GODSPEED, EMPEROR CHARLIE

If true, why couldn’t he go somewhere far, far away? The Dawgs play Louisville in 2011 and 2012, and I was hoping that once Charlie Strong left the SEC it would be for a place where he could no longer haunt our nightmares.

All joking aside, I’m glad he won’t be in Gainesville anymore. This guy has earned this opportunity.

A bittersweet end. While it’s sad to see him go, it’s good to see he’s finally given the respect he so deserves.

Here’s hoping he crushes the Big East, has them driven before him, and hears the lamentation of its women.

You wouldn’t think Louisville would be smarter than Vandy, but there you go.

Well done, sirrah, and well deserved.

We all know Charlie likes the top three buttons all buttoned up.

Hasta luego, best wishes, and thanks for the collective crap-the-bed party both you and your players held on Saturday.

I kid, of course.

UF football owes him much and I am glad to see him get the opportunity he most certainly deserves. Thank you and Godspeed.

Man, I was hoping he’d hold out until Spurrier retired, and we could get him back to Cola. Maybe there’s still a chance. . .

@ 6:

I wouldn’t worry. If he’s worth his mettle, UL will be a means, not an end.

As brilliant and hard-nosed as Charlie Strong’s defenses have been at Florida, I cannot help but think that he is now recruiting in Kentucky, and may have some difficulty filling his linebacking corp with up-and-coming jockeys and converted power forwards.

In light of this week’s Tiger revelations perhaps we should not laud a married man by proclaiming his ability to secure panties and hotel room keys via vending machine.

Then again…at least if you have a hotel room key you won’t be tempted to do anything on a table in a closed restaurant.

Just sayin’.

Louisville’s last one candidate search didn’t go so well. Here is to hoping this one sees just as much success as the last one.

It should have been you KU, it should have been you.

Don’t worry #6 – offcampus, SCar likes its coaches way past their prime. You can hire Charlie in 20-30 years.

@12: Or Bobby Bowden right now!

Charlie will be missed, if only because the coach on the staff with the most experience in slowing down talented offenses is Steve Addazio.

Glad he stuck around for as long as he did, Florida fans will always owe him big time for what he helped Florida accomplish in the last 5 years. Now, the approximately four million dollar question for Florida fans is… who’s Meyer going to replace him with? Or anyone that Strong poaches from the staff?

In the past 2 years, Florida has gone from one of the staffs in the country with the most continuity to someone replacing both coordinators, quarterbacks coach, secondaries coach, tight ends coach linebackers coach and possibly their recruiting coordinator and receivers coach if someone like Gonzalez goes with Strong.

All good coaches and hot programs eventually go through it after runs (Tressel, Carroll, etc.), and I think more than institutional complacency the coaching turnover can really cool off a hot program.

Charlie Strong was the architect of two national chamionship defenses. Does he deserve better than Louisville? (like at least a mid-pack team in a non-Big East BCS conference). Then again, it’s all about openings and where else was he gonna go? And, I guess Louisville is a decent gig.

Kudos.

He’s 49 years old?! He looks 30.

No worries gator fans, Willie Martinez is now available.

Gradulations Corch Strong – you deserve it.

And in five years, you can be the new head coach at Notre Dame when whoever they hire this time is fired.

As a UF fan, I say thank you and enjoy being head honcho. As a USF fan, I am severely fucked.

Christmas comes early… now please stop haunting my dreams, Charlie.

Let the bidding war begin between UGA and UF. Someone’s ass (or asses) is going to get paid.

Long overdue, but I am sure glad we got to keep him as long as we did. The only fitting replacement I can think of involves cloning Shaka Zulu and filling his brain, Matrix style, with clips of Buddy Ryan’s mid 80s defenses.

Saturday, September 11, 2010: USF -7 @ UF. Gaze ye mortals and despair!

Seriously, about damn time. Gradulations good sir. May the evil noxious taint of the Peach Bowl finally be off you.

@3 With it’s last hire, Vandy tabbed the first coach to lead them to a bowl in a generation. I think it worked out alright.

@13 As my grandfather would say, somebody is getting a little too big for his britches. Looks like we need another bowl matchup with the Buckeyes.

Charlie is w/o a doubt one of the most genuine good-guy coaches I have been around. CONGRATS and good luck!

@15 cold front moving thru gville, gettin all the news I need on the weather report.

I am shocked,SHOCKED, I say, that Willie Martinez didn’t get an interview.

Oh crap, Charlie Strong to Looyeville? Brian Kelly will probably stay at Cincy. And we’re stuck with Grampaw Bill and Jeff Mullen in Morgantown. Thank God there’s always Rutgers, and the Wannstache.

CHG is completely right. Charlie Strong recruiting to Vanderbilt would have been fun to watch, though.

How any Vanderbilt fan does not get on their knees every morning and thank God for Bobby Johnson is beyond me.

Now, I would suggest you boys go ahead and give Robbie Caldwell a big, fat raise and a long term deal, before someone who has no academic, other than NCAA eligibility, restrictions pays him some legitimate money to run their OL.

i don’t believe i have to now watch big east football. i’ve avoided it like the plague, but hey, i watch the gamecocks, miss st, and now louisville. i do enjoy watching illinois crumble. and now i have to watch air force. Troy Calhoun, head coach at Air Force, ranked Florida 2nd. and do not dare disagree with coach Calhoun. if you did, i ask you one question—why do you so hate america?

Nice. This just about guarantees Jordan Hicks comes to Texas now that Charlie’s leaving UF.

Hats off to Mr. Strong and if he can bring back the 4-team race to the top in The Big East like in ’07, even better. At least now he can travel west of the Mississippi outside Fayetteville as Louisville travels to Oregon State on Sept. 18, 2010…..and yes, that was a dig at UF needing to travel across the country to take on a Texas, a Boise State, a BYU, or even a Southern Cal.

I know the SEC is where it’s at for big competition, but I found it to be deplorable that Florida scheduled 3 cupcakes this season instead of venturing out and playing some worthwhile teams. Hell, do a home-and-home w/The Fighting Zookers of Illinois if you need to.

So long Charlie. Thanks for the glory years. As far as I’m concerned, you’re up there with Steve Spurrier and Ray Graves.

As a UK fanm I really, really don’t like this hire. Life is hard as a Kentucky fan. Still, many hyper-successful DCs go on to become awful head coaches. See Roof, Ted, and Robinson, Greg.

Hey UF, I heard they were looking at this little known D coordinator, John Tenuta or something. He’s supposed to be AWESOME.

I, for one, do not consider OU to be one of the best offenses to ever take the field in the modern era.

Fucking pussy.

chg – If you want a piece of the Buckeyes, you will need to do a little better than 7-5. That is why Tress has been winning enough to get into BCS games, just to avoid the Cocks;^)

@35. I don’t know about Gerg, but Roof wasn’t a great DC, either. He was such an awesome linebacker that people just THOUGHT he could coach defense, but not so much.

There have been a lot of successful coordinators on both sides of the ball that have sucked as head corches. Let’s hope Charlie, Strong, is an exception (I have no dog in this fight, since Louisville already pussed out of their series with GT).

Is there any chance that Dan McCarney isn’t elevated to replace Charlie?

1. “Best” is too vague, and subject to interperetation with regards to era and schedule.

“Most Prolific” is a better descriptor as it is simply a question of numbers.

As a Big East fan, we’ll take all the legitimacy we can get. And Mr. Strong is definitely legit.

@39,

Um, unfortunately, you got that backwards. WE canceled on Louisville to schedule Miss St. You were thinking of Houston Nutt.