Jeremy Foley’s incompetence left a mess for Dan Mullen to clean up
Count Ron Zook as one of the three head coaches Jeremy Foley hired who had three combined years of head-coaching experience between them.
Published on Wednesday, 6/20/18, at 8:26 a.m. Eastern.
I filed a column to VegasInsider.com yesterday previewing the 2018 Florida Gators football team. I also chronicled what a disaster UF’s offense has been for nearly a decade.
I left responsibility at the feet of former AD Jeremy Foley, a constant target of this space for decades — and rightfully so.
I’ve been calling Foley the most overrated and incompetent AD in America since the late 1990s. I was basically on an island solo with that opinion.
Hell, the clown was even mentioned as a potential replacement for both Roy Kramer and Mike Slive as SEC Commissioner. Although it’s taken forever for anyone to come on board with my opinion, those that disagreed now know I was right all along.
The 1-for-4 stat on hiring college football coaches is a stain no AD’s resume can absorb without scorn. Hell, hitting .250 is below average in baseball. When it comes to hiring football coaches in the SEC, it’s beyond atrocious!
Again, if you wish, please enjoy my entire piece on this year’s Gators.
Here’s one small paragraph pasted below in which I guess how the conversation went when Jim McElwain reportedly turned down multiple offers from Steve Spurrier, the iconic former head coach at UF and official “Ambassador to the Gators,” to sit in with Mac and his staff in its offensive meetings last season:
(Quick aside to how we speculate that exchange went: Spurrier: “Hey Mac, since you didn’t score any TDs against Michigan and got two gift TDs thanks to Kentucky not lining up right, maybe you should let the ol’ HBC offer you a few tips during film watchin’ today?” Mac: “No thanks, Coach.” Spurrier: “You sure? There’s a reason the field is named after me. You only averaged 23.2 points per game in Year 1 and 23.9 PPG in Year 2. Heck, Mac, we usually scored that many in the first quarter. Even when I had Terry Dean, Doug Johnson and Jesse Palmer pitchin’ it around, we’d at least have that many by halftime. And Dean wasn’t very good, D.J. was drinking more beers than Stephen Garcia and Jesse was more worried about that gel in his hair than the oncoming blitz. But I here ya, Mac. I hope you and ol’ Dougie (Nussmeier) draw up a couple nice ball plays on Saturday and so forth. Gator Nation sure is ready for some touchdowns.”)
