SEC Media Days: Muschamp deserves some time at Florida
Will Muschamp is under some pressure after going 3-5 in SEC in first season. (AP photo)
(It’s Day 2 at SEC Media Days. Here’s a quick look at Will Muschamp and Florida.)
HOOVER, Ala. — Shortly after taking over as coach at Florida, Will Muschamp summoned Janoris Jenkins to his office and informed the talented but troubled cornerback that he would be suspended for five games because of multiple failed drug tests.
Jenkins’ response was not one of remorse but rather entitlement. He told Muschamp: “Do you know who you’re talking to?” And so ended Jenkins’ career at Florida.
We use that story partly to defend Muschamp, who has come under some heat, and illustrate the problems he has dealt with at Florida since replacing Urban Meyer. A dozen players have left or been run off in the past year. It’s now clear the talent base at Florida wasn’t what you would expect – and Meyer probably knew this, which is why he “retired” in the first place: He saw the problems coming.
Any claims Meyer left for health or family reasons went out the window when he took the Ohio State job a year later.
This doesn’t mean we know for certain Muschamp is a great head coach. But after going only 7-6 (3-5 in the SEC) last season, it’s worth noting that he inherited a bit of a mess.
“No more pressure at all,” Muschamp said Wednesday at SEC Media Days when asked if he felt more pressure in Year 2. “The pressure is what you put on yourself, and I put an awful lot on myself whether it’s year one or year 10. Going into the first year, the issues I knew we had was a situation where we inherited a roster with two quarterbacks on scholarship, Tyler Murphy and John Brantley. Unfortunately, I think I said this a thousand times last year, if we can keep John Brantley healthy, we’ll be fine. … We lost a lot of confidence offensively. We struggled to move the ball consistently. That really permeates and affects your entire football team when that happens. Whether you’re a head coach or assistant coach, when you’re heading in with that, it is difficult and frustrating.”
But Muschamp, who was projected as the next Georgia coach when he was defensive coordinator at Texas, admitted he feels “more prepared” for the job this season.
“Mack Brown said something to me when I was at Texas, had the opportunity to be the next head coach at Texas,” Muschamp said. “I said, ‘What makes you think I’m ready for this job?’ He said, ‘You’re not.’ I’ve been a head coach at North Carolina for 10 years and Appalachian State for one year and Tulane for four years, and I wasn’t ready for this job at Texas. Every job is different. Every job has its own set of circumstances, its own positives, its own negatives. That always made a lot of sense when he said that. You have to work yourself into the job when you get there.”
By Jeff Schultz
Previous SEC Media Days blogs
• Slive: SEC needs to be vigilant to avoid Penn State situation
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184 comments Add your comment
BillS
July 18th, 2012
1:00 pm
Urban’s record at UF is a documented huge success. Fla fans loved that. The fact that he is a jerk personally and professionally doesn’t change what he accomplished at UF. Let’s just hope he chokes at OSU.
Eldrick
July 18th, 2012
1:00 pm
Muschamp needs to apologize to his daughters for acting like a baffoon.
JB
July 18th, 2012
1:03 pm
Mizzou,SC,AU,FLA will all be a load for Dawgs this year. Richt loses these 4 and it will not be good in Athens.
JB
July 18th, 2012
1:03 pm
But, all four of these teams know we will be a load for them
Mississippi State: Ole Miss is one thing, rest of the West another | UGA sports blog
July 18th, 2012
1:06 pm
[...] Schultz: Muschamp deserves some time at Florida [...]
Sunny Cloisters
July 18th, 2012
1:07 pm
Will Muschamp is an honorable, passionate man and a great coach.
Mark Richt is a two-bit pretender who is none of those things.
Half Century Dawg
July 18th, 2012
1:10 pm
“Will Muschamp is an honorable, passionate man and a great coach.
Sunny Cloisters is a two-bit pretender who is none of those things.”
There you go Sunny, I fixed that for you
Flo-Ri-Duh
July 18th, 2012
1:11 pm
MusChump bad mouthed UGA, who gave him the opportunity for an education… and signed on with the Lizards. He deserves nothing. Lose to UGA this year and the HOT SEAT will be waiting for him. I give him two years at best to get his stuff together or he’s GONE. I won’t miss him.
Buzzzzzzzzzz
July 18th, 2012
1:12 pm
“I wish there was something good to say about Tech but there is nothing!”
——————————————————
Well, how about this…
Results from the 2011-2012 season for the Big 3 men’s sports:
Football: UGA 1, GT 0
Basketball: GT 1, UGA 0
Baseball: GT 2, UGA 1
——————————-
Total: GT 3, UGA 2
In other words…
GEORGIA TECH RUNS THIS STATE!
Flo-Ri-Duh
July 18th, 2012
1:14 pm
TGhe Lizards need to get used to losing – just like in the old days when UGA drubbed them annually. MusChump ain’t no Spurrier or Meyer. By the way Meyer and Spurrier will both be gone before Richt goes any where.
Delusional Dawg Fan
July 18th, 2012
1:19 pm
Florida is just going to go away. Doug Dickie is suddenly going to return as coach. Florida won’t have one have one of the 5 richest althletic departments anymore and the high school talent in Florida will suddenly disappear. It’s going to happen because I keep telling myself that it will happen. I just keep hiding under the sheets and telling myself that it can be 1970 again. It can be…
Billydawg
July 18th, 2012
1:20 pm
Love seeing a Dawg running the Gators..good luck Muschamp until you play us. God Bless the USA we need it.
Red Stick
July 18th, 2012
1:26 pm
Jeff, he may have inherited some issues but he is being paid big-time bucks to work around that and be successful. If he doesn’t win at least 8 regular season games, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t return next season or if he does come back, his seat will be very hot.
Geaux Tigers
Go SEC
GStateBen
July 18th, 2012
1:27 pm
Add the fact that Urban capitalized on Florida State’s Lost Decade plus Miami’s shift out of major college football both on the field and off and it adds up to dominance.
FSU is back recruiting like an SEC program and Muschamp has the best overall resources outside of the University of Texas. He has a fickle fan base (see Gator season tickets lately? They are advertising on the AJC.com and that should tell you everything you need to know) and had to hire his second OC in as many years. I think he was a good hire but there is ZERO room for error down in Hogtown.
5150 UOAD
July 18th, 2012
1:30 pm
GStateBen….you need to worry about GaState becoming the FSU(without the wins) of the Sunbelt. How many kids have been kicked off your team?
Well
July 18th, 2012
1:32 pm
“just like in the old days when UGA drubbed them annually.”
Ah yes, back when Reagan was president.
Well
July 18th, 2012
1:32 pm
“Love seeing a Dawg running the Gators’
It took an Auburn guy to get UGA its last national title.
Bruce Mac
July 18th, 2012
1:39 pm
Hey Buzzzzzzz, why do you only include two of the minor sports in your analysis? I guess you are an Obama democrat and can just pick and choose facts that happen to fit your analysis. Good job my man.
Dawggie Fan
July 18th, 2012
1:39 pm
GState – last year UF failed to sell out a game for the first time in almost 140 games, so I wouldn’t be so quick to call the fan base “fickle.” Impatient? Yes. Spoiled? Yes. But their fan base does show up and spends money. Their AD doesn’t have all that cash available because their fans are fickle.
Brandon Spikes
July 18th, 2012
1:43 pm
If Muschamp hadda suspended me for more than half a game, I woulda poked him in the eye.
Booger
July 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
Dooley may have attended Awbarns but he got his Masters degree at UGA after he took all available remedial courses.
harold
July 18th, 2012
2:02 pm
MANY WEALTHY FLORIDA DONORS WERE PISSED AT FOLEY WITH THE MUSCHAMP HIRE.
WORD IS FOLEY AND MUSCHAMP MAY GO DOWN TOGETHER WITH ” A BRAIN CRAMP”.
I GIVE MUSCHAMP TWO YEARS AT BEST. HE LOOKS LIKE A REDNECK SPITTING ALL THE TIME.
Burma Shave
July 18th, 2012
2:04 pm
We’ve seen some great coaches
Too bad Richt isn’t one
If he can’t win this year
Out of town he should run
BURMA SHAVE
Al
July 18th, 2012
2:06 pm
I do not understand the lovefest for Muschamp. He is fiery and shows his emotions, so what, will that result into wins?
I did not think he was that good of a DC at Texas and when he was at LSU, that was all Saban.
UF can have him.
Independent voter
July 18th, 2012
2:12 pm
Muschamp is crazy !! hot headed.. not a bad D.C. but not H.C. caliber especially in the S.E.C.
Hairy Dawg
July 18th, 2012
2:17 pm
Muschamp has always been a Gator that is why he “Walked On” at UGA.
Hairy Dawg
July 18th, 2012
2:17 pm
Muschamp is the “Manchurian Candidate” placed in Gainesville by Vince Dooley.
Dawggie Fan
July 18th, 2012
2:17 pm
No one knows at this point how Muschamp will work out as a HC. He’s recruited very well, but 7-6 ain’t gonna get it done either – so mixed results from his first year. But only a fool tries to label him a success or failure as a HC after a total of 13 games.
Mike S.
July 18th, 2012
2:27 pm
What Muschamp deserves and what the “Gator Nation” will give him is two different things. Lets face it, UF wasn’t that good last year. I think they are one of the most overrated teams coming into this year too:
1) They are on their 3rd OC in 3 years. Will this new OC be better or worse than Weis?
2) They are running a pro style offense which has not been what UF does successfully since before Spurrier arrived as head coach. Its a big transition.
3) Most importantly, they lost all their remaining playmakers on offense. Demps gone. Rainey gone. Brantley gone. You take those guys off last year’s team, and they dont even make 6-6. Now their projected starting TE leaves the program. They played Brantley on one leg over their backups last year. These are HUGE losses.
There is no other way to say it. This program is in a complete rebuilding phase. Muschamp deserves a long leash, but I doubt he will get it…especially being a UGA grad with Spurrier over there at South Carolina running one of the top SEC programs. Then there is Richt bringing UGA back. The fans wont put up with 6-8 win seasons or worse for more than another season or two.
Al
July 18th, 2012
2:29 pm
@Dawggie Fan
You were probably one calling Muschamp a traitor when he went to UF.
Also, you are probably on the Kirby Smart bandwagon as well.
Mike S.
July 18th, 2012
2:31 pm
I can see one thing that can tide Muschamp over…win the rivalry games. Especially if he wins against UGA, they will give him a lot more slack. If UGA starts piling up a win streak on Muschamp after UF dominating the series over the last two decades, I think it will put a lot more pressure on him.
Gene
July 18th, 2012
2:33 pm
Crowell used the line “do you know who you’re talking to” a number of times with Richt until the Dean of Students finally kicked him out of school. That line only works so much, even at UGA.
Dawggie Fan
July 18th, 2012
2:34 pm
@ Al – your assumptions are incorrect, sir. Had Muschamp chosen the FL job over Georgia, that would be a different matter entirely. A young coach got a shot at one of the top HC jobs in college football (dislike the Gators all you want, but it’s an excellent job). What’s he supposed to do? Turn it down and continue to wait in Austin for Mack Brown to retire? I don’t get the animosity directed at Muschamp by some Dawgs.
Dawg Squeeze
July 18th, 2012
2:39 pm
He has the swagger of a Gator and the intelligence of a bulldawg……not a good combination.
Al
July 18th, 2012
2:40 pm
Read my post at 2:06. I am not the one calling him a traitor. I personally do not think he will ever be a good HC.
I don’t blame him for taking the UF job, in his position I would have done the samething.
Bottomline I’m glad he is not at UGA and hope Uga does not go after Smart whenever Richt leaves.
I feel about Smart the same way I do Muschamp. I just don’t get the love fest for both of them.
At Alabama, thats Saban’s defense not Smart’s
Dawggie Fan
July 18th, 2012
2:48 pm
I was just correcting your assumption about me. Others have concluded that he will not be a successful HC, which I think it impossible to determine after 1 season. I don’t get hung up on what part was Saban and what part was Muschamp or Smart. Great coaches historically have spun off assistants who themselves become successful HCs. Doesn’t always work out that way, but the idea is hardly unprecedented.
drain the swamp
July 18th, 2012
2:53 pm
Should have asked Muschamp how the season ticket sales are going since they had to cross states to advertise and try to sell out. Everybody remembers those online AJC ads…what an embarrassment for Florida.
Leebogator
July 18th, 2012
2:53 pm
Meyer was awesome. 2 NC’s? Nothing wrong with that.!! Muschamp will win and win big at Florida.
They days of average Gator teams are over. The sleep giant was awakened by SOS, continued by Urban, and will always be among the elite programs in College Football.
pbt Dawg Fan
July 18th, 2012
2:53 pm
Dawggie Fan
iT’S not the fact that he took the head coaching job at Florida, during his press conference where he was introduced as florida coach, he made some comments that didn’t sit well with me. For example flordia is the only job i would have left texas for. That was a shot at Georgia. I would tell Muschamp if it wasn’t for Georgia you would not even be a coach. con grads on the job, but don’t burn your bridges with the program that gave you a chance. Kirby Smart needs to be told the same thing.
drain the swamp
July 18th, 2012
2:55 pm
Handing out game tix to cars passing by on I-75 in gainesville, fl….very few takers
florida was and always will be a punk
July 18th, 2012
2:58 pm
Leebogator, Your “always” tradition just started in the ’90’s ..with many off years up to now.
Well
July 18th, 2012
2:59 pm
“Dooley may have attended Awbarns but he got his Masters degree at UGA after he took all available remedial courses.”
Says more about Dooley, than Auburn. Remember, UGA leads the nation in incoming freshmen who have to take remedial classes.
Dawggie Fan
July 18th, 2012
2:59 pm
pbt, coaches have to play to their fan base, and he had to know that coming in as an UGA letterman, some Gator fans might not be too pleased. I give him a lot of latitude on that. What was he supposed to say? Meyer said several times that ND was his dream job. I think Muschamp was smart enough to know UF fans were tired of hearing their coach ponder other “dream jobs.”
get used to wearing orange jumpsuits after playing at florida
July 18th, 2012
3:05 pm
Florida’s drug program….5 games for multiple (multiple meaning a free pass at florida – 30 or 40 tests – until the media finds out) failed tests…..pitiful
shutup
July 18th, 2012
3:06 pm
remedial days are gone jerk
SEC Media Daze
July 18th, 2012
3:06 pm
Another 7-6 success story of a ‘coach in waiting’.
Burma Shave
July 18th, 2012
3:07 pm
Im real cool y’all
BURMA SHAVE
nothing new
July 18th, 2012
3:08 pm
dawggiefan is right.. it’s much ado about nothing…coachspeak telling his fan base what they want to hear.
Well
July 18th, 2012
3:09 pm
“remedial days are gone jerk”
remedial days are gone, jerk. I love irony.
Oh an even funnier note, Spurrier couldn’t remember the last SEC QB to win a Heisman Trophy. I guess he TOTALLY forgot about the beat down in the Dome Auburn gave to his MUCH overrated football program back in 2010.
56-17, Spurrier. Cam threw for 493 yards in that beat down.
Well
July 18th, 2012
3:10 pm
“5 games for multiple (multiple meaning a free pass at florida – 30 or 40 tests – until the media finds out) failed tests…..pitiful”
UGA = 2010 Fulmer Cup Champs.
What ever happened to Crowell?