Billy Gonzalez is back

[Rock Gator]

What do you think of this?

[wahhappen]

I think it is amazing that anyone would want to pursue Keary Colbert after the garbage season our receivers put together, but I guess this is a good thing for that position group. And Gonzalez has a history of getting productivity from that group. Not sure he’s a better hire than Ike Hilliard, but better than some random Cajun guy.

[tapsgator]

Ike was the right hire. Not saying this is a bad hire or that Gonzales was the wrong hire, but he wasn't the right hire. 10 years ago this would have been a great move. Gonzales's success is largely a byproduct of who he's working for. On the field and off, but moreso off the field which at this point is more important. For example, I have no earthly idea if Billy G is a better technique coach than Colbert, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who really does, closest thing to objective analysis you're gonna get there is that the NFL hired Colbert and they don't have to worry about recruiting, but Colbert also played in the NFL so it could be that one of his former teammates or coaches or front office people worked their way into a personnel role and brought him over, so I won't put much stock in that. Similarly, I won't hold Billy G being a career college coach against him because that may just be his preference and/or his connections are through Meyer and Mullen who aren't exactly loved in NFL circles at this point. I will say that unlike with Toney, when I watched games on TV but especially in person, our receivers lacked talent more than looking unprepared or badly coached. Which is really an indictment of the former WR coach/Passing Game coordinator who was.......................doh!

Now to the important stuff, if you look at Billy G's history he was an ace recruiter under Meyer, believe he moved to LSU because they gave Addazio OC job, he wasn't good, went to Illinois, wasn't good, then went back to Mullen at Miss St. and followed him to Florida where he started off okay and then dropped off sharply when Johnson left and Mullen pouted/tanked/did whatever the hell he was doing at the end of his run at UF. Don't know or care what he did at Florida Atlantic last year. He and Raymond are now the most proven recruiters on the staff, but it's going to come down to the head coach/program as a whole. Neither one can do it on their own like a T-Rob (who has signed big time guys for good head coaches and terrible ones).

Alright as I think about it and have researched I went from being annoyed with this hire/thinking it was mediocre to disliking it. I should stop researching before I hate it. I'm gonna drop the half broken PC filter I have and call a spade a spade. An 11 year NFL vet who made the Florida Gators all century team, has 5 top 10 receiving records at UF, should probably have been the MVP of the 1996 NC game in the Sugar Bowl and had THE highlight from that game while setting a Sugar Bowl record for receiving TDs, coached at the pro level including with the Dolphins for 12 years before going to Auburn, played for Spurrier, and openly wants the job is going to recruit better than a guy whose main success was 16 years ago under a head coach who has been villainized (rightfully so) across the State of Florida, and all of his Florida ties specifically and coaching ties generally can be traced largely to the jackass who just tanked your program while making a fool of himself. Also, you replaced a young black coach with NFL experience with an older coach while passing on a young black coach who was an all-time great at UF, played for the Bucs, and coached with the Dolphins. You also left him at a school that is close enough to recruit Florida. I absolutely do not get it.

Yep, now I hate the hire. Dammit

[tapsgator]

Seriously what is the plan? I thought we were getting rid of the vestiges of the Mullen era, why are we bringing back his Passing Game Coordinator? Why did we replace a pasty white DC whose experience was nearly exclusively in the Sunbelt with a pasty white DC whose only real experience was in the Sunbelt? Why haven't we made changes to the offensive staff? How are things going to be different next year? Or in 2 years? I will squint and use a telescope because desperate times call for desperate measures, but damn man, show me which direction to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Because it feels like we keep going down.