Thoughts of the Day: November 30, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

FLORIDA BASKETBALL: NO. 12 IN COACHES, 14 IN AP

Maybe someone forgot to tell the Florida Gators they are supposed to be a middle of the pack SEC team this year. Through six games, the Gators are not only unbeaten (6-0) but now they’re moving up rapidly in the national rankings, up to No. 12 in the Coaches poll, 14 in the AP. Seth Davis of The Athletic has the Gators No. 12 in his weekly power rankings while ESPN has the Gators at No. 13.

This is rarified air for a team that lost two players to the NBA including leading scorer and first round draft pick Tre Mann, had four transfer out and another take a contract to play professionally in Russia. Mike White’s rebuilt roster is made up of players who have made defense the new calling card, led by seven grown men (top seven players are all at least 21 years old). They are so tough physically (we haven’t had that said about a Florida basketball team in years) that FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said they “out-Florida Stated Florida State.” Ohio State coach Chris Holtman said the Gators are as physical as any team the Buckeyes will play in the Big Ten.

Now, no one is projecting the Gators to go unbeaten but through the first six games, we can see the making of a team that is going to be fun to watch. If the Gators can avoid injuries and keep Colin Castleton out of foul trouble or the infirmary, this might turn out to be a very surprising season. Also, keep an eye on freshmen Elijah Kennedy and Kowacie Reeves. Both of them can shoot and as they continue to figure out what’s going on defensively, they’ll earn more minutes and give White at least a nine or ten-man rotation.

The Associated Press Top 25 poll: 1. Duke 7-0; 2. Purdue 6-0; 3. Gonzaga 6-1; 4. Baylor 7-0; 5. UCLA 6-1; 6. Villanova 4-2; 7. Texas 4-1; 8. Kansas 5-1; 9. Kentucky 5-1; 10. Arkansas 6-0; 11. Arizona 6-0; 12. BYU 6-0; 13. Tennessee 4-1; 14. FLORIDA 6-0; 15. Houston 5-1; 16. Alabama 6-1; 17. UConn 6-1; 18. Memphis 5-1; 19. Iowa State 6-0; 20. Southern Cal 6-0; 21. Auburn 5-1; 22. Michigan State 5-2; 23. Wisconsin 5-1; 24. Michigan 4-2; 25. Seton Hall 5-1

The Coaches Top 25 poll: 1. Duke 7-0; 2. Purdue 6-0; 3. Gonzaga 6-1; 4. Baylor 7-0; 5. UCLA 6-1; 6. Villanova 4-2; 7. Kansas 5-1; 8. Texas 4-1; 9. Arkansas 6-0; 10. Kentucky 5-1; 11. Arizona 5-1; 12. FLORIDA 6-0; 13. BYU 6-0; 14. Houston 5-1; 15. Tennessee 4-1; 16. Alabama 6-1; 17. UConn 6-1; 18. Southern Cal 6-0; 19. Memphis 5-1; 20. Auburn 5-1; 21. Wisconsin 5-1; 22. Michigan State 5-2; 23. Iowa State 6-0; 24. Michigan; 25. St. Bonaventure

SEC BASKETBALL Monday’s scores: No. 9 Kentucky (6-1) 85, Central Michigan (1-5) 57; Missouri (4-3) 91, Paul Quinn 59; Vanderbilt (5-1) 75, Mississippi Valley State 36

Tuesday’s games: Presbyterian (5-2) at No. 13 Tennessee (4-1); New Orleans (3-4) at Texas A&M (6-1); Rider (3-5) at Ole Miss (4-2)

GATORS IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL Announcing they will be leaving for parts unknown Monday were a pair of backups: defensive lineman Dante Zanders and offensive lineman Gerald Mincey. Zanders, who came to Florida as a tight end but switched to defensive end last spring, played in 12 games, registering six tackles and a half sack. He is a redshirt junior who has two years of eligibility remaining due to 2020. Mincey is a redshirt freshman with three years of eligibility remaining. He played in 10 games in 2021.

A LOOK AT NAPIER’S COACHING STAFF AT LOUISIANA

Here is Billy Napier’s coaching staff at Louisiana. Probably half the staff will stay in Lafayette, especially if athletic director Bryan Maggard elevates defensive coordinator Patrick Toney to the head coaching position.

Patrick Toney, DC/OLB: He might be a candidate to succeed Napier. He’s been the DC the last two years when the Ragin Cajuns have forced 43 turnovers (18 fumbles, 25 interceptions). Louisiana only had 19 sacks in 2020 but 35 this season. Runs a 3-4 scheme.

Michael Desormeaux, Co-OC/TE: He’s a native of New Iberia and a grad of the school. Can’t see him leaving.

Tim Leger, Co-OC/WR: He is also the recruiting coordinator. He played collegiately at McNeese State, where he got his coaching start. Hard to imagine he’ll be coming.

Jabbar Juluke, AHC/RB: He’s the former head coach at Edna Karr, a New Orleans powerhouse, and he worked for Les Miles at LSU. He’s an extraordinary recruiter and an outstanding on the field coach. It’s likely Napier will want to bring him along.

Rory Segrest, AHC/DL: Got his coaching start under Gene Stallings, has coached in the NFL and in the SEC at Arkansas, where he coached the D-line and special teams. He’s a native of Waycross. Excellent recruiter.

Jeff Norrid, OL: He worked quality control for Nick Saban at Alabama. He coached the O-line for Lane Kiffin at FAU in 2019 and for Willie Taggart at FAU in 2020. Unlikely that he’ll be coming unless Napier can’t convince Rob Sale to leave the Philadelphia Eagles.

Galen Scott, ILB: He worked for Bud Foster at Virginia Tech and spent six seasons coaching at Memphis for HBC Larry Porter and then Justin Fuente. Doesn’t have any SEC experience but he’s a very good recruiter.

Jeff Burris, CB: A former first round draft pick out of Notre Dame, he played 10 years in the NFL and spent three years coaching in the league with the Miami Dolphins. The NFL experience will resonate with recruits in Florida.

Wes Neighbors, S: He played on two national championship teams at Alabama and worked as an analyst for Nick Saban. He spent two years coaching for Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic and worked a year for Charlie Strong at South Florida.

Darnell Stapleton, Assistant OL: He started 18 games on the O-line with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he was teammates with Maurkice Pouncey and Max Starks. He was the O-line coach at Sam Houston State prior to becoming the assistant O-line coach for Napier. If he comes to Gainesville it’s probably as an assistant to Rob Sale.

Chris Couch, STC: He was a grad assistant at Georgia Southern in 2013 and an analyst in charge of special teams at Tulane prior to Louisiana. Doubtful he will be coming unless it’s in an analyst role.

Mark Hocke, AHC/Strength and conditioning: He spent six years at Alabama working for Scott Cochrane, one year as the head strength coach at Georgia, one year working for Jimbo at Florida State as the co-strength and conditioning coordinator and a year working for Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M. He has been with Napier for three years. He’s probably a mortal lock to be coming to Gainesville.

AS THE STOMACH TURNS … OR YOUR COACH IS HERE TODAY AND GONE TOMORROW About now, Scott Stricklin has to feel like the only athletic director on the planet who’s sleeping well. Scott landed Billy Napier in seven days and it didn’t require a lifetime supply of Pepcid AC to keep his stomach from erupting. Meanwhile Southern Cal backed up a Brinks Truck to Norman, Oklahoma to pirate Lincoln Riley away, ending their coaching search that began back in September. Riley is a glamour hire and it caught the college football world by surprise, particularly when they found out the entire contact and negotiation was done in less than 24 hours. That means Lincoln Riley was hardly the first choice.

Meanwhile, LSU, which was open since mid-October, offered Jimbo, Riley, Dave Aranda and who knows who before hiring Brian Kelly from Notre Dame Monday evening. Brian Kelly is a fine football coach who has won big everywhere he’s ever coached, but his hire is a combination of sheer luck and desperation – sheer luck that Brian Kelly would actually say yes and desperation because Scott Woodward was running out of coaches who could be perceived as home run hires. It is also worth noting that Kelly informed his team that he’s leaving by text message.

Is Lincoln Riley worth the estimated $110 million or so Southern Cal is going to pay him? Is Brian Kelly worth the $100 million LSU is going to pay him over the next 10 years? Obviously, they think so but if those guys are worth that kind of money, then how much are Nick and Dabo worth?

And, who’s going to be the next coach at Notre Dame? Luke Fickell probably is drooling about the possibility, but it’s insane to think that he would leave Cincinnati when the Bearcats are on the verge of becoming the first Group of Five school to make the playoff. Matt Campbell of Iowa State wants the job. Would Notre Dame pull a stunner by hiring Bob Stoops?

Speaking of Stoops, would Big Game Bob recommend his kid brother to take over at Oklahoma? Mark has hit the ceiling at Kentucky and he needs to go somewhere that he can win a lot of games consistently.

Confused? Wait another 24 hours.

COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY WEEK TEN

Extinct Species List Les Miles, Kansas (Permanent replacement Lance Leipold) Randy Edsall, UConn (Permanent replacement Jim Mora Jr.) Clay Helton, Southern Cal (Permanent replacement Lincoln Riley)

Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern (Permanent replacement Clay Helton)

Ed Orgeron, LSU (Permanent replacement Brian Kelly) Nick Rolovich, Washington State (Permanent replacement Jack Dickert)

Matt Wells, Texas Tech (Permanent replacement Joey McGuire) Gary Patterson, TCU (Permanent replacement Sonny Dykes) Tom Arth, Akron

Walt Bell, UMass (Permanent replacement Don Brown)

Jimmy Lake, Washington (Permanent replacement Kalen DeBoer) Butch Davis, Florida International Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech Chip Lindsey, Troy Dan Mullen, Florida (Permanent replacement Billy Napier)

Doug Martin, New Mexico State (Permanent replacement Jerry Kill) Rod Carey, Temple

Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech

David Cutcliffe, Duke

On Life Support Manny Diaz, Miami: Even though he finished strong to go 7-5, he’s on very shaky ground. About the only thing saving him is The Ewe hasn’t hired a new AD. Former players and boosters want Diaz gone and either Lane Kiffin or Mario Cristobal as the new head coach.

Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green: He won four games including Minnesota. He also got kicked out of a game for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. If he survives it’s the win over Minnesota that bought one more year. Steve Addazio, Colorado State: If he survives until the end of the week it will be a shocker. Not only did he lose to a D1AA team and Vanderbilt in the same season, but he got kicked out of the Nevada game in the first half.

Mike Bloomgren, Rice: They hate firing coaches at Rice, but they’re going to join the American Athletic Conference and the admin is thinking they can do better. If they want to do better then they should add a PE major. You aren’t going to win football games with MENSA candidates.

Endangered Species List

Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech: He got another year, which is a surprise. He’s fired his coordinators but they’re not the problem. The problem is not enough good football players.

Steve Sarkisian, Texas: He wasn’t in danger of getting fired, but he did make the boosters happy when he beat K-State in the final game of the season. He can’t have a six-game losing streak next year and stay gainfully employed.

Dino Babers, Syracuse: Syracuse is giving him one more year, but he knows anything less than seven wins and he’s a goner.

Chip Kelly, UCLA: At 8-4 with a bowl game he’s safe for another year, but he can’t afford a step back, particularly now that Southern Cal has hired a rock star in Lincoln Riley.

Seth Littrell, North Texas: It’s absolutely amazing what winning your last five games will do for your job security. Littrell had one foot out the door when the Mean Green started winning. As a result, he’s back for one more year.

Phil Montgomery, Tulsa: He was on a collision course with the unemployment line when he won his last three games to stave off (again) firing.

Justin Wilcox, California: He’s looking for a new place to coach even if Cal doesn’t fire him. Good coach. Bad place to be coaching.

Jeff Scott, South Florida: The Bulls nearly kneecapped arch-rival UCF which would have been the biggest win in Scott’s two years on the job. They like the progress he’s making but he’s got to win games. The 2022 season will be critical.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you happened to catch the Bedlam game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State then you are well aware that Oklahoma State benefitted from some rather dubious penalty calls. Matt Hayes, one of college football’s most insightful writers, believes this is an omen of bad things to come for both Texas and Oklahoma if they stay in the Big 12 until 2025. Hayes says Texas and Oklahoma need to leave for the SEC at the end of this sports year in the spring of 2022. There is a practical solution for making this happen and it involves ESPN. ESPN should finance the buyout which would help the Big 12 pay buyouts for Cincinnati, UCF and Houston. Additionally, ESPN should offer a TV deal to the Big 12. It won’t be a deal of SEC proportions, but it would help stabilize the league. The SEC could also chip in by making sure the Big 12 remains a power conference even if the depleted league will be a bottom feeder.