Muschamp more loved in failure than Meyer was in success
This photo posted on Twitter speaks volumes. Think back four or so years to Urban Meyer’s retirement-unretirement-retirement fiasco. Gators fans experienced a year beginning with shock and sadness at Meyer’s untimely retirement in the wake of a very emotional loss in the SEC Championship game to Alabama.
It was later discovered that Meyer had suffered esophageal spasms and immense stress causing him to lose weight and suffer mentally. Meyer, family by his side, announced his retirement. Within a days, Meyer was back. Was he really back though? The Gators struggled, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Tim Tebow offense wasn’t the same with my friend John Brantley. Brantley was a drop-back passer, not a Tebow.
Coach Urban Meyer left at the end of the 2010 season to “retire.” The Gators found out that Urban’s version of retirement meant until his dream job, Ohio State, opened up. Then poof … less than a year later, Ohio State offered Urban the job.
Gator Nation lit up in flames over Meyer’s alleged “illness.” The message boards, papers and magazines questioned Meyer’s reasons for leaving Florida. Was it illness? Or was it no more Tebow? No more Percy Harvin? No more Urban playmakers on offense? Did Nick Saban figure out his offensive scheme? Was it that alleged affair with a blonde coed?
Whatever the reason, Urban Meyer left Florida’s cupboard bare and Gator Nation’s mouth with a bad taste. A taste that has lingered. A raunchy taste that has aged, and not gracefully. In short, most of Gator Nation despises Urban Meyer. A man that brought them SEC titles. A man that recruited not one, but two Heisman Trophy winners (Tebow and Cam Newton). A man that brought the Gators two BCS championships. That’s one more than their beloved coach Steve Spurrier, for those who are counting.
Meanwhile, you have the outgoing, sand-of-the earth coach Will Muschamp. The players, and even the fans that screamed for his firing, now seem to love the man. Look at the pictures. Read Twitter posts or even the message boards and you will find more love for Muschamp.
There’s a simple explanation to this love affair. It’s human nature. People appreciate honesty. Muschamp is a players coach if there ever was one. He was with them in the trenches and got the guys fired up to play. Despite his flaws, players love that stuff. Coaches like Muschamp are one of the reasons players come back for senior seasons.
When the fans see that type of mutual love and respect between player and coach, they love it too. For all of Meyer’s championships, he never had that. Not with the players and not with the fans (well, maybe with Tebow). Coach Muschamp really loved Florida and his players and wanted this to work. You can see easily that. He just wasn’t able to get the job done at the level that is expected at Florida.
Nevertheless, he will always be remembered in Gator lore as a guy that left the right way, with honesty and with dignity even though he never won any championships while wearing the orange and blue. We all wish him luck wherever he ends up. He’ll have success wherever he goes next as this was a major learning experience for the first-time head coach.