I’ve been a fan of the Florida Gators college football team for as long as I can remember. My dad used to take me to the games down in Gainesville, and we’d pick up cajun boiled peanuts from one of the numerous vendors along the way, and eat them at the game. For so many years, Steve Spurrier coached the Gators to amazing wins after wins, and boy were they amazing.

Spurrier is a man who is offense-minded. He had an uncanny knack of exploiting a quarterback’s talents, and making the opposing team furious. Tennessee would boo him not only because they thought he’d coach them since he is from TN, but because they couldn’t beat him for so long. Spurrier was aggressive, he’d score in the 4th quarter even if they were up by 42 points. He loved trying trick plays, and throwing caution to the win. This is why Florida Gator fans loved him so much, he loved to win and he made it entertaining.

So you can imagine how disappointed I was when he left to coach the Washington Redskins, and how hopeful I was when he quit, and how excited I was at the prospect of him coming back to the Gators when rumors popped up that he was in the hunt for a college coaching job. However he went with South Carolina. Bummer!

Hope isn’t lost, fortunately. Although Spurrier would’ve been nice, on hindsight I figure it may have not been good. It’s like an ex-girlfriend who wants to get back together with you. Sure, she knows all your buttons, knows how to push them, and you like her, but the excitement isn’t there like it was the first time you met her. So we may have a new coach in Urban Meyer, who coached at Utah.

This is a guy who, like Spurrier, understands the importance of a high-powered offense, and is innovative with his playbook. Now that is exciting, and I’m thinking this will be a really great coach for the Gators. I like his style after reading and watching some of his handiwork, and from this Gators fan, he gets two big thumbs up from me. Maybe the glory days of the Florida Gators aren’t gone after all.