Will Muschamp signs Florida contract extension through 2016

Florida has extended the contract of coach Will Muschamp, adding a year to his original five-year deal and securing him through the 2016 season, Sporting News has learned.

Muschamp’s first Florida team went 7-6, including a Gator Bowl victory over Ohio State. His original contract was a five-year, $13.75 million deal (averaging $2.75 million a year). The one-year extension doesn’t include an increase in salary.

The Florida Gators have given Will Muschamp a contract extension through the 2016 season, Sporting News has learned. (AP Photo)

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-02-24/muschamp-signs-florida-contract-extension-through-2016#ixzz1naKfmrCp

2.27.12

Muschamp’s focus squarely on the future

The start of spring practice is less than a month away for Florida, and it can’t get here soon enough for Will Muschamp.

His first season as Florida’s coach is in the books, and it wasn’t what anybody in the Gator Nation wanted — and that includes the Head Gator.

Florida was forced to play a pair of true freshman quarterbacks during the teeth of the schedule, and there was very little depth to speak of in the line of scrimmage. Muschamp has also conceded that the chemistry on the team was poor and that players were pulling in different directions.

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Kim Klement/US PresswireWill Muschamp’s Gators will have to create more turnovers and improve their rushing offense.

The result was a 7-6 finish, including an 0-6 record against teams that finished the season with a winning record, not to mention losses to Eastern Division rivals Georgia and South Carolina in the same season for the first time since the Gamecocks joined the league in 1992.

Read more from ESPN.com

2.20.12

Report: Florida to hire Brent Pease as offensive coordinator

GAINESVILLE – Boise State offensive coordinator Brent Pease will take over the same position at Florida on Wednesday, according to an ESPN report.

A long-time offensive coordinator, Pease emerged as a leader for the position last week for both the open jobs at Florida and Alabama. Pease told the Idaho Statesman on Monday that he hadn’t left Boise State yet, but he was still considered a candidate for both positions.

Read more from OrlandoSentinel.com

1.11.12

Merry Christmas, Gators: Charlie Weis is leaving!

Charlie Weis leaving the Florida Gators is the best news UF fans have had since Charlie Weis came to the Florida Gators.

Merry Christmas, Gators. Weis is the new head coach at Kansas.

To say, Weis’ one year as UF’s offensive coordinator was a massive failure would be an understatement. His offense was one of the worst in UF history this year, ranking 102nd nationally with just 334.17 yards per game. By leaving for Kansas, UF  is now off the hook for the two years and $1.5 million remaining on Weis’s contract — the largest ever given to a UF assistant.

Weis, because of health issues with his hip and knee, was forced to walk with a cane while coaching at UF. He could not comfortably stand on the sideline while serving as UF coach Will Muschamp’s offensive coordinator and often had to sit during the game. I remember asking Rachel George, the Sentinel’s UF beat writer earlier this season, if Weis’ weight and his health were hindering his ability to effectively do his job. That’s why his hiring at Kansas seems a bit odd.

orlandosentinel.com
12/8/11

I remember it was a Saturday night in early December, and I was sitting at a bar in Atlanta, watching the Heisman Trophy presentation.  It definitely wasn’t the most memorable ceremony in recent history, but it was still the Heisman Trophy.  And then, all of a sudden, ESPN was hi-jacked by reports of the University of Florida hiring Will Muschamp as their next head football coach.  It was almost as if the Gators were a bit vindictive over their failures in 2010, and wanted to let the country know that,” Hey, we’re still big news here, fellas,” so they picked what they thought would be an ideal(and distasteful) time to announce the news.  It certainly took a little of the spotlight away from the Heisman ceremony(honestly, I can’t remember who won) and caused quite a ripple around the college football world.  So I ask, can Will Muschamp take that ripple and run with it?

Read more of “Muschamp Came in With a Bang, Can He Keep it Going?” on ChuckOliver.Net
7.28.11

Florida’s Will Muschamp — appearing on ESPNU yesterday — made it clear he’s all for finding cash for players:

“Some of these young men, I don’t think people realize where they come from.  They can’t go home on the weekend.  They don’t have expenses for bedsheets and toiletries and things when they come to college.  And I think that’s real.  That’s real in my world.  And I don’t think a lot of people understand that. …

I’m talking homeless.  I’ve been in situations where young men have been taken in by (other) families.  They don’t have anything of their own.  They don’t have a house, they don’t have an apartment, they don’t have a phone.  And you can never get ahold of them.  It’s serious.  I’ve recruited several and a lot of coaches will tell you the same thing.”

Read more of “Muschamp wants more cash for players; OVC coaches say they can’t do it” on TampaBay.com
7.27.11

Urban Meyer was undoubtedly a great coach at UF, but as I’m sitting here at Southeastern Conference Media Days wondering why nobody is talking about the Gators, it’s easy to see Meyer simply did not leave Muschamp the type of talent and depth Gator fans demand. Zook left Meyer the nucleus of a national championship team; Meyer left Muschamp the nucleus of a Beef O’Brady’s Bowl team.

It’s amazing how little buzz there is for this UF team deep in the country-fried capital of the SEC. The Gators, who so often headlined this media extravaganza when Meyer and Steve Spurrier coached in Gainesville, were just the warm-up act on Wednesday before the big boys — Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, Les Miles and Gene Chizik — were to take the stage later in the proceedings.

Read more of “Ron Zook left Urban Meyer better program than Meyer left Will Muschamp” on OrlandoSentinel.com
7.22.11

It’s mid-May and Will Muschamp is still having to answer questions about why he chose Charlie Weis — long of the NFL and briefly of Notre Dame — to run his offense at Florida.

“The track record speaks for itself,” the coach said last week in Tampa.  “From a play-calling standpoint, a developer of quarterbacks; Matt Cassel, Tom Brady, four Super Bowl rings and 16 years of NFL experience speaks for itself.”

Yes, it does.  Weis might not have succeeded as a head coach in South Bend, but he has succeeded at just about every stop as an offensive coordinator.  In addition, Muschamp says he and Weis share many beliefs when it comes to offensive attacks.

Read more of “Muschamp explains Weis hire. Again. And again.” on MrSEC.com
5.20.11

New Gators coach Will Muschamp will actually make time for fans

GAINESVILLE — Hey, UFlorida fans, you’ll be glad to know that new football coach Will Muschamp is going to come down from the papal tower inhabited by Pope Urban, get out among the masses and actually attend booster club functions this spring. “I’m going to do as many as I can,” Muschamp said in a conversation with a group of writers Friday. “I think it’s important to get out and meet the people who fill that stadium on Saturday. I’m very appreciative of their support and I think it’s critical to spend that time with them.”

orlandosentinel.com
2/11/11