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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2013 1:29:19 GMT -5
UF Replaces Special Teams Coach - this can't be a surprise with the way Kyle Christy and Austin Hardin performed, didn't perform, this season:
Report: UF replaces special teams coach By Robbie Andreu Staff writer
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2013 at 8:30 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, December 19, 2013 at 8:30 p.m.
Florida coach Will Muschamp has made a change on his coaching staff, replacing first-year special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach Jeff Choate with Coleman Hutzler, who has held the job at New Mexico the past two seasons, according to at least two reports Thursday.
UF would not confirm the coaching change Thursday night that was reported earlier in the day by FootballScoop.com and CoachingSearch.com.
Hutzler has a Florida connection, having been a special teams assistant for the Gators under D.J. Durkin in 2010-11. Before that, Hutzler and Durkin worked together for two seasons at Stanford, where Durkin coached linebackers and special teams and Hutzler assisted with special teams.
The coaching change could be announced by UF today, leaving Muschamp with two vacancies to fill on his staff — offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2013 13:30:05 GMT -5
Damontre Harris dismissed from basketball team - an unexplained complete waste of talent by the player:
Saturday December 21, 2013
Damontre Harris dismissed from team
The Florida basketball career of Damontre Harris is over before it began. Harris, the 6-foot-10 center/forward who transferred to UF from South Carolina two summers ago, was officially dismissed from the team Friday after meeting with Coach Billy Donovan.
The parting, Donovan told GatorZone.com, was an amiable one. Also a necessary one.
“He was never disrespectful as far as his attitude. He was a nice kid and never blamed anybody for what was happening,” Donovan said of Harris (pictured right during UF's media day in October). “We tried to help him off the court and help him with some of the challenges he was dealing with. But there was never this reciprocation of wanting to be helped or wanting to to do the things necessary.”
Harris will leave UF in good academic standing, after completing his fall semester work, and with a release to transfer anywhere that might take him. He may look for a school closer to his home in Fayetteville, N.C.
“It may mean him getting to a place where he can play the game on his terms,” Donovan said. “Someone may let him to do that. Here, it’s not our philosophy or belief.”
The Gators were banking on Harris to be a contributing player in their front-court rotation this season, but the relationship between Harris and the program went sideways just before the start of the season and never got back on track.
Harris was one of three players who began the season suspended for violating team rules. Two of them, sophomore transfer forward Dorian Finney-Smith and senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin, worked their way back into Donovan’s good graces. Harris did not.
“The things we were asking him to do weren’t anything out of the norm,” Donovan said. “But we’d go a week without hearing from him. He wouldn’t return our phone calls or text messages. His teammates didn’t know where he was.”
Around Thanksgiving, Harris reached out to Donovan, who agreed to meet with the player, but 10 days went by before he heard from him again.
“By then, we were at the end of the semester and I think he realized it was just too far gone,” Donovan said.
During his 2011-12 sophomore season at South Carolina, Harris averaged 6.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game for the Gamecocks and was named to the Southeastern Conference All-Defensive team. But Harris opted to leave USC after a coaching change and transferred to UF.
Along with Finney-Smith, Harris sat out the entire ’12-13 season under NCAA transfer rules, but was allowed to practice -- when healthy. Harris suffered a torn labrum a week into preseason practices and was sidelined for nearly five months. When he returned in March, Harris sustained an ankle injury. All told, he may have been healthy for 10 practices last year.
When the Gators opened practice this season, Harris missed more time due to sore hamstrings and was relegated to the training table and strength and conditioning sessions. Then, without warning, eventually stopped coming to the practice facility.
It was downhill from there.
“I think he realizes that a big opportunity for him is now gone,” Donovan said. “The thing I tried to get across to him, if he has any aspirations of playing professional basketball there is not one team in this country or overseas that is going to tolerate this type of behavior, and I’d be doing him a disservice if I didn’t hold him accountable for these things.”
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2013 10:12:36 GMT -5
Two Thoughts:
1. If Jeremy Foley and Bernie Machen are blocking Muschamp from hiring Lane Kiffen as OC, shame on them. This hire should be all on Will Muschamp as it will be his last rodeo with UF if it doesn't work out.
2. Kerwin Bell? Think Gus Malzahn when Auburn hired him, both times. I think Kerwin would do a heckuva job for "mama" UF. Will, hire Kerwin and step away from the offense.
This from Franz Beard at Gator Country:
Written by Franz Beard, December 22, 2013
A few thoughts to jump start your Sunday morning:
I woke Saturday morning, the fifth week anniversary of the Georgia Southern loss, contemplating whether to simply call that dark day in Gator history “The Unthinkable” from here on out. Calling it “The Unthinkable” won’t ever change what should have never happened under any circumstance, but it does make it easier to get around probing questions. Someone mentions the Georgia Southern game, I simply reply, “Oh, The Unthinkable” and suddenly my conscience is clear. I walk away without saying another word, leaving someone to contemplate just what I meant when I said “The Unthinkable.” Some people will get it. Some won’t. It’s their problem. It’s no longer mine. If someone mentions the Georgia Southern game and starts asking poignant questions about the Florida football program and I say something other than “The Unthinkable” I know myself all too well. I’ll rehash that entire game, which will start me rehashing the entire 2013 season and next thing you know I’m not my usual charming and occasionally witty self.
I was at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, watching the Gators do an Attila the Hun – lots of pillaging and plundering – on the Fresno State Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl Classic when it was reported that new Southern Cal coach Steve Sarkisian says he has retained Clay Helton as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator for next season. Now there are reports that Helton hasn’t 100% decided to stay, but he’s making $850,000, which is a cool quarter million more than UF paid the departed Brent Pease. Something tells me he’s not taking a pay cut to move 3,000 miles east.
Now I wasn’t 100% sold on Helton as the answer for the Florida offensive woes two weeks ago, but I had warmed up to him when other warm bodied members of an A list that too many people who know more about this coaching search business – at Florida and elsewhere – than I ever will began dropping like flies. Mike Norvell, who had a knock them dead interview at Arkansas State, wasn’t offered the job and was enticed to remain at Arizona State. Funny what a $200,000 raise and some fancy schmancy title will do for a prime time candidate to be Florida’s offensive coordinator. Noel Mazzone didn’t get an additional 200 large to stay at UCLA, but he got 150 big ones and elected to stay put. Last Sunday, Blake Anderson seemed to have one foot in the Florida door and then he was invited to interview at Arkansas State. He thought he bombed the interview. Apparently interview bombs are en vogue. He got the job, pulled his foot out of the Florida door and left me feeling the need to warm up quickly to Clay Helton.
Well, there is Tim Beck, the Nebraska offensive coordinator. He’s making something like $750,000 and nobody in Nebraska seems to like him. I’m not sure what to make of that. They didn’t like Frank Solich either. He went 58-19 in six years as head coach (1998-2003) at Nebraska and they ran him out of town. If they ran a winning head coach out of town who averaged nearly 10 wins a season, would they also run an offensive coordinator who seems to be a master of the two-inch pass out of town, also? Okay, Beck does like to run the football – a lot – which probably makes Will Muschamp do a mind drool, but when I think of Tim Beck I ask would hiring him be like putting lipstick on the same pig that was just run out of Gainesville?
Okay, so I don’t want Beck and he’s the only one of the aforementioned A list who hasn’t gotten a big raise or a head coaching job somewhere else. When it comes to Florida football and the offensive coordinator search, he’s still standing.
I would prefer that he sits down. But, maybe he doesn’t. I hold my breath in anticipation.
And this brings me back to my original premise of “The Unthinkable.” I’m willing to come up with a new catchphrase to navigate my way out of going in-depth about the Georgia Southern game if Muschamp and Florida will really do “The Unthinkable” when it comes to an offensive coordinator.
This version of “The Unthinkable” is a two-headed monster. This version of “The Unthinkable” involves “The Mouth That Roared” and Florida’s version of “The Hick from French Lick.” As far as offensive coordinators go, I’d be happy with either of these two “Unthinkables.”
“The Mouth that Roared” is Lane Kiffin. I have it on very good authority that he wants the job. I have it on equally good authority that Will Muschamp would be very happy if Lane Kiffin were coaching up Jeff Driskel next year and calling the plays for the Florida Gators. I also have it on good authority that there are higher ups who don’t want anything to do with him.
I know all the stuff he said about Urban Meyer, but let’s face it, in the minds of a lot of Gators, Urban is about as popular these days as a running sore on the private parts. If you’re part of the anti-Urban crowd, then wouldn’t you at least consider embracing the original anti-Urban? While you’re busy debating that, let me throw these numbers at you. In 2005 when he was calling plays at Southern Cal, the Trojans AVERAGED 579 yards and 49.1 points, had a 3,000-yard All-American passer in Matt Leinart, two 1,000-yard rushers in Reggie Bush and LenDale White and a 1,000-yard receiver in Dwayne Jarrett. When those guys left, he turned John David Booty into a 3,000-yard passer and had two 1,000-yard receivers.
Maybe Lane blew it as a head coach. Maybe he ran his mouth too much. Maybe he’s been humbled. There are no maybes when it comes to calling plays and coaching up quarterbacks. He does that quite well.
Okay, our version of “The Hick from French Lick” is Kerwin Bell, our man from Mayo, the cultural capital of Lafayette County where dairy cows and pigs outnumber people something like 15-1. For some reason, there are folks who think that if Kerwin Bell was such a good offensive mind, then why the hell is he coaching at Jacksonville University? Well, for one thing, Kerwin has always marched to a different drummer. He turned down Auburn a couple of years ago because he was comfortable in his own skin, doing what he’s doing now, which is taking a bunch of kids nobody else wants and turning them into an offensive machine that averaged 522.7 yards and scored 57 offensive touchdowns in 11 games with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.
Kerwin can coach. Really coach. He has a very creative offensive mind, has put together one outstanding offense after another at JU and would indeed leave his comfort zone at JU for Florida. As Bear Bryant said about Alabama, “Mama called.” With Kerwin, Florida is mama. Call and he’s here to help.
If he can coach a bunch of nobodies that nobody wants, then think what he might do with the somebodies that every decent team on the planet wanted that signed with Florida.
Maybe Lane Kiffin and “The Throwin’ Mayoan” don’t fit your profile of who should be Will Muschamp’s offensive coordinator, but let’s make two things abundantly clear: apparently some folks have used the Florida coaching search to get some dandy raises and there are rumors that some have done their best Nancy Reagan impression and just said no. Translation: Florida doesn’t have an offensive coordinator.
With that in mind, maybe it is time to do “The Unthinkable.” It’s not like Will Muschamp has forever to make a decision. The clock is ticking and if it strikes midnight and he doesn’t have someone in place, then that carriage for Dalvin Cook and some other studs who want to be Gators just might turn into a pumpkin.
I woke Saturday with one idea about “The Unthinkable.” I’m going to bed with a totally different idea about what is unthinkable and what is not.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2013 18:08:08 GMT -5
UF to hire Kurt Roper from Duke as the OC per ESPN - CBS Sports says he'll coach Duke's bowl game:
Gators to hire Kurt Roper as OC
Updated: December 24, 2013, 5:49 PM ET
By Edward Aschoff | ESPN.com
Florida is expected to hire Duke offensive coordinator Kurt Roper to the same position, with an announcement later this week, sources told ESPN.com.
Contract details for Roper were not immediately known.
Roper, who also serves as Duke's assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach, will replace Brent Pease, who was fired after the conclusion of the 2013 regular season.
Roper has served as Duke's offensive coordinator since 2008. This year, the Blue Devils ranked 68th nationally in total offense, averaging 408.1 yards per game. The Blue Devils averaged 31.6 points per game.
In 2012, Roper helped direct the Blue Devils to a school single-season record of 410 points and 31.5 points per game, the fifth-highest total in school history.
Roper has extensive history in the SEC. He got his coaching start at Tennessee while serving as a graduate assistant from 1996-98 and then followed current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe to Ole Miss, where he spent six years coaching quarterbacks and was the passing game coordinator during his final three seasons.
In 2005, Roper served as Kentucky's quarterbacks coach before serving as running backs coach at Tennessee in 2006 and 2007.
Pease's dismissal came on the heels of an injury-riddled season in which Florida ranked last in the SEC in total offense (316.7 yards per game) and scoring (18.8) during a 4-8 season. It was the first time since 1979 that the Gators suffered a losing season and the first time in 22 years that they failed to make a bowl game.
Florida scored 30 or more points just twice during the 2013 season, tying for 112th nationally in scoring offense. The Gators also ranked 113th nationally in total offense.
Florida is expected to run more of a spread offense with more tempo under Roper, according to sources.
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Post by canefan on Dec 24, 2013 19:05:28 GMT -5
Okay, what the hell is going on? DeVonte Phillips has decommitted from Florida now. It is well known he views Cook as his big brother and wants to play in college with him. Things just keep getting crazier and crazier.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2013 16:03:14 GMT -5
Attention hogs being attention hogs.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2013 11:27:02 GMT -5
It's official. UF has hired Duke's Kurt Roper as OC. The OL coach position is still open:
By SCOTT CARTER GatorZone.com Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Kurt Roper was one of five finalists this season for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach.
Gators coach Will Muschamp and Florida fans would like nothing more than for Roper to repeat as a finalist in 2014.
Muschamp made it official Thursday morning, announcing he has hired Roper as the Gators' new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
"I'm excited to have Coach Roper join our staff," Muschamp said. "He has a diverse, up-tempo background on offense and does a good job of adapting to what the players do best. The most important thing though is he has always remained balanced.
"He has had success calling plays in the SEC and has tutored three NFL quarterbacks. He has had players produce at every offensive position and he is one of the most well-respected coaches in the country."
Roper has spent the last six years as offensive coordinator at Duke under Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, a longtime mentor. Roper has worked with Cutcliffe every season but one since 1996 when he joined Tennessee's staff as a graduate assistant and Cutcliffe was the Vols' offensive coordinator.
Roper later served as Cutcliffe's offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and followed him to Duke in 2008 when Cutcliffe took over one of the country's weakest programs. The Blue Devils won a school-record 10 games this season and face Texas A&M in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Tuesday.
"Kurt Roper and I have been together a long time," Cutcliffe said when he hired Roper at Duke. "He was hand-picked by me when I went to Ole Miss to be the quarterbacks coach. You know you're always supposed to hire people that are smarter than you are and Kurt qualifies there. I think he's one of the better minds in college football. The reason he is an offensive coordinator now is that he has an unbelievable understanding of protection, the running game and the passing game."
Roper grew up the son of a coach -- his father Bobby was an assistant at Tennessee in the late 1970s -- and he played quarterback and defensive back at Rice prior to embarking on a coaching career.
Roper's work at Ole Miss as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator helped establish him as an up-and-coming coach in the SEC. At Ole Miss he coached Eli Manning, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft who set 47 school records during his time with the Rebels.
The Rebels' offense produced with Manning and later Romero Miller at quarterback as Ole Miss went 44-29 in the six seasons Roper was there with Cutcliffe.
Between his stints at Ole Miss and Duke, Roper returned to Tennessee with Cutcliffe for two seasons and played a pivotal role in the development of Vols running back Arian Foster, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2007.
Roper's offenses tend to produce big seasons from the skill positions.
Roper has guided three quarterbacks to 3,000-yard passing seasons (five total 3,000-yard seasons) and in his six seasons at Duke Roper's offenses produced four 1,000-yard receivers and three 3,000-yard passers.
Roper inherits a UF offense with quarterback Jeff Driskel returning after playing only three games last season. Several quarterbacks have prospered under Roper's tutelage besides two-time Super Bowl winner Manning.
Both starting quarterbacks to graduate in Roper's time with the Blue Devils -- Thaddeus Lewis and Sean Renfree – have gone on to the NFL.
In 2012, Roper directed the Duke offense to a school single-season record 410 points and 31.5 points per game, marking the fifth-highest average in school history.
In 2013, the Blue Devils ranked 69th nationally in total offense and set a school record for total touchdowns (54), the first time the Blue Devils have scored 20 or more touchdowns both rushing and passing in the same season.
Roper's diversified offense played a key role as Duke's success this season.
Duke averaged 31.6 points per game -- totaling an average of 234.4 passing yards and 173.7 rushing yards per game despite starting quarterback Anthony Boone missing three games with an injury. In Boone's absence, Roper turned to reserve Brandon Connette and rotated the two regularly when both were healthy.
Muschamp met with Roper earlier in the week and tabbed him Thursday to replace Brent Pease, Florida's offensive coordinator the past two seasons.
The Gators averaged 316.7 yards per game in 2013 to finish ranked 112th nationally on the way to a 4-8 record.
Muschamp and Gators receivers coach Joker Phillips are familiar with Roper's credentials. Muschamp faced Roper's Ole Miss offense when he was defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn, and Phillips was Kentucky's offensive coordinator in 2005 when Roper was the Wildcats' quarterbacks coach.
Personal Information
Hometown: Ames, Iowa
Education: 1995 – Bachelor’s Degree from Rice University; 1998 – Master’s Degree from the University of Tennessee
Family: He and his wife, Britt, have one daughter, Reese, and one son, Luke
Coaching Experience
2013 Duke (Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2008-12 Duke (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2006-07 Tennessee (Running Backs)
2005 Kentucky (Quarterbacks)
2002-04 Ole Miss (Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
1998-2001 Ole Miss (Quarterbacks)
1996-98 Tennessee (Graduate Assistant, Defense & Special Teams)
Bowl Games as a Coach
1997 Florida Citrus
1998 Orange
1998 Independence
1999 Independence
2000 Music City
2002 Independence
2004 Cotton
2007 Outback
2008 Outback
2012 Belk
2013 Chick-fil-A
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Post by trnyerheadncough on Dec 26, 2013 13:41:08 GMT -5
Okay, what the hell is going on? DeVonte Phillips has decommitted from Florida now. It is well known he views Cook as his big brother and wants to play in college with him. Things just keep getting crazier and crazier. TIFWIW, Devonta Freeman recently had an instagram posting saying that Cook and Phillips committed to FSU. Cook really isn't a surprise. Phillips would be. Again, just rumor, but insiders are supremely confident that Cook, Lane, Jackson, and to a lesser extent Phillips, are all Noles come signing day.
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That's TrnYerHeadnCough...
"Champion Douche -- 2012 AND 2013"
Back to Back...they may have to retire the contest...
"Bowl Champion Douche --2012-2013"
Get it right.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2013 16:32:57 GMT -5
Phillips is in the 15 class.
Cook, Lane, and Jackson? That makes up for Dante Fowler and Ryan Sousa, if anything can make up for Dante Fowler. (G)
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Post by canefan on Dec 26, 2013 17:20:53 GMT -5
Well, to be fair, FSU "insiders" always think they are getting everybody.
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Post by trnyerheadncough on Dec 26, 2013 18:23:17 GMT -5
I know that Phillips is a '15 kid...hence why I used the term "lesser extent". Much much longer way to go to that particular signing day.
And I know that several of the Nole "insiders" think they're getting everyone...that's why I said to take it with a grain of salt. But Freeman posted it on his instagram, and I know that he and Cook are tight.
I'm not all that upset with Sousa. I would have liked to have him in the class, as I think he's a good player, but he isn't a "can't miss" kind of receiver. Fowler was a big loss, and obviously he is a stud. Cook, Lane, and Jackson will do nicely, if we're able to pull it off.
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That's TrnYerHeadnCough...
"Champion Douche -- 2012 AND 2013"
Back to Back...they may have to retire the contest...
"Bowl Champion Douche --2012-2013"
Get it right.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2013 8:59:33 GMT -5
One thing I have learned with certainty in my 15 years of following recruiting is the recruiting always works out for UF unless there has been a head coaching change. Losing Cook, Lane, and Jackson will make the last month of recruiting more interesting. At least it didn't happen the last weekend of recruiting like it did so often when Bobby Bowden was at FSU.
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Post by canefan on Dec 27, 2013 10:34:43 GMT -5
Recruiting these days is not for the feint of heart. Kids commit and really mean this school is my favorite for now. Not all of them, but a good many. I love the kids who commit, shut it down and tell other coaches no thanks but I have no interest. The ones who commit and then constantly talk about they will make their final decision at such and such a time are a pain in the ass. I am sick of the little hat game they play and all the ceremonies for announcing their decisions. I can guarantee you had I pulled any of that shit when I was being recruited my dad would have kicked my ass.
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Post by trnyerheadncough on Dec 27, 2013 11:05:08 GMT -5
Amen. These days, a "committment" for a lot of these kids isn't even a favorite for the moment...it is a, "I'm going to hold my place here in this class unless/until I feel like I want to change for any number of reasons."
I'm with you in that I love the kids who commit and say to other coaches, "Please lose my phone number."
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That's TrnYerHeadnCough...
"Champion Douche -- 2012 AND 2013"
Back to Back...they may have to retire the contest...
"Bowl Champion Douche --2012-2013"
Get it right.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2013 11:19:36 GMT -5
I don't see the process changing as those who make a living off recruiting, ESPN/Rivals/Scout/247 Sports, all encourage the hat game nonsense.
Mack Brown is one of the few coaches who played recruiting right. If you take a visit(s), you aren't committed to Texas and you don't have a spot reserved in the Texas class. Play straight or hit the road Jack.
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