Bianchi: New coordinator Buster Faulkner’s $2.1 million mission is to bring fun back to Gators’ offense!

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I have to admit, Buster Faulkner had me at “fun.”

More than three decades ago, when Steve Spurrier came home to the University of Florida and started turning SEC defensive coordinators into nervous wrecks, one of my claims to fame is a phrase I coined for his revolutionary offense: The “Fun and Gun.”

It was fun because Spurrier made football entertaining. It was gun because the Head Ball Coach believed the football belonged in the air. And, man, did it fly.

Now, after nearly two decades in which Florida’s offense has too often been more slog than swagger, new Gators offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner wants to make Florida football a frolicking good time again.

Those are his words; not mine.

Said Faulkner earlier this week: “I just feel like when Florida was rolling back (in the day), it was a lot of fun, and we want to bring that fun back offensively to the University of Florida.”

Amen, Buster, and welcome to Gainesville. It’s refreshing to have a head coach like Jon Sumrall and an offensive coordinator like Faulkner who already seem to understand something: Gator Nation doesn’t just expect Florida to win. Gator Nation expects Florida to win a certain way.

Score points. Throw the football. Create explosive plays. Make opposing defensive coordinators sweat through their golf shirts.

And, yes, make it fun.

That expectation was created by Spurrier, whose offenses changed not only Florida football but SEC football. It was reinforced by Urban Meyer, whose Tim Tebow-led offenses weren’t the Fun and Gun but were every bit as exhilarating – a bruising, creative, quarterback-powered attack that helped win two national championships.

Faulkner has talked to both Spurrier and Meyer. Spurrier even sent him notepads filled with plays. Former Meyer offensive coordinator Steve Addazio recently visited Gainesville, too. Faulkner isn’t trying to recreate either offense play-for-play. He wants to borrow from both. In other words, he understands Florida football fans are craving the high-powered offenses they had under Spurrier and Meyer.

“I hope they are,” Faulkner says of the fan base. “That’s what I want. That’s what these kids want. That’s what Coach Sumrall wants. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be here. I mean, when you think of Florida football, I go all the way back to Coach Spurrier and all the things he did when he was here. I’ve always said this. He was on the cutting edge of it.

“And then, Urban Meyer, watching his offenses. They were fun, too. They were physical, violent. I think we want to kind of be a combination of both of them.”

Now that should get Gator fans excited. But before anybody starts dusting off the visors and ordering championship rings, we should acknowledge something else.

We’ve heard this before.

Will Muschamp talked about restoring Florida football. Jim McElwain was supposed to fix the offense. Billy Napier arrived with his own offensive system and his own play sheet. None recreated Florida’s offensive identity.

Muschamp actually won 11 games in his second season, yet many Gator fans were miserable. Imagine that: 11 victories and people still complaining. Why? Because Florida was winning games that looked like root canals.

That might sound spoiled to outsiders, but outsiders don’t understand the monster Spurrier created. Once you’ve watched Florida quarterbacks throw touchdown passes like Mardi Gras beads, it’s difficult to get excited about winning 17-9.

With the exception of a couple of productive seasons under Dan Mullen, Florida fans have spent most of the post-Meyer era waiting for the offense they believe is their birthright.

Last season was another low point. Florida ranked 13th in the SEC and 104th nationally in total offense at 341.3 yards per game. Against FBS opponents, the Gators averaged a miserable 18.6 points.

That isn’t Fun and Gun. That’s Punt and Groan.

Which brings us to perhaps the most encouraging thing about Faulkner: Florida finally has a real, proven offensive coordinator whose primary job is to coordinate the offense.

What a concept.

Napier spent much of his Florida tenure being asked why he wouldn’t turn over play-calling duties to an offensive coordinator. He stubbornly held onto them even as the pressure of running a modern SEC program became increasingly overwhelming.

After being fired by Florida and becoming the coach at James Madison, Napier finally admitted what everybody else could see.

“I think that I probably was a little stubborn,” Napier told On3.com

And guess what? At James Madison, Napier has hired an offensive coordinator to call the plays.

Oh well, better late than never, I suppose.

Florida isn’t making that mistake with Faulkner. The Gators are paying him $2.1 million per season, making him the highest-paid assistant coach in school history and one of the highest-paid assistants in college football.

And with that paycheck comes pressure. Lots of it.

But Faulkner’s résumé suggests he’s prepared for it. He has more than two decades in college coaching and 14 seasons as an offensive coordinator. He helped Georgia win national championships and then built one of the nation’s most productive offenses at Georgia Tech. His Yellow Jackets averaged 460 yards per game last season, ranking second in the ACC and 11th nationally.

More importantly, Faulkner isn’t married to one system.

He grew up in the Air Raid offense at Valdosta State, playing quarterback under renowned coach Chris Hatcher in a system descended from Hal Mumme and the late, great Mike Leach. But unlike some coaches who spend their careers trying to jam players into a system, Faulkner has spent his career adapting his system to his players.

That’s coaching. Look at your roster. Figure out what your players do best. Then build an offense around them.

And Florida has players who can make things happen, including preseason All-SEC running back Jadan Baugh, who rushed for 1,170 yards last season. Now it’s Faulkner’s job to put the ball in the hands of Florida’s playmakers – as he says – “a bunch of different guys in a bunch of different ways.”

There is one other warning worth mentioning. Florida’s new head coach, Jon Sumrall, comes from the defensive side of the football. So did Will Muschamp.

Sumrall cannot fall into the same trap Muschamp did and believe winning ugly will ever completely satisfy this fan base. Let Faulkner cook. Let him innovate. Let him take a little Spurrier, mix in some Meyer, sprinkle in some Air Raid roots, run the ball and create something uniquely his own.

Nobody expects Buster Faulkner to become Steve Spurrier. Nobody should. There was only one Head Ball Coach.

But Florida football desperately needs to rediscover something Spurrier understood better than anybody: Football is entertainment.

Winning matters most, obviously. But at Florida, how you win has always mattered, too.

Buster Faulkner says he wants to bring the fun back. After nearly two decades of waiting, Gator Nation has a simple response:

It’s about damn time!

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen.

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