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Tears Gator Tears

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caneingville said:
@RVACane here’s the coach info you wanted.


Riley: GC didn’t like him, called him “a mess,” and so it didn’t extend past an initial discussion. Riley was apparently very interested, to the point where he was actively pursuing (I saw someone said he called UF twice!!), but UF wasn’t interested.

Fisch: was interested, but was turned off because they waited so long to contact him (after the Lane train ended), and their effort was half-assed anyway

Dillingham: no mutual interest

Lea: signed extension w/Vandy and UF wasn’t interested anyway

Drinkwitz, Franklin: neither were seriously considered

Hartline: some boosters liked him, but it doesn’t look like UF ever seriously considered him or even talked to him

Golesh: don’t see that they talked to him

Sumrall: talked to him in the beginning, seems they just quickly came back to him once they realized Lane embarrassed them. Kinda feel bad for the guy.


Also, Turnkey took the work they prepared for UF and sold it to another school (looks like it may have been LSU, but unconfirmed) after they fired UF as a client. They were embarrassed by UF’s actions, UF violated their contract, and Turnkey wanted to be able to still claim 100% success rate, which they couldn’t do if UF was still listed as a client. Pretty funny.


All I have left to say is that as a UF b-school alumna, I am incredibly embarrassed. The more I learn, the more flabbergasted I am. And I expect more to come out over the next few days because they are mad and are digging.

And Mario better use this all as leverage in recruiting.
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Now that its over I can share a little bit - Gators reached out to Drinkwitz to gauge interest. I was approached by Drinkwitz and his proposed GM to be in this role and head the Personnel dept at UF as he was attempting to see what a staff could look like. I worked with them in the past before a fallout that I won't discuss here.

Drinkwitz had commitment from a high-level DC (Big 10), some solid position coaches (Sun Belt OC and DC coming as position coach), a GM/Director of Personnel from another good P5 (Big 12), a few guys in personnel/NIL space - They wanted to revamp the personnel and management space of their program. Shifting responsibility off of Stricklin associated with football. They made it clear Drinkwitz was option 1b - they wanted Kiffin. They didn't clearly say that but the timelines aligned to that being their focus and everything moving after that was cleared up.

Dragged on a little bit and the search firm became quiet. I was in the process of making some changes to my firm to shift some work to a partner if this position was a possibility for me. I was conflicted on working for UF but it's been in the back of my mind getting back into it and this opportunity came out of nowhere. They ended up pushing UF for an answer when the news started coming out about Lane being down to LSU and Ole Miss and UF was out of it and Missouri's season was effectively over.

They had to go around the search firm because of the situation with UF and firing them as a client (I and others I was working with didn't know this at the time) and some agents went directly to UF saying they need to know something now or they're going to bow out as they can't drag it on much longer (Drinkwitz getting heat to sign his Mizzou extension) - UF advised that they had come to an agreement for their own GM and it would be out of the coaches control to bring that person in. I was communicating with the GM that would be coming in in Drinkwitz' plan and he was obviously offended by it and said thanks but no thanks even if you take the job. All died down and Drinkwitz effectively pulled his name out of consideration because of the **** show going on behind the scenes.

He had asked for some guarantees for NIL and staff and they weren't able to provide a guarantee for anything. They kept saying NIL "up to" $25M per year but there was serious doubt regarding the availability and the actual commitment of those funds. Allegedly, Kiffin's camp uncovered some similar concerns when they really started evaluating it as a landing spot.
 
F-MarioCristobal said:
Now that its over I can share a little bit - Gators reached out to Drinkwitz to gauge interest. I was approached by Drinkwitz and his proposed GM to be in this role and head the Personnel dept at UF as he was attempting to see what a staff could look like. I worked with them in the past before a fallout that I won't discuss here.

Drinkwitz had commitment from a high-level DC (Big 10), some solid position coaches (Sun Belt OC and DC coming as position coach), a GM/Director of Personnel from another good P5 (Big 12), a few guys in personnel/NIL space - They wanted to revamp the personnel and management space of their program. Shifting responsibility off of Stricklin associated with football. They made it clear Drinkwitz was option 1b - they wanted Kiffin. They didn't clearly say that but the timelines aligned to that being their focus and everything moving after that was cleared up.

Dragged on a little bit and the search firm became quiet. I was in the process of making some changes to my firm to shift some work to a partner if this position was a possibility for me. I was conflicted on working for UF but it's been in the back of my mind getting back into it and this opportunity came out of nowhere. They ended up pushing UF for an answer when the news started coming out about Lane being down to LSU and Ole Miss and UF was out of it and Missouri's season was effectively over.

They had to go around the search firm because of the situation with UF and firing them as a client (I and others I was working with didn't know this at the time) and some agents went directly to UF saying they need to know something now or they're going to bow out as they can't drag it on much longer (Drinkwitz getting heat to sign his Mizzou extension) - UF advised that they had come to an agreement for their own GM and it would be out of the coaches control to bring that person in. I was communicating with the GM that would be coming in in Drinkwitz' plan and he was obviously offended by it and said thanks but no thanks even if you take the job. All died down and Drinkwitz effectively pulled his name out of consideration because of the **** show going on behind the scenes.

He had asked for some guarantees for NIL and staff and they weren't able to provide a guarantee for anything. They kept saying NIL "up to" $25M per year but there was serious doubt regarding the availability and the actual commitment of those funds. Allegedly, Kiffin's camp uncovered some similar concerns when they really started evaluating it as a landing spot.
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Thanks for the info.
Heard anything about PSU?
They seem to have been all over the place and the betting odds are saying Sitake and Heupel. Surprised they didn't go all out for Matt Campbell.
 
Calinative said:
Thanks for the info.
Heard anything about PSU?
They seem to have been all over the place and the betting odds are saying Sitake and Heupel. Surprised they didn't go all out for Matt Campbell.
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Campbell supposedly eliminates himself from most searches for refusing to engage in anything until the season is over. This is the only reason I can see Pedo St waiting so long to make a decision.
 
Calinative said:
Thanks for the info.
Heard anything about PSU?
They seem to have been all over the place and the betting odds are saying Sitake and Heupel. Surprised they didn't go all out for Matt Campbell.
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I know someone on the staff up there who said the rumors in the building is that they want Brian Daboll
 
Calinative said:
Yeah I'd assume Daboll prob wants like the Titans job and will exhaust his NFL opportunities first.

Kinda surprised a bit Belichick is returning
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Thought for sure Belichick was going to be a 1 year thing and UNC would be back on the market. Went worse than I expected too.

Hope Mario and co remember the shots Lombardi was taking last year and run it up against them in 2026 (assuming it doesn't fall off if they adjust schedules to add a 9th conf game)
 
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Zbrod95 said:
So they went from Matt Rhule, a guy with a legit CFB resume, to Brian Daboll??


Why didn’t I go to school to be an AD??? I would curb stomp these dudes. Brian Daboll? Really?
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Its like politics... gotta work your way up and blow the right people to get a shot.

There are very few in the business that didn't get there that way and actually got there for acumen.

I will add: I worked for a consultant that acted as a search firm for around 2 years specializing in college coaching hires. We only got a few big program football contracts. Mostly lower tier non-rev sports, position coaches and coordinator jobs, and lots of D2 and D3 stuff. There are some clueless ADs out there.

There was a P5 AD that we assisted (biggest client we secured) and they went against our 3 suggestions and wasted $150k on their contract. They've fired 2 coaches since then and 2 of the 3 suggestions have already moved along to bigger jobs and done well. Number 1 on this list was Cignetti, 2 was Deboer, and 3 was Rolovich - which is hard to grade but I'm certain it would have went better than where they're at now.

Gotta say, I doubt any firm has ever put up a better list of small school candidates for them on a budget than our team did for them with the budget and resources presented. Cig was at JMU, Deboer was at Fresno St, and Rolovich at Wazzu.
 
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F-MarioCristobal said:
Now that its over I can share a little bit - Gators reached out to Drinkwitz to gauge interest. I was approached by Drinkwitz and his proposed GM to be in this role and head the Personnel dept at UF as he was attempting to see what a staff could look like. I worked with them in the past before a fallout that I won't discuss here.

Drinkwitz had commitment from a high-level DC (Big 10), some solid position coaches (Sun Belt OC and DC coming as position coach), a GM/Director of Personnel from another good P5 (Big 12), a few guys in personnel/NIL space - They wanted to revamp the personnel and management space of their program. Shifting responsibility off of Stricklin associated with football. They made it clear Drinkwitz was option 1b - they wanted Kiffin. They didn't clearly say that but the timelines aligned to that being their focus and everything moving after that was cleared up.

Dragged on a little bit and the search firm became quiet. I was in the process of making some changes to my firm to shift some work to a partner if this position was a possibility for me. I was conflicted on working for UF but it's been in the back of my mind getting back into it and this opportunity came out of nowhere. They ended up pushing UF for an answer when the news started coming out about Lane being down to LSU and Ole Miss and UF was out of it and Missouri's season was effectively over.

They had to go around the search firm because of the situation with UF and firing them as a client (I and others I was working with didn't know this at the time) and some agents went directly to UF saying they need to know something now or they're going to bow out as they can't drag it on much longer (Drinkwitz getting heat to sign his Mizzou extension) - UF advised that they had come to an agreement for their own GM and it would be out of the coaches control to bring that person in. I was communicating with the GM that would be coming in in Drinkwitz' plan and he was obviously offended by it and said thanks but no thanks even if you take the job. All died down and Drinkwitz effectively pulled his name out of consideration because of the **** show going on behind the scenes.

He had asked for some guarantees for NIL and staff and they weren't able to provide a guarantee for anything. They kept saying NIL "up to" $25M per year but there was serious doubt regarding the availability and the actual commitment of those funds. Allegedly, Kiffin's camp uncovered some similar concerns when they really started evaluating it as a landing spot.
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Good for you. You definitely dodged a bullet.

Thanks so much for the additional info. I couldn’t find anything at all about Drinkwitz (and Franklin) other than what I posted. I know that UF made initial contact with all these guys at the very beginning, and then left everyone hanging, but that’s it. Terrible way to do business, and it will hurt them in the future if they don’t clean house. When they finally get a new President, he/she will have a helluva job to do.
 
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F-MarioCristobal said:
Now that its over I can share a little bit - Gators reached out to Drinkwitz to gauge interest. I was approached by Drinkwitz and his proposed GM to be in this role and head the Personnel dept at UF as he was attempting to see what a staff could look like. I worked with them in the past before a fallout that I won't discuss here.

Drinkwitz had commitment from a high-level DC (Big 10), some solid position coaches (Sun Belt OC and DC coming as position coach), a GM/Director of Personnel from another good P5 (Big 12), a few guys in personnel/NIL space - They wanted to revamp the personnel and management space of their program. Shifting responsibility off of Stricklin associated with football. They made it clear Drinkwitz was option 1b - they wanted Kiffin. They didn't clearly say that but the timelines aligned to that being their focus and everything moving after that was cleared up.

Dragged on a little bit and the search firm became quiet. I was in the process of making some changes to my firm to shift some work to a partner if this position was a possibility for me. I was conflicted on working for UF but it's been in the back of my mind getting back into it and this opportunity came out of nowhere. They ended up pushing UF for an answer when the news started coming out about Lane being down to LSU and Ole Miss and UF was out of it and Missouri's season was effectively over.

They had to go around the search firm because of the situation with UF and firing them as a client (I and others I was working with didn't know this at the time) and some agents went directly to UF saying they need to know something now or they're going to bow out as they can't drag it on much longer (Drinkwitz getting heat to sign his Mizzou extension) - UF advised that they had come to an agreement for their own GM and it would be out of the coaches control to bring that person in. I was communicating with the GM that would be coming in in Drinkwitz' plan and he was obviously offended by it and said thanks but no thanks even if you take the job. All died down and Drinkwitz effectively pulled his name out of consideration because of the **** show going on behind the scenes.

He had asked for some guarantees for NIL and staff and they weren't able to provide a guarantee for anything. They kept saying NIL "up to" $25M per year but there was serious doubt regarding the availability and the actual commitment of those funds. Allegedly, Kiffin's camp uncovered some similar concerns when they really started evaluating it as a landing spot.
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Hold up - you were going to slink off and work for the Gators?

It's true what they say, these hoes ain't loyal.
 
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F-MarioCristobal said:
Now that its over I can share a little bit - Gators reached out to Drinkwitz to gauge interest. I was approached by Drinkwitz and his proposed GM to be in this role and head the Personnel dept at UF as he was attempting to see what a staff could look like. I worked with them in the past before a fallout that I won't discuss here.

Drinkwitz had commitment from a high-level DC (Big 10), some solid position coaches (Sun Belt OC and DC coming as position coach), a GM/Director of Personnel from another good P5 (Big 12), a few guys in personnel/NIL space - They wanted to revamp the personnel and management space of their program. Shifting responsibility off of Stricklin associated with football. They made it clear Drinkwitz was option 1b - they wanted Kiffin. They didn't clearly say that but the timelines aligned to that being their focus and everything moving after that was cleared up.

Dragged on a little bit and the search firm became quiet. I was in the process of making some changes to my firm to shift some work to a partner if this position was a possibility for me. I was conflicted on working for UF but it's been in the back of my mind getting back into it and this opportunity came out of nowhere. They ended up pushing UF for an answer when the news started coming out about Lane being down to LSU and Ole Miss and UF was out of it and Missouri's season was effectively over.

They had to go around the search firm because of the situation with UF and firing them as a client (I and others I was working with didn't know this at the time) and some agents went directly to UF saying they need to know something now or they're going to bow out as they can't drag it on much longer (Drinkwitz getting heat to sign his Mizzou extension) - UF advised that they had come to an agreement for their own GM and it would be out of the coaches control to bring that person in. I was communicating with the GM that would be coming in in Drinkwitz' plan and he was obviously offended by it and said thanks but no thanks even if you take the job. All died down and Drinkwitz effectively pulled his name out of consideration because of the **** show going on behind the scenes.

He had asked for some guarantees for NIL and staff and they weren't able to provide a guarantee for anything. They kept saying NIL "up to" $25M per year but there was serious doubt regarding the availability and the actual commitment of those funds. Allegedly, Kiffin's camp uncovered some similar concerns when they really started evaluating it as a landing spot.
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I was worried they'd hire Drink because I think he was the best HC they had a realistic chance at.

I've said here I think Fisch would have been an 8-9 win guy for them, and Drink could do 10 every few years.
 
OldhamA said:
Hold up - you were going to slink off and work for the Gators?

It's true what they say, these hoes ain't loyal.
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Trust me... it took a lot of thought and there was still some doubt there. When they approached me I originally thought it was Auburn or LSU and it was still tough... didn't know it was for the Florida position.
 
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