McElwain needs Spurrier
Coach should let UF legend help Nussmeier
A word of advice for Florida Gators football coach Jim McElwain: Take away offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier’s headset and graciously give it to Steve Spurrier.
The Head Ball Coach, after all, was hired by UF last year to serve as a consultant to the athletic department. Well, then, McElwain should start consulting with him and listening to what one of the greatest offensive minds in college football history has to say about calling plays, getting receivers open and developing quarterbacks.
These basic essentials all have been sorely lacking from UF’s offense for years, and McElwain and Nussmeier have done nothing to fix them. Before last year’s SEC Championship Game, I wrote a column suggesting McElwain demote Nussmeier and start calling plays himself.
Instead, McElwain and the Gators inexplicably gave Nussmeier a huge raise during the
offseason and extended his contract two years.
That’s right, Nussmeier was actually rewarded and now is making nearly a million bucks a year ($842,725, to be exact) for choreographing one of the worst offenses in college football. Think about that, UF fans, the next time you’re buying an $8 coke at the concession stand and mixing it with bourbon to drown your sorrows after the Gators have thrown yet another 2-yard bubble screen on 3rd-and-9.
This is one of the things that drives me crazy about college football. Administrators go out and beg boosters to open up their wallets to help defray the exorbitant costs of running a big-time program and then they spend that money on giving mediocre coaches undeserving extensions they’ll just have to buy out later (see Nussmeier’s last contract with Michigan).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not like many of these frenzied and frothing-atthe-mouth Gators fans who formed a social-media mob after Florida’s 33-17 seasonopening loss to Michigan and began calling for McElwain to be fired. I don’t quite understand the constant criticism of McElwain, who has taken UF to two straight SEC title games in his first two seasons, made the Gators relevant again and seems to have turned the corner in recruiting.
That said, McElwain needs to understand it doesn’t take long for things to go bad in Gainesville. Just ask Will Muschamp, who went 11-1 in his second season and was fired a year-and-half later. Why? Because Coach Boom could never figured out how to make Florida’s offense explode.
This is why I can’t comprehend McElwain’s loyalty to Nussmeier, whose offense, by almost every statistical measure, has been a failure. The abysmal Michigan showing was the third time in UF’s last seven games the Gators have failed to score an offensive touchdown.
If you’re scoring at home, Nussmeier’s offense is currently ranked 123rd in the country (out of 130 teams). His UF offense last year was ranked 116th while his offense the previous season was ranked 111th. This came in the wake of his one-year stint at Michigan when his offense was ranked 112th in the country — Michigan’s worst offense in 30 years.
Yes, Nussmeier has had some success in the past, including a stint as the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Then again, who hasn’t had success as one of Nick Saban’s assistants? Practically every offensive coordinator Saban has ever had, including McElwain, has coached in nationalchampionship games.
It doesn’t take an expert to see Florida’s offense lacks creativity and precision. Even McElwain himself admitted after the Michigan game that the Gators pretty much neglected getting the ball into the hands of three young and explosive offensive weapons. Freshman tailback Malik Davis had one rush for eight yards — the longest run of the day by a UF back; freshman receiver Kadarius Toney’s two catches for 27 yards came in the final minutes when the game already had been decided; and slot receiver Dre Massey finished with one catch for two yards.
Granted, the offense was greatly hindered on Saturday because of 10 suspended players, including the Gators’ top receiver (Antonio Callaway) and top running back (Jordan Scarlett). But … what’s been the excuse for the previous two seasons?
When Spurrier was revolutionizing offenses in the SEC during the 1990s, he would sometimes yank a struggling quarterback from the game and let him watch and learn from the sideline. When asked about it afterward, Spurrier would invariably quote the great John Wooden, who once said, “The bench is a coach’s greatest ally.”
Maybe, too, Nussmeier would benefit from a few games on the bench watching and learning as Spurrier called the plays.
If ever there was a time for the HBC — the Head Ball Consultant — to do what he was hired to do last year, then that time is now.