Chomping at Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB, or find us on Twitter at @AlligatorArmy or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AlligatorArmy.
Geoff Collins could get "close look" from UCF: On Monday, in the wake of George O'Leary's sudden retirement on Sunday, Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman proposed one of the more obvious picks to succeed him: Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins.
#UCF search is interesting. School has Parker search firm working on AD hire. Expect #UF DC Geoff Collins to get a close look for HC job.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) October 27, 2015
Collins is young, has spent time coaching in Florida, and has connections to O'Leary — he worked at UCF in 2008-09, and previously worked under O'Leary at Georgia Tech. He's also considered one of the up-and-comers in college coaching. But he'd also be a first-time head coach, and hasn't been part of O'Leary's orbit this decade.
And any story about or mention of his interest or UCF's at this point is less about Collins, who will probably have some interest in one of the rare jobs as head coach of a team in Florida, and more about how this all works: Truly excellent college football head coaches are rare commodities, and schools covet them so desperately that they will pay millions upon millions to hire them — or, in O'Leary's case, millions to hire one, and then hundreds of thousands more as nothing but a golden parachute after he depart, even though he's been found partly responsible for a human being's death.
Is that fair? No. But this is what happens in a billion-dollar business with million-dollar transactions: Of course there's a bustling market for their services, and of course there's a market for coverage of all that. Some of that reporting requires talking to athletic department personnel. Some of it requires floating rumors and hints from agents. Some of it requires not passing on information at the moment it is learned, so as to improve lines of communication. Plenty of it requires heeding the wishes and motivations of rich adults, rather than the wishes and motivations of the players who receive a fraction of those adults' compensation.
Do you have to like it? No. But such are the pains of success: If Florida was 4-3, Collins wouldn't be a candidate for anything.
Florida-Georgia will decide plenty: Not sure if it's really "as it should be," considering that I'd be fine with Georgia entering every contest in the series winless. (Chris Harry, GatorZone)
Former Florida great Reggie Hannah dies: A story with shadows. (John Torres, FLORIDA TODAY)
Florida among schools with most NBA players: This comes despite the recent releases of Michael Frazier and Scottie Wilbekin. (Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo! Sports)
Lamar Odom's secret pain: Another sad story for the day. (Ramona Shelburne, ESPN The Magazine)
Terri Upshaw's family secret: And a third one! What a time to be alive. (Lonnae O'Neal, The Washington Post)
You can't trust dogs:
owner pretends to collapse to see his dog's reaction. a dog's loyalty is second to none. pic.twitter.com/DtK9EzkjPN
— rustin cohle (@flesrullikko) October 25, 2015
Your Gators moments of zen:
I know he's probably asleep over in Turkey, but gotta' wish my brother and best friend @e_murphy33 a happy birthday! Love you
— Alex Murphy (@AlexMurphy5) October 26, 2015
Dominique Easley is simply more explosive off the ball than anyone else on the Pats. pic.twitter.com/yxnmQ0L0I4
— Mike Loyko (@NEPD_Loyko) October 26, 2015
The comments are yours.