Is Will Muschamp too honest for his own good?

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a Will Muschamp fan. A big one. I have been since his first day in Gainesville. I've never had one complaint about the man as a coach. The whole issue with him being too "animated" on the sidelines during the game, though, is another matter entirely. And it's being noticed nationally.

Well, maybe not noticed for the first time, but now it's being talked about publicly. Thankfully, ESPN wasn't the first to broach the subject: Hidden away in Andy Staples' recent SI.com article about Will Mushcamp was this little gem of a paragraph.

Muschamp's lack of pretense is refreshing. It will eventually get him in trouble because people seem surprised these days when football coaches yell, but his is a genuine enthusiasm that wouldn't change whether he was coaching at Florida for a seven-figure salary or back at West Georgia washing jock straps in between practices. As for his media strategy, it isn't sophisticated. He answers the question he is asked as honestly as he can without giving away the gameplan. This also will eventually get him in trouble, which is too bad.

You have to read the entire article to fully understand the context of not only that paragraph, but Will Muschamp the coach. Its basis is about how he fits in better at Florida than he would have at Texas.

It's a great article and I would suggest reading it in its entirety. However, we'll focus on that paragraph for the purpose of this "rebuttal" of sorts. Actually, it's not really a rebuttal, but rather a commentary on the truthfulness of it. I guess I can blame the debates and all the politicking going on in the news.

'Tis the season, for sure.

Anyway, let's move back to the Staples piece.

Staples basically lays out two parts of Muschamp's personality that will eventually get him into trouble. Whether that trouble leads to his ultimate demise as a coach remains to be seen. I've long been of the opinion that it eventually will, but we'll get a little deeper into that in a minute.

Let's break this down into two parts:

Muschamp's lack of pretense is refreshing. It will eventually get him in trouble because people seem surprised these days when football coaches yell, but his is a genuine enthusiasm that wouldn't change whether he was coaching at Florida for a seven-figure salary or back at West Georgia washing jock straps in between practices.

This is clearly about his actions on the sidelines. It is this, that I've said for quite some time, that isn't good. Whether or not you're an official, Muschamp's actions on the sidelines aren't good.

Sure, it is nice to see a coach yelling at the officials when he feels he or his team has been wronged, but there comes a time when you have to tone it down. It's not going to be good over the long haul for Muschamp to continue to act like he does over the course of his career at Florida.

Over time people tend to tire of those type of antics. Whether it is the actual officials, the sideline interviewers or whoever have you. It's just not going to end well. I'm not saying that he shouldn't yell, because all coaches do, but after a minute or so, let it go.

The longer the coach continues going on and on, the less likely the officials will take you seriously the next time you ask for officials to take a look or watch for something, etc. The same can be said in every sport in which there are officials.

You also see this every time a coach goes on and on: The media picks up on it. They talk and write about it. Remember back when Urban Meyer yelled at the Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler at practice? Everyone in the media slammed him for yelling at the reporter. Remember Mike Gundy at his interview at Oklahoma State? What about Bob Knight?

It never ends well when a coach is constantly yelling. Never.

Part two of the paragraph:

As for his media strategy, it isn't sophisticated. He answers the question he is asked as honestly as he can without giving away the gameplan. This also will eventually get him in trouble, which is too bad.

This is the part that is sad. And it really is sad.

It's sad because in this day and age, honesty isn't a word that is thrown around all too much. Muschamp isn't a "coachspeak" guy to the letter like Jimbo Fisher is up in Tallahassee. Which is somewhat surprising because they are basically cut from the same Nick Saban cloth. The only glaring difference between the two of them is that one of them is more defense-oriented (clearly, Muschamp) while the other is more offense-oriented (Fisher).

Muschamp tells it like it is. Not too long ago, that used to be a positive in a coach, not a vice.

And if that leads to him getting into trouble, that would be sad.