The Worst is Not Over

I’d like to start this (lengthy) post by apologizing for my absence over the last two weeks.  As I mentioned in the post below, I’ve been traveling and have had more problem getting to a reliable internet connection than I thought I would.  I assure you, my motivation for helping to fix the Gators problems is as strong as ever, and will remain that way until they are actually fixed, including through the offseason (which at this point, it will clearly take).

So, let’s talk about the last few weeks.  The Florida Gators are abysmal, and the offense is worst of all.  The defense is not good, but neither is Auburn’s, and they are undefeated.  A major part of that is that Auburn has adapted their offense to work with their bad defense, while Steve Addazio continues to call ultra conservative plays on offense as if he’s playing with the nation’s best defense that will win the game for him.  Even last year, when we actually had that defense, it wasn’t a good philosophy (and it ended up costing us in the end).  Now, with the defense we have, it is inexplicable to think that someone in the world believes it is our best chance to win.  We ran the ball 46 times against FSU, compared to 16 passes, in a 31-7 loss.  That is just unheard of.  But then again, no one ever said that brains were Steve Addazio’s best attribute.  Clearly, his best attribute is his ability to exploit personal relationships.

And I’ll get to the other end of that personal relationship, Urban Meyer, later in this article.

But first, let’s continue to reflect on Addazio.  When Robert Clark caught that 20 yard touchdown pass early in the 1st quarter we were given a glimmer of hope.  But the real amazing thing about that, is that that single 20 yard catch alone would ultimately make Clark the Gators’ second leading receiver in the game, and account for almost a third of the Gators’ receiving yards for the game.  For anyone else, that may seem crazy,  but for this offense, it’s completely believable.

The Gators’ lone score of the game came on a drive that started at Florida State’s 32 yard line after yet another long return by Andre Debose.  Yeah, the same Andre Debose that Addazio doesn’t believe is “ready” to contribute on offense.  Maybe he’s right though, because at this point having a guy be fresh for special teams may be our best chance of scoring.

Just how bad are things?  Sadly, even our paltry 7-5 record makes us look better than we are.  Our best win is an overtime win against a 6-6 Georgia team.  Our next best win is Tennessee.  The same Tennessee team that went into double overtime with mighty UAB.  In our only games against competent defenses this year, our offense scored 6 points against Alabama, 21 points against LSU (of which 14 were set up by turnovers deep in LSU territory, so 7 points that can be legitimately attributed to the offense), 7 points against Mississippi State, 7 points (in garbage time) against South Carolina, and 7 points against FSU.  That is not bad, that is putrid.

At this point, we’re likely looking at a bowl game against the coach that we (deservedly) ran out of town a few years ago, despite Illinois not having a fourth as much recruiting prestige as UF.

At this point, Urban has said that the three QB system may be abandoned for the bowl game.  Wait, you mean that multi-QB systems are not a good thing, and always end poorly?  Hmmm, I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.  After the Vanderbilt game, when every other Gators site (and major sports site) was saying that the 3-qb system had saved the Gators offense, and when Steve Addazio was being his usual smug self and acting like he had found a solution to throw back in all our “uneducated” faces, I said:

Rotating quarterbacks are always a sign of a struggling offense.  Typically, it teases people with sparks when it is first implemented, but always regresses back to the same struggling offense as before.

The idea of rotating quarterbacks is bad enough.  But when you put a guy like Trey Burton into the game and run the ball every time he lines up at QB, that just makes it even worse.  After the South Carolina shalacking a reporter asked Steve Addazio in his weekly smug hand waving interview if he thought that the defense knew that a run was coming every time Burton or Reed lined up at QB, since they ran every time they took the snap.  Addazio looked baffled.  “No.  No way”.  The thought never crossed his mind.  And apparently, that was not coach speak as we saw more of the same against FSU, with Burton running every time he got the ball and Reed running a huge percentage of the time.  But neither I nor the reporter should feel like we’re smart people because of these predictions or observations.  You all have been just as accurate with your predictions and observations in the comments sections of this site and in the forums of this site.  Don’t let that go to your head though, because that’s no major feat either.  And that’s the saddest part about this.  This stuff is obvious and easily predictable to everyone that knows a lick about football, yet somehow Steve Addazio still has a job as offensive coordinator.  It’s baffling.

The worst is not over.  If anything, Steve Addazio has somehow gotten more predictable as the year has progressed, and defensive coordinators have just had more time to see how easy it is to play defense against these ultra conservative, ultra predictable playcalls.  And according to Urban Meyer, Addazio will be “a part of the process” going forward.

So let’s move on to the even bigger picture.  I have rarely mentioned my stance on Urban Meyer here on this site, and I want to get it out in the open.

Let’s be honest here, Urban Meyer is not the genius we once thought he was. Urban Meyer is a great recruiter (both in players and in coaches), and generally makes good game decisions.  However, we know now that he requires good coaches around him.  The offense is not Meyer’s as much as it is the offense coordinators.  However, lots of coaches have been successful in this capacity, and Urban is one of them.  Should Urban be fired?  No.  He just needs to do his job.

There is one major difference between Urban Meyer and Steve Addazio.  That is that Urban has proven that he can do his job at a high level, Steve Addazio has not.  Let’s define their jobs.  Urban’s job is to recruit great players and get great assistant coaches.  He has done that in the past.  Meanwhile, Steve Addazio’s job is to run an offense, and he has never proven to be anything other than awful at that.  Don’t get me wrong, Urban has not done his job this year, but unlike Addazio, we know he’s capable of doing it.

So why has Urban failed so miserably this year?  The main failure Urban has had this year has been not getting rid of Steve Addazio.  So why is Addazio still our offensive coordinator when it is so obvious that he is not the man for the job?  The main theory is that it is because Meyer and Addazio are friends.  My theory, and it is not one that I thought up on my own, is that Urban feels that he “owes” Addazio after Addazio “had his back” and “held” the team together while Urban was in bad health.  It’s all metaphysical, intangible stuff that doesn’t translate to the football field in any way other than losses.

I understand that Urban is in a difficult position, but I don’t care. If Urban were a restaurant  manager making 40k a year that would be one thing, but he’s not.  He’s the head football coach of the Florida Gators, making 4+ million dollars per year.  Making tough decisions is part of the job description.  What person that makes multiple millions of dollars per year doesn’t have to make tough decisions?  There isn’t one.  Every rich business man, rich  investor, or rich anything has to sacrifice personal relationship with co-workers to do their job.  Urban, I beg of you, you are paid a lot of money to make the University of Florida football program as good as it can possibly be.  Clearly, Steve Addazio running the offense is not the best way to achieve that goal, so please do your job and remove that responsibility from him.

For what it’s worth, I believe that Urban’s scary quote after the South Carolina loss that said Steve Addazio would “continue to  be part of Florida’s plans going forward” was intentionally cryptic enough to allow him to demote Steve Addazio this offseason (rather than fire him), and I do believe that is exactly what will happen.  I can’t help but think this entire year has been a waste though, as clearly I and many of the readers of this site saw that was necessary a long time ago and our foresight could possibly have saved a season that people being paid absurd amounts of money could not.

Urban Meyer returned us to our status as a national power and I appreciate everything he has done for it.  I am not a spoiled fan who expects a national championship every year.  I simply expect our head coach to do what is best for our program, and not to do what is best for one guy who clearly believes that exploiting a friendship and exploiting young player’s careers is worth a large paycheck.  All I ask of Urban Meyer is that he do the job he is being paid to do, and there is no one in Gator Nation that believes that step 1A of that job isn’t firing or demoting Steve Addazio.

With that said, I’m going to sign off for the night.  Up next (later this week hopefully), will be the extremely difficult task (since there are so many to choose from) of ranking Steve Addazio’s faults, in order.  At the start of this year I ranked the 5 worst things about Steve Addazio.  So now with the regular season complete it will be interesting to see where those same faults lie on the list.

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115 Comments

  1. Great to hear from you again… rest assured, your voice was missed in the Gator Nation these past two weeks.

    Normally I spend a good chunk of my posts on here railing on what we did wrong in the past game, but I’m not going to do that this time. We all saw it, we all know what went wrong and we all recognize what needs to be fixed as we have for months now. I would like to point out that pulling Jordan Reed after he drove us down the field with relative ease ranks up there with Addazio’s worst decisions this season and was compounded after Brantley threw the pick which essentially took us out of the game.

    For me, this entire year has gone to complete waste. I’m perfectly fine with losing a few games – hell, I thought we’d be 9-3 at best this year – but when we lose games like we did this year, an alarm bell has to be going off in the heads of Gator fans all across the world.
    Did I expect to breeze through the schedule and walk right back into the MNC game? Of course not. Did I expect us to walk through the SEC and win it with ease? Of course not. But did I expect this team to at least show up and compete in each and every game? You bet your ass. Did that happen? Not even close. And ultimately, it is up to the coaches to have our kids ready to compete each and every week. I agree with you on almost everything, including the fact that some blame needs to start heading Meyer’s way for this disaster of a season (No, I don’t think he should be fired)

    As you pointed out, in the games that really mattered, against quality competition, we were outcoached, outworked and outclassed in every possible facet. The disappointing thing is that even after the Mississippi State debacle we STILL could have been in the SEC title game, and we STILL could have gone 9-3. The East was terrible this year, and we didn’t take advantage of it. Like I said in another post, even if we go to Atlanta and get pasted by Auburn, it’s quality experience for our young players who will more than likely be back within the next 3 seasons.

    My biggest concern now is the rise of FSU, Tennessee and Georgia. Gone are the days in which we will be winning six or seven straight against these guys. FSU is still not the FSU of old but you can’t deny that the program is moving in the right direction, and I can’t be the only one not looking forward to seeing Aaron Murray at anymore Cocktail Parties. Dooley did a great job of getting UT bowl eligible after a tough start (I’m still convinced we lose to Tennessee if we play them later in the season) At least we get UT and FSU in the Swamp next year (not that home field made much of a difference for us this year) I think the bowl game will be indicative of just how serious the staff is about making the necessary changes.

    How about some positives going into next year? Jordan Reed impressed the hell out of me all year. I’m disappointed he didn’t get to start and throw the ball around but you have to be encouraged by the progress we saw out of him this year. He should be a monster going into next season.

    Not much needs to be said about Trey. He was great all year. I just wish the coaches found more creative ways to get him involved aside from running the same 3 plays over and over when he is in.

    Hugely disappointed we didn’t see much if any of Debose on offense. Surely he cannot have worse hands than Deonte. At least we saw what he can do on special teams and again you have to be encouraged by that going into next year.

    Floyd and Powell will be studs in the very near future and I have my fingers crossed that Janoris Jenkins will be returning, though it seems unlikely. Ahmad Black will also be sorely missed; he was the defensive MVP this season, if not the team MVP outright.

    All in all, this season sucked. Sucked real bad. But I think this is exactly what we needed. A wake up call, and a big one. Who knows, a couple of years from now we might be looking at this season as a blessing in disguise as we celebrate another MNC without Addazio as OC.

      1. Mythical National Championship. Before we get a legitimate way to decide a national champion, we have the BCS’s MNC.

  2. Get over it.

    Stop making Addazio a scapegoat for Meyer.

    Meyer has to go.

    Even Spurrier is mocking Florida. Look at what he said in his press conference today about Cam Newton:

    “He’s really improved his passing since he left Florida … I don’t know if the junior college guys worked with him or who worked with him.”

    http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=110102&catid=2 (top video @11:25)

    That’s embarrassing. Meyer has to go and you sycophants need to stop covering for him by asking for Addazio’s head.

    1. This is EXACTLY right.

      No one is the blame other than URBAN MEYER.

      He has not once developed a pro style passer…look at Alex Smith, Tim Tebow..none of those guys will ever amount to anything in the NFL.

      He must go!

  3. PLEASE URBAN, FOR THE LOVE OF GATOR NATION, PLEASE….I REPEAT, PPLLEEAASSEE!!!!!!!! FIRE OR DEMOTE THIS GUY. I’M BEGGING YOU!!! HE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BEING AN O.C. NEITHER DO I, BUT I KNOW IT DOESN’T SUPPOSE TO LOOK LIKE THIS GARBAGE S.A. IS PUTTING OUT. GATORFANS, THIS MIGHT SOUND IRRELEVANT, BUT WHEN DAN WAS THE O.C.,WASN’T HE IN THE COACHING BOOTH, LOOKING AT THE WHOLE DEFENSE AS HE AUDIBLE PLAYS FOR TEBOW & CO? THEN WHY CAN’T THIS IDIOT DO THE SAME? SOMETIMES, I LOOK REALLY HARD AT THE CAMERA SHOTS WHEN THEY GLANCE TO THE SIDELINE, TO SEE IF THIS BOMB IS THERE. LOW AND BEHOLD, HE’S DOWN THERE, WONDERING WHY 1ST AND 10 ALL OF A SUDDEN TURNED INTO 4TH AND 8……DISPICABLE!!!!!!

  4. Ok I would like to comment and clarify some of the things you mentioned in your article.

    The points you made I agreed with:

    1st) Meyer has proven he can perform his current job at a high level. Addazio has not. The growing anti-Urban lobby need to remember this because the distinction is important, and exactly we both have more patience with Urban then we do with Addazio.

    2nd) Even if Urban doesn’t think Addazio is that bad (he may simply be in denial) he can certainly agree that he is not the BEST option to lead Florida football forward. He knows he is getting paid the money to build the best program and he simply cannot agree Addazio is the best option based upon the offense this season.

    The points I didn’t:
    1st) Yes, the pass to run ratio does look odd being that we were trying to dig ourselves out of a hole for 3 quarters of the game. However, if you don’t have someone who can pass the ball and you don’t have receivers who can catch it you really don’t want to throw it. The time has arrived where we have to admit Brantley just isn’t that good. Continuing to argue that he has great potential in the right offense because you watched an orange and blue game and heard all the preseason hype is garbage. I am telling you in a 100% pro offense he would still be a mediocre QB. Unfortunately, we don’t have a 1) power runner 2) good wide receivers so we cannot ever run the kind of offense needed to see if I am right.

    2nd) More scrutiny needs to go on Meyer’s offensive strategy. The spread option will only win championships when it can out athlete everyone around. When the rare Harvin type athlete isn’t on the roster it isn’t going to be that effective. This is something that Florida fans will have to swallow with Urban.

    Anyway, if there is some irony to come out of this, all that “one tight-loyal family” “trust in god” sort of atmosphere Tebow brought to the Florida football program and that Meyer family really bought in can probably explain why Meyer has been so blindly loyal to Addazio and Brantley.

    Here is to dreaming of Driskel…

  5. I feel like you need to point out somewhere in this post that Burton has thrown the ball ONCE. Against who you might ask?

    THE MIGHTY MOUNTAINEERS OF APPALACHIAN STATE.

    So glad we used it to edge over that challenging hurdle.

    *sigh*

  6. What’s the point of bitching about the obvious when the powers that be don’t give a fuck? Hopefully, Foley has read some feedback from this site, but I doubt it. And you know Meyer and Addazio don’t listen to anyone else’s opinion. They are content in their little bubble of suck.

    1. exatcly, thats the thing, hes a selfish scum bag that doesnt care about anyone but himself, its so obvious. if he had any dignity, humility, shame, he would have resigned. its amazing when the reporter asked him if he think hes job is safe for next year he looked at the reporter as if he asked him something so insane lol, and his answer was um yeaa of course, lol what a joke that guy is.

  7. Zook got fired, not his OC or DC.

    Shannon got fired, not his OC or DC.

    You girlie men need to grow some cojones and get over your Addazio fixation and recognize that its’ MEYER who has to go.

    1. You clearly haven’t repeated yourself enough to make your point valid. I’m thinking you should get in… i don’t know, maybe another twenty-or-so posts? Yeah that’ll do it, and take a few more shots at the fans of this site while your at it.

    2. If Urban does not make changes to his coaching staff next year, I would agree that he needs to be fired. He has earned at least one year to make the necessary changes.

    3. Yeah, but neither Zook nor Shannon won a national championship, much less 2, in their tenures. Meyer has earned the chance to right the ship.

  8. Question: Have Meyer and Addazio not turned the once ‘fun and gun’ to more of a running offense? Brantley aside, they like a running quarterback and fast backs. Who are our stars? Demps, Rainey, Burton? Who is our star wide receiver…or tight end? where is our A.J. Green? Anyway, it’s a question I’d like to hear some thoughts on.

    Beyond that, I agree 100% that Addazio has to go. Anyone who would disagree with that at this point might need to be committed! And that leads into my other point of discussion.

    Meyer has said some very strange things this season. I could give MANY examples. Seriously, it’s actually made me worry about where he’s coming from, or not coming from as the case may be. (And this is not an attempt to make fun at all.) For example – Remember early on in the season when he didn’t realize Debose hadn’t been in the line-up? Remember when he didn’t know our standing in the SEC East (and then when it was told to him he made some comment about how that would be a good motivating factor)? Remember recently when he didn’t realize we’d lost 5 of our last 8? And he had no clue that our DL Coach had been offered the job at N. Texas (even though they were running the story on ESPN)? I guess you could say those are obvious things and then the less obvious would be things such as him, in referring to the SC game, talking about how he panicked when we got behind (by a little) and that he sometimes just needs to shut-up (i.e. – let Addazio ‘stay on schedule’)…which led to Meyer twice repeating, before the FSU game, that the most important thing was for them to ‘stay on schedule’. My point is, in the SC game the ‘schedule’ wasn’t working and so Meyer took us out of it and began trying to pass more. Here’s Meyer’s logic best as I can follow it: Plan wasn’t working, scrapped plan, scrapped plan didn’t work, should have never left original plan that wasn’t working because somehow that would have worked. All I can say is…weird logic.

    Basically, I don’t like when ANY coach, no matter how many national championships they’ve won, rises above being required to answer some tough questions. Meyer’s feet have NOT been held to the fire. Even now he skirts accountability by diverting attention to ‘recruiting their butts off’…as if in the last several years all they’ve been able to bring in were a bunch of 0-Star slackers.

    I actually have to credit an FSU blogger who got it right not long into this miserable season when he said: “Welcome to the Jeff Bowden era”.

    1. Let’s face it. Meyers delegated his responsibilities to Addazio (at the urging of the AD) given his health problems. Mid-season, he began to realize that Addazio just wasn’t going to cut it. What was he going to do? He can’t throw the OC under the bus mid-season. It would throw his entire team into a downward spiral. Not to mention, it would make hiring a good replacement very difficult.

      No.. he had not choice but to support Addazio through out the season. Now he is going to make some changes.

  9. Another great post. My fear is that Urban Lite cant get the job done. What I mean by Urban Lite is Urban Meyer post health issues. He looks like he is overdosing on ritalin and nyquil on the sidelines. His press conferences and quotes are borderline Dave Wannstache (im in Miami).

    If we get Urban Meyer circa 2005 then I feel better that he can rebuild this. Urban Lite, not so much confidence. Also, i feel like Urban is the wizard of Oz. The curtain has been pulled. Looks like Dan Mullen was the brains behind everything.

    If Mullen goes to Miami, Florida Football is in dire straits

  10. Here’s my suggestions:

    Foley Retires as A.D. to enjoy a stress free life of sun and fun in Florida.

    Meyer takes over A.D. duties: Utilizing his unique abilities to recruit coaches, players, families, etc. Meyer and Billy Donovan are good friends, Meyer was also a great baseball player back in his days (google it). He would be great to take over A.D. duties and won’t have to dedicate 150% of his time in a locker room. -> good health and family move!

    Addazio is either fully removed, or demoted; however, if we demote Addazio, he’ll probably keep that arrogant attitude and may tank his duties on purpose in retaliation. So, just cut the head off and start over.

    As for H.C. duties: Florida goes after a smart, offensive-minded coach who has shown they can run a football team and develop an offense and/or defense that contends on a national scale, while also producing NFL talent. We’ll probably have to ditch a portion of our spread option, or all of it, and adapt a quasi west-coast, run and gun style offense that tailors to our talent. Florida will always recruit decent players, we may not get tons of 5 stars, but neither do many of these other programs surviving into good bowl games and even a few BCS bowl games.

    Our next OC should be someone very similar to the head coach – offensive genius, capable of also running a football team (ie. Mullen) and a great “harvester” of Talent. We need someone who can see the talent we have, teach/grow/coach them up to play the positions that are best suited for them.

    Just my opinions though, as we know none of this will be worth a damn next year when the same team and coaches walk out onto the field in April in front of … um, maybe 5,00 fans 🙂

    Lastly, Meyer’s heart isn’t into coaching as much as it used to be; and, that may be because he’s not surrounded by the same coaching talent and player talent he enjoyed for 5 years. I guess anyone would have a hard time dealing with losing the amount of talent he lost; which, may be why he decided to resign, RESIGN on TOP! It would have made his short career here a legacy, and we’d be praying for UF to hire him back for millions more. And, the losses this year would have been all on Addazio

  11. Great description of how bad the offense was this year. Basically we flat averaged 7 points a game on offense against decent teams.

    I want to debunk one of the huge myths I keep hearing… Basically that we put so many people into the NFL that was the problem with the offense.

    We have had National Championships in the past, graduated great classes, and still not gone to the bottom of the SEC in offense in the process.

    We also have had continuously good recruiting classes. So if we are having problems filling talent that goes to the NFL, the coaches have not adequately developed the good talent we continue to have coming in the door.

    Last, the offensive line was supposed to be our strength this year. We lost an NFL pro-bowl center in Pouncey, but we still had his brother and a lot of college level veterans. Our offensive coordinator was supposed to be a specialist on offensive lines. But the offensive line has been the origin of most of the problems this year.

    For that reason and many, just fire Addazio. We don’t need him poisoning future teams. If Addazio was over-extended, we should have hired someone else. But in this year Addazio has proven his inability to get the offensive line serviceable, much less make it what it was supposed to be, the strength of the team. That is all the proof we need to get rid of Addazio.

  12. We can all keep putting in our two cents but in the end the only thing that will ultimately shake up the staff is more losses with the current one. Meyer, Dumbaz, hell the whole fucking crew at this point. We do not want Dumbaz on the sideline in any capacity in 2011, not even handing out Gatorade! Those of you that want this guy demoted to O line coach are nuts! Get him gone and Meyer too if need be, Meyer is simply acting as an enabler at this point. I bet Teryl Austin bolts too, unlike Dumbaz he knows when he is not wanted although I think he has a lot of potential. I am not telling you to turn your Gator Tags upside down or burn your favorite Gator game day shirt but as I have said many times before this teams needs to get as many emabarassing losses in 2010 as possible, if not, 2011 will be much af the same. You never know, the stress might be enough for Meyer to change his current tone and bolt. At this point
    re-living all the poor offensive stats on this site does the cause no good and is simply repetitiuos. Call me a pessimist or a spolied Gator fan but the only thing that will grant Gator Nation a Dumbaz free 2011 are MORE LOSSES, NOW! I hope FL gets rolled in the bowl game, if not Dumbaz will have the last laugh!

  13. The great question – to be sure too great for most here to ponder – is whether Meyer’s two SEC titles and two MNC titles were due more to the good fortune of having Zook’s players and recruiting Tebow and due less to Meyer’s coaching skills?

    1. The man is owed nothing for previous success. I am not saying he needs to do that year in and year out but he needs to ACT like the head coach and have the proper personel in place. When one is not working out he needs to react urgently, not coast until November as the ship sinks. He is a pud for doing that! People that know nothing about football have watched this Dumbaz fuck in press conferences and even they scratch their heads. This guy is not qualified to coach at the college level, WHATSOEVER! As a previous poster stated the tell all sign that Dumbaz has no clue was when he stated he needed to see what the FSU offense would do before he could plan for it. We all know the guy hasn’t a clue but for him to actually say that was scary! For Meyer not to correct or at least react to this comment by Dumbaz was even worse. Fuck him, he can leave two, I would rather REBUILD next year and go 8-5 with a competent staff that has a promising future! The players are there now but Meyer too held them back with his, “They are not mature enough yet” attitude AND they were not used to thier strenghts as we all know. They were mature enough for Meyer to sit in their living room so what happened? Meyer is just a dick and this attitude will cost Florida recruits!

  14. WELL SAID STG! I’m curious about your web traffic over the past few months and especially the past week?

  15. WAIT! I have a theory. Maybe Dumbaz will leave after this year because Big brother Pouncey won’t be sending checks any longer to Dumbaz. You know, a little ca$h for grading little bro Mike a champion each week not to mention blowing smoke up reporters asses on how great he is! That brings me to another puzzling thought. How after we all watched this guy muff snaps and get run over by defenders(when he isn’t called for holding) does this guy grade a champion in Meyers gay performance rating system each week? We all watched the games, the guy blows at center. Does Stevie really think he can improve the kids draft status becasue he says he’s great when we all know he sucks! More a baffling horse shit from Dumbaz.

  16. just got done looking at the recruiting section on espn.com. gator fans, we lost another verbal commit. and he’s a defensive player. thats how bad s.a. made the gator’s offense look. WOW!!!!

    1. Just to make this perfectly clear, the guy was a soft- commitment. He never really acted like he wanted commit to Florida in the first place.

    2. You say ‘another’ yet this is the only one that has made the news.

      Got a link to anybody else who has de-committed?

      Or are you just talking out your FSU?

      1. lol He is the only one that has gone. The rest of our recruits are actually pretty solid on their commitments with us right now.
        I think “addaziofan…not” IS talking out of his FSU. 🙂

  17. I keep hearing the defense of Meyer being that he won two national championships and 2 SEC titles and that he “knows how do perform his job at a high level.”

    I can’t argue with the point that he has those titles under his belt, although I’d point out it would be pretty hard not to win with the personnel and assistant coaches he had, but I would contest that he knows how to do his job at a high level, NOW. I think the Meyer defenders are forgetting that, by all accounts, this is a totally different man than the coach of those championship teams, and if we look at his year since his health meltdown, I think any objective fan would be very concerned about his abilities, and rightly so. We have had plenty of bizarre behavior, we have had plenty of bizarre/clueless comments, and then there is the fact that Meyer allowed this team to sink to the worst in 22 years. When you look at the talent this team supposedly has, its inexplicable how we were uncompetitive in at least 4 games this year. Meyer offered only idiotic comments about why: “we didn’t execute,” “we’re not very good right now,” “we practiced well but we have to practice more,” and my favorite, “I don’t know.” For a man that believes in the sanctity of practice, why wasn’t he alarmed at all that this team did not improve anywhere during the entire year? Where was the urgency, the change? I know, I know. He didn’t want to hurt recruiting. Even that excuse is laughable now; how much do you think getting dominated game after game helps recruiting? Recruits don’t want to come to a program that is like the Titanic heading the iceberg, and refuses to alter course.

    Most telling for me personally is not the statistics, the quotes, or anything like that. I’ve been attending games since 1990, I am a fan, a booster, and an alumni, and I cannot remember a season that has been as disappointing as this one. I must not be the only one who feels that way, if anybody attended the App State game, you know the Swamp never filled up and was totally flat and devoid of energy from start to finish. I never expected to win a national title this year, I didn’t expect to win the SEC, but I expected the team to come out and improve week over week, and I expected us to be competitive in games. Never in the Steve Spurrier era would the performances these teams turned in have been tolerated by the Ol’ Ball Coach, and even during the awful Zook years, I at least felt like the team would show up and make an effort to win. This year, it doesn’t seem like anybody on the sideline cares.

  18. I’ve said for a while that replacing an offensive coordinator mid season may be impossible. If, as it appears, Urban is looking for a replacement for Offensive Coordinator maybe he is doing his job and acting like a real coach. Let us hope that is the case.

  19. Thank you for this website. Your calm, thoughtful analysis has helped me stay sane while weathering this season. Great point about Auburn’s defense/offense. I hadn’t really thought about how that applies to what SA is doing. I guess in the coming months we’ll see whether Meyer deserves his label of “great coach.”

  20. An added thought – a number of press conferences back, Meyer also said that he approves everything that’s done offensively including plays. And he elaborated on it more than that (his involvement with the offense)…I just can’t remember exactly how he put it. I believe this was part of the press conference when he said that there are no bad plays. No way a head coach allows the predictable, boring offensive scheme and plays by Addazio unless the head coach buys into it. What does that tell us regarding the larger picture?

  21. “The great question – to be sure too great for most here to ponder – is whether Meyer’s two SEC titles and two MNC titles were due more to the good fortune of having Zook’s players and recruiting Tebow and due less to Meyer’s coaching skills?”

    Another Zook retard.

    One title with Zook players. Also, he recruited and coached Tebow. He also went and got Harvin.

    What you asked is as retarded as asking “would Bill Walsh have been dubbed a genius if he hadn’t drafted Montana and Rice”

    Well, he recognized what those guys offered and made a system around Montana and plugged Rice into it.

    If you’re going to be a troll, at least try to come off as semi intelligent. Right now you come off like a South Carolina retard from the Caitlin Upton school of such as and the higher education.

    1. Another blind Meyer fan – not a UF fan – a MEYER fan.

      How’s that poster of Meyer over your bed holding up?

  22. If we even get in a bowl game, I hope the Gators lose just to solidify all this.

    I wonder how much money Addazio has cost this program in tv deals, tickets sales, etc.

  23. I’m now convinced that juergensen is a Notre Dame plant hoping to get Urbs on the rebound. Please STFU and enjoy winter in South Bend, Indiana.

    I’m sure that Urban is going to handle this Addazio situation with the same tact and class he handles everything else. Steve will be made “Assistant Head Coach” but will be relieved of game scheming and play calling responsibilities. Someone else will take over as Offensive Coordinator and wear the headset during games.

  24. “I’m sure that Urban is going to handle this Addazio situation with the same tact and class he handles everything else. Steve will be made “Assistant Head Coach” but will be relieved of game scheming and play calling responsibilities. Someone else will take over as Offensive Coordinator and wear the headset during games.”

    He’s already associate head coach.

    I used to think that way, but the more I thought about it, the more potential there is for another Billy Gonzalez situation to emerge.

    It;s best o cut ties with SA totally.

  25. I think the real issue with Urban is that he has lost focus on his true philosophy. When he was an assistant with Notre Dame after NDs loss to Nebraska in 2001 he found one of NDs stars David Givens crying in the locker room. When he asked him what was wrong Givens told him that he had not touched the ball once the entire game and felt awful that he couldn’t help his team win. Urban vowed to develop an offense where he got the ball into the hands of his playmakers and Urbans spread option offense was born.
    Now I have actually seen Urban’s playbook from Utah and let me tell you it’s impressive. More importantly, it resembles the Florida offense we witnessed in Urban’s beginning years at Florida. Remember when DeShawn Wynn was our HB and we basically doubled Harvin as a WR and HB? Urban realized that Harvin was a playmaker and made every effort to get him the ball. Same goes for Tebow, Caldwell, Ingram, etc.
    I fully realize that this current offense is different but I think the parallels to Urban’s first championship team are remarkable. I see a lot of Harvin in Dubose, Carl Moore resembles old Dallas Baker the Touchdown Maker, Brantley plays a similar style to Leak, and the freshman Reed is nearly a mirror image of then freshman Tebow. The biggest difference is that instead of having that bum Wynn as our HB we’ve got two playmakers there in Demps and Rainey.
    So all this begs the question why? Why has Urban lost sight? What has happened? I think the first issue is pretty well-defined on this sight (handing the offense to Addazio) but I think part of this has got to be Urban’s fault. Don’t get me wrong I am in no way covering for Addazio but I think Urban deserves some of the blame. I don’t no if the fame and fortune has caused him to lose sight of his goals or if it’s his health or if it’s some other reason. All I know is when I look at that Utah playbook I see the genius I know he is. He just needs to come back to reality and rededicate himself to his old goals of getting the ball to his playmakers. For the sake of the University of Florida’s football program, I pray he does.

  26. You know GatorNation, Meyer is not doing Addazio any favors leaving him in the OC job. People say UM is doing it because he is loyal and a friend of SA. He is doing SA a huge disservice by keeping there. Look how many coaches have left UF taking other positions and are growing the UM tree. SA will never get picked up by another team with his pathetic display of an offense. The longer he keeps him there, the worse it gets for SA, UM and the GatorNation… and Foley as UF looses more and more revenue. Take a look at this video and see THE LIES SA spouted at the O&B game about our upcoming season. He even started the O&B game with a long Brantley pass to telegraph to the Gator Nation we were going to build the offense to suit the players that we had, then he runs Brantley in the option in a game – WHATEVER DOG! I like the “thebone’s” solution. Make him a figurehead higher title position and STOP the DIVE!

  27. Meyer can stay if Addazio goes.

    Meyer won two Championships. I presume he can win more. He does need to start by surrounding himself with competant assistant coaches. I’m not sure if Austin is competant or not. But I know that Addazio is incompetant.

    Meyer has tried to work, very unsuccessfully, with the mess that is Steve Addazio all year long. Heck Addazio sabotaged Tebow’s senior season with his ineptness. Meyer should have known last year that Addazio is not up to the challenge of top tier college football, at the very least as an offensive coordinator.

    Meyer’s focus on his own health, he was not in a good position to do anything about the Addazio problem at the end of last season.

    I like the Spurrier offense 10X better than the Meyer offense. I think the “Fun and Gun” is much more fun to watch. But Meyer has proven to be a competant coach over the last 6 years, this past year excluded. Meyer has shown leadership in all phases of the game. Before this season, I believed him to have the total package as a head coach.

    Now is the first time, that a real change could be made to Offensive Coordinator. OC’s are available to hire and interview at the end of seasons, not in the middle of seasons.

    If Meyer wants to keep his job, Addazio needs to go. It is just that simple. If Meyer refuses to cut Addazio loose, then yes Meyer needs to go too.

  28. “You girlie men are so lame. You need to butch up and face the fact that Meyer has to go.”

    Some of us ARE saying that.

    Again, if you’re going to troll, make sure your info is sound.

    1. Really?

      I haven’t seen one person here (maybe one) even consider the possibility that maybe – just maybe – the problem is with Meyer.

      When Meyer won he got all the credit, not his players and certainly not his coordinators.

      Now that he’s losing the fault lies with someone else.

      Lame.

    2. With the number of Meyer’s players in the NFL and the number of Meyer assistants that are now head coaches in D1 ball, I think his record is sound. This was a horrible year, but the guy did not get to the point where he is now by accident. If you think Meyer should be fired after a 7-5 season, you are delusional. Who in college football has a better resume at this point? Fairweathers.

  29. I just had a brilliant idea. we should pose as Miami fans and start a hire steve addazio site to get him hired for their now vacant head coaching position. while he might be able to put together one or two highly ranked recruiting classes, that will end quickly as he makes an already down UM team worse. There is no better way to get rid of our weakest link and keep UM in mediocrity all at the same time.

    1. If Miami hires Addazio, then Addazio can grade everyone out as champions and tell the media that the team is doing great (despite losing a bunch of games).

  30. Third-hand rumors:

    Addazio is a goner after the bowl game.
    Reed will be starting QB, Burton will be HB for the bowl game.
    Reed will be starting QB for next season.
    Brantley is looking to transfer to Div 1 school, currently figuring out the logistics of a move & exactly when he can graduate from UF.
    Gators are looking to add another spread QB to the mix, currently seriously looking at Kade Bell, Kerwin’s kid.

    Of course, none of these rumors are directly from Foley or Meyer or anybody who has the power, but Bull Gators, alumni, etc. I’ve heard them from several different sources, though. We’ll see…

    1. That’s interesting. I’ve heard third-hand as well from somebody who knows somebody that’s close to a Brantley that John is not considering transferring. I hope that’s not true because he has no future at UF, ehther he’s great or not.

  31. “Really?

    I haven’t seen one person here (maybe one) even consider the possibility that maybe – just maybe – the problem is with Meyer.

    When Meyer won he got all the credit, not his players and certainly not his coordinators.

    Now that he’s losing the fault lies with someone else.

    Lame.”

    Yes or no – did you read this link I gave you ?

    http://www.ossifiedonline.com/?p=273

  32. To THE BONE…

    Addazio doesn’t know anything about offensive line blocking either, he has proved that this year. We had a veteran line and he couldn’t find way to give any run blocking or pass protection.

    If Gonzalez knew about that party, he cost us a National Championship. Maybe he was passed over. Lord knows he’d make a better coordinator than Addazio, but I’m not sure he would be a good choice considering he’s not at the very least keeping players from passing out 4 days before for all intents and purposes the National Championship game.

    I grant you that we hired Urban to be Urban, not some burnt out shell of a man. A real man would fix the Addazio problem much quicker. But if Urban does just that in the next two or three weeks, which is when coaches are tradionally swapped out. I’m more than ok with it. Whether Urban’s health problems are truly life threatening or not, they did cause enormous distractions during last years off season, but we decided that Urban was the best coach we could probably have and we begged him to stay.

    But it is insanity to cut away a proven winner, there aren’t many proven winners out there. Who could we possibly go and get that would be better than Meyer? Saban is the only coach on Urban’s level, I doubt he’s moving.

    Meyer needs to prove to me that he is no longer the man we hired six years ago. I would say this off season Addazio’s head should be on the chopping block. Next year, its Urban with the Sword of Damacles above his head. Keeping Addazio is such a monumental mistake that it is a fireable offense for any head coach. Nothing short of a National Championship next year could change my mind that keeping Addazio is prudent.

  33. Texas’ offensive coordinator stepped down today as a result of their inept offense this year….Here’s to praying that Meyer finds the marbles to force Addazio into a demotion before the bowl game.

  34. To those of you calling for the firing of Meyer.. why? The reasons are totally irrelevant. OK, he hasn’t ever developed a pro-style passer that’s worth a hoot in the NFL… WHO CARES?!?!? Last I checked, the Gators are in the NCAA. I could care less what happens at the next level. That has nothing to do with Urban’s coaching ability.

  35. Hey juergensen if I were you I’d find a new favorite team. Hate on Meyer all you want but he’s not going anywhere unless he chooses to step down. In case you forgot he’s brought us 2 national championships in his limited time here. Schools typically look upon such success favorably. He’s made a mistake by not demoting Addazio but it doesn’t warrant him being fired. Also, all you’ve said is fire Meyer but you haven’t even given a decent reason. Sorry pal but it might be time to take a hike.

  36. Ummm… this is all really interesting to me. But what do you think about the Urban Meyer saga in light of what happened to Larry Coker at Miami.

    Coker went 60-15 over 6 seasons and was fired after a 7-6 season. Urban is 64-15 over 6 seasons and is looking at a possible 7-6 season. Coker also came about a play away from winning two national titles (and going 25-0)

  37. “Coker went 60-15 over 6 seasons and was fired after a 7-6 season. Urban is 64-15 over 6 seasons and is looking at a possible 7-6 season. Coker also came about a play away from winning two national titles (and going 25-0)”

    Different scenario.

    Coker was %100 a product of Butch Davis’ recruiting.

    The same could have been said about Meyer after 06, until Meyer won in 08 with HIS team.

  38. YOU OWN A COMPANY………..

    and have an employee who excelled the year after he climbed his learning curve and performed better and quicker than anyone you had ever hired.

    The next year he did well but didn’t set anything on fire as there were those who did better.

    The next year after that he came out blasting and dominated the scene. His performance was incredible he had a cummulative total higher than anyone in that 4 year period.

    The year after that there were only two people that perfromed better. He performed far better than most and was in the top percentile of your company.

    The year after that he showed he was human and had an average year. He wasn’t anywhere near the best but he wasn’t near the worst and you recognized what he was doing wrong.

    Do you just up and fire him? Or do you make the obvious recognition of his potential, realize he’s human, maybe counsel him and then keep him on board giving him what he needs to succeed because the odds are very strong that he will?

    For those that say “fire Meyer” I can GUARANTEE YOU, you don’t own a business, you work for the man, and the way you think gives you no hope of ever achieving that dream of entrepreneurship if in fact that is your dream. It also gives you no hope of optimizing your effectiveness in leadership or management.

    You’re not an idiot, you’re just very ignorant of human dynamics and how they relate to performance in the workplace and in everyday life.

    I’m sure you can think of many examples in your life right now that can validate that.

  39. gtrboz. Absolutely. Although, for the sake of devil’s adovcate, I will offer one example – hospital administrator who hires a trauma surgeon/neurosurgeon/cardio-thoracic surgeon etc.

    But then, this is football, not life or death surgery. Although, us Gators fans sometimes forget that.

    🙂

  40. hmm…well…lemme be the one to break the sort of horrible news we knew would come but fervently wish wouldn’t:

    “Despite all the rumors and speculation surrounding the offensive coordinator’s position at Florida, a change does not appear imminent.

    During an Outback Bowl teleconference on Tuesday morning, Urban Meyer reiterated what he said three weeks ago — that for now, he anticipates Steve Addazio being the Gators’ offensive coordinator next season.

    “I am expecting that to happen,” Meyer said. “I’ll have further updates as we get closer to the (Jan. 1.) bowl game.””

    By the power of Zeus or Thor or just any powers-that-be…I still cling to that small hope that by New Year, we really do have a new look to our offense.

  41. I’ll start by saying that i’m new to the site and that i don’t necessarily disagree that Steve Addazio shouldn’t be the OC. However, I find the hypocrisy of the site administractors repeatedly harping on the smugness and selfishness of Addazio while at the same time using every opportunity to quote himself and put in at least one ‘i told you so’ in each post absolutely idiotic.

    1. I see what you mean. The webmaster sure comes off as smug and a little too proud, being that he is still running a “fire (fill in the blank).com” website. Not exactly the new york times, here.

      I wish he would try and unite us in an effort to send mail or just e-mails to foley or addazio, so that we can inundate them with our anger over a few days or weeks, as opposed to disorganized dissention.

      They may easily ignore sparse letters or emails, but to be flooded with it would certainly get the point across.

  42. All these hypotheticals are fucking DUMB and all you folks that do not think Meyer is now the problem are clueless. This is a top D 1 program with a head coach that is second in the Nation in salary, not the manager of a 7-11 or some telemarketing Co. He should have acted like a HC and demoted Dumbaz a long time ago. Now(today) to publically say he expects Dumbaz to remain the OC at Florida is amazing. It’s not as if Florida is competing and barely losing games, they are getting their asses kicked and teams like Miami(OH) have more productive offenses. You think this is acceptable and not the fault of the head coach? You’re Nuts!
    FUCK Meyer, he is hypocrite and has lost his mind. Those bj’s from Dumbaz must be really good to keep the guy in the capacity he is in at UF. I can’t wait for Penn State to whip the shit out of UF, they will make it look easy just like others have this year, I’ll be surprised if FL gains more than 100 total yards(not including Deonte Thompson kick returns). Before any of you Meyer lovers chime in and tell me to go find a new favorite team let me advise that I already have. That team is anyone that plays Florida as long as this staff is in place. Get ready for another 7-6 in 2011!

  43. One more thing. For those of you who think Meyer is doing a great job and think the rest of us are just fair weather fans please look up “Jeff Bowden” in your college football dictionary. Let his story be a little lesson on how long this could go on at UF. All of you that think Meyer is owed something for previous success should talk to a few FSU fans, they will enlighten you.

    1. With all due respect, at least Jeff Bowden’s offenses didn’t resemble something you would expect to see at a Pop Warner game.

  44. The hot new rumor today is that Dana Holgorsen was in Gville today to meet with Meyer and discuss becoming the new o-coordinator…. This would be Florida’s best hire since getting Meyer himself outta Utah. Holgorsen has a proven track record and his spread offense has been potent everywhere he’s ever been from Texas Tech to Houston and now at OSU…He even works in some option which will keep Meyer happy as he feels that must be a staple of his offense even in the post-tebow era……..

    On a side note: Hopefully some of UF’s top recruits like Jeff Driskel, Mike Blakely and Ja’Juan Story as well as top targets like Kelvin Benjamin are expressing to Urban their dismay with the “Addazio Offense” (if it can be considered one)…Its UM and Foley’s time to make the move and bring in an offensive guru and real playcaller….a new d-cord or the promotion of Chuck Heater to playcaller would be a good start on the other side of the ball as well….

  45. It’s simple – Meyer is sick. Addazio is terrible. Foley needs to get involved. If they can’t get rid of the daz then we gators are in for hard times.

  46. Oh, and BTW, last night Addazios home was ‘egged’ by some unknown perpetrator. The cops found an empty 12 pack egg carton on the front yard. They suspect Brantly as a person of interest. One egg actually hit the house. Two more landed in the neighbors pool, 3 were found in the back yard and 6 more were crushed on the ground next to the egg carton………… just sayin.

  47. So, I didnt want to hop on this bandwagon but it looks like I’m going to have to. I was just watching TV 20 (local Gainesville news) and Hank Astingo just said that he interviewd Urban, and Urban stated that STEVE ADDAZIO WILL BE HIS OC NEXT YEAR NO MATTER WHAT.

    FIRE URBAN MEYER, HES HARD HEADED, SELFISH, AND CONCEITED

  48. I admire your passion on this issue, and I subscribe to your blog. BUT, I think you need to relax. How do you know Urban isn’t getting rid of Addazio? Also, you were not the only one who questioned the 3-QB system. I, personally, thought it was ridiculous. I argued instead that Reed performed the best among the three and that he should transition into the starter position.

    Many people who pontificate about what Meyer should or should not do are actually right on some of the issues. However, a lot of people are completely clueless about contracts law and professional standards. We simply do not know whether Addazio’s contract allows for him to be fired midseason or whether it allows for Meyer to badmouth him to the media. Yes — contracts can have confidentiality terms in them that prevent public scorn.

    So my advice to you: chill out. I hate Addazio and Brantley and think that they are the worst things to ever happen in Gainesville. I also believe that Meyer has not been doing his job. Having said that, I believe that Meyer gets it — just like you do, and I am willing to wait and see what changes happen after this season is over. If nothing new develops, then blast the hell out of him then.

  49. Damnit, Texas fires their O-Cord who took them to a national championship and several bcs games with lights out offense productions. WHY? Because of all the negativity surrounding the program. Urban Meyer says now he expects to keep Addazio as O-Cord. WTF? The guy has sunk our offense production in his two years of responsibility. Oh, but Meyer got sick, and DaZ took over and held a recruiting class together, so he is “owed” the job. WTF?!?! AGHHH. I hope Penn St blows us out of the fucking water. Maybe we can get shut out. Changes are needed and the powers at be need to wake the fuck up. If we manage to show up with some miracle offense and win the game allowing Urban to justify his lunacy I may jump off a bridge.

  50. For those of you hating on Meyer based on what he says in press conferences you guys obviously have never heard of a little thing called Public Relations, or PR. Let me give you a quick lesson: you don’t throw current players or staff under the bus at pressers. Have you EVER heard a coach, GM, owner, AD, or any other administrative person when asked about the future of a coach respond “Oh yeah, about him. Yeah, I’d guess he’ll be gone in the next couple of weeks.” No, you haven’t, because it doesn’t happen. For those of you who would like some examples, please see Wade Phillips, Brad Childress, and now Josh McDaniels. Their respective owners all came out making statements that they ‘fully supported’ them less than a week before they each were fired. Also, college coaches traditionally are not fired midseason, unless they resign, so UF would take care of this in the offseason. Urban is just playing the PR game he is supposed to so unless you’re stupid, I wouldn’t read into that too much.

  51. Fire Meyer anyone making 4 mil a year and not performing at maximum capacity has to go. Dumbazzio has to go back to the Navy with his Dive Dive Dive mentality. Austin has to go back to the NFL because he apparently can’t coach or develop young talent. Last but not least Brantley has no business playing SEC football as of matter of fact he has no business in D1 football, the guy is a complete bust. Can anyone say Ryan Leaf!

  52. Ryan Leaf ?

    You mean the guy who played for sh*tty Wazzu and tore up a BCS conference ?

    Great comparison. Oh, I know, you were just making a comparison to busts. How about Ron Powlus, Chris Rix etc.

    As for Meyer’s endorsement, there’ still a game to play.

    “I am expecting that to happen,” Meyer said. “I’ll have further updates as we get closer to the (Jan. 1.) bowl game.”

    That sounds more like discussions are taking place with someone, somewhere.

    1. agreed.. let’s all chill out a bit.. I want Addazio gone as much as anyone, but give Meyer a chance to do it the “right” way.. if he ends up keeping him (regardless of the outcome of the bowl) then it’s open season on Meyer. I can’t see Meyer (or at the least, Foley) letting this go on any further.

  53. I am still not over my theory from last year.

    I still believe Meyer was gone, but the coach they wanted wasn’t quite ready to come to Florida yet, so Meyer stayed aboard as a Bowden type of “Head Coach”

    I would not at all be surprised to a new head coach get named between now and the week the bowl takes place. I also have a theory on who it will be.

  54. You don’t throw someone under the bus at a presser by saying “no comment”. Going out on a limb and advocating that he will be back next year should be taken at face value. Otherwise, Meyer is a liar. I hope this is posturing so that Addazio can get hired elsewhere and has negotiating leverage to get some other stupid school to pay him more than we ever did.

    I thought losing to Miss State was enough to get a coach fired. It was the final straw for the Zooker, and should’ve been enough for the Addazio…or the USC game…or the FSU game…or dare I say it…the Penn State game.

    1. He is a liar, where have you been. Hell he has been known by many oppenents for years as URBAN LIAR, now as fans we are seeing his true colors. He is the KING OF CONTRADICTION, go watch the orange and blue game from this year and listen how he expalins that FL has no defined offense and the O is based on the strenghts of the personnel. Is the FL offense based on the strengths of our personnel? NOPE! It’s based on favoritism, seniority and relationships. I wish Meyer was not serious when he stated Dumbaz would be OC next year but I know better. If another team doesn’t pick up this fuck(Dumbaz) you better start drinking the Ol Grandad now to prepare for 7-6 in 2011. Go Penn State!!!!!!!!! Meyer, you are an arrogant DICK!

    2. To be honest all coaches are liars to a certain extent. When a coach is preparing to take on a much lesser opponent but builds them up at the presser to sound like the greatest team ever do you think that’s what they actually mean? You will VERY rarely see an honest press conference from a coach. I think Urban knows Addazio has to go, but as it has been stated many times here he is very good friends with him. I think he’s probably just giving him some respect supporting him in pressers and wants to take care of this behind closed doors in the offseason. I’m a UF fan first not a Meyer fan first, and if he fails to take care of this in the offseason then he deserves all the criticism in the world. Until then, let’s give him a chance to take care of this situation in a respectful way. We all wanted Addazio out way before now, but it’s too late now. Urban’s on his last chance, but let’s at least give it to him before we go out and crucify him.

  55. “I’m expecting that to happen” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement that it will happen. Like someone else mentioned, sounds more like keeping his friend Addazio marketable to another team. In the meantime, Addazio is out on the recruiting trail because a high school coach and friend of mine was standing next to him at Mike Blakely’s game this past Friday night. I understand about the proper timing of things for all concerned but is the ‘all’ really being taken into consideration in this? In other words, are the fans being considered at all or is Addazio’s future of greater value? And if it’s all a ruse for now to keep recruiting on course, please…as if recruits don’t know the story. Is Meyer lying to them pretending Addazio will be their OC next year when he knows different? Is that wise? My take – Addazio’s future + recruiting = recent statements by Meyer. Fans = taken for granted. Regarding the Outback bowl, though I’m in close proximity, as long as Addazio remains as OC I won’t be buying a ticket to go.

  56. Here…I’ll help Meyer out. I copied the quotes below, exactly as they appeared in the AP, regarding the firing of Josh McDaniels as head coach of the Denver Broncos. Only the names and team have been changed. (I realize this particular statement might be a little tough for Meyer in that it actually takes personal responsibility and also mentions the fans twice.)

    “My decision to relieve Steve Addazio as Offensive Coordinator was not taken lightly. I will always be appreciative of his passion, enthusiasm and hard work, and I thank him for his efforts,” Meyer said in a statement after firing Addazio.

    “In the end, I was not satisfied with the results and the direction this team was headed. The decision to make a change was extremely difficult but one that needed to be made for this organization and our fans,” Meyer added. “Everyone, myself included, is accountable for our disappointing season and is now responsible for restoring the culture of winning that has been established by this franchise. Our entire organization is completely focused on returning to the level of prosperity that our fans expect and deserve from the University of Florida.”

  57. I am not worried. Yet.

    And here’s why.

    The first and most obvious reason is Adazzio has relationships with recruits.

    However, the less obvious and more important reason is classic business common sense.

    Suppose Florida’s in discussions with someone like Dana Holgorsen or Mark Helfrich. Now suppose they can Adazzio without having a deal in place with either guy, then what ?

    Adazzio is valuable to the team in other ways, just not as a playcaller. So, do you risk firing him when you have nobody else in place ?

    I’ll tell you what, for you folks who don’t understand common sense business practices. Go apply for a new job.

    After your interview, before you even get asked back for the second of many interviews or even before you get asked for references, give notice at your present employer that you’re giving them your two weeks. See how that works out.

  58. Meyer, Dumbaz & Brantley busted fighting with Omega Mu’s AGAIN. Bouncey tried to mediate but was handled with ease by one of the Mu’s.

    Foley to hold 4PM presser – they’re all gone!

    YEAH!

  59. Has anyone seen the grading system they use to grade players champions and what not?

    What;s below champion? Semi-finalist, qualifier, serviceable player??

    Addazio graded out as a fat bald-headed fuck

  60. At this point, I wouldn’t let Addazio coach my kid’s peewee football team. He has run an, if not the, elite college football program with consistent top 5 recruiting completely into the ground. We averaged just over 7 points on offense per game against +500 opponents. Many of those points were scored because of very good kickoff returns or turnovers.

    The man is a joke. He cannot even do a passable job at his specialty offensive line, where we had consistently terrible snapping, no pass protection and no run blocking. All of this non-production came from a primarily veteran line.

    The longer I hold my breath waiting for this moron to be relieved of any and all duties, I may die of Hypoxia. It is my firm belief keeping Addazio is doing more to damage our recruiting than getting rid of him would do damage-wise.

  61. damn excellent article you articulated and got the point across this is my first time reding one of your articles and im very impressed but theres one thing i gotta say is if we fired steve adozia which major coach is a serious canidate that runs the spread offense and can raise john brantley up to his max potintieal level and get us back in the championship hunt that would be a great article

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