It's stunning, actually.
Since I was a little kid growing up in Central Florida, all I ever heard was that Florida is the flagship state school in the best conference and everyone wants to be a Gator...
Now it's "if we don't overpay for every recruit, nobody will want to come to Flagship University in Titletown".
It's pathetic. They have zero pride. Everything they've ever told you about their program is a lie. They got lucky with ONE coaching search (Spurrier was a Gator alum, that's like pretending that hiring Mario was some genius move that nobody could have foreseen).
Just think about that. "We just don't have enough money to attract talent and win". That's a direct quote. Flagship University, with all the wealthy alums and decades of taking all the taxpayer funding at the expense of the directional schools like UCF and USF, and they are broke. Decades of being the "men's college" while F$U could only admit women. Empty pockets. Decades of being the only program in the state that was in a conference. BROKE.
"We don't have enough money".
And all the attributes they could sell, if only they had a recruiting guru for a coach. One of the best state schools (academically) in the country. Recent national championships. Hall-of-Fame alums (both of them). But, NOPE, without overpaying, there's no way to get talented players to go to Flagship University in Titletown.
Sad...
