yeah, we’re football players, we have to be tough guys a lot of the time, but we have emotions, and I know this is a business, that’s how college football is, but you definitely build relationships throughout this process, and it can be emotional sometimes.”
The relationship aspect of it is something that no fan or media member will ever be able to truly understand. Grantham and Hevesy were much more to their players than just guys who barked orders to them on the field.
The seniors have spent hundreds of hours with them over the past four years in meetings, film studies, practices, games, off-the-field get-togethers, etc. The younger players have likely heard from Grantham and Hevesy since they were sophomores or juniors in high school.
So, the players might understand why Mullen fired their coaches and they may even agree with his decision, but that doesn’t make it any easier for them to say goodbye.
“Of course it’s difficult,” running back Dameon Pierce said. “It’s like losing a best friend. You build a relationship with some of those guys ever since they’ve been here, upwards of four years. Some guys had brief time with him, but I’m sure [Hevesy] impacted a lot of guys nonetheless, and they’re sad to see him leave.”
The way that the players found out the news made it even more difficult. Mullen planned to tell them at an 8 a.m. team meeting on Monday, but The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman broke the story on Sunday night. So, the players unfortunately had to learn of their coaches’ firings through a screen instead of directly from Mullen.
Carter said that Mullen addressed that in his team meeting, and he’s grateful for the time and effort that Grantham invested in him.
“Coach Mullen made sure he let us know that he always wants the team to know first before anybody else knows,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a tough situation, never easy to do stuff like that, but I feel like Coach Mullen had to make the best decision for this program, and I want to thank Coach Grantham for everything he’s done for us. As a player, on and off the field, I appreciate everything he’s done.
“I feel like we’ve built a pretty solid relationship. Obviously, on the field, he’s coached me. He always coached me hard, and he always stayed on top of me, and whenever I needed some advice or ‘Coach, how can I be better at this?’ he always took the time to help me with that. Like I said earlier, I appreciate everything he’s done for me. He’s always been a good guy to me. He’s always been honest with me, so I appreciate him.”
But, one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Linebackers coach Christian Robinson will get his first chance to call the defensive plays for the remainder of the season. This is only his ninth season in coaching, and Florida was his first full-time coaching job, so getting some coordinator experience could be big for him in his career.
“I’ve known Coach Robinson for a long time,” Carter said. “He was recruiting me when I was getting recruited by Ole Miss back in my recruiting process. I’ve seen him keep excelling as a coach, and he’s a great guy, a great person to be around, and I’m excited for this opportunity for him. We love Coach Robinson, and I’m excited to see what he can do for us and help lead us.”
Meanwhile, special assistant to the head coach Paul Pasqualoni has stepped into the vacant on-field coaching spot and will work primarily with the edge rushers, which was Grantham’s position group.
He came to UF prior to the 2020 season after more than 30 years of major college and NFL experience, including a 14-year stint as Syracuse’s head coach and three years as the boss at Connecticut. He most recently served as the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator from 2018-19.
“It’s been a pleasure to be around Coach P,” Carter said. “I know he has so much football experience, man. He’s been doing this a long time. Any time he comes to talk to me, I always soak up whatever he’s telling me, knowledge of the game because I know he knows what he’s talking about. I know a guy like that, being around, especially being in the outside linebacker room, I feel like he’s only going to continue to help those guys grow and give them the knowledge that they need. So, I’m excited for him, and I think he’s going to help us a lot.”
The last five weeks or so have gone unthinkably bad for this program. A team that gave Alabama all that they could handle and thrashed Tennessee is now without two of their assistant coaches, has a head coach on the hot seat and still needs to win two of its final three games just to make a bowl game.
Carter said that while they aren’t playing for trophies or rankings anymore, they should still have plenty of motivation to play their best in the final three games. There’s a level of pride that should come with putting on the orange and blue uniforms and a level of shame that should come with not giving their best effort.
“We’re playing for guys that came before us and played in the same uniform,” he said. “We still have a lot to represent, and there’s a lot of people that are still watching us. Even if you don’t play for that, we have families at home, you’re playing for the last name on your jersey. Guys are trying to feed their family. There’s a lot of motivation. Guys have a lot of different motivation. Whatever it is, we have to find that to keep playing.”
Pierce said that you won’t have to worry about him quitting on this season. He loves this sport too much to ever give less than his very best. He’s trying to instill that mindset in his younger teammates as well.
“It just comes down to your love for the game of football,” Pierce said. “I’m a guy who loves football, so any chance I get to put these pads on, I’m going to try and make the most of it. And I just get joy from putting these pads on, having that Gator logo on my chest and just going to play my heart out every down, and I’m sure most of my teammates feel the same way.
“It’s not easy to tell someone it’s going to be a brighter day when it’s raining, but you’ve just got to have faith that the sun’s going to come back out. You go through cloudy days. Eventually, it’s going to blow over. Our storm is going to pass, and we’re going to get back to our standard soon.”