A change of heart rocks college football again
Commentary by Chris Rushing
So much for bigger things than a silly football game, huh?
I had a heart scare back in May that caught me completely off guard. After spending a morning in an ambulance and emergency room bed, I knew that even simple things are nothing to mess with when it comes to your ticker. Apparently, with the decision that Urban Meyer made Friday night when talking to his family, he didn’t think that it was such a good thing to mess with either.
Which makes today’s news even more bizarre to me.
Sure, there were reports last night that he had turned down a leave of absence from Jeremy Foley. That would make sense, after all, to sit out a little while and come back when he was ready. No need for the University of Florida to get into the coaching carousel if at all possible to stay out. Foley had his man in Gainesville five years ago, and if this was a way to keep him on board, then sobeit.
But Meyer did something that Ron Zook had failed to maintain when he took over for Steve Spurrier in 2002. Meyer made it cool to be a Gator again, and he made this job into the best in college football. Foley could have his pick of anyone out there, and I’m not sure anyone was better suited than Meyer, but he could get awfully close on his choice.
Foley is a winner, through and through. He hates, nay, despises losing. NCAA tournament berths aren’t enough for the guy, but you win a couple of national titles, and you gain job security that allows you to make a second-thought on your decision to leave him in the first place.
See: Billy Donovan.
Donovan and Meyer are great friends, which makes the run that UF had from 2006-07 so special in holding both the men’s basketball and football national championships at once. There isn’t a power struggle between neither the two most prominent UF head coaches nor their respective programs.
However, if Meyer thinks he will be able to just step back in 2011 (or sooner) and regain his momentum built over the last five years, he needs to look closely at the last three for Donovan since his brief exit to the NBA.
The Gators haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since the exits of the fab four sophomore/juniors that earned back-to-back Siemens trophies, and Donovan has had difficulties maintaining the success level acquired during his first 11 years at UF. All those 20-win and NCAA tourney seasons are a distant memory, and the latest three-game losing skid for the Gators may show signs of a fourth-straight mediocre season.
I believe the reports coming from various UF assistant coaches that Meyer knew he made a mistake when walking the practice fields Sunday morning for perhaps the final time as the top man in Gator Nation. I’m sure that the regret was overwhelming, and I don’t blame Foley for allowing Meyer to take him up on the leave of absence offer.
All that being said, by promoting Steve Addazio to interim head coach, Foley and Co. are essentially writing off 2010, and that’s not like Foley at all. That’s not the Gator way. To me, that’s the most confusing aspect of this entire saga.
We’ll keep you posted on any more developments in this strange case. Hopefully, your hearts (and mine) can take it.
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