re: "We are in middle of search process." - Scott Stricklin

I don't think Sticklin has lied at all. He said he was going to keep this quiet, and he has. Basically, we're all champing at the bit and getting pissed at him for doing exactly what he said he was going to do when Mac got fired.

We've obviously talked to Kelly. The fan base took that and ran with it, which was bound to happen when Mac was fired in Oct. and the hire probably won't happen until Dec. The only deadline that Stricklin has is early signing. Gator Nation has invented this scenario where if Kelly isn't hired right now, we'll miss. That probably isn't true.

And while we're no doubt unofficially talking to people, all the official stuff won't happen until after Thanksgiving. Everyone and their brother has said an AD openly flirting with a coach during the season is very unprofessional, and that kind of thing always comes back to bite someone in the arse (Joe Alleva anyone?). So anyone coaching now has to be handled with kid gloves.

To be clear, Kelly is my favorite as well, but he does have a reputation for being difficult. There are some other promising up-and-comers at smaller programs, but they may get crushed here. Both of these things were problems for the last guy, and either way we go there is some risk no matter how much most of us love the idea of Kelly (me included). I don't blame Stricklin for taking as much time as he can to make the right choice, and at the moment, there is no good reason to make a hire other than Gator fans just want to know right now and have commenced to inventing all kinds of bogeymen to justify what is essentially just impatience.

Sticklin isn't screwing with us by saying "most of what you hear isn't true" or not denying Kelly. The part that probably is true is that he has been approached. The reason why he isn't denying anything is because they are probably seriously considering him but may be waiting to talk to at least Frost before making a hire, which they can't do right now.

Foley screwed up last time in particular by just going with who he thought was best and not actually taking some time and really seeing who was out there and who would fit. I'm glad Sticklin isn't doing that. We're not going to whiff on Kelly if we don't hire him in the next week. Plus, we don't know for sure if maybe he isn't holding off to see if UCLA, for instance, is going to open, and if he is doing that, what exactly do we have for leverage to force a decision?

Kelly was the clear favorite among the majority of us, and there was no way rumors weren't going to get out of hand because we're fricking nuts. But I am not for getting pissed at Stricklin at this point because we've spent two weeks making up bullshite and now want to hold him accountable for our own imaginations.

Now if he runs off and hires Norvell... well, I hope that he quickly proves just how underwhelmed I'll be wrong next season because that will be depressing.

Jeremy Foley needs to go kick rocks. Regardless if he said anything or not.

They will 100% hire him unless he asks for something absolutely batshit insane -- which he will not. He wants the job or he wouldn't even be discussing this.

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Vegas completely removed the Florida job from the books.

Stricklin has said nothing all day.

Zero denial from the Kelly camp despite heavy rumors.

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100% what I've been saying almost all week, and I had been looking for the Vegas odds for a while and didn't see it up (now confirming what I thought). Kelly has openly denied rumors in the past, Stricklin won't say yes or no to Kelly directly which means ''we talkin'''.

I will say, if there are actual snags on the boosters trying to get him to attend their little stupid parties when he doesn't want them -- I will be extremely upset. I have always thought that people who pay the money try to control the program, and Kelly is here to make us money by winning, not schmooze up to them.

tl;dr

We still getting Kelly unless, and this is literally the only thing that will probably kill the deal: Boosters/outside sources make some extremely selfish and retarded decisions based on the future of the program.

Kelly would be the best thing to happen since Spurrier/Meyer. Period. People need to get the frick out of the way (if these rumors are true, which they may not be).

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I don't like conspiracy theories very much, and I know that this is going to sound crazy, but...

I think that the University of Florida has people who try to shoehorn coaches into running specific types of offenses, and control the HCs for the most part.

I had heard that the deal had soured a little, and that Kelly wanted his guys so we're starting a vetting process -- but that has made me suspicious, really suspicious.

What IF we're stepping on toes, trying to control coaches? It can't be mere coincidence that the past two coaches, one offensive and one defensive have both called eerily similar offensive schemes.

It can't just be coincidence that Weis, Roper, Nussmeier and Pease all had, practically, the same playbook?

I'm really not trying to start anything, but it's just weird that we wouldn't say ''sure, bring your guys'', of course, outside of the fact that one of his staff members was to blame and not him directly -- I get it.

But if the deal should fall through the cracks because we didn't want Kelly to put his staff in place, it may speak volumes on the state of our football program, and we might actually have to prepare for Kiffin or Norvell.

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essentially both sides have come to an agreement, but Kelly wants control over "football operations," which some UAA members aren't okay with. Stricklin is good with it, though.

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I'm telling you guys, I get this weird feeling that people put their hands in the program and frick around with these coaches. Ever since Spurrier left, I just feel like the administration does some weird shite with coaches.