NCAA Football Florida Basketball

Here is an interview that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie had on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

He was asked about the pressure and expectations of coaching at a place at Kentucky. At the 2:30 mark, he says this:

"I can't think of one coach in Ameri- ... well, maybe there's one coach or a few coaches that wouldn't want that challenge."

That had to be a shot at Florida coach Billy Donovan. Maybe shot is a strong word, but it is still a dig at the Gators coach. As you may know, Donovan was the frontrunner for the Kentucky job and bowed out ... which gave Gillispie the shot.

Gillispie has rewarded the Wildcats with a dramatic turnaround midseason, a 12-4 SEC mark, a share of the SEC Coach of the Year award and a likely trip to the NCAA tournament.

In Donovan's defense, he had his own challenge. Building a basketball program at a football school and winning back-to-back championships is quite a feat. You cannot blame him for not wanting to leave that.

Jeremy Foley is the latest addition to a growing line of multi-millionaires in the Florida Athletic Department.

A steady rise in the 31 years since [he was hired] has resulted in Foley becoming the highest-paid athletic director in the country among public universities. Foley, 54, has agreed in principle to an 11-year contract extension worth an average annual salary of $1 million.

"Simply put, Jeremy's contract is what you would expect for the best athletic director in the nation," Florida President Bernie Machen said.

Foley is considered one of the best athletic directors in the country. His hire of Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan -- both young and relatively unproven coaches at the time of their hire -- looks brilliant in retrospect. Foley's employees have been responsible for 3 national championships in the NCAA's two biggest sports in the last two years. In Foley's 11-year tenure, the Gators have won a total of 12 national championships across its spectrum of sports teams.

It almost seems comical now, but there was a time -- not too long ago -- in which Florida fans were calling for Foley's head. The low point for Foley's star was when Ron Zook's Gators lost to Sylvester Croom's Mississippi State Bulldogs, easily the worst team in the SEC in 2004. Foley took a lot of heat for Zook's haplessness, but to his credit, made a quick decision to axe Zook. His timing made the hire of Urban Meyer possible, and many schools have since emulated his quick-hook act to better position themselves for the post-season coaching search.

Florida football returnman Brandon James and Gator basketball player Brandon Powell were arrested recently after reportedly buying marijuana from an undercover police officer. The players bought 0.8 grams for $20 and were then nabbed after the transaction was recorded on audio and video.

Florida has suspended both indefinitely. This isn't the first off-season incident for the Gators after the Gators won the BCS national championship in January.

No fewer than seven Florida football players have dealt with significant legal issues since Feb. 1 and erased some of the good vibes from last season's national championship team.

This offseason of tumult and arrest is entirely predictable. There's simply a pattern here that's impossible to ignore: championship football teams get in trouble. Lots of it. I don't know if it's because of the high profile or arrogance or what, but it's there. Almost every recent college football champion this decade has had a slew of off-field issues following it from Oklahoma to Ohio State to USC to Texas to now Florida.

This is the new reality. Of course people will forever try to pin these situations on the schools because they're delinquent or evil or whatever other term satisfies their angst. Perhaps this is all simply the cost of being at the top. It's nice if some schools do their best to prevent these things, but as we can see those efforts don't always work out so well.

Sometimes it pays to have an otherwise successful peer do something really stupid. Such is the case for Florida football coach Urban Meyer. It was announced last week that the Gators' football coach, leather jacket warrior and national champion will be paid $3.25 million annually as part of a six-year contract extension.

This wouldn't have been as likely even a few weeks ago, but then Billy Donovan almost left, stayed, left, and then returned. His bouncing ball act may have forced Florida to commit extra case to ensure some permanence with its pair of championship coaches.

It's not Meyer's fault, but the NCAA skeptics will be certain to mention this pay raise (and Nick Saban's salary!) to Congress. It's also certain to raise the salaries of several coaches including Bob Stoops and Pete Carroll. Stoops is alleged to have a clause in his contract allowing for near or matching salary to other highly paid coaches. Carroll will just flirt with the NFL again next offseason and quietly sign another fat extension.

Previously At FanHouse
Billy Donovan Needs To Be a Man and Apologize
Sources Confirm Billy Donovan Will Leave Gators for Magic
Things Take a Decidedly Kentucky-Ish Turn for Donovan

Actually, you can add Michigan and Jim Delany to that list.

Here's the full story. University of Florida president Bernie Machen has been pushing for a playoff system for college football since before Florida was selected to play in the BCS National Championship against Ohio State. In fact, he started putting the wheels in motion before Florida won the SEC championship game against Arkansas in late '06.

That he still campaigns for a playoff today, despite the fact that Florida ended up being lucky enough to get selected to the title game instead of Michigan, says volumes about his passion for the subject. And in this recent CBS Sportsline interview, Machen used both barrels of his verbal shotgun to express his thoughts.

More after the jump. (You'll be entertained, I promise.)

With 7:54 to go in the second half of Florida's 86-60 rout of Ohio State, Urban Meyer was shown chatting with former Ohio State receiver Cris Carter.

Greg Gumbel: "That's Urban Meyer, the head football coach here at Florida. You don't think he'd like this game to be some sort of an indicator as to when these two teams meet for the BCS championship game, do you?"

Billy Packer: "Well, Thad Matta gave him a little message yesterday. He went over to his seat is and he wrote down on the seat, 'We're going to kick your butt in the BCS championship.' So I'm sure that was a very interesting little message he received when he sat down today."

"Interesting," indeed.

Note to Mr. Matta (and the rest): Thank you for demonstrating what Ohio State athletics is apparently about... all talk, no action.

Larry Vettel at Gatorcountry.com wrote a nice piece entitled "Florida Duo Is Nation's Best Coaching Tandem." (requires subscription) Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer, not surprisingly, get the nod as the nation's two best coaches in the NCAA's top two sports -- Division I-A football and Division I-A men's basketball. Is Larry biased? Sure he is -- as am I -- but I think even the nastiest, bitterest Gator Hater would have a hard time arguing with championship quality success the Gators have had throughout the year of 2006. After all, not too many schools can say they field teams which can legitimately hunt for national championships in both sports, much less actually play for them... in the same year.

Vettel made a Top 10 of the best coaching duos across the nation. His picks include:

#10: Notre Dame (Charlie Weis, Mike Brey)
#9: Tennessee (Phil Fulmer, Bruce Pearl)
#8: LSU (Les Miles, John Brady)
#7: North Carolina (Butch Davis, Roy Williams)
#6: Southern Cal (Pete Carroll, Tim Floyd)
#5: Oklahoma (Bob Stoops, Jeff Capel)
#4: Texas (Mack Brown, Rick Barnes)
#3: Louisville (Bobby Petrino, Rick Pitino)
#2: Ohio State (Jim Tressel, Thad Matta)
#1: Florida (Urban Meyer, Billy Donovan)

I wouldn't argue #1 or #2. Donovan and Meyer... well, what can you say? They're the best, or, if you want to argue that point, they are without a doubt among the best of the very best. At OSU, Jim Tressel wins... and wins... and wins, while Thad Matta landed the hottest recruiting class of 2006 and Greg Oden looks to be every bit as good as advertised. Those two are also among the very best in their respective sports, and having them together at one school, especially with the tradition of winning at Ohio State, is a huge boon for the Buckeyes.