First off let me say that I'm not a Muschamp defender and if he were let go at the end of this season it would be a bad break for him but college football is a tough business. His main downfall, in my opinion, has been a neglect of the offensive side of the ball and an unwillingness to embrace more modern offensive schemes. I don't believe UF needs to employ a "David" strategy of run first, manage the clock/ shorten the game to be successful. Although, I think Florida can also win by following Muschamp's stated philosophy of power football, dominating the LOS, and building a smothering defense. I don't think for a minute Muschamp is stupid or doesn't know how to coach football. I think if we step back for a minute there is at least an argument to be made that Muschamp inherited a mess and has done his best to hold it together.

Anyway, my main thought about Muschamp is that we simply don't know yet what kind of head coach he will become. As time passes by it becomes more obvious to me that he had a major rebuilding job in front of him. A rebuilding job that might not be as obvious to some because UF was so successful under Meyer and Tebow. That great short term run, however, seems to have come at a cost of fracturing the long term viability of the program.

At this point it has to be clear to everyone, except maybe the die hards, that UF had a major drug and discipline problem under Meyer. The problem with drug use I don't think can be understated. I don't need to list all the names here but there is an extensive record of failed drug tests (college is speculation but the NFL ones are there to see). If even some of the rumors are true that Meyer covered up failed drug tests with suspensions and bogus claims of injuries to protect his players then UF had serious issues. Recreational drug use sapped conditioning and team morale. What team parties until 3 AM on the eve of a championship game? There is also the 30 arrests in 6 seasons under Meyer. It also appears that Meyer gave preferential treatment to his star players. The players called it the "circle of trust". Lastly, there was the incident with WR coach Gonzales and his resignation, the details of that are available. Winning covered up what was a fairly out of control program.

Meyer's own health issues also can not be overlooked. As long as Meyer was there to reel in his guys there was at least a sense that somebody was in charge. But in 2009 and 2010 Meyer's scaled back involvement only deepened the problems. The player's sense of entitlement took over.

In 2011 its quite possible that Muschamp did not know what he was getting into. It is well documented that Muschamp had to weed out the roster. At least three players were dismissed for drug usage. By the time the roster was trimmed UF was down to 72 scholarship players. Quite literally the effect was similar to a serious self-imposed probation. UF had to win its bowl game to avoid a losing season. At the end of 2011 for the first time in 40 years there were no UF underclassmen in the draft. Only 2 Gators were at the NFL combine (4 seniors would make NFL rosters in 2012). From 2008-2010 UF did not sign a QB who anyone ever expected to actually play meaningful snaps at QB. The OL was similarily neglected.

Who would have won with this team? Not to mention winning in the SEC.

Perhaps Muschamp's biggest problem was winning 11 games with only a slightly better roster in 2012. Any close look at 2012 shows that this was a deeply flawed team that benefitted from winning almost all their close games, a +15 turnover margin, and some 4th qtr breaks. #103 in total offense, #114 in passing offense, #76 in scoring offense, #106 in sacks allowed, #115 in penalties.

2013 has been a lost season in part due to injuries. By my count 49 players saw action in the UGA game, only 49 also vs Mizzu. That is the lowest number of players to see the field going as far back as 2006 when I stopped looking. 10 of the 22 starters vs UGA had never started a game prior to this season. A true freshman started at RB and CB, a former 2 star WR started at QB. A TE who hadn't caught a pass all season made his 6th start. Two transfers and a JC recruit held down the OL. Another JC recruit started on the DL.

By 2014 there will be but a handful of Meyer era players remaining. Muschamp will more than likely be operating at full scholarship limits for the first time. He will have had time to build his roster with his players. He will have a senior QB and an experienced back up. He will also most likely sign a top QB. He will have a stable of running backs. OL will be a concern but there will be bodies to fill out a two deep. WR is still a work in progress- Dunbar,Fulwood and Robinson, maybe the return of Debose, and a big time recruit.

On the defense, depends on underclassmen going early, but their is depth on the defense everywhere except maybe the DL. 15 signees at DL and LB from the 2012 and 2013 classes. Deep secondary. He has held red shirts where he could that will help in the long run.

I think Muschamp should get a 4th year. I would like to see him make changes to the offense, but he has recruited to what he wants. I would like to see less penalties but UF is highly penalized- every year. But realy no excuses in 2014- there are none left.

Besides, I don't see another coach available whom UF could get that would be a game changer. I would be hesitant to fire Muschamp unless you had another guy locked up.==============================

A) 30 "arrests" in 6 years? 

1) that's not a terribly high total to begin with.  Others (like UGA for example) had more.  UF never even finished in the top 10 of the Fulmer cup.

2) that includes for "arrests" for which no charges were even filed because there was a lack of evidence

3) they weren't all "arrests".  Plenty of them were citations for things like underage drinking, etc...hell that and smoking a joint were probably at least half of them.  These are not exactly crimes against humanity nor are they unusual in the slightest at major programs

4) the outcry over this was ENTIRELY due to UF beating the piss out of others.  We had no NCAA issues anybody could claim, we were winning titles and even better we were CRUSHING our rivals....and UF has more rivals than just about any other program in America.  There was a huge audience of butt-hurt rivals to soak up this pablum so the mediot attention whores were only too happy to serve it up.

B) the whole entire program was a mess.  So....Urban Meyer was mega successful at Bowling Green and Utah and UF and now Ohio State - BUT - he is the reason UF can't win in the years since he left?  Its not down to the guy who is totally unproven as a head coach and is instead all the fault of the guy who has been incredibly successful everywhere he's been?  This defies all logic and reason.

C) The roster was oh so terrible...despite the fact that UF had signed the #1 class in America in 2010?  Despite the years of high recruiting rankings?  "All the talent was on Defense" you say?  Deonte Thompson, Xavier Nixon, Gilly, Reed are all on NFL rosters.  Rainey and Demps made NFL rosters.  Harrison and Halapio are certain to make NFL squads.  Joyer and Green have excellent shots to make NFL rosters and Patton has a fighting chance.  All of those were around in 2011 and all but Gilly and Patton were starting.   Add them up.  That is TEN or ELEVEN NFLers on the regular rotation on Offense alone!  Granted we have had better rosters but they were so bad that the Offense can't crack the top 100 in 3 years and its down to a lack of talent?  BS.  Just plain BS.  Other staffs get FAR better results with FAR less talent than that.  This is just a cop out for bad coaching.

D) he "had" to run off 12 guys in 2011?  Really?  Why?  I can sit here and list a whole bunch of guys who were not discipline problems and who are starting and making plays for other schools right now who were once Gators....guys we could desperately use.  We were told we would be "better" for running off all of these players and that it was Necessary for Muschamp to put his stamp on the program.  Well?  The 3 year result has been that we are awful....worse, yes WORSE than theZook era which people have pilloried for years here and on every other Gator board.   We "had" to run off Dunker this past offseason even though we have kept plenty of other guys who had committed similar offenses under various coaching staffs and even though we were desperately thin at OL?  We "had" to push Patchan out the door this past offseason even though we were desperately thin at OL?   This is just poor roster management, shortsightedness and a lack of flexibility by the coaching staff. 

E) Roster Management Granted the previous regime signed 2 OL in 2010.  That wasn't a big problem considering we signed a bunch the year before.  Signing only 2 in the transition class of 2011 definitely did put us short but I don't blame anybody for that.  It was a transition class after all and coming up short on the numbers is not a surprise in that situation.  So now here it is, its 2012 and we have signed a total of 4 OL in the previous two years.  Time to really stock up to keep this from turning into a major problem.  Any competent coaching staff should be able to see a big and hugely damaging hole potentially opening up on the roster which must be filled now before it becomes a big problem.  Figuring in attrition and some guys not panning out, it woudl be prudent to sign at least FIVE OL.  That gives you nine in three years for an average of three per year which is still a little light but not terrible.  So what do we do?  We sign only 2.  TWO!!!!!  Now the cry is 'oh but we had injuries on the OL!"  Yeah we did.  So?  That is entirely foreseeable.  Where is the depth?  No depth there huh?  Why is that?  Who is responsible for that?   *crickets*  

F) OC hires.  Weis was a disaster.  He beached himself on our sidelines for a year and collected a big paycheck.  By all aco#badword#s he spent almost no time developing the younger QB's and spent all of his time with Brantley.  The plow up the middle with the 180 pound scatbacks with no lead blocker was his specialty.  Gator Nation was SCREAMING for more Mike Gillislee.  We were told he gets hurt, can't block and fumbles and that is the reason he doesn't play more despite the fact that he looks damn good every time he's out there.   Fortunately for us, the Kansas AD inexplicably "steals" Cheeseburger Charlie away from us.  Hooray!  We get to get out of this mess!   So we hire.....a guy who had failed miserably at Baylor and had been OC for one year at Boise which had a star Senior QB and with their real OC and QB coach being the head coach Chris Peterson - as everybody knew.   Plenty of us questioned this hire at the time.  Pease, as we all know by now, has been an utter and complete disaster.  The Offense has not cracked the top 100 in either year - despite him inheriting Mike Gillislee whom he had no choice but to finally start and despite Gillislee promptly turning in the first 1,000 yard season for a Gator Tailback in 8 years....without missing a ton of blocks and with hardly any fumbles all year. 

Two hires and two complete disasters for Muschamp.  I question the entire philosophy of playing boring "small ball"....of making the plow up the middle the staple play for the Offense given the talentbase in the state of Florida (heavy on skill players who love to play in wide open Offenses) and given UF's history in which wide open aggressive Offenses have been central to the program's identity and what the fans want to see.  I question the whole emphasis on winning time of possession (we held the ball longer than UGA last week as is usual for us.  How much good did that do us?).  I question wanting to shorten the game for a program that *should* be able to get more talent than just about anybody and who therefore - one would think - would want to lengthen the game so as to allow its superior athletes more chances to make plays and so as to wear out other teams which should not have as much depth as UF.  I question all of that but.....fine.  So long as we could  make the opposite of everything I think UF should do and run actually work, then so be it.  This staff has failed miserably to do that in 3 years.   MISERABLY.  We joked about how bad the Offense was under the Dazzler in the last year of Urban Meyer's regime.  Hell, that Offense has been notably better - yes 3 headed QB and all....Brantley running the option and all - than anything we have seen in the Muschamp era.  That is simply staggering. 

G) Discipline. If you are going to play small ball then you have to be efficient and you have to be disciplined.  We are not.  Not even close.  False Start, Illegal formation, dumbass personal foul, you name it and we do it.  Regularly.  Our Offense is so hapless that all that usually needs to be done to kill one of our drives is inflict one negative play on us and hell....we don't even wait for the opposition to do that at least half the time.  We just give them the drive killing extra yardage to gain that we cannot with one or more dumbass penalties.   This has gotten very, very, very, very old. 

H) Recruiting....."recruiting is going so well now".  It is?  UF is ranked anywhere from the high teens to around #20 by the various recruiting services right now.  The Great White Hope for the regime supporters is QB Grier, WR Lane and TB Cook.  Lane and Cook visited fsu last weekend.  Without those 3 our relatively mediocre class by UF standards falls apart.  No, I'm sorry....recruiting is not going oh so well right now.  Nobody expects Pease to survive beyond this year - even those who still support this regime.  Think that will help UF in holding on to Grier/Lane/Cook?  

I could go on but really...the alpahbet is running out of letters at this rate.