Will Muschamp’s Replacement: 12 Realistic Options to Coach Florida Gators

Nov 15, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp walks off the field after they lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Florida Gators 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In case you have been living under a rock over the past 24 hours, Will Muschamp will step down from the Florida Gators at the end of the year. That’s out of the way. Now, despite with two games left to play on the schedule, it’s time for the Florida Gators to start thinking about a replacement.

It is actually pretty tricky to figure out who Muschamp’s replacement will be this time, but if history is any indication, the best bet for Florida is to hire a guy who has a cutting edge offensive style that maximizes the speed of players that come from Florida. Yes, that was a direct reference to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.

Jeremy Foley has been the best athletic director in college sports since he has taken over, unafraid to cut bait with his hires and admit his mistakes. WIll Muschamp was obviously a mistake, but his last mistake was Ron Zook. And he replaced Zook with Meyer.

Given that track record, you can trust him as much as anybody to make the right hire in this situation.

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As we put together this list of possible Florida replacements, let’s get a few things out of the way.First let’s trim down the 18 names that have been mentioned. Jim Harbaugh and Gus Malzahn are fantasies. Malzahn won’t leave Auburn, and if Harbaugh comes back to college it will be at Michigan.

Charlie Strong won’t leave Texas after a year despite his Florida ties. And Mike Shanahan shouldn’t even be touched. Mark Hudspeth of Louisiana-Lafayette and Ron Roberst of Southeastern Louisiana are also mentions, but they simply aren’t proven enough yet.

With all of those guys out of the way, we have put together a list of 12 coaches who are realistic options to replace Muschamp and coach the Florida Gators. And we have ranked them from worst to first. Here is where they stand.

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