Re: [gatortalk] FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Foley reveals details of coaching search

I thought you all were going as our necked redneck contingent? What happened? Need more body paint?

 

A. Leon Polhill, Gator
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
I said I didn't know." - Mark Twain

On Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:27 PM, Shane Ford <goufgators@bellsouth.net> wrote:

I'm glad Foley and crew moved quickly as well!  They really had to!  I don't know if Coach Mac would have survived on the open market too long anyway.  I'll bet Michigan would have come calling sooner or later. 

I think we hired a great coach who wants to be here. I love his DC hire and I hope they can work things out with T Rob to keep him on staff. 

WOO-HOO on the tickets!  Anyone else from Gator Talk going to the game?  I'm sure we'll end up by the Alumni tent sooner or later.  I may have to wait outside tho.  I'm glad Oliver's saving face about me possibly being wimpy.  I'll take a game day picture and show you the light coat I'll be wearing and the snow parka and multiple layers that Oliver will be wearing. 

Go Gators!!!!!

SHANE

Sent From Shane's iPhone

Go Gators!   &   Skål Vikes!

ALPCA #8756 

Europlate #1045

On Dec 17, 2014, at 11:03 AM, Oliver Barry <oliver@bobparks.com> wrote:

I was afraid what happened with the Tennessee coaching job search would happen to us.

There was a radio guy, Clay Travis, who would make up something like it was gospel and everyone would get their hopes up.

John Gruden was involved in intense negotiations with Tennessee.  A decision was imminent.

Trouble is, it was all fiction.  They went from coach to coach expecting Superman.  When they finally got Butch Jones everyone was disappointed.

Of course, they could have hired John the Baptist at that point and everyone would've been disappointed it wasn't Saint Peter.

It was awful. 

You can see here in our search there were a lot of rumors.  All of them false.  Luckily the negotiations didn't go any longer.

A lot of the rumors were started by these blogs like SDS and others.  If you don't have readers just make up something juicy. Then you'll get interest.

This internet thing is a great invention.  But, one sure has to wade through a lot of sewage to get to potable water.

 

Meanwhile, Shane's and my tickets have arrived for the Birmingham Bowl.  Section 12, row 18, seats 13 and 14.

I just hope it's not too cold.  Shane might get a little wimpy. 

 

 

Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI

Bob Parks Realty, LLC

Real Estate Broker

145 Maple Row Blvd

Hendersonville TN 37075

Phone: 615-826-4040

Mobile: 615-972-4239

barryo@realtracs.com

 

From: gatornews@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatornews@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Ford
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 7:32 AM
To: GatorNews
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Foley reveals details of coaching search

 

Foley reveals details of coaching search

UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, left, began the search for a new coach shortly after the firing of Will Muschamp on Nov. 17. That search ended with the hiring of Jim McElwain, right, on Dec. 4.

Staff photos by Brad McClenny and Elizabeth Hamilton/Illustration by Jon McDonald;Flight map from flightaware.com

By Pat Dooley
Gainesville SUN Staff writer

Published: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at 8:11 p.m.

It was always about progress, this 2014 football season. It was never how many wins vs. how many losses, but whether or not Florida football appeared to be on the right track. 

UF athletic director Jeremy Foley was familiar with that track, having ridden it before. This track was being derailed.

First, there was the mind-numbing loss to LSU. Then the embarrassing loss to Missouri.

"Everyone was concerned after Missouri," Foley said. "Obviously, the antennae were up, but there was a lot of football to be played."

The clincher came against South Carolina in The Swamp when Florida lost at home for the sixth time in eight games. The fans knew it had to end. Even Will Muschamp knew he was finished. He spent an inordinate time in the locker room after the game, didn't meet with recruits and prepared to accept his fate. 

On Sunday morning, as Muschamp sat in his office watching video of the previous game. Foley lowered the boom on Coach Boom.

"I was disheartened," Foley said. "There was a lot of negativity that was going to be hard to overcome, especially in recruiting. This business is hard when a big ball starts rolling downhill and you have to catch it and roll it back up the hill.

"After sitting down and talking about it, some of it late Saturday night with (UF president) Bernie (Machen) and the staff, and Sunday morning with Bernie, the decision was made."

And so the process began anew of finding a head coach for the University of Florida. It would be the fourth in 13 years and Foley understood how important this one was. The Gators had been the dominant program in the second half of the last decade, but had found themselves on the edge of irrelevancy the last two years.

"We started gathering info after the press conference on Monday (Nov. 17)," Foley said. "I don't know how many hours we went through, 8,000 agents calling you. You really don't know if anyone is interested until you talk to them personally.

"Everyone thinks everyone wants to drop the job they have and come here, but you have to wade through that. You have to find someone who wants THE job."

Foley's inner circle of administrators — Chip Howard, Lynda Tealer, Mike Hill and Steve McClain went to work.

One of the first names that was mentally checked off the list — Jim McElwain. Once Foley learned of the $7.5 million buyout, it seemed like too large a burden to overcome. 

"That's a huge amount of money," Foley said. "But the word got back to me as I went along that it was negotiable. I thought it might be a deal-breaker at the start. But once you got by that hurdle, he was back in the mix."

Much of the first two weeks of the process was eliminating coaches who either were happy where they were or were not that right fit at Florida. Sometimes, silence was the best indicator that a coach wasn't interested.

"The one thing the South Carolina thing did for us was give us two weeks to do a lot of work," Foley said. "Who fits here, who wants to come here, who's doable. I didn't want to get somebody a raise or get left at the altar."

There was some interest in at least checking into some NFL coaches.

"Is there a diamond in the rough?" Foley asked his staff.

One of the popular names in cyberspace was New England assistant Josh McDaniels. Foley did ask some questions about him, but it never went any further.

Meanwhile, there was the report that Foley wanted to talk to Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly. Foley knew better than to go down that road because Kelly has made it clear he likes coaching in the NFL.

"I didn't ask anybody about Chip Kelly," Foley said. "I never poked around Chip Kelly at all."

As the process continued, Foley kept hearing good things about McElwain. He talked to a lot of people about the Colorado State coach, including two former McElwain quarterbacks — Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron. He also talked to Alabama coach Nick Saban.

On the Saturday night following Florida's loss to Florida State, Foley pulled into his Gainesville driveway and called John Morris, the interim athletic director at CSU, to ask permission to talk to McElwain.

He then called the coach to set up a time on Sunday when they could talk.

"Everyone I talked to spoke highly of him," Foley said. "I liked the fact that he took over a team that was 3-9, 3-9, 3-9. I liked the fact that he would take on that challenge. I liked the fact that he went for it against Air Force and wasn't afraid to lose. You can't be afraid to lose at this level."

At noon on that Sunday, Foley called McElwain and the two talked for 45 minutes.

The last thing he asked McElwain was, "Are you seriously interested in this job?" McElwain said he was, that the opportunity was one he didn't want to pass on.

Meanwhile, what Foley calls "the silly season" was in full force. Names were flying all over the place and there were reports that an offer had been made to Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze.

Foley said he never talked to Hugh Freeze. He did talk to Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork, but only because Bjork called him.

"I talked to Ross because he called me," Foley said. "I told him, 'Ross, if I want to talk to your coach, the first person I'll talk to is you.' But I never did. Hugh is a great coach, but I never talked to him.

"I've been through it before. I said at the first press conference that half of the information out there was going to be false and that was the truth. We don't pay attention to that because it will distract you."

Foley and his staff were convinced that they had their target. 

A booster plane took the Florida contingent to Fort Collins, Colo., on Tuesday, Dec. 2. They made a stop in Joplin, Mo., to try to throw off the media members tracking the plane on the Internet.

"The one thing you didn't want to happen did happen," Foley said. "At the end of the day, we can't get distracted by that — people taking pictures through windows."

Reporters stalked McElwain's home while Florida's administrators met inside with the coach and his wife Karen. She served them dinner — pot roast — and the meetings continued into the night.

At one point, McElwain and Foley sat down for a private discussion. Foley went upstairs after the meeting and talked to his staff. They knew they had their guy. Once the reporters decided to abandon their post, the Florida group headed for a hotel.

The process began on two fronts — to negotiate a contract with McElwain and also to deal with the buyout.

On Wednesday morning, Foley and his staff waited at the hotel for some news. When it became clear that the buyout negotiations were between McElwain, his agent and the Colorado State people, Foley decided it was time to head home.

"I just wanted to know what we were dealing with," Foley said. "When we left, we didn't know.

People made a big deal because I didn't bring my coach back. I didn't bring Urban (Meyer) back or didn't bring Will back.

"It was a tough night because I don't like uncertainty. Bernie (Machen) knew some folks out there and he got involved."

On Thursday morning, the deal was getting close.

"The final result (of the buyout) was something we suggested," Foley said. "What if we try this? That began to get some traction. Once that did, I started to feel good about it."

Finally, the call came that the buyout had been negotiated. Foley walked down the hall to tell Tealer, who was working on the contract for the new coach. He walked back down to his office and McClain was there.

"It's already out there," he said.

Foley just shook his head. But at least the silly season was over.

Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at dooleyp@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.

Sent From Shane's iPhone

Go Gators!   &   Skål Vikes!

ALPCA #8756 

Europlate #1045

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