You can’t just fire the old coach and automatically have a better program. The critical part is to hire the right coach to take over. I would like to see the job go to Charlie Strong. He’s been the Defensive Co-ordinator for a National Champion and by the start of the season next year it may be two. Hopefully if we do go that route, we won’t make the announcement until after Florida finishes their season. I hate it when teams hire an assistant and he starts coaching his new team while his old team still has a huge game to play. I know a new coach needs to get his staff together as soon as possible and start recruiting but I think back to when Georgia hired Mark Richt when FSU had a BCS Title game to play. It cost the Noles a championship. But Charlie Strong is the guy I would like us to hire as soon as the Gators are done.
Hopefully whoever we hire will pay more attention to recruiting in the Central Florida area. If you look at UF, FSU, and especially Miami, one thing they did to build their programs was they did not let local players go out of state. UF has locked down areas like Belle Glade, Tampa, and Jacksonville as well as Gainesville. Miami locks down South Florida and FSU locks down the panhandle. UCF needs to lock down Orlando, Daytona Beach and the Space Coast. There is plenty of high school talent in those areas for UCF not to have more talent than it does. Daytona Beach Mainland is #61 in the COUNTRY!! Do we have any assistants over there getting any of those kids? They are poised to win their second state title since 2003. They have been contenders every year in between. I don’t recall any players from there going to UCF. Daytona Beach Seabreeze last year went undefeated. Their quarterback was a dual threat running and passing. He set all kinds of school records there. He went to FIU. FIU?? Are you telling me Calabrese was better than this kid? I’m still wondering why we let Rusty Smith go to FAU. He’s better than anybody we have! How about the running backs in Deltona? Where did they go? Don’t tell me Orlando high schools aren’t loaded with talent. Boone, Dr Phillips, Edgewater, Jones, always have some good players. In fact we play Marshall this week. If I’m not mistaken they have a QB from Jones and another from Mainland. What do you want to bet me that BOTH are better than our best one?
Loading ...
November 10th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
UCF goes after the top local talent and they decide to go elsewhere. We got two players from Daytona Seabreeze, one was injured and the other left the program due to personal reasons.
And yes, Calabrese is better than that kid.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
If he can walk and chew gum at the same time he’s got to be better than Calabrese. Calabrese throws passes that land five yards out of bounds. Sure he can run a little bit, but Greco runs better. I swear I don’t see why O’Leary is rushing this kid along. Here’s another question. Since Greco and Calabrese are both awful, how about we give Mike Tice’s kid a shot? Or how about Weatherford? They can’t be any worse.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Mike Tice’s kid left the program before the season started to a place where he would see playing time.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Good suggestion, we need a coach with Florida ties who knows the high schools in the state. It is obvious that GOL and his staff don’t recruit well in Florida.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I agree its time for coach GOL to go. His style just doesn’t fit the kids of today. This is coaches fifth season at UCF and we are again rebuilding. It is just unacceptable for what he is getting paid and the resources he has. Some of the worst losses in UCF history have been under GOL- USF 64-12, Pitt 52-7 etc… He just seems to run players and coaches off. Two of the five years we’ve had our punter set records for most punts in a season.
Charlie Strong would be great but I believe he is setting his sights on a BCS job. At this point, anyone with any kind of imagination would be better than GOL. Every saturday you see teams with lesser talent compete with the bigger schools. I don’t believe our talent is as bad as our 2-7 record indicates.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
1) Why would you want your desired head coach to continue working for someone else, even if only a game?
2) Your sole reason for choosing Strong is that “He’s been the Defensive Co-ordinator for a National Champion.” Guess what, genius, O’Leary was too.
3) To think that UCF has the same recruiting pull as UF, Miami, or FSU is insane. They have national championships, UCF does not. They are in the BCS, UCF is not. The only area that UCF is giving those schools a run for their money is in whining fans. You guys sucked in the past, suck now and will do so in the future. Keep thinking your school will amount to something. It’s amusing.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Neale.
1. It’s not fair to the kids trying to win A Big Bowl Game to lose a coach or have a coach who’s half there and half somewhere else.
2. Charlie Strong may well have two National Championships in three years by the time next seson starts. Not won 15 or 20 years ago, but two of the last three. Plus, right now with Prince and Willingham being fired there are only four black head coaches in FBS football. What knid of message would it send to the high school talent in this state, most of whom are also black, if we hired Strong?
#. I never said UCF has the same recruiting pull as thosem schools TODAY. Go back 25 years ago and it’s about the same though. And how did those schools build their programs? They locked down Florida. I don’t know what school you’re a fan of, but I’d be willing to bet your school doesn’t have players like Brandon Marshall, Atari Bigby, Kevin Smith, Asante Samuel, Matt Prater, and Travis Fisher doing what they’re doing in the NFL, brand new facilities that are state of the art, a football crazed fan base that gives them the best home field advantage in the conference, and a losing record every other year. If they did you’d be screaming about it too.
November 12th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Charlie Strong is the ideal coach for UCF. He knows the state of Florida very well and alway gets the top defensive recruits go to UF. GOL time is up and UCF needs to move in a new direction. UCF now has the facilities to compete with the other schools in Florida. UCF should definetely interview Charlie Strong for the position if they fire the drunken irish.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Spurrier will be available very soon. Maybe we should go after him? At least he has a “real” resume and we already know what kind of coach he is, AND from Florida!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I don’t think Spurrier would be interested. Phil Fulmer on the other hand…