Pat Dooley’s High Five (March 24th)

The High Five was told a great story the other day, but since the writer hasn’t used it yet in print, I’ll wait to tell it. I can tell you that it revolves around how many football coaches Florida has been through in the last decade.

Basketball has been a different story. Todd Golden even pointed out that Florida has had three coaches since 1990 before him.

Golden also talked glowingly about Billy Donovan, who helped recruit him to coach at Florida, but the High Five wants to make sure that Florida’s newest basketball coach gets a full history. So, here are five things he probably should know:

1. Neal Walk is the best player in Florida history. He’s the only player with his jersey retired and was one rebound short in his junior year of averaging 20 a game. Twenty!

2. You could argue that the second best player was Vernon Maxwell, but his records have been altered because he was technically ineligible to play. That was a Bill Arnsparger thing. It needs to be changed and Vernon needs to be welcomed back.

3. The last Florida coach to be fired was Norm Sloan, who was lured from N.C. State with a new building and a lot of money. He was fired for NCAA infractions and replaced on an interim basis by Don DeVoe. A talented team fell apart because Livingston Chatman’s knees fell apart and the late Dwayne Schintzius quit and sent a letter to the media calling the coach “Captain Ahab.”

4. But that’s not the best Schintzius story. At Vanderbilt, down two. Stoppage in play. Milliseconds on the clock. Schintzius had been involved in an altercation in Gainesville where a tennis racket was the weapon of choice. Vandy fans thought the game was over and launched tennis balls in the center’s direction. Technical. He goes to the line and drains them both. Florida wins in overtime.

5. As far as I know, Florida has only rushed the floor of the O-Dome twice. Once, when the Gators beat Auburn this season and the other time when they made it to the NIT in 1986. Take from that what you will.