Brent Pease sounded like a man who knows his time at Florida is about to end.
In what might have been his final news conference as the Gators’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Pease said he hopes and deserves to be back next season but has not received any indication on his future from head coach Will Muschamp.
“If it’s coming my way, then it’s coming my way,” Pease said of the possibility of being fired. “That’s something where you’ve just got to take the blows.”
Heading into Saturday’s home game against No. 2 Florida State (noon, ESPN), the offense is at the bottom of the SEC in points (19.9 per game) and yardage (327.9). Those marks rank 111th and 113th, respectively, out of the 125 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Last season, when the Gators went 11-2 and reached the Sugar Bowl, they were 78th in points and 104th in total yards.
During Florida’s current six-game losing streak, the defense held LSU and South Carolina under 20 points, but the offense was dismal. Muschamp has been critical of the poor performance and promised to re-evaluate his staff and philosophy at the end of the season. He declined to say Monday whether he has decided to fire any assistants.
Pease, 49, believed he ought to be retained on the merit of his total body of work prior to this year, including success as an assistant at Boise State, Baylor and Kentucky. Plus, even though the numbers were unimpressive, Muschamp praised his innovations all last season.
He also has dealt with frustrating personnel issues. Florida (4-7) lost its starting quarterback, starting running back and top two offense tackles to season-ending injuries. Backup quarterback Tyler Muprhy has a shoulder injury, meaning the Gators most likely will go with third-stringer Skyler Mornhinweg for a third straight game.
Furthermore, Pease recruited few of the veteran players; most were at UF before his hiring in 2012.
“But, you know, I understand things,” he said. “I know you’ve got to win and have success. If it’s not meant to be, I came into this with friends and I’m walking out of it with friends.”
Coming off the 2011 season as Boise State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Pease had coordinator offers from Alabama and Florida. He chose the Gators and signed a three-year contract worth $1.8 million including bonuses.
In January, UF added a year to his deal and bumped his base salary from $490,000 to $590,000. He is under contract at the new rate through the 2015 season. If UF fires him, it must pay him the remainder of his contract — minus his new salary if he takes another coaching job.
CBS Sports reported earlier this week, citing an anonymous source, that the Gators will fire Pease and offensive line coach Tim Davis.
After last week’s humiliating 26-20 home loss to Georgia Southern, Muschamp said the offensive woes have “infected our entire team,” which did not sound promising for Pease’s job security.
One sequence that upset him came early in the second quarter. The Gators opened a drive from their own 4-yard line with Mack Brown running for 14 and 11 yards on the first two plays. Then Pease called a pass play for Mornhinweg, who has struggled in his limited opportunities to throw, that went incomplete. Two plays later, Florida punted.
Muschamp did not like straying from the ground game at that point but did not exercise his “total veto power” by overruling Pease.
“I had the opportunity,” Muschamp said. “I’m as mad at myself as I am at anybody else.”
Asked if he felt he was unfairly being made a scapegoat for UF’s disappointing season, Pease said, “I don’t know. That’s a tough question to answer.”
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