Buddy Martin Blog: The Blame Game. How Much Should Be Laid At The Feet Of Dan Mullen?

It’s becoming more and more evident that the leakage began long before Napier’s arrival, a certain amount of rust had deteriorated the core. It feels like lame-ducking popped up with Mullen’s losses that followed the Alabama game last year. – Buddy Martin

At first Mullen was the "bright shiny thing," but in the end it was costly. (Chris Spears photo)

Sorry to bore you with over-analysis on this fine spring day (or night) but given the current changing of the guard at Florida, it bears updating. For one thing, it’s tough to talk about Billy Napier’s challenges ahead without explaining some of the deficiencies Dan Mullen left behind. By the same token, I’m not greenlighting The Blame Game. This won’t go particularly well with some of my friends, readers and listeners, flying in the face somewhat with the principles I may have espoused a time or two while perched from my well-worn soapbox from which have occasionally sermonized in the past. So let me start out by understanding and acknowledging my self-proclaimed title of semi-hypocrite. Because what I am about to say could certainly by characterized as contrary to my convictions. I’m on record as saying I’m sick of the buck-passers who are afraid to own their own stuff. And it seems Americans have perfected the art of Blaming The Last Guy. You know those cable TV dudes, plumbers, financial advisors or even doctors, etc. who come riding in on their white steeds to save the day while beating their chest to proclaim: “Boy, lucky I got here in time, because the last guy really screwed this up!” Excuse-making is for losers. Those who participate in the dodgeball game of blame are sinister masters of CYA. That may work in Washington, but today I am pointing the finger at those who accuse others of being derelict and taking delight in scapegoating others through statistics or the analytics or just pure falsehood. The more I learn, however, the more I suspect Dan Mullen lost his grip on the program – if, indeed, he ever had it. So I am starting to subscribe to the "Last Man Out" theory almost as a hypothesis with the same credence as “Next Man Up.” It’s becoming more and more evident that the leakage began long before Napier’s arrival, a certain amount of rust had deteriorated the core. It feels like lame-ducking popped up with Mullen’s losses that followed the Alabama game last year. And when he was forced to fire defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach/running game coordinator John Hevesy on Nov. 8 after three straight defeats, clearly the wheels had come off. It still astounds me just how loose the lug bolts were and how quickly they were stripped. So what DID happen? We’re hearing about lack of discipline, neglect in following up on recruits, the independent contractors on defense (as Mullen called them), poor connectivity with athletes about the mission at hand and plain old malfeasance, misfeasance and even apathy. And while we're at it, some coaching misconduct and bad decisions. We already know about the benign neglect of Dameon Pierce.

We've also been over Mullen's Macho Man Matchup with Eli Drinkwitz, the mysterious absence of Kyle Pitts in the LS-Shoe Meltdown and the curious Show Cause slapped on Mullen after a recruiting faux pas. And I won't bring up the Darth Vader costume because it was unrelated.

Although Mullen looked like a genius for inserting quarterback Kyle Trask at just the right time, the truth is he had no choice. And how come Trask didn’t get a chance before the injury to Feleipe Franks? Now we’re even hearing confessions from players that sometimes they didn’t give maximum effort.

It's a new day with Billy Napier, but the Tortoise needs a mulligan. (Chris Spears Photo)

Just this week, edge rusher Brenton Cox said he was told by an NFL evaluator that he was down-graded for not hustling to the ball. Cox said his position coach, Mike Peterson, told him that even if he couldn’t make the tackle or the sack, he must continue the pursuit until he wound up in “the TV box.” Apparently “relentless pursuit” was preached but sometimes not practiced. In all these matters, as we’re hearing bit by bit from holdover players, Mullen has to wear that hat. Yet you’ll never hear Napier complain about the hand he was dealt. Because he has been doing a masterful job of reshuffling the deck while injecting fresh new enthusiasm. I shall always appreciate the honesty and candor of Steve Spurrier, a master at accepting his part of the blame for losses and a refusal to claim a moral victory justified by stats. He called out everybody, including those “who got outcoached,” meaning himself and his staff. It’s called taking the blame.

When I reached out to coach Spurrier and asked him about his arrival at Florida, he pointed out the cupboard was full and "we had players." The HBC says "everybody has players" these days and programs can compete right away. When pressed about whether Napier could compete with the Georgia and Alabama right away, Spurrier backed off a little. "Tough to say how many good players he has yet. We'll see."

In his Thursday post-scrimmage presser, Napier was quick to say his ranks were thin.

"We're one or two players away from not even being able to practice," Napier said after his first scrimmage. He said he would award a number of scholarships to walk-on players at the end of spring ball. He said he has a pretty good idea of his first 22 on both sides of the ball, but after that couldn't identify the next 11 yet. Despite all that, Napier remains confident.

"This is the University of Florida," he said resolutely. "There are no excuses."

Which is not to say there aren’t sometimes unfortunate forces beyond control. Not getting adequate facilities or enough funding used to be the case, but not so much in these days of embarrassing prosperity, And yet, there is an element in truth about culpability for football coaches, God love ‘em, who don’t always have the right tools. I remember Charlie Pell telling me when he arrived in Gainesville from Clemson, he took one look at the crap facilities, literally got sick at his stomach and considered going back from whence he came. He talked about beds that were too short for players, a sorry weight room and a decrepit stadium for which he sought capital procurement from Ben Hill Griffin -- plus many other issues that would require him to become a fund-raiser and football coach. Because he got caught cheating, or at least allowing members of his staff to break rules, Pell will never get full credit for building new infrastructure and expansion of the fan base to include non-Florida alumni or even college affiliation. Each coach has had his challenge, including Jim McElwain, who cranked up his squawk machine the minute he hit campus and realized the new practice facility was only 75 yards long. It gave Jeremy Foley a migraine, but because of McElwain’s complaining they expanded to 100 yards, even though the cost overrun was substantial. Moneyball comes in all sizes and sports. Even before all that, coaches like Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier were less provocative, but were successful in fund-raising because they won big. As the late Beano Cook always taught me, there is a direct correlation between the amount of games and championships won with the amount of money that comes in over the transom for the program from alums and fans.

The guy in the middle set the standard for taking the blame. (UAA Photo)

Which brings me around to Mullen. There were some big holes in his program which many of us didn’t see at first. One reason was that McElwain’s sudden collapse was so ugly that many fans worried it might damn the program forever. When Scott Stricklin struggled out of the box with his first two candidates, Mullen began look better to everybody, including the check-writers, and got a hero’s welcome. Turns out he was more of a band-aid. And the check writers had to sign off on Mullen's fat buyout instead. There is temptation among hopeful, prideful and disgruntled fans to lunge for the bright, shiny new thing from the green grass on the other side of the fence. I, myself, bought into Mullen right away because of his offensive acumen and his Gator heritage as a Meyer assistant. He kept telling us progress comes a day at a time and that eventually his way would prevail in the marathon. We believed. He sounded like the tortoise gaining on the hare, until he wasn’t. So on my part, I take the blame for the mis-read. What does that mean for the future? I think Napier’s measure twice/cut once philosophy would be a good motto for fans to adopt this fall, along with “Scared Money Don’t Make Money.” And along with the old Harry Truman sign: “The Buck Stops Here.” Perhaps The Tortise gets a mulligan re-start under Napier.