Will Florida go back to the NFL for Teryl Austin?

By Adam Silverstein
February 10, 2010

The Florida Gators originally took a month to replace former defensive coordinator Charlie Strong with former Miami Dolphins inside linebackers coach George Edwards. Now forced to replace Edwards after he defected for the same position with the Buffalo Bills, head coach Urban Meyer (on a leave of absence) and interim head coach Steve Addazio are faced with another staff position to fill.

OGGOA broke down some of the leading candidates to fill the defensive coordinator role on Friday and even updated the story Tuesday after learning that Clemson Tigers co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Charlie Harbison was being interviewed for the job. Just a day later, the National Football Post has forced us to add another name to the Gators’ list: Arizona Cardinals defensive backs coach Teryl Austin, who is expected to interview for the position on Wednesday.

UPDATE: The Orlando Sentinel‘s Jeremy Fowler reported Wednesday evening that Austin and members of the Gators staff did indeed meet on Wednesday with the team coming away impressed. Fowler says “there seems to be a strong possibility” that Austin will join Florida as its next defensive coordinator.

The Gators will likely name a new defensive boss before the end of the week. For more about Austin, be sure to visit and read through the link below.

UPDATED: Replacing Edwards as defensive coordinator

2 Comments

  1. O-town Gator says:

    I don’t know how reliable the site footballscoop.com is, but that’s where I first saw Austin’s name being mentioned. There’s been talk of Clemson’s Charlie Harbison being mentioned as a candidate along with one from Utah whose name I can’t remember off hand, but it looks like some different options are bring weighed right now.

  2. 1866umoving says:

    It seems clear that Florida feels it needs to hire a DC with direct ties to the NFL as opposed to finding one with a long history of great D in the college ranks. So my question is are they looking in the NFL to keep top defensive prospects coming to UF or do they feel these DC types in the NFL will have a better system for UF? I think it’s more about the recruiting than the system.

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