(PS
@Escambia94, ).
I couldn't read the whole Grier article, btw; Your summary covered and MADE the salient points, to begin with--and the details in general amount to a litany of EVERYTHING that has been dragging us down for a decade at UF, in particular a sharp portrait of MacEllwaine's specific failures as a Coach AND a MAN.
I won't say that about Muschamp (he DID get the right guy, it turns out, for one thing--and he wasn't/isn't a bad guy--or COACH, as he learns and grows, as do we all, it turns out)...but how ridiculous (or just professional miscalculation by the otherwise highly respected Slive) was it to hire as Head Coach a guy who even still NEEDED to learn fundamental lessons about self-control AND the value of "mutual trust and respect" in building a team consisting of young, impulsive and impressionable "man-children"!
Muschamp seems to have been given the chance to do that "learning and growing" at S Carolina--not the first ( not even the first GATOR) Coach to thrive in a particular place and program that expects "moderate success" and "reasonable improvement year to year", as opposed to "FIX EVERYTHING--and do it NOW!" here at UF... and to do it following URBAN MEYER...Oh, and with Meyer's hidden mess and the talent dreggs of "what once was" here.
WE watched Muschamp's head explode on a weekly basis--but his players bore the brunt of it: And not just behind-the-scenes, but publicly, right there on the sidelines each Saturday.
All in all, what DM appeared to have been managing to achieve already this season was, IS amazing in its own right...If it now turns out that we must in fact sweep aside The Past and all its complexities, continued consequences and bad memories after all, well, it may well then mean that was always required in any event, the time and hard choices inevitable: Vetting to have some hope and excitement along the way while the otherwise difficult transformation is properly managed and achieved is an unexpected (if at times misleading) "bonus"--as long as that "transformation" IS "achieved"!
So: This week's game and outcome is our "last chance"/"last HOPE" for a decent season AIDING recruiting and thus the speed of transition/improvement.
With a loss, we move into "Just beat FSU in front of a bunch of potentual future Gators" territory, use the extra weeks of practice and attention to further our prospects in that regard, then see what recruiting actually brings...And THEN on to spring, summer and NEXT SEASON (and, among all the rest, hope like HELL we begin to see the more-crucial-than-EVER accelerating rise of EMORY JONES to become "the next young sensation at Quarterback in the SEC"! Yes, we've been here before--but I HAVE to believe that sooner or later, with all the time, chances and resources that have been at our disposal, even gotten RIGHT but SOMEONE ELSE somehow inherited...SOONER OR LATER WE HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT--and be the sole beneficiery too!
Of course, hard experience and the natural cynic in me responds, "Not necessarily..." What else CAN I think after what we've witnessed over the last decade???
But at least THIS time we appear to have EXACTLY the right guy in charge to do so: Dan Mullen should have MULTIPLE opportunities to find, develop and eventually esconse true "QB prodigies" under center in coming years. It is something of a "calling card" of his already, and he will have every chance to not just prove it, but make it work, BIGtime, before he's done here at University of Florida.
But right this moment, all I ask, all I can hesitantly, meekly HOPE for is SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY, a win tomorrow over South Carolina.