Any time you are making out a list of the best coordinators at any school, it can get tricky.
For example, what do you do with Steve Spurrier? He was UF’s coordinator for 12 seasons but was also the head coach and the face of the program.
But for this week’s High Five, I limited this list to coaches who were truly assistants. And since I am a nice guy, I won’t list the worst. I’ll leave that to the comments section.
Here we go:
1. Dan Mullen
OK, right away it gets confusing. I am taking the time Mullen had as coordinator only and it still ranks No. 1 because Florida won two NCs. We saw how different the offense was with Tebow the year after Mullen left.
2. Bobby Stoops
Florida needed something, a boost, a kick in the butt, to get over the hump. His name was Stoopsie and his defenses were terrific. The 1998 D might have been the best of the bunch.
3. Charlie Strong
He put a lot of years in as an assistant at Florida going back to the days when he was a grad assistant. Two national championships looked really go on his resume and believe me, both title games were won with defense.
4. Gene Ellenson
Inspirational leader who used to show old war movies to his players. He was the defensive coordinator as Florida first became a national brand in the 1960’s. He also was brought in by Spurrier as a speaker several times.
5. Mike Shanahan
Charlie Pell’s first team went 0-10-1. Mike Shanahan was brought in as offensive coordinator to make sure it never happened again. His four-wide offense was revolutionary at the time (1980-83) and he was the offensive architect on some great teams.