Foul Territory

The University of Florida fired their football coach today. Ron Zook has compiled a 20-13 record in three years at the helm, but that is hardly up to the standards of the Gators in the preceding years coached by Steve Spurrier and his Fun'n'Gun offenses. I'm not here to debate whether or not Ron Zook deserved to lose his job following an upset loss to Mississippi State, or even if he deserved the job in the first place after Spurrier left for the Washington Redskins. What I do question is the timing of this announcement. It's one thing to fire a coach after a disappointing season, but it's quite another to make the announcement immediately following a midseason loss. How is it possibly better to make the announcement now, rather than wait until the last game has been played? It's unlikely the University will begin its search any sooner. In all likelihood, the next Gator coach is coaching somewhere else right now in Division I-A, so he's not available for interviews until at least January. As it is now, Zook and his staff will finish out the year and then be replaced by a yet unnamed coach. The only way this makes sense to me is if somehow it speeds up the hiring process at Florida, thus giving the new coach more time with the current players before next season and more time to spend on recruiting this spring, as the new coach both needs to build for the future as well as convince all the current players and new signees to stay at Florida. If firing Zook doesn't accomplish all that, then I feel the University of Florida made a group of men lame ducks for nothing.