25 days after firing Brent Pease the Florida Gators have a new offensive coordinator in former Duke coach Kurt Roper who will serve as the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“I’m excited to have Coach Roper join our staff,” Will Muschamp said in a Florida press release. “He has a diverse, up-tempo background on offense and does a good job of adapting to what the players do best. The most important thing though is he has always remained balanced. He has had success calling plays in the SEC and has tutored three NFL quarterbacks. He has had players produce at every offensive position and he is one of the most well-respected coaches in the country.”
Roper was among the five finalists this season for the Broyles Award which goes to the top assistant coach in the nation after Duke scored 31.6 points per game.
Muschamp is a guy who likes to hire people he’s familiar with and Roper fits that bill as receiver coach Joker Phillips and Roper coached together at Kentucky where Phillips was the offensive coordinator and Roper was the quarterbacks coach.
If the Gators are turn around last year’s disappointing season Roper will need to help quarterback Jeff Driskel improve and that’s something that Roper has done with past quarterbacks.
Roper has coached several top quarterback including New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning who attended Ole Miss.
With the Gators hiring Roper, Will Muschamp is now just looking for an offensive line coach to fill the vacancy left by Tim Davis.