Under the direction of Urban Meyer, the University of Florida has taken the college football landscape by storm. With the great success that the Gators have experienced in the past four seasons also has come the development of many great football minds.
Doc Holliday was offered a substantial amount of money to leave Florida for his alma mater of West Virginia, where he is the head coach-in-waiting. Co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison departed to coach in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens.
Now, for the second year in a row, coach Urban Meyer has lost a valued assistant. Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen accepted the head coach position at SEC rival Mississippi State. It appears that Charlie Strong, the team’s defensive coordinator, could become the head coach at UCF.
With other bright young coaches on the horizon, such as Billy Gonzales, and veterans who are ready to make their return to the head coaching ranks like Dan McCarney on the staff, Gator fans should prepare for what could turn into an annual poaching season during the months of December and January.
But in the end is that such a bad thing? If Meyer has assembled a great staff and then continues to bring in great replacements – he could have done much better than the trio of Kenny Carter, McCarney and Vance Bedford this year – then wouldn’t this just reaffirm that Meyer has a keen eye not only for football players but assistant coaches as well?
Let’s analyze what the departure of Mullen and the possible departure of Strong will mean for Florida’s Class of 2009, as certainly some recruits will be shocked by the news.
Will their departures hurt recruiting? I say no.
While Mullen is known as a bright young offensive mind, he really wasn’t one of Florida’s go-to recruiters. In fact, two wide receivers polled – Nu’Keese Richardson and Andre DeBose – weren’t even sure what position Mullen held on the staff. DeBose even asked me as much: “What does he coach?” That was his response to my query of how the news of Dan Mullen’s departure affected his decision-making process. Likewise for Nu’Keese Richardson, who told our Brett Williams, “I didn’t know coach Mullen that well so I have no comment about that.”
Both perfectly rational responses, to be sure. One just as level-headed came from commitment Greg Reid of Valdosta (Ga.) Lowndes, who is expected to play on the offensive side of the ball (to start off with) in college. Reid told our Cody Jones the following: “It sucks because he was a good coach. I know coach Meyer will find the right guy for the job.” Which, as time rolls on, and Florida names a successor, possibly wide receiver coach Billy Gonzales, will be a more common response from offensive recruits on the board.
While the loss of Mullen will have a minimal impact on recruiting, the loss of Charlie Strong could prove to cut much deeper. Strong has established himself this year as one of the top defensive minds in the country, and he was putting together one of the top linebacker classes in the nation before news of the possible UCF opening hit.
Strong has established deep ties with a number of highly regarded prospects, including Jon Bostic, Jarvis Jones, Jelani Jenkins and Frankie Telfort. All four have talked on the record about the respect they have for Strong and the job he does. While he may not be the recruiter that some others on the staff are, the respect Strong has cultivated among players is something that can’t be overlooked.
It would be tough to say what the impact would be of a possible Strong departure. Many Gator fans have pinned their hopes of landing two (or three) of the previously listed linebackers, all of whom will be playing in High School All-American contests this January (Bostic and Jones in the Army Game, Jenkins and Telfort in the Under Armour Game).
While that would still be possible even with the absence of Strong, that still becomes a much taller order for Meyer and his staff to pull off. Regardless, who the Gators hire in place of Strong, and a splashy name could go a long way with some of these guys, will have a lot to do with how Florida closes at the position.
After that, it looks for now as if the rest of the staff will stay intact. With coaches like Steve Addazio, Vance Bedford, Kenny Carter, Billy Gonzales, Chuck Heater, John Hevesy and Dan McCarney on the staff, I don’t expect Florida to experience too many problems despite the loss of ranking coordinators on both sides of the ball.
It would be best for Florida fans to look at this as a small bump in the road as opposed to a sign of impending doom and gloom for the Class of 2009. While I can’t promise that every single player looking at Florida now will continue to do so, a strong finish in January and February is still on the horizon for Florida.
Urban Meyer wouldn’t have it any other way.