Florida head coach Urban Meyer had a change of heart on Sunday, deciding to take a leave of absence instead of resigning his position after the Gators play in the January 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl.
After Saturday’s shocking announcement that Meyer would resign, speculation began in earnest who could be the next coach at Florida.
Some of those mentioned included Bob Stoops, Dan Mullen, Chris Petersen, Kevin Sumlin, Kyle Whittingham, Jim Harbaugh, Bobby Petrino and Gary Patterson.
Out of the lengthy list of potential candidates, some probably wouldn’t have been as interested in the Gators’ job as others.
Now that Meyer will take a leave of absence instead of resigning, all of the possibilities are mute. Then again, nothing is set in stone with Meyer’s return to the Gators.
Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley may very well have to hire another coach depending on Meyer’s ability to overcome his health issues.
But of all the possible coaching candidates to replace Meyer, there is one that can definitively be ruled out.
Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin will not be walking the sidelines for the Gators – ever.
In the nearly 13 months since he was hired to take over the Vols football program, no coach in the nation has spent more time taking jabs at Florida than Kiffin.
It didn’t take Kiffin long to stir things up as the newest coach in the SEC, using his introductory press conference on December 1, 2008 to say one of the things he was most looking forward to during the 2009 season was “singing Rocky Top all night long” after beating Florida.
Kiffin didn’t stop there, in fact, he turned up the intensity and frequency of his verbal jabs at the Gators – and specifically Meyer.
On national signing day in February, the Volunteers got exceptional news when they signed two prep prospects who had previously committed to Florida, including Nu’Keese Richardson.
Urban Meyer
Kiffin, while speaking at a gathering in Knoxville, accused Meyer of cheating in an attempt to keep Richardson when he telephoned him during his recruiting visit to Tennessee.
After Florida defeated Tennessee 23-13 on September 19, the following day Meyer said he kept his game plan conservative because he felt the Vols didn’t appear to be playing for a win. He also said several of his players had been hit by the flu.
Kiffin didn’t let Meyer’s comments go without a response. When asked whether he was worried about the flu also hitting Tennessee, he said: “I don’t know. I guess we’ll wait and after we’re not excited about a performance, we’ll tell you everybody was sick.”
Prior to the SEC Championship game on December 5, Kiffin was asked to give his thoughts about the Florida-Alabama matchup during an interview with WNML radio in Knoxville.
“It’s kind of hard to call,” Kiffin said. “There’s a bunch of great players on both teams. Florida has so much speed.
I think you’ll see Alabama will outscheme Florida, and Florida has given up 28 sacks this year when a bunch of guys come free. But the problem is Superman (quarterback Tim Tebow) is back there. It comes down to can you tackle him.”
“It will be a real interesting matchup. Florida has better players, and Alabama has better coaches, so we’ll see.”
With Meyer at least planning to return next season, Kiffin will have his nemesis right where he wants him.
It’s obvious Kiffin didn’t want to see Meyer walk away from his job due to health reasons. If anything, he wants Meyer to remain at Florida as long as he’s coaching at Tennessee.
Kiffin is a competitor, and there’s no question he wants what the Gators have. Despite all the trash talking, the Vols coach knows at the end of the day all the verbal sparring doesn’t amount to a damn thing.
What really matters most in college football – and particularly in the SEC – doesn’t have as much to do about the head coach of a program as some may think. Big time programs have always been bigger than the coach.
If you’re going to be the big dog on the block in the SEC, you’ve got to earn it.
All the trash talking in the world will never earn you anything. That big dog status Tennessee desperately wants can only be earned on the field and nowhere else.
As of now – and in the immediate future – Florida and Alabama are the biggest, baddest dogs on the block in the SEC.
For the Volunteers, the only way they are going to achieve big dog status is to defeat the Gators and win the SEC East, and it doesn’t matter if Florida is coached by Urban Meyer or Steve Spurrier or Ron Zook.
And no amount of talking is going to change any of that.
[...] We know this much: Lane Kiffin won’t be Florida’s next coach — (MoonDog) [...]