Top coaches know challenges of debut seasons at new schools
GAINESVILLE — Urban Meyer cried at LSU, Nick Saban lost to Louisiana Monroe and Kirby Smart did little to make fans forget Mark Richt at Georgia.
All three big-name coaches had to navigate challenging debut seasons at big-time programs. Each would weather the storm and play for a national championship soon enough, but it was a long road to get there.
“That’s never easy,” said Smart, now in his third season. “I don’t think that’s an easy transition for anybody.”
After just two games at Florida, Dan Mullen is finding out, once again, just how difficult a coaching changeover can be.
The Gators (1-1) enter Saturday’s visit from Colorado State (1-2) following UF’s first loss to Kentucky since 1986.
Galen Hall was the Gators’ coach then, and five more would follow Hall before Mullen’s arrival. Two, Meyer and Steve Spurrier, would win national titles. Hall and three others would be fired, each within four seasons.
Unlike Ron Zook, Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain, Mullen arrived at UF with a proven track record as an SEC head coach, turning West Division doormat Mississippi State into a competitive program.
Yet in college football’s most competitive conference, the honeymoon period can end quickly for even a proven head coach.
Meyer quickly established himself as a wunderkind at Bowling Green and Utah, but his grace period at UF lasted four games. Meyer’s next game on the Gators’ sideline was a 31-3 beat-down at Alabama. Following a 21-17 loss two weeks later at LSU, the 41-year-old broke down in tears during the post-game press conference.
Saban had left LSU the previous season to coach the Miami Dolphins. After two seasons, he returned to the college game, at Alabama — then a shell of the program that long had been the SEC’s gold standard.
This week, Saban recalled the trials and tribulations of the 2007 season. That year, which included four losses to end the regular season, was anything but a harbinger of the unprecedented run of success to follow.
“We weren’t very good our first year here,” Saban said. “We were 6-6 and had lots of issues, lots of players suspended, lost to [Louisiana-Monroe]. I mean, I could go through a litany of things that were very, very difficult.
“Then the next year, we were a lot better.”
In 2009, the Crimson Tide team followed a 12-win season with its first of five national titles because, Saban said, he would not compromise his principles or his vision for the program during Year 1.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “You have to stick with your guns.”
Mullen demanded more of this players during the offseason conditioning program and in the classroom, punishing players for skipping class.
Following last week’s Kentucky loss, Mullen questioned his team’s toughness and vowed to push them even harder at practice. For the second straight game, UF Mullen sat senior pass rusher CeCe Jefferson due to academics. Jefferson is a team leader the Gators could have used on a night when the defense struggled.
On Monday, Mullen said Jefferson likely would play against CSU, but added a caveat.
“We got pretty high standard now in this program for guys,” Mullen said. “It’s only Monday. We’ll see.”
The message of a new coach, though, can fall on deaf ears. Gaining buy-in from players can be a long process.
“It’s a daily struggle sometimes, because it’s not the way they’re used to doing things,” Smart said. “And sometimes, they may not have the faith and trust and confidence that the way you’re doing things is correct.”