Hi. I'm Andy Hutchins. You may know me from such venues for pithy sports analysis as SB Nation, or Twitter, and starting as of today (or, uh, yesterday or Saturday) Alligator Army.

You may be asking yourself "Why this guy?" or "WHY ME!?" or "Why not me?" Let's fix that with a bit of introduction and a bit more housekeeping.

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Four years ago, two friends and I dragged our girlfriends to the Archer Road Moe's to discuss making a sports blog. That became the extinct The Sporting Orange and in August of 2007, Alligator Army. Since that time, two of those girls have gone away and all of us have jobs that take up far too much of our time than we would like.

Starting Monday, SBNation's Andy Hutchins will take over Alligator Army. Like me, he is a real Gator, so Alligator Army will be in good hands. Andy will build Alligator Army into a site that can matchup with the other outstanding SBNation blogs, especially DawgSports and RockyTopTalk. 

There were several times that I thought about not doing Alligator Army. What stopped me each time was that I did not know who would take it over and that I love my school so very much. With Andy and the writers that he will bring on, Alligator Army will be well positioned to be successful. And with each day, I love my school more. Everything I have done in my career I owe to Florida.

If there is anything I can leave you with it is that you love and support the University of Florida as much as you love the Florida Gators. Our sports teams are crucial for the strength of the school, but we must keep progressing and excelling as a University. Bernie Machen deserves a lot of criticism for his treatment of liberal arts, agriculture and tuition increases, but he knows that the only way to save UF is to become a dominant research school. UF can't hope on the state legislature or Bull Gators who would never get into UF now. (Hell, I might not get into UF now and I graduated in 2006.) You should keep ripping on him for tuition increases that could price out students, but also understand that we are gone from the days that UF was the favored school of the state. Last year we saw Shands funding killed by Gov. Charlie Crist for political revenge and who knows what Gov. Rick Scott has up his sleeve. 

But the power of the University of Florida lies in you. Sign up for the Gators for Higher Education and the UF Alumni Association, both of which are available to those who are not UF students or alumni. If you think that Florida should have top-25 teams in football and basketball, I hope you would think that we should be a top-25 school too.

As always, thanks for reading. 

If you are a long time reader of Alligator Army (we go back to August of 2007), you know that our posting schedule is off the wall thanks to my strange jobs. Some weeks, it was 10 posts. Other weeks, it was three or four. Additionally, I was never able to pick up friends to be co-writers, the result of bad timing and their own work schedules.

But after three and a half years of posting really late at night, really early in the morning, or hunched over the work computer, it is time to hang up my laptop. Starting April 11, I will no longer be the editor of Alligator Army, making the Orange & Blue Game my last event I cover for the site.

I turn to you to keep Alligator Army going. The site has established credentials. But Alligator Army needs an editor who has the talent and time to provide coverage that is worthy of the Florida Gators. We have a twitter page, facebook page, and New York Times article, so making the site bigger and better can be done. (I've worked on a lot of cool things, but nothing beats being on the front page of the Paper of Record.)

If you think that writing for a few bucks a day, is for you or your friends, email me at alligatorarmy@gmail.com by March 31. Let me know about your background and previous writing experience. If you don't have any writing experience, write up a FanPost on the right side of the page and direct me to it. For those of you who are long time commentators and readers, I'm familiar with your writing, but shoot me an email with your background anyway.

I'll make a decision on April 4, with your first story on April 7 and full time writing starting on April 11. That will allow for some time to train you on the technical issues. But don't worry too much about that. The interface to upload stories is almost exactly the same as the FanPosts. I'll stay on as an "Author," which is basically to write my Championship Mode stories and be one of the few Gators who thinks that Urban Meyer isn't the greatest coach in UF history or that Tim Tebow isn't the greatest athlete in UF history. 

As always, thanks for reading.

"Complex litigation, this is John..."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh Johnnnnnnnnnny!"

If you know what this is from, this post is for you. Actually, if you don't know Bill and JackO, this post is for you too.

At the top of the left side of the page is a "confidence poll" about the Gators. SBNation has used it on other blogs previously and has now introduced it network wide. You can vote as much as you like and it is anonymous. Voting is weekly. 

We'll have occasional posts about it, especially in this rebuilding/transition/holy crap, we have a chance season. It will be especially interesting to see what happens if UF has close games against USF and Tennessee before the LSU-Alabama weeks. Maybe by then, it will become an anxiety index.

At the top of the FanPosts is a link to a survey SB Nation is conducting this week. The survey is no different from what magazines or newspapers do to judge their readership. There are standard demographic questions like age and gender. But there are also questions about what sports you like the most and what technology you use on a daily basis. This is where you as a reader can impact what SB Nation does going forward.

Since I have started writing here in August of 2007, there have been dozens of changes and dozens of new sites added. With nearly every professional and major college team covered, the next set of changes will be based on what else you want. More regional coverage, so you can get Gators, Bucs, Magic and Marlins news at one location? A better mobile site to access on your Blackberry or iPhone? This survey is your opportunity to tell our developers all of that.

Go here and follow the link to the survey. It is about 30 questions, but a lot better than doing work or listening to your wife talk about her day at work. There is a charity competition involved, but Alligator Army doesn't have a large enough readership to win. But, you'll be able to take some pride if you suggest a Little League blog and "Road to South Williamsport" is created this summer.

Posting here will be a little light because we're at an event in Washington today. It's kind of a big deal. If you end up watching it on TV try to find the guy doing the Gator Chomp to the left of the stage on the Capitol lawn.

I've spent my 24th birthday working and checking facebook every hour to see who else has posted on my wall. But this is easily the best email I've gotten. I love alligators. But I hate getting old.

First of all, let me apologize for my absence. Not only have I been busy slinging rock with John Reaves, my knee is really sore and I'm going to have it looked at tomorrow.

Anyway, as we approach year 2 of Alligator Army (holy crap, I'm getting old), we have some changes for you. Due to my real world schedule, I cannot post every day. So we have some new and old faces.

The co-founders of The Sporting Orange have returned. Hanson, who last contributed this, will be posting again. Timmy C. has backed away from the ledge after Cornelius Ingram's injury and will be contributing as well. Our third writer is Miss Kari, who in addition to being a former Weimer Hall sports kid, is very attractive and has a Southern accent that makes a man weak in the knees.Over the next few weeks, they will post with me.

This is going to be a unique season in Gator History. This team has potential, but with Tebow and Percy in their junior years, the window of victory is slowly closing. As we said a year ago, we hope you find us entertaining and informative.

Go Gators.