Re: [gatortalk] Fwd: [gatornews] [SUN]: Dooley: Foley gets his guy

C . Simpson Fri, 08 May 2015 12:56:25 -0700

IIRC Tim Walton was in the 'elite" category when hired to be thesoftball coach.

Charlie

On 5/8/2015 3:47 PM, Sandy Alonso wrote:

I knew you didn't mean "the" Roy Williams, I was just stating I'm nofan of the guy (because I seriously am not). That being said, whatelite coach would you have tapped for the UF job? Who could werealistically get, knowing that no matter what, basketball will alwaysplay second fiddle to the football program? (And it's not justbecause of butts in seats - just look at the Gator fan sites that getmore hits and comments about football than basketball.) In a perfectworld, we'd have snagged Shaka Smart, and I think most Gator fanswould love that, but he's not really "elite" either.

Not even sure who we really could have taken for football (since onceagain, UTx took our best coach for the position *shakes fist at Austin*).

I remember there were actually people who made faces when it wasannounced Spurrier was coming to UF ("he only won at Duke"). Almostnobody knew who Billy D was when Foley brought him over fromMarshall. And you can't say UF didn't have ANY program then, becausethey'd been to the Final Four under Kruger.

Who was Rhonda Faehn before she came to UF? Just an assistant atNebraska, a program that still doesn't have a national title. Theproject I hope Foley hires is one of Faehn's assistant coaches. Hell,I'd love it if he made them co-HCs, because they have a significantamount to do with the program's success and I think they'd continueFaehn's philosophy for the program.

On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 3:22 PM, Oliver Barry <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:


    Well, yes.  That’s one thing I don’t get.  Like I said, we should
    have picked up a Roy Williams (not theRoy Williams, Sandy).  We
    should have picked up a Nick Saban for football.

    I wouldn’t say Saban brought any baggage, or any boring games.

    Instead, the elite program of the SEC gets two “potential” great
    guys.

    Whether he is or not, McElwain should look like the second coming
    of Knute Rockne with this team.  The talent is there.  All they
    need is someone with an actual plan for offense.

    Muschamp should be ashamed for throwing away the career of Jeff
    Driskel.

    At any rate, if  we’re elite, let’s go get an elite coach.

    I can’t wait to see who the project is Jeremy brings in for the
    three time national champion gymnastics team.

    All this grousing aside, I will be firmly supportive of our
    coaches, whoever they are.

    Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI

    Bob Parks Realty, LLC

    Real Estate Broker

    145 Maple Row Blvd

    Hendersonville TN 37075

    Phone: 615-826-4040 <tel:615-826-4040>

    Mobile: 615-972-4239 <tel:615-972-4239>

    [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

    *From:*[email protected]
    <mailto:[email protected]>
    [mailto:[email protected]
    <mailto:[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of *John Bowers
    *Sent:* Friday, May 08, 2015 11:13 AM
    *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
    *Subject:* RE: [gatortalk] Fwd: [gatornews] [SUN]: Dooley: Foley
    gets his guy

I also think that “only” paying $2 mill a year was a factor.White is young, obviously talented, a Florida native, and plays

    “uptempo” hoops.  Jeremy had a tough decision, he went with what
    he thinks is correct.  With all Jeremy has done for UF, we need to
    get behind the new guy.  And the new football guy, too, whatever
    his name is.  Heh heh….

    *From:*[email protected]
    <mailto:[email protected]>
    [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Sandy Alonso
    *Sent:* Friday, May 08, 2015 11:04 AM
    *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
    *Subject:* Re: [gatortalk] Fwd: [gatornews] [SUN]: Dooley: Foley
    gets his guy

    I respectfully disagree. Besides the fact that I am no fan of Roy
    Williams, a lot of those guys will cost a ton of money and bring
    along baggage or a boring style of play.

    I was on the Archie Miller bandwagon, but the basketball talking
    heads are gushing so much about this guy, that I'm starting to
    really warm up to this hire.

    On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 10:47 AM, mail.bobparks.com
    <http://mail.bobparks.com> <[email protected]
    <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

    I'm not impressed. If Florida is an elite program we should get an
    elite coach. A Roy Williams, not another project.

    Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI, SFR

    Real Estate Broker

    Bob Parks, LLC

    145 Maple Row Blvd

    Hendersonville TN 37075

    Mobile: 615-972-4239 <tel:615-972-4239>

    Office: 615-826-4040 <tel:615-826-4040>

    Sent from my iPhone


    Begin forwarded message:

        *From:* Shane Ford <[email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>>
        *Date:* May 8, 2015 at 7:06:15 AM CDT
        *To:* GatorNews <[email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>>
        *Subject:* *[gatornews] [SUN]: Dooley: Foley gets his guy*
        *Reply-To:* [email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>


          Dooley: Foley gets his guy

        Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley was pumped up after
        hiring Mike White on Thursday. (The Associated Press)

        *By Pat Dooley <http://www.gatorsports.com/personalia/patdooley>
        Gainesville SUN Columnist*


                  /Published: Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 10:06 p.m./


                  /Last Modified: Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 10:55 p.m./

        It was Monday morning and Jeremy Foley was choked up. He was
        saying goodbye to Billy Donovan, his close friend and best
        hire as Florida's athletic director.

        On Monday afternoon, Foley made a phone call that would shape
        the immediate future of Florida basketball. He dialed up Tommy
        McClelland, the young athletic director at Louisiana Tech, to
        let him know he wanted to talk to McClelland's basketball coach.

        On Thursday, Foley was pumped up.

        He had hired the coach to replace the irreplaceable.

        “You're gonna love him,” Foley told me Thursday night. “I know
        this happened fast, but he blew us away.”

        Mike White, 38, fits all the parameters of a Foley hire. He's
        young, he has a great personality, he has had success but not
        so much that Florida had to pay ridiculous money to get him
        here. Foley has a track record of rewarding coaches who do
        well here, not somewhere else.

        The hiring of White happened so fast it caught a lot of people
        by surprise. The surprise wasn't that they hired him, but that
        they hired him so quickly.

        But you have to understand this — once coach Scott Brooks was
        fired by Oklahoma City, Foley and his staff prepared for the
        worst-case scenario. They started looking for a new coach
        before Donovan was even talking to Thunder general manager Sam
        Presti.

        That's what you do when you are an athletic director. You
        don't wait until the bomb drops, you start moving when you
        hear the planes overhead.

        “Our antennae were up,” Foley said.

        And the one guy they kept picking up on the radar was White,
        who might well be the next big thing in college basketball. He
        is energetic and knows the state of Florida. His team plays
        fast-tempo basketball, which was crucial for Foley to find.

        After 19 years of Billyball, nobody wanted to see Deflategate,
        basketball-style.

        Then there is this — White and Louisiana Tech have been to the
        NIT three straight years. That shouldn't excite anyone, but if
        you are at Louisiana Tech you had better win your conference
        tournament if you want to dance.

        I could mention this — he turned down Tennessee and has
        already won at Florida State.

        Now you're warming up to the guy.

        Or this — Florida basically traded Jeff Driskel for Mike White.

        Point, Florida.

        But these are all trivial points that pale in comparison to
        the biggest one. Just like it was the right time for Donovan
        in his career to leave Florida, it was the right time for
        White in his career to come to Florida.

        Time will tell if this was a good hire. It makes a lot of
        sense. There were other coaches on speculative checklists, but
        most of them were bloggers' dreams. Foley knew who he wanted,
        vetted him and went after him.

        Certainly, this is now an athletic director with two new
        coaches with limited track records in the sports that matter
        most. If nothing else, it makes the coming years around here
        really interesting.

        The bottom line is that a new era has begun for Florida
        basketball. It has been so long since one started, it's
        difficult to remember when it did. Here's a clue — Michael
        White was a sophomore point guard at Ole Miss when Donovan
        started his career as UF's coach.

        Now, White takes over an elite program, one that Donovan
        started building when White was trying to find a way to beat
        the Gators as a player.

        Now, White's their guy.

        Now, he has the chance of a lifetime.

        There have been a lot more splashy hires in the SEC over the
        last two years. Bruce Pearl, Rick Barnes, Ben Howland.

        This hire had much less splash. But what matters are the ripples.

        /Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 <tel:352-374-5053> or at
        [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. And
        follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley <http://Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley>./


        Sent From Shane's iPhone

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