Florida WR coach Gonzales splitting for LSU

By Adam Silverstein
December 10, 2009

Florida Gators wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator Billy Gonzales has accepted a “passing game coordinator” and WR coach position with the LSU Tigers. Apparently head coach Urban Meyer had already begun informing his team’s commitments and recruits that Gonzales will no longer be with Florida prior to this story being leaked Thursday evening.

Aside from having lost two important coaches in the past 48 hours, the Gators are also losing two top recruiters in new Louisville Cardinals head coach Charlie Strong and Gonzales just two months before National Signing Day. Gonzales was a strong recruiter for Florida in the talent-rich South Florida area and has been responsible for the majority of the Gators’ offensive playmaker commitments over the last few years.

Meyer and Gonzales have a long-standing relationship, going back to when the former coached the latter while with the Colorado State Rams over a decade ago. Gonzales has worked under Meyer for the last eight seasons, and a move that appears to be more lateral than promotional may have come due to the fact that offensive line coach Steve Addazio was promoted to offensive coordinator this season instead of Gonzales.

Rumors are swirling that Meyer is expected to hire Zach Azzanni, the current assistant head coach/WR coach with the Central Michigan Chippewas, to replace Gonzales. Azzanni coached the Bowling Green Falcons WRs from 2003-06, after Meyer left the program in 2002, though he was a graduate assistant under Meyer from 2001-02 and works at the Gators’ football camps every summer.

OGGOA will continue to update this story as more information comes to light.

7 Comments

  1. Brittany says:

    It’s disappointing to see him go, he’s a good coach and recruiter so he will be missed. But, as always, I’m sure we will find an adequate replacement. And as much as it pains me to say anything positive about LSU, I wish Gonzales luck there.

  2. Aligator says:

    myer should have promoted him over addozio … maybe he will bring back the last WR coach …

  3. Agreed Aligator…to the “should have promoted him over Addazio” part.

  4. Brittany says:

    ‘Should have promoted him over Addazio’

    Yes, yes, yes! I agree.

  5. Aligator says:

    i pray to god above meyer is smart enough to make a change on offense please god!!

  6. Michelle Berdeal says:

    Hmmm…I am beginning to wonder if all of these “happenings” played a part in the Gators SEC Championship performance. First Urban Meyer is taken to the hopsitals for chest pains, then Charlie Strong announces he is leaving, now Billy Gonzalez is leaving. What’s next?

    Adam, do you have any insight as to how these losses will impact the players we have recruited so far? Do you think any of them will back out on Florida?

  7. Michelle-

    I am going to cover all of that in a column I am writing today. So stay tuned. Just one thing: the Urban Meyer situation happened well after the game.

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