How do we fix the Gator football program? All across the message boards the simple solution from us simpletons is simply to fire the head coach every 3-4 years and pray for the next Nick Saban to emerge. How did Florida overhaul its football program in 1990 and win its first national championship and six SEC championships? How did Florida overhaul its football program in 2005 and win two national championships and two SEC championships within four years? How did Alabama overhaul its football program in 2007 and win 7 national championships in 13 years? How did Georgia overhaul its program to put itself in position for national championship that is all but imminent in year 6? The answer is money. You get what you pay for.
In 1997, Steven Orr Spurrier signed the most lucrative contract in NCAA history at the time--$2M per year for six years. At the time his rivals Philip Fulmer and Bobby Bowden were making about $1M. UF president John V. Lombardi was responsible for the hiring of Jeremy Foley in 1992, which is important to note because it was Lombardi who successfully fought the Florida Board of Regents (precursor to today's Florida Board of Governors) and the University of Florida Board of Trustees to increase the athletic program budgets. This does not include the University of Florida Athletic Association (UFAA), which is a not-for-profit organization that manages the sports programs (without funding from the state of Florida or the University of Florida). Those budgets were used to fund major construction programs on campus (funding from the state, i.e. Board of Regents) and keep up in the arms race that is college football (funding to pay the best coaches and recruiters). One reason Lombardi resigned as university president in 1999 was his frustration with declining financial support from the Board of Regents. The time period from 1990 to 1999 saw the largest investments in all sports, but especially football. After Spurrier resigned as head coach in 2001, the football program began a decline where head coach Ron Zook was only making $450k and his assistants were not in the same caliber as Spurrier's. The football program went from one where the head coach was the highest paid in the country to just another mediocre-paid head coaching gig. Unlike Spurrier's assistants, none of Zook's assistants were of high enough caliber to warrant top salaries and only one went on to become head coach at a P5 program (Larry Fedora, North Carolina). Summary: Under UF president John Lombardi and athletic director Jeremy Foley, the Gator football program saw vast increases in funding necessary to build and sustain a successful football program from 1990-2001.
In 2005, Urban Meyer signed the most lucrative contract in the SEC and 3rd-highest in the nation at $2M per year for seven years. Note that this is still less than Spurrier's contract nearly a decade earlier and would have half as much as his salary at Ohio State just six years later. Meyer's assistant coaches made more than Zook's, but many of them were of higher caliber and later went on to become head coaches at P5 and G5 programs (Steve Addazio, Dj Durkin, Doc Holliday, Scot Loeffler, Dan McCarney, Dan Mullen, Charlie Strong).
In 2007, Nick Saban signed the most lucrative contract in the SEC--$4M per year for eight years. This is twice as much as Urban Meyer's at the time and over 4X as much as Saban's predecessor, Mike Shula ($900k per year 2005-2010). At the same time, the University of Alabama was dedicated to lifting the dark cloud of NCAA sanctions on the program and all their investors increased investments across the football program. Nick Saban successfully lobbied to increase Alabama's already large recruiting budget, and his assistants' salaries skyrocketed as Saban's Alabama assistants (Jim McElwain, Jeremy Pruitt, Billy Napier, Mike Locksley, Mel Tucker, Major Applewhite, Joe Judge, Kirby Smart) added to his a pipeline of head coaches from LSU (Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian).
In 2016, Kirby Smart returned to his alma mater and worked with the administration to rebuild the program starting with recruiting. Under Smart, the recruiting budget went from $900k to $3.676M. Georgia is on the precipace of a national championship, but they certainly invested wisely to get here.
Florida's recruiting budget is $1.271M, which is lower than peers Texas ($1.275M), Nebraska ($1.349M), Michigan ($1.411M), FSU ($1.503M), and Penn State ($1.529M). LSU and Texas A&M each spend ~$1.6M on recruiting. Arkansas, Clemson, and Tennessee each spend $2.0M-$2.2M. Alabama spends $2.663M. Florida's coaching pool salary is #12 in the nation at $5.52M. For comparison Ohio State is #1 at $7.383M, FSU is #10 at $5.715M
What does Florida need to do to overhaul the program? Whether they do it with Dan Mullen or another head coach, the administration needs to invest more in the program. Mullen's salary is among the top 10 in the nation, but his coaching staff salary is near the middle of the pack (other than Todd Grantham's). He needs higher coaches (more than one, which Grantham was from 2018-2019). He needs a larger salary pool for assistant coaches. He needs a larger recruiting budget. The overhaul needs to come from the top, as it did in 1991 when John Lombardi and Jeremy Foley--as well as Steve Spurrier. I did not go into Clemson's or Notre Dame's rebuild, but if Florida intends to rebuild with the same head coach they could use the former as a good model and the latter as a mediocre model. If Florida intends to rebuild with a new head coach then we need to pluck a head coach who has been successful elsewhere. The checklist:
- Double the recruiting budget from $1.3M to $2.6M (right below Alabama, but above Tennessee)
- Hire a top DC worthy of higher salary than Todd Grantham's $1.8M (#6 among assistants)
- Hire a co-OC at $600k or dedicated OC at $1.0M+
- Upgrade assistants as appropriate to get to a top-10 coaching assistant pool
In 1997, Steven Orr Spurrier signed the most lucrative contract in NCAA history at the time--$2M per year for six years. At the time his rivals Philip Fulmer and Bobby Bowden were making about $1M. UF president John V. Lombardi was responsible for the hiring of Jeremy Foley in 1992, which is important to note because it was Lombardi who successfully fought the Florida Board of Regents (precursor to today's Florida Board of Governors) and the University of Florida Board of Trustees to increase the athletic program budgets. This does not include the University of Florida Athletic Association (UFAA), which is a not-for-profit organization that manages the sports programs (without funding from the state of Florida or the University of Florida). Those budgets were used to fund major construction programs on campus (funding from the state, i.e. Board of Regents) and keep up in the arms race that is college football (funding to pay the best coaches and recruiters). One reason Lombardi resigned as university president in 1999 was his frustration with declining financial support from the Board of Regents. The time period from 1990 to 1999 saw the largest investments in all sports, but especially football. After Spurrier resigned as head coach in 2001, the football program began a decline where head coach Ron Zook was only making $450k and his assistants were not in the same caliber as Spurrier's. The football program went from one where the head coach was the highest paid in the country to just another mediocre-paid head coaching gig. Unlike Spurrier's assistants, none of Zook's assistants were of high enough caliber to warrant top salaries and only one went on to become head coach at a P5 program (Larry Fedora, North Carolina). Summary: Under UF president John Lombardi and athletic director Jeremy Foley, the Gator football program saw vast increases in funding necessary to build and sustain a successful football program from 1990-2001.
In 2005, Urban Meyer signed the most lucrative contract in the SEC and 3rd-highest in the nation at $2M per year for seven years. Note that this is still less than Spurrier's contract nearly a decade earlier and would have half as much as his salary at Ohio State just six years later. Meyer's assistant coaches made more than Zook's, but many of them were of higher caliber and later went on to become head coaches at P5 and G5 programs (Steve Addazio, Dj Durkin, Doc Holliday, Scot Loeffler, Dan McCarney, Dan Mullen, Charlie Strong).
In 2007, Nick Saban signed the most lucrative contract in the SEC--$4M per year for eight years. This is twice as much as Urban Meyer's at the time and over 4X as much as Saban's predecessor, Mike Shula ($900k per year 2005-2010). At the same time, the University of Alabama was dedicated to lifting the dark cloud of NCAA sanctions on the program and all their investors increased investments across the football program. Nick Saban successfully lobbied to increase Alabama's already large recruiting budget, and his assistants' salaries skyrocketed as Saban's Alabama assistants (Jim McElwain, Jeremy Pruitt, Billy Napier, Mike Locksley, Mel Tucker, Major Applewhite, Joe Judge, Kirby Smart) added to his a pipeline of head coaches from LSU (Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian).
In 2016, Kirby Smart returned to his alma mater and worked with the administration to rebuild the program starting with recruiting. Under Smart, the recruiting budget went from $900k to $3.676M. Georgia is on the precipace of a national championship, but they certainly invested wisely to get here.
Florida's recruiting budget is $1.271M, which is lower than peers Texas ($1.275M), Nebraska ($1.349M), Michigan ($1.411M), FSU ($1.503M), and Penn State ($1.529M). LSU and Texas A&M each spend ~$1.6M on recruiting. Arkansas, Clemson, and Tennessee each spend $2.0M-$2.2M. Alabama spends $2.663M. Florida's coaching pool salary is #12 in the nation at $5.52M. For comparison Ohio State is #1 at $7.383M, FSU is #10 at $5.715M
What does Florida need to do to overhaul the program? Whether they do it with Dan Mullen or another head coach, the administration needs to invest more in the program. Mullen's salary is among the top 10 in the nation, but his coaching staff salary is near the middle of the pack (other than Todd Grantham's). He needs higher coaches (more than one, which Grantham was from 2018-2019). He needs a larger salary pool for assistant coaches. He needs a larger recruiting budget. The overhaul needs to come from the top, as it did in 1991 when John Lombardi and Jeremy Foley--as well as Steve Spurrier. I did not go into Clemson's or Notre Dame's rebuild, but if Florida intends to rebuild with the same head coach they could use the former as a good model and the latter as a mediocre model. If Florida intends to rebuild with a new head coach then we need to pluck a head coach who has been successful elsewhere. The checklist:
- Double the recruiting budget from $1.3M to $2.6M (right below Alabama, but above Tennessee)
- Hire a top DC worthy of higher salary than Todd Grantham's $1.8M (#6 among assistants)
- Hire a co-OC at $600k or dedicated OC at $1.0M+
- Upgrade assistants as appropriate to get to a top-10 coaching assistant pool