POST-Season For Gators

[DRU2012]

Congrats to Coach Strong and company but he's still going to get his @$$ kick hard. Remember the last time the Gators face off against the Big East champs in the Sugar Bowl?

For all the reasons noted above, I agree--with certain caveats regarding (as E- too notes) Strong being a talented and "Classy" coach: If he's on the sidelines that day, we'll have to actually show up and BEAT them. This WILL be their players' "National Championship", if not ours--which can lead to an edge for them and early, laid-back fatigue for us if we don't at LEAST come in ready to STRAP ON OUR HELMETS and PLAY TO WIN!
One more (related) warning: We haven't been showing up for whole portions (especially the first half and MORE) of games we are heavily favored in this season...Prepare and show up with pride, and we will play well and win, but revert to most of our post-SEC schedule "auto-pilot" and we'll find ourselves in a fight that we may not be able to "flip the switch" on in time, this time...

(Meanwhile, there's ANOTHER Q ENTIRELY raised here:
Which job do you think Charley is likeliest to take? Which job, if any, SHOULD he take, in your view?
They ALL have positives and negatives, some they share with each OTHER: The most basic, of course=the more--MUCH more--they pay, the more that is expected...and the less time a prospective Head Coach will likely have to get things turned around before the restlessness and dissatisfaction begin to build.
This question of "Who goes where?", like the similar one posed in The Great Conference Consolidation and Elimination Process, is another of the fun "games" my "friends and drinking buds" engage in...For eg., we had Louisville leaving the Miniscule East to fill one of the spots left vacant in the ACC (so-far, the "Clear-the-Throat" Conference is my working joke-title for them) when THEY lost two over to the Big & Slow Ten--we had that one WEEKS ago, but figured it'd be Syracuse going with them, instead of...well, you get the idea here.
Returning to the Coaching Division of the "Who goes where"-game, then, think about these jobs, three BIG ones, two of them SEC, and consider who might be "in it" and "which one where?"...I'd be particularly interested in Escambia94, 's stats, logic and thoroughness-of-thought being brought to bare on this--particularly as regards to where Strong may (or may NOT?) be going, though a wider overview of other/all candidates--and even moving over to consideration of the parallel "game" too--would ALL be welcome, imo.)

 

[Escambia94]

Charlie Strong deserves to coach in the SEC. He can do well here. Here are the rumors and my take on those rumors:

• Louisville. Coaching at Louisville is perfect for Charlie, so why leave? He gets to build the program from the ground up and transition them into an ACC power with less stress than an SEC job. Granted, he would probably succeed in the SEC, but with less stress at Louisville he can focus on building a program that maybe rivals FSU and Miami. He could salvage the ACC--he is that good. He knows that it is tough to compete for athletes and coaching assistants in the SEC, but he can build up the ACC.
• Auburn. The Auburn coach selection committee (including Bo Jackson) loves Charlie. I would not be too surprised to see it happen, but he was a little miffed at the rumors of his interview at Auburn.
• Arkansas. He would be a good fit, and could fix this program. Since Petrino screwed up, the school does not have to pay the old coach as much and they can keep upping the salary into Charlie's competitive range.
• Tennessee. No way. He can fix this program, but this organization is broken thanks to Lame Kitten. Even two years after Kitten's departure this program is feeling the impacts of his crap.

 

[Leakfan12]

Personally I think Charlie should have been the Auburn coach back in 2009 not that guy they recently fired. Anyone saw that 30 for 30 Roll Tide/War Eagle documentary where Auburn AD explained why he hired Mr. 5-19 at Iowa State (guessing that went out the window when you go 0-8 in the SEC). Also Iowa State did better after that guy left for Auburn. Honestly I would recommend Charlie NOT to take the Auburn job now because it's a mess but then again with there boosters would paid top dollar (I'm sure most of us believe they paid Cash Newton to come to Auburn) who knows. If I would him, I would stay in Louisville (The U is happy with Golden and the other three schools are a mess) plus they're moving to the ACC which is like the Big East that it seems like anyone can win that conference. Plus Louisville wins the Big East next season that would help in recruiting coming into the ACC.

 

[DRU2012]

Escambia94, Leakfan12,
Interesting...I started out sort of at gut-level figuring that "assuming he would leave Louisville" (where money and prestige were BOTH unmatchable at ANY of the SEC programs), I too thought Auburn somehow the likeliest...BUT when I actually "reasoned-it-through OUT LOUD" to a friend, I concluded it was TENNESSEE that was the best move at this point-in-time (one of those intuitive "logic-chains" that come out of your mouth and surprise YOU when you arrive at the end, the conclusion, and say, "Oh!", right after your own to-yourself-unexpected final answer). Won't bother repeating the whole mouthful here (aren't y'all RELIEVED?), but consider this: Arkansas has talent but confusion, high-expectation and has yet to establish itself in the SEC after some time a member, Auburn has DEEP pockets but virtually NO talent, ENORMOUS expectation AND impatience over, behind and underneath you, and hence basically 3 years to complete a 7-year project (the Coach AFTER this next one, the next one getting that "first tough 3 yrs. done" for him, will be the one you'll wanna be), whereas Tennessee, while in disarray, KNOWS they are f*cked and will likely accept Charley's "tough love" and incremental improvement, seeing it change steadily if not at first hugely dramatic in the first 2 or 3 years of a "5 Year Plan", the right guy (which I think Charley Strong is) with the right contract might be just where he wants to be...However: I'll grant you that Kiffy-kins just BOLLOXED that program massively, leaving them with patchwork EVERYTHING, where even their talent is unfocused, a good one here and/or there, and Dooley never seemed to get a handle on ANY of it, seemed overwhelmed to the point of never even beginning to unravel the mess and begin to reorganize--but there IS some VERY young talent there, and Charley will get them playing defense FIRST--always the-way-to-go in the SEC.
I don't say I'm right--and frankly, in a way I hope I am either wrong about him OR wrong about him going there, but this IS one of our better SEC-rivals, at least it WAS, and used to be an early "test" as to where we were at and headed in a given season, 3rd week of September every year, and I miss it--even though I sort of like beating them easily, too...What I REALLY want is BOTH, Meet 'em AND Beat 'em in a game with grudges and overtones for the whole East Division that year. Anyway, more and more I'm buying into our Head Coach's attitude and claim regarding our approach, full of what will more-and-more I believe become well-founded pride and confidence:
"Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime!!!"