Do you think a strong show of fan support for coaches can help a team in any way? Can it motivate them even more, a desire to "win for the fans, since they have stood by us through good and bad"? Can positive support help prevent destructive discouragement from setting in on a team and even coaching staff, when things are going poorly? Perhaps even more crucial: can a strong show of positive fan support, both at games and on the internet, help a coach with recruiting? Is it possible that positive internet fan support for a given team and coaching staff MAY help attract or sway potential recruits? Is there even ANY chance that that could help? ... There is a post on GC, started by the one and only Jeff Chandler! It is a "kicking problem" post, with his thoughts on our kickers. But what really caught my attention was something he said off-topic. I quote: "More (players)read (Gator websites) than you know, stuff flies around the locker room." ... He was talking about motivation, and I believe he was referring to "bulletin board" material, trash-talking by the opposing players and fans... But focus in on that for a moment. ~More players than you know read these fan sites. ~Stuff from the internet flies around the locker room, so even those players that DON'T lurk on the net, often hear from other players and friends, about internet stuff being posted.... If our PLAYERS are reading this internet stuff, taking it seriously, passing it around to each other.... doesn't it seem reasonable that potential RECRUITS (AND their friends and family), in the midst of trying to make a very crucial life decision on which team to sign with, may be doing the same thing??? So I ask... if you answered the FIRST question above in the affirmative: That positive fan support CAN help a coach, and thus the team... isn't it reasonable to deduce that the OPPOSITE, continuous negative attacks on our coaches, MAY hurt the team? Especially constant references to firing them, or only giving them one more year? Then ask yourself: do you in any way want to contribute to anything that will/can HURT the Gators, especially where recruiting is concerned? Personally, I can't imagine any loyal Gator answering yes to that question. IF you are one of the continuously negative-nellies when it comes to Zook or his assistants.... Time to put aside any quests to prove your "superior intellect" compared the rest of us "blindly" loyal fans; Time to put aside any resentments about lack of support for the previous coach that may have hastened his departure; Time to put aside any disagreements with the coaching hires, or how they were made; Time to put aside any personal need to be "proven correct", if you've already worn your pessimistic Zook-bashing all over your sleeve in front of your fellow VSers, and are thus afraid you'll look bad if you reverse course. Time to AVOID being part of any negative impact on the Gators and recruiting; Time to reverse course and contribute to the POSITIVE impact that internet fan support CAN AND WILL have on the team, the coaches, and recruiting. Time to bite the bullet and give Zook and staff the benefit of the support they need AND DESERVE, while they recruit and coach up their players and see where they can lead us. I completely believe its all right to discuss and cuss certain play calls and troublesome schemes amongst us, but leave all the pessimistic bashing about our coaches' competence and abilities and longetivity, to our rivals and Gator-posers. If you love the Gators, its time to become a Zooker! ... If you continue to trash our coaches without giving them the time and support they deserve, and coach Zook prevails anyway.... then be aware that any great Gator/Zook victories in the future will be done IN SPITE of you. Many of us who ARE willing to give our coaches the time and suport they deserve, will see you bashers as nothing but destructive hypocrits, if you celebrate any victories under Zook.