Background - The other day, after reading the article by Peter Kerasotis (Florida Today columnist) criticizing UM for publically decrying the culture of players jumping early to the NFL, I emailed him to ask some questions. After a reply or two from him which I found wanting, I observed it was his perogative if he didn't want to talk about the merits. Several minutes later he called me at my office. I was on the line and asked my secretary to take a number. She said he had an attitude but left his number for me. I looked at it for a minute, wondering why a news guy from Florida was motivated enough to call me. So I called him back. We talked for 45 minutes I bet. One of my goals was to determine Kerasotis' objectivity. He said some things that answered that question. After lying the foundation for why he had no axe to grind (he met "Urban" as he called him early on, their wives share the name Shelley, he sent his book on UF to UM who had been grateful etc), he told me he thought "Urban" was disingenuous. I asked him if he based that solely on the NFL thing. He said no, that accorording to another columnist friend of his from Salt Lake City, Urban lied to Utah promising to stay there if the admin did this and that. He also accused him of breaking contracts, although when pressed, he admitted he had no idea the terms of said contracts. He then said "Urban is a paradox." He said he was like "an addict" who borrows fifty bucks from you with a promise to pay it back in a week and then doesn't and gives some lame reason and asks for more time and keeps on and on. At this point, it is clear to me the guy has some big time problem with UM. Those kind of characterizations seemed plainly over the top, given Kerastotis explanation for why he made them. What else was there? I asked him what he thought of UF hiring UM in the first place? He said he would've been his second choice. To whom? Spurrier. Turns out he had had a very good relationship with SOS. Lots of access etc. (Claimed the same thing with Zook). We got to talking about Spurrier's departure of course. He said the following things. Said Spurrier felt his 2001 team was his best at UF. Was very down about ending up with no SEC or National rings. He said at some point (at or near the end of the season, I cannot recall when specifically, Foley had actually slipped a note under SOS' office door telling him "you need to make these changes to your staff." I found this hard to believe and told him I had never heard that before. I asked him if it had been reported by him or anyone else. Said yes but after asking for a link to any such resport, I have not received one to date. (Has anyone heard this before? Did I miss this?) He said the whole Dockett thing really bothered SOS and the fact that Foley would not publically back him in light of Hart's comments bothered him too. As it turns out, SOS left over these things in part. This all according to Kerasotis, who clearly backs Spurrier on the way it all went down. How did SOS end up at Carolina? About the time SOS was realizing he missed coaching (he had found himself going over plays Scotty was calling for his powder puff team), he is shocked to find that Zook has been fired. Meamwhile, Lou Holtz is in his ear, telling him he is retiring and planting seeds for Steve to take his place. By the time SOS is playing in the golf tournament where the sheet was hung saying "We Need You Steve" in October or November, he has decided he wants to come back to UF. One of his assistant coaches (from UF, the Redskins and now at USC) tells Kerasotis on the phone that "It's all he can talk about." The next day, the same assistant calls and says "It's not happening." The assistant tells Kerasotis that Steve talked with Foley. Says Spurrier told him, the assistant, "They don't want me. They want Urban Meyer." Kerasotis goes on to say that when certain Bull Gators realized what was happening, they called Spurrier and urged him to wait, not to close any doors, that they would deal with Machen and things would work out. Kerasotis says Spurrier hung on with no contact from anyone in the administration for 11 days before he closed the door on it. He says Zook later told him Machen had wanted Meyer from the get go. Kerasotis implies Zook was going to be fired for one thing or another when they got the chance and that the whole fraternity thing had other facts which were not reported. (If you know them, why not report them I thought at the time). Kerasotis says Spurrier was very conflicted about taking the USC job but took it nontheless. He also relayed how miffed Spurrier was when Machen claimed to have never met him after they had shaken hands, spoken and sat a foot from each other at a prior Gator basketball game. He said after USC beat us, Spurrier told him "I bet he remembers me now." (Ugh) Disclaimer and Personal Thoughts: 1. I had this conversation with Kerasotis last Thursday. It was a free flowing conversation. I jotted some notes and have tried to be as accurate as I can but we covered a lot of ground. 2. None of this may be new to anyone here. I post it for two reasons: One, I found it all to be very interesting and two, I wanted to share my opinion that this columnist's articles should be read with the understanding that he is a huge SOS fan and imo, as a result of his perception of the process, is biased against UM who he totally unfairly besmirched in his call with me. I also question why he was so anxious to conduct what amounts to a whispering campaign in his call to me. Why did he take time to call me and tell me all this? 3. Regardless of any of the above, I don't think you can recreate past magic. To this day, I cite SOS as the kind of leader I want in any endeavor. Though I will probably always admire SOS, I don't think it would've worked out. As a result, I am pleased Machen or Foley brought UM to us. 4. Long live Urban Meyer and GO GATORS.