Florida AD Scott Stricklin under great pressure to hire right coach
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GAINESVILLE — The Hyundai Sport crawled down Museum Rd. about 2½ hours before the Florida Gators hosted Florida State football on Saturday, Nov. 29. The message scrawled on the back window summed up the state of the Gators’ football program and the level of fan angst.
#FireScottStricklin!
Stricklin is the suddenly embattled Florida athletic director who signed a three-year contract extension in late August, fired coach Billy Napier in mid-October and has spent the last five weeks burrowed behind closed doors with his handy search firm and other UF administrations searching for Napier’s replacement.
Fans aren’t happy and have pointed their arrows at Stricklin.
Fans can’t blame Napier anymore. He’s collecting his buyout money.
Fans can’t blame quarterback DJ Lagway anymore. He likely finished his Gators career in a 40-21 over Florida State, a game that knocked the awful Seminoles (5-7) from bowl consideration and featured UF’s second-best all-time rushing effort (266 yards by Jaden Baugh on 38 carries).
And fans can’t blame the school president. UF doesn’t have a full-time head honcho.
That leaves Stricklin, who in the eyes of boosters, had one job and one job only: Convince Lane Kiffin to coach the Gators. And if not Kiffin, Another Big Name. Another Big Winner.
Instead, as the calendar inches toward December, nothing.
Kiffin? Reportedly out of the mix. USC’s Lincoln Riley? Would have been a home run, but he appears to be staying. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea? Signed new contracts. Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham? My Plan B when the search started hasn’t gained much traction (maybe he’s waiting for Florida State to open next November).
All of which leaves Stricklin with … Tulane coach Jon Sumrall?
Hiring Sumrall would be saying the quiet part out loud: The Florida job isn’t as attractive as the Gators think. What an indictment on the outside perception of the Gators.
Gators lost search’s narrative
Stricklin’s legacy, even though he hired basketball coach Todd Golden, is on the line.
This will be Stricklin’s third and final football hire at Florida. If the next coach is wildly successful, Stricklin will get to name his retirement date. If the next coach flames out like Dan Mullen and Napier, Stricklin will get his departure date decided for him.
Stricklin would be banking on Sumrall being to Florida what Urban Meyer was to the Gators back in the day (two national titles) and what Curt Cignetti is currently to Indiana.
All Meyer did at Bowling Green and Utah was win. All Cignetti did at Indiana (Pa.), Elon and James Madison was win. And Sumrall has won — 23-4 at Troy and 18-7 at Tulane.
If the choice is Sumrall, details of the UF process will be fascinating since nothing has been revealed. The Gators, like so many other teams, either didn’t care they lost the narrative or were unaware they were losing the narrative.
The narrative UF lost, Part 1: They should have said on background, “Yes, Kiffin is our top choice, but we’ve cast a wide net and aren’t ruling anybody out. Trust our process.”
That strategy would have given the boosters enough nuggets of information to believe Plans B-C-D were in place if Plan A (Kiffin) fell through.
The narrative UF lost, Part 2: When word started trickling out on Friday, Nov. 28, that Kiffin was deciding between Ole Miss and LSU, the Gators should have gotten out front of that and said on Thanksgiving Day, “We’re done waiting for Lane. We’ve moved on.”
Instead, the Gators gave the impression their only plan was Kiffin.
If the UF-hired search firm recommended a silent course of action, the Gators should ask for a refund.
Chance for UF to pivot philosophically
Maybe going with Sumrall would provide Stricklin with the opportunity to make a complete pivot with the program, one that puts UF ahead of the game with NIL, the transfer portal, high school recruiting and player development.
Might Sumrall be open to a general manager with scouting chops to manage the roster? Probably more than Kiffin would have been. This is the route I would go — the job is too big for a head coach to serve as CEO/game-day manager/personnel chief.
My rationale to doing a program-wide shift? What they’ve been doing hasn’t worked … for years. Try something different, even if proves to be wrong. Get bold.
The hope for UF fans during this search is Stricklin, by talking to many candidates, allowed him to do a floor-to-ceiling examination of the UF program. What did the candidates like? What were they wary of? What have the Gators been lacking? What is the external perception of how the Gators do football business? What is your plan for developing quarterbacks?
The goal for Stricklin is to find a coach who can get rid of the bad-and-boring ways of Napier. Have a cutting edge offense. Mine the state of Florida, where the Gators should have a clear recruiting advantage over Florida State, for talent. And make the Gators matter again nationally.
The 12-team playoff means a team like Florida doesn’t need to go 12-0 or 11-1 to make the tournament. Just go 10-2 and see if there is lightning in the bottle for the playoffs. Shoot, 9-3 may be good enough for an SEC team in the inevitable 16-team bracket format.
If the choice is Sumrall, what Strickln should try to sell is the thorough process that led the Gators to him and why he rose above the other candidates. And then hope he wins.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida Gators football under pressure to make winning hire at coach
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