T1B

Funny to have seen this mentioned in here.

Somebody who I listen to when they speak about Florida football says that Stoops is on the radar and he'll listen but UF doesn't know if they want to pony up the sort of cash it will take to outbid Oklahoma and make everything else happen.

He admitted that he isn't even sure they can afford to just outbid us on its face alone either. The athletic department is looking at $5M+ shortfall this year plus a Muschump buyout that is pretty steep.

Florida's football program has a lot of issues right now and I don't know if Stoops wants to step into that with the lifestyle he has come accustom to in Norman.

Florida's probably looking at Stoops costing them more than $15M if they were to land him and not end up with more egg on their face being turned down for a third time.

I doubt anything comes of any Stoops to UF other than some phone calls.

I have a lot more stuff on UF after the last few days. Took a mini-vacation and wasted what little board time I had arguing with the Owen Field drones instead of posting it.

I'll be shocked if Bob ends up at Florida at the end of this season. This coaching situation seems to be a lot bigger than just the position and Bob.

I wouldn't expect most Sooners to know the screwed up booster apparatus that UF has associated with it but even when times are good it's a cluster fuck. UF doesn't just have their tiered donor structure like OU does. Florida has a group of about 500-600 of their biggest athletic boosters who pool their money together separately from the "official" UF donor program. These 500-600 donors make their "minimum" big donation a year to UF and then they turn around each ponies up a minimum of $12k a year to "The Bull Gators". The Bull Gators basically hold this fund ransom over the Athletic Department's head. It's not like a handful of big donors just withholding monies, it's the biggest large chunk of money the UF Athletic department receives virtually every year from donations.

At OU we have the Gaylord's (specifically Christy/Kristi, however she spells her name) as Mega boosters to the school in general, at UF they have the Warrington family. The Warrington's have dropped somewhere between $100-130M into UF over the last six to ten years. Completely rebuilt their business school like the Gaylord's did Journalism and Communications. They typically don't give a shit about the Athletic Department as long as all those who love it are the ones funding it and not them. Over the last few years they've come to accept that no matter what kind of money is poured into the school the face is the football coach . . . they haven't been happy with the last two hires to begin with but rather quietly . . . All over character issues and the Warrington's don't give as much a shit about the W-L record as The Bull Gators.

The Univeristy of Florida is looking at a massive shortfall this year and not limited to the conservative estimates of the $6M shortfall the AD is admitting to looking at (some media are estimating that's it's going to be closer to $11-12M). All that SEC money and UF is actually losing more and more money each year in their athletic department.

The Warrington's were not happy that amidst the economic bust and them basically bank rolling the school that the AD went and spent an absurd amount of money on an unproven commodity with poor character reputation and that's all any position in the AD is to their family, including the head football coach.

Let's take a pause on the Warrington's and let me tell you about the Bull Gators. Bumpy Harris, John James, Paul Robble, and their fellow Bull Gators pushed the Muschamp hire through with bulldozers despite objections from the Warrington's. The just above average Joe donors to the school (but not Bull Gators) and them have been at each others' throats over Muschamp for two years now. Average Joe is not happy, they know their measly donations hold little weight because of the Bull Gator Club, and they're the ones who have pissed off the Warrington's and saddled them with Muschamp.

Beyond that the Bull Gator's themselves are in upheaval. About 150 new "Average Joe Donors" scratched up the $12k minimum on top of their mandatory UF AD donation to become Bull Gators this summer. Lots of rumors that a number of those spots were pooled together by multiple donors just to put a body in the seat and gain votes. Bumpy Harris' puppet, John James, was ousted as the President of the Association behind the votes of those 150 new members and replaced by some attorney from Orlando. The new President has spun it in the press that the new members were just part of the massive support that UF has and the result of a very successful new members campaign.

The Warrington's have basically told the UF administration that they need to fix the schools finances, which includes reigning in the exorbitant "mismanagement" of funds by the Athletic Department, or UF can start living without their big checks. If one red cent of their money or money they consider to be the academic side of the institution (which they also consider their money) goes towards buying out yet another football coach experiment then they're finished in Gville.

Shit is so dire on that front that my state's major news publications are posting stories in the sports sections about how quiet Bumpy is. The Orlando Sentinel and Gville Sun both did interviews with him so he could say he doesn't have anything to say last week!!!

The UF administration has basically told Foley that The Bull Gators need to get their shit together because the school can live without their money a lot easier than it can the Warrington's. Unless Bumpy and the boys want to start funding both at about 3x the price tag.

The Bull Gators want Bob, they wanted Muschamp too. They got Muschamp but burned a lot of bridges doing so. The Bull Gators have been told they can have Bob Stoops if they can get him but it's on their dime, completely. The starting price tag on getting Bob Stoops through the door in Gville just at the table to talk is $24M US dollars after buying out Muschump, clearing the books, buying out Stoops (OU closed the Florida clause years ago), and just discussing a hefty raise (because Bob isn't leaving his castle otherwise) . . . That's before OU even considers upping a dime to Bob ourselves.

If anyone is wondering my sources on this. I know a number of Bull Gators here locally as friends, business associates and colleagues. You basically have to know a couple of Bull Gators to be in my line of work here to begin with; it's Destin fucking Florida. You can also look up in both our alumni associations directories and see that both the OU and UF Alumni associations here locally meet at the same place.

Beyond all that though, I have a very good source at a publication where they and their spouse are employed which probably has the most extensive coverage of UF athletics and the athletic department of any other major media publication in the world.

The Warringtons are very steadfast about not wanting their monies to be directly, or even indirectly, funding the school's athletic department. If UF wants their money, they want Florida's AD department solvent. They're understanding that shortfalls occur but it's been a decade of shortfalls and Florida through the SEC has its hands in the biggest pot of money out there combined with one of the most powerful booster organizations in the country. They don't care if Bumpy and the boys have their toys but they expect them to pay for them on their own.

I doubt the Warrington's would have any objections to Bob Stoops as long as the Bull Gators foot the bill.

Having said that, The Bulls need $24M cash to get Stoops to the table in just "football" money. That's buying out Muschamp and staff and clearing the red on the AD so the Warrington's don't break camp. They're also on the line for the vast majority of Billy Donovan's contract. It's pretty damn substantial since they've paid him off every time another suitor comes calling; which has been about every other year.

Papa Willie wrote:SCS - I'd heard a little rumor that they might put Auburn in the East & Mizzou in the West. I honestly cannot believe that would ever happen - just due to the rivalries between LSU & the MS. schools. I know the Iron Bowl wouldn't be affected, but have you heard anything on that? Geographically - it would make sense...