The Florida Gators will not rush to any decisions after their first losing season since 1979.
In an impromptu news conference Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said he had “total confidence” in head coach Will Muschamp even as he cited that the team had to “fix some things” on offense.
“Obviously, it’s been a difficult year,” Foley said, via ESPN. “We haven’t made an excuse all year and we’re not going to make them now. We know what this program is all about. I have total confidence in Coach Muschamp and have made that clear.
“We’ve got to fix some things. When you have seasons like this, that’s what you do: you evaluate, you analyze and you fix things. You don’t panic. You don’t put orange and blue glasses on.
“It’s not acceptable. It’s not who we are, and it’s not what we’re about. Confident we can fix it. I’ve heard that it’s my ego speaking. No, it’s my belief.”
Entering Saturday Muschamp is just 22-15 in three seasons as the Gators head coach including a 26-20 loss to Georgia Southern.
While it would be easy to pin Florida’s troubles on Muschamp the team has been beset by injuries. The Gators lost quarterbacks Jeff Driskel and Tyler Murphy, running back Matt Jones, receiver Andre Debose, defensive tackleDominique Easley, three offensive tackles and several other role players.
Even if Muschamp remains with the Gators the jobs of offensive coordinator Brent Pease and line coach Tim Davis could be in jeopardy.
“I think Will is a really good self-evaluator,” Foley said on Saturday. “He can look in the mirror and isn’t afraid to take responsibility for what’s happened. … We look at ourselves and how we get better. Not just sit here and say, `Yeah, we’ve got a bunch of injuries, we’ll be fine.’ That better not be our attitude. It better be our attitude to reevaluate every single facet of what we’re doing and get this thing fixed.
“Yeah, it stinks. It stinks for every Gator fan. This season has been no fun because we care.”