There is an abundance of noise from fans — both on the Internet and inside the stadium — who would like to see Florida fire coach Will Muschamp, but those with the most invested in the program do not seem to agree.
Even after a loss to lower-division Georgia Southern last weekend that dropped the team to 4-7, several UF boosters and former players agreed with athletic director Jeremy Foley that Muschamp can clean up one of the worst messes in program history.
“I think he’s gotta be given one more year,” said West Palm Beach attorney Bob Merkel, a Bull Gator booster who has contributed a house’s worth of money over the past two decades. “He needs another year to establish himself. And he had a good year last year.
“I’ve talked to a bunch of the boosters, and the majority think you need to keep him at least another year. The injuries are a part of the problem, and that isn’t his fault. My guess is there’s gonna be some adjustment in the assistant coaching positions.”
Staff changes have been the prominent topic in Gainesville as the Gators prepare to host No. 2 Florida State on Saturday (noon, ESPN). They will do so without at least nine injured players who have started: two quarterbacks, a running back, three offensive tackles, a defensive tackle who was on track to be a first-round pick and two linebackers.
Injuries or not, national and in-state media have called for Muschamp’s firing. The animosity toward offensive coordinator Brent Pease has been even louder.
Despite Foley and school president Bernard Machen’s best effort to squash the Muschamp rumors by supporting him publicly two weeks ago, speculation continues. Regardless, the administration is sticking by Foley’s “thousand percent convinced” statement and plans to bring him back for at least one more season.
Pease has far less security, if any. Muschamp, who spent his entire career prior to this job as a defensive assistant, called the offense inept last month and has continually hammered it. After Muschamp’s defense allowed 429 yards in the 26-20 loss to Georgia Southern, he said the offense’s meltdown has “infected our entire team.” Florida is last in the SEC in points (19.9) and offensive yardage (327.9) per game.
Changing coordinators is an ordeal, but not nearly as much of a project as hunting for a new head coach and possibly revamping the program’s philosophy. Furthermore, firing Muschamp would be a big expense in addition to the new coach’s salary. Muschamp is under contract at approximately $3 million per year through 2017, and it would cost the school $8 million to get out of his deal.
Not that UF wants to. Foley’s statements made no reference to the financial aspect. Instead, he emphasized his belief that Muschamp is the right coach to lead the program back to elite status.
Some ex-Gators, even those were offensive weapons in their day, also are behind him.
“Muschamp’s a very good coach,” said Reidel Anthony, who starred at receiver in the mid-1990s after graduating from Glades Central High School. “He’s a defensive guy, and mostly nobody scores on us. The problem is we score 13 points every week. He needs to change that.”
Chris Doering, a former receiver who remains loosely involved with the program, was even more optimistic about Florida’s future under Muschamp.
“He’s on the right track,” Doering said. “It’s hard to substantiate that with the 4-7 record right now, but this guy was the SEC Coach of the Year last year and he didn’t forget how to coach overnight.
“That loss to Georgia Southern was not about where the program’s headed; it was the culmination of a lot of problems this season. When you lose that many injured players, it changes what you can do.”
Those issues piled up to produce a team that snapped the program’s 22-year streak of playing in bowl games and is about to post UF’s first losing record since 1979. A loss to Florida State (11-0) would sink the Gators to 4-8, which would be one of the 10 worst seasons in their 107-year history.
The footnotes on this debacle include the first home loss to Vanderbilt since 1945, a current six-game slide and the program’s only defeat by a Football Championship Subdivision team.
“That was very bad, and I don’t understand how that could happen given our supposed recruiting successes,” Merkel said of the Georgia Southern game. “It shook my faith somewhat, but not to the degree that I’d be calling for his termination.”
