New UF coach's closest friends now roam opposite sideline on Saturdays

But Muschamp is in one of the strangest of situations -- with a quarter of the Gators' games vs. some of the most influential people in his life. Not only won't Fisher be trading a whole lot of secrets, but Saban can't really help his old pupil because he will be trying to beat him on game day but also for the SEC title. The same's true for Dooley. "Will and I are really good friends," Dooley said. "We worked together for five out of the seven years, he came the second year I was at LSU and left the year before when I was at the Dolphins. Obviously, assistants who are together that long and certainly on Nick's staffs become pretty close. You spend a lot of time together so Will and I really, as we branched out stayed in touch, when I was at Louisiana Tech and he was at Auburn and then Texas and when I got the job at Tennessee we spoke probably every week or at least every other week last season. So it will be a little change this year." "We still speak but, of course, both of us are a little more guarded in what we say just because of the competitive nature," Dooley said. "It's interesting because in the league I have very close friends at Georgia, I have close friends at Alabama, I have close friends at Florida now. And that's probably the hardest part because at the end of the day it is extremely competitive and it's hard for everybody to prosper. So we'll see how it goes." "Every day there are problems that come across your desk," said Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, whose Hogs played against Muschamp's defense while he was at Texas. "As an assistant you don't see those problems, but every day you're going to have one, two, three, four, hopefully not more than that, problems that you are going to have to deal with in addition to coaching your coaches, preparing your team to play football. "I've got a lot of friends that I have a lot of respect for as a football coach," he said. "But our families are friends and when you work together and you spend so much time together as assistants you become close and your families become close because your wives become widows a little bit throughout the season, as hard as we work and the hours we work." "Will is one of my favorites, in terms of all the guys that we've ever had the opportunity to work with," Saban said. "He's got great principles and values personally -- and philosophically as a football coach.

Pre-Media Days Odds and Ends : BamaFootball4Life

In the old days of college football, they played for dirt and they liked it, right? Wrong. In the beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they actually were paid money. “In many places, college football was run by student groups that often hired players and allowed them to compete as non-students,” reads a brief history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association on the NCAA website. At the time the game was extremely violent, and numerous players were not getting their pay because they were dying during the games. The NCAA began as a rule making body, but in the 1940s major reform was needed again because of rampant recruiting and financial aid abuses and postseason football games were multiplying with little control. Similar issues remain today. A hot topic lately is salary-like payments to college football players because colleges and college coaches are making money by the multi millions because of rich television contracts. Remember when Steve Spurrier used to take shots at every rival school? Or when Tommy Tuberville would give media interviews during open practices? Or when the coaches from most SEC schools would conduct pleasant, enlightening press conferences? Those days are behind us, it seems. Thanks to a new 24-hour media and a bit of paranoia, coaches at most major college football programs — especially the ones in the SEC — are a bunch of stiff, buttoned-up, say-nothing borers. The whole coach-media dynamic has degenerated into this awkward, contentious, sarcastic dance that resembles the relationship between a married couple who have loathed one another for years but are sticking it out for the kids. It’s terribly unpleasant. Except in two places — Knoxville and Baton Rouge. UT’s Derek Dooley and LSU’s Les Miles don’t fit the mold of what today’s college coaches have become. They’re not stale. They’re never boring. And they’re not afraid to be — and you’re going to be shocked by this — funny. [ More ]

Muschamp’s Closest Friends Roam Opposite Sideline

By David Jones, Florida Today The jokes started right away when Will Muschamp was hired as the new head coach at Florida. One of his best friends is Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher and the two share ownership of a beach home in the Panhandle that they have taken turns enjoying for many years. Fisher has said many times he’s thrilled his old buddy is a head coach — no matter where. But he isn’t the only close friend who won’t be giving Muschamp a whole lot of encouragement at times during the season. The former Georgia defensive back was an assistant under Alabama coach Nick Saban both at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins. And he was on both staffs with current Tennessee coach Derek Dooley. Muschamp will see old buddy Dooley on Sept. 17 . . . in Gainesville . . . when his Gator team faces the Volunteers on national TV. And he’ll get to visit with Saban again on Oct. 1 . . . in Gainesville . . . when he leads the Gators against the Tide in another huge SEC contest.

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