Florida Defensive Coordinator Bolts One Day After Signing Day
One month into his tenure as the Gators' defensive coordinator, George Edwards is leaving Gainesville to return to the NFL ranks.
Coach Edwards leaves Florida one day after the team hauled in the country's top-ranked recruiting class on national signing day. Coach Edwards is heading to Buffalo, where he will serve as defensive coordinator under Chan Gailey. Coach Gailey was hired as the Bills' head coach on January 20, after the NFL franchise's season was over and two weeks before high school seniors were allowed to sign their national letters of intent.
Given the stellar record of trustworthiness compiled by Urban Meyer, I feel certain this timing was purely coincidental and the Florida coaching staff in no way kept such valuable information as the impending departure of their defensive coordinator from the prospects the Gators were pursuing.
Go 'Dawgs!
about 2 years ago
T Kyle King
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Coverage of this story also appears at Team Speed Kills . . .
. . . where emphasis is placed upon ESPN’s erroneous fact-checking of largely extraneous background information while quickly compiling a breaking news story, rather than upon the fact that a hire Chan Gailey could have made two weeks ago just happens to have come on the day after national signing day.
Team Speed Kills claims Coach Gailey, a former Gator player, is “screwing over his alma mater with this hire.” That is, to put it mildly, an interesting take. No restrictions, formal or otherwise, prevented Coach Gailey from hiring his defensive coordinator two weeks earlier, despite his longstanding history with Coach Edwards.
Instead, he waited two weeks for no evident reason having anything to do with the Buffalo Bills and the University of Florida graduate who now heads up the NFL franchise hired away the Gators’ defensive coordinator one day after his alma mater topped the recruiting rankings.
Yeah, he really did his old school dirty by allowing the Gators to maintain the false appearance of stability in the midst of turmoil until those letters of intent were signed, sealed, and delivered, didn’t he?
Go 'Dawgs!
and I'm sure that you wouldn't expect any different, Kyle....
…from a site which bills itself as an “SEC Site” while posting a bullshit “history” of the WLOCP last fall composed of various screeds trolled from a Gator Board. I know for sure I wouldn’t.
To be fair, Vindexdawg . . .
. . . I think highly of Year2 and I believe both he and C&F (despite being unabashedly fans of division rivals of Georgia’s) make a concerted, and largely successful, effort at being evenhanded when writing for Team Speed Kills. It’s one of my first stops each morning, and with good reason.
I didn’t mention Year2’s team affiliation because I don’t believe he was shilling for his team, either in the Cocktail Party piece you mentioned or in the posting to which I linked above. At most, he may make the same unconscious assumptions we all make as partisans. I believe his perspective is mistaken, for the reasons I explained, but I don’t think he’s up to no good. Year2 has written too many evenhanded pieces at Team Speed Kills for me to believe he’d ever deliberately present a partisan piece as unbiased.
Go 'Dawgs!
Thanks
It’s hard to both be a fan and be unbiased. I know I don’t get it right all the time, and I welcome any and all reasoned criticisms of what I write.
I’ve updated the post with more information, including both an acknowledgment of the possibility of a coverup and proof that at least one defensive recruit knew nothing about Edwards leaving before signing on the dotted line. With all the things that have come out of the Florida athletics department that have turned out not to be true since the beginning of December, it’s worth a mention for thoroughness’ sake.
Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog
I'm actually starting to sound a little repetitive...
in pointing out how bloody glad I am that our program is run by Mark Richt. Yeah, TN and FL both whipped us this year. There will be other years, and I firmly believe that the current GA program is on track to deliver some payback to both those programs. But one of those other years, my son will be old enough for me to explain to him why I am a Georgia fan. That will be an easy speech, even given in words a four-year-old will understand.
And yet recruits still believe everything coming out of Gainesville....
Its amazing what round the clock ESPN coverage can do isn’t it.
"We have a lot of passionate fans at Georgia and we look forward to giving them something to be positive about."
-Todd Grantham.
I definitely feel better about our signing class than I did 24 hours ago
Mark Richt stood up like a man and said he took a while to hire the right defensive coordinator, and, because it took a while, some guys who were considering signing with us probably went elsewhere, but it was important to hire the right guy, even if we took our lumps from the press and the fans coming (for taking so long) and going (for not signing a top ten class).
At least he didn’t have to stand up and fudge his way around the fact that he’s a lying piece of crap. “Hey, look, I let my daughter believe she was getting her daddy back, I let my wife tell the press there was no chance I’d change my mind, I made them both look like fools in record time, I never went on anything even vaguely resembling a leave of absence, and I rented a defensive coordinator from the NFL so I could dupe some kids into signing with us, but, hey, we got the number one class in the country, so who cares if I’ve proven all that ‘faith, family, and health’ stuff was a load of horse manure?”
I know which one of these guys has a national championship ring, but I also know which one of these guys is going to hear his Heavenly Father say, “This is My servant, in whom I am well pleased” . . . and it ain’t the same guy. I’m betting Mark Richt will make up the deficit on the first before Corch Meyers closes the gap on the second.
Go 'Dawgs!
Excellent point
I left ESPNU running yesterday while watching some signing day moments. I wasn’t paying attention to most of it, but I walked past the TV at the point they were interviewing Meyer. At the end, the guy from ESPN (not sure who) confirmed with Meyer that he would be coaching this Fall. Meyer confirmed. I then yelled at the television, "You asshats. Ask him the hard question. ‘Why are you not taking any sort of meaningful leave after first retiring and then holding a press conference announcing an indefinite leave of absence. Is it not that serious, Urban? What changed?’ " I have yet to see anyone ask Meyer how he can justify an about face like that. He doesn’t have to answer the question, but the simple fact that the question has never been asked is stupefying to me.
Agreed
Here’s what someone needs to ask him now:
“Coach Meyer, when did you first learn that Coach Edwards was being considered for the job as the defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills?”
If he says it was after all the letters of intent were signed: “Do you believe your ignorance of the possibility that your newly-hired defensive coordinator was within 24 hours of leaving for another job, coupled with your abrupt change of heart after recommitting yourself to your faith and your family at Christmas, calls into question your ability to remain on top of the responsibilities for which you are so handsomely compensated?”
If he says it was before all the letters of intent were signed: “Did you notify your recruits of the possibility that Coach Edwards might be leaving before they signed their letters of intent? If not, do you believe you had a moral, ethical, professional, or legal responsibility to notify them of a fact that might affect the most important decision they have yet made in their young lives?”
Regardless of whatever noncommittal political answer he gives to any of the preceding questions: “Based upon your statements here today, your long history of exaggeration, and your wildly inconsistent statements since Christmas, do you believe it’s reasonable for you to expect any reporter, recruit, recruit’s parent, coach, player, administrator, or member of your immediate family to believe a word you say?”
Go 'Dawgs!
I think the jewel may have just dropped out of my lotus, but this is entertaining.
by NCT on Feb 4, 2010 5:41 PM EST up reply actions
Ah, yes, Chan...
…the gift that keeps on giving to the Bulldog Nation!
Also, taking (what was it? 9 weeks) your sweet time to find the right guy sure looks like the better option than making a quick hire doesn’t it?
My Dawgs put a hickey on 'em!
This just in...
Lane Kiffin to take Florida DC job.
"We have a lot of passionate fans at Georgia and we look forward to giving them something to be positive about."
-Todd Grantham.
by RedCrake on Feb 4, 2010 4:13 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Vineyard, i was thinking almost the exact same words today.
"I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against." - Coach Grantham
Must be the money.
Let’s see, I can coach in the SUNSHINE state at a university which has won 2 of the last 5 national championships and who has just signed the top ranked recruiting class with little effort from myself and coach under probably one of the top three head coaches in the country and be virtually guaranteed of representing the eastern division in the SEC championship game at least half the time in the next several years OR I can go coach in the coldest hell hole on the planet under the worst head coach in the NFL for a team with no talent with no chance of representing my division, let alone my conference, in championship play in the next few years. Am I missing something?
spot on Jujdog
Plus, in college football, you get those million little perks no one talks about, like, always having tickets to a show, a table at the best restaurants, good parking, on and on.
Has to be the money.
"I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against." - Coach Grantham
zing!
"I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against." - Coach Grantham
I am 38 years old as of last weekend. I have followed UGA football since I was old enough to watch tv
I have studied the game as an adult with an almost cultish fascination.
I don’t ever remember an off season like this. And it’s great! Unless it’s your team of course.
Kyle wrote many years ago (geez, I have been following this dude since his tv show, I think that makes me a cult follower of T Kyle) anyhow, Kyle wrote many years ago about how sports was the ultimate “realitiy tv” when reality tv shows got popular starting with that survivor show. He was so right that one time. THis may be a soap opera, but its a real one with real people and real stories, and it is also the one I like to follow, and it’s damn fun.
I just need something else wacky to happen to Auburn or Alabama to really put the icing on the cake.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Coach Richt for never, ever letting us get in all these messes. My diploma looks all the better on the wall.
"I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against." - Coach Grantham
I believe, tankertoad . . .
. . . that makes you the third person (after Rob Lurie in a recent book review and Jayson Akridge in a recent Facebook posting) to quote something I do not deny that I said (and that certainly sounds like something I would have said), but that I do not remember saying.
Dang, I’m getting old. . . .
Go 'Dawgs!
OK, I can understand that Florida fans love Meyer because he wins A LOT...
…but how can any of them honestly say that they really believe anything that come out of his mouth or that they really believe that he wouldn’t do anything short of committing actual bodily harm to someone to get what he wants?
Will
"Short of committing actual bodily harm to someone"?
Oh . . . you mean short of committing actual bodily harm to someone else. For a second there, you had me confused.
Go 'Dawgs!
So,
is the fact that the coach who recruited you left the institution reason enough to allow a player to change schools without penalty?
If not, it should be. I know, the player is supposed to go for the school, not for the coach. In theory, that’s great, in reality, it’s a dream. This is not a good thing for the college football, the SEC, and certainly not the University of Florida over the long haul.
Spot on, EricBDawg
You could not be more right.
Maybe every one of those kids would stay put, anyway, but it’s a raw deal at best and a deliberate bait-and-switch at worst.
Go 'Dawgs!
I just hate it
kids are being put in a position like that. Maybe they all stay, maybe they would have if they had known, maybe they thought his NFL work would help them reach that goal, but the fact is, we will never know.
I think it should be enough...
…but in this case, I don’t think Edwards did any actual recruiting to keep those kids there other than being a warm body with a flashing “NFL-pedigreed DC” sign over his head. I have no doubt those kids committed to the University of Florida and its two MNCs in three years, but I also have little doubt that they would have looked elsewhere had Edwards left in the last week or two of recruiting.
Will
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