Florida Gators defensive coordinator Charlie Strong has been named as the leading candidate to become the next head coach of the Louisville Cardinals, and University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich has been quite open about that fact. While Jurich has not contacted Strong yet and will not do so until after the 2009 SEC Championship game, he has answered questions about his desire to see Strong as his next coach.

“I want to get the program rolling, I want to get after it, but I gave my word to several people that I didn’t want to be a disruption to their program,” Jurich told the Courier-Journal on Wednesday. “A lot of guys are still playing for a lot of important things. I’m the last person I want to get in the way.” The Orlando Sentinel spoke with Jurich Thursday and received a similar response. “I have too much respect for Urban [Meyer] and Jeremy [Foley] to be a distraction,” he said.

The Sentinel also reports that Jurich will not travel to Atlanta, GA, for the game and, contrary to other reports, is not expected to meet with Strong until after the weekend is over. In fact, Jurich and Louisville are of the belief that Florida will make a lucrative counter offer to keep Strong as its defensive coordinator.

Though Strong has interviewed for head coaching jobs in the past, he has always been turned down. One of the reasons why, according to Strong and others, is that his wife is white and that fact made many in the “Good ‘Ol Boy Network” uncomfortable. Jurich said that is not an issue for him whatsoever. “I haven’t heard that from too many people, but that doesn’t affect me at all We want someone with class and integrity, and I’m a real big guy when it comes to passion.”

Should Strong leave, it will be the second time in as many seasons that the Gators have lost a coordinator after the SEC Championship game with former offensive coordinator Dan Mullen being hired as the Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach in 2008. Like Mullen, Strong would likely stay on to coach the Gators in their January bowl game. Assistant defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chuck Heater and assistant head coach/defensive line coach Dan McCarney would be the leading candidates to replace Strong should he accept the job. One of the two could join Strong as his defensive coordinator wherever he winds up.

Florida Gators junior cornerback Joe Haden was chosen to the 2009 All-America Team by the American Football Coaches Association on Thursday. Haden, who is also a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, was the only Florida player to land a spot on the team, the first Gators CB since Keiwan Ratliff (2003).

Beating out senior quarterback Tim Tebow for the honor was Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy, while Georgia Bulldogs punter Drew Butler was selected over Florida junior Chas Henry. Four Alabama Crimson Tide players (running back Mark Ingram, offensive lineman Mike Johnson, linebacker Rolando McClain, CB Javier Arenas) were honored.

Tebow received a different distinction on Wednesday, however, as he was announced as a presenter for The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 10. Along with Faron Kelly, Disney’s director of sports marketing, Tebow will be presenting the Disney Spirit Award (for college football’s most inspirational figure) that he won in 2008. Tebow is a 2009 finalist for the Maxwell Award (most outstanding college football player) and O’Brien Award (nation’s best college quarterback) while teammates Haden, senior middle linebacker Brandon Spikes (Bednarik Award – outstanding defensive player) and Henry (Ray Guy Award – nation’s best punter) are also listed as nominees.

Over the past two weeks, OGGOA asked you to participate in three polls. The first two determined your Most Valuable Players for the Florid International Golden Panthers and Florida State Seminoles games, while the third determined which administrator was most important to University of Florida athletics. An OGGOA-record total of 875 combined votes (292 average) were cast, and the results are in:

Who was your Florida Gators MVP vs. FIU?
QB Tim Tebow (50%, 92 votes)
QB John Brantley (25%, 47 votes)
RB Chris Rainey (13%, 25 votes)
LB Brandon Spikes (12%, 22 votes)

Who was your Florida Gators MVP vs. FSU?
QB Tim Tebow (77%, 203 votes)
TE Aaron Hernandez (21%, 55 votes)
LB Brandon Hicks (1%, 4 votes)
RB Jeff Demps (1%, 3 votes)

Tebow’s third and fourth OGGOA MVP honors came in back-to-back weeks for the first time all season. His previous victories were against Georgia and Arkansas. Both victories are well-deserved, especially the Florida State one seeing as Tebow put up five touchdowns and had his best performance of the season.

Who has done more for the Florida Gators?
AD Jeremy Foley (39%, 166 votes)
HC Steve Spurrier (32%, 135 votes)
HC Urban Meyer (27%, 114 votes)
HC Billy Donovan (2%, 9 votes)

Reviewing the results of this poll, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the respect and appreciation for what Foley has done for UF’s athletic program is wide-spread. Often times, fans look at the coaches and players and do not know who is really taking care of things behind the scenes. Though I do not need to convince you to vote for Foley, this is just a taste of what he has done since becoming the athletic director in 1992. He hired Meyer, Donovan, Becky Burleigh (soccer), Tim Walton (softball) while retaining Buddy Alexander (men’s golf) and Mary Wise (volleyball) and helping the Gators finish as the top-ranked overall program in the Southeastern Conference in 15 of his 16 years.

1 » Over the past few days, OGGOA has reported that Florida Gators defensive coordinator Charlie Strong is the leading candidate to replace Steve Kragthorpe as head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Yesterday, it was reported that Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich planned to wait until after the 2009 SEC Championship game to contact Strong after asking Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley for permission. Jurich expanded on his stance to the Courier-Journal Tuesday evening. “I want to get the program rolling, I want to get after it, but I gave my word to several people that I didn’t want to be a disruption to their program,” he said. “A lot of guys are still playing for a lot of important things. I’m the last person I want to get in the way.”

2 » Senior quarterback Tim Tebow has been named as one of three finalist for the 2009 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, which is given annually to the top quarterback in college football. The other two finalists are Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy and Houston Cougars QB Case Keenum. Fans are given 5 percent of the vote and can cast their ballot for Tebow to win the award every day until Dec. 6 by visiting http://www.VoteOBrien.org.

Check out four more very informative Florida Gators BITS after the jump…
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: Strong is No. 1, vote for Tebow, Alabama players, Jones vs. Haden, volleyball in NCAAs

1 » In the latest Sports Illustrated, S.L. Price profiled Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer. His article is a must-read for any Gators fan. “The Florida coach is alternately a hard-ass and a softy, cocky and calculating, smug and sentimental. But there’s no inconsistency in his football program, which is, as usual, on track for a national title.”

2 » As has been previously reported by OGGOA junior defensive end Justin Trattou will start in place of suspended junior DE Carlos Dunlap on Saturday. Helping Trattou will be redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Jaye Howard, a former DE who gained 60 pounds in the offseason to move inside. “For [Trattou], it’s an easy transition because he’s been there before,” defensive line coach Dan McCarney said. “He’s always taken reps. I rotate 12, 11 guys every game, so when a guy is out because of injury or discipline or whatever it is, it’s not like I’m going to throw a guy out there in the championship game that hasn’t played and played a lot.” Howard is especially effective against the run and will have a chance to make an impact when Alabama Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram runs right at him. Assisting the Gators coaches in this move is redshirt junior DT Brandon Antwine, who is active for Saturday’s game after sitting out the last six weeks with a bad shoulder.

Check out four more very informative Florida-Alabama BITS after the jump…
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: Meyer profiled by SI, replacing Dunlap, Saban on UF, stopping Ingram, Stoops’ influence?

1 » Florida Gators senior quarterback Tim Tebow continues to gain ground in the Scripps Howard Heisman Trophy poll. Accounting for five touchdowns and 311 total yards on Saturday, Tebow now holds the No. 2 spot on the list, earning three first-place votes. Ahead of Tebow is Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy (5), while Stanford Cardinal RB Toby Gerhart (2), Houston Cougars QB Case Keenum (0) and Alabama Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram (0) round out the top five. Ingram led the poll the last three weeks. Voting tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with each voter ranking a top five.

2 » Skyrocketing up ESPN analyst Mel Kiper’s NFL Draft Big Board all season, junior defensive end Carlos Dunlap has fallen back to earth after his recent DUI arrest. Dunlap dropped 14 spots from No. 3 last week to No. 17 on Wednesday. Also on the list are junior cornerback Joe Haden – a “polished cover corner with tackling ability to match” – who is up to No. 7 after holding down the No. 9 spot last week, and junior tight end Aaron Hernandez brand new to the list at No. 19. Kiper says Hernandez has “great hands and excellent run-after-catch skills for a TE.” Noticeably absent from the board for a second-straight week is senior middle linebacker Brandon Spikes, who last appeared at No. 25 on Nov. 18.

3 » ESPN Insider and Football Outsiders are featuring the five keys to the Florida vs. Alabama game. While OGGOA cannot reprint the article, here is the gist of it. The five keys and teams with the potential advantage for each are as follows: Yards Per Play (Florida – 6.8 vs. 6.0), Sack Rates (Alabama – 3.9% vs. 10.5%), Second Quarter (Push), Turnover Battle (Push), Field Position Advantage (Florida – 14th vs. 25th).

4 » The Orlando Sentinel reports that redshirt senior safety Dorian Munroe will apply for a medical redshirt and expects it to be granted by the NCAA. Junior cornerback Moses Jenkins, sophomore left tackle Matt Patchan and senior transfer WR Carl Moore have all been granted medical redshirts so far in 2009.

Florida Gators defensive coordinator Charlie Strong is the leading candidate to become the next head coach of the Louisville Cardinals, numerous sources have told Pat Forde of ESPN.

Cardinals athletic director Tom Jurich has had no contact yet with Strong, sources said. Jurich told his counterpart at Florida, Jeremy Foley, that he will not interfere with the Gators’ preparations for the SEC championship game Saturday against Alabama. However, shortly after that game is over, Jurich is expected to contact Strong, and an interview could take place as early as Sunday.

With sources saying that Strong is “the clear front-runner” for the job, ESPN’s Chris Low reports that “assistants around the country are already lining up to try and get onboard with Strong at Louisville.” Should Strong leave, it will be the second time in as many seasons that the Gators have lost a coordinator and head coach Urban Meyer will need to find a replacement. Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen was hired as the Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach after the 2008 SEC Championship game. Like Mullen, Strong would likely stay on to coach Florida in their January bowl game.

Assistant defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chuck Heater and assistant head coach/defensive line coach Dan McCarney would be the leading candidates to replace Strong should he accept the job. One of the two could join Strong as his defensive coordinator wherever he winds up. Should a team like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have any interest in Strong, they will have to act fast after the conference title game.

1 » Surveying four Southeastern Conference head coaches, ESPN’s Ivan Maisel came to one inevitable conclusion: Florida Gators senior quarterback Tim Tebow is the difference between his team and the Alabama Crimson Tide when it comes to the 2009 SEC Championship game. “The Crimson Tide don’t have a quarterback who has started 22 consecutive victories, has won a National Championship and a Heisman [Trophy], and is 34-5 overall as a starter,” Maisel writes. “Alabama doesn’t have Tebow.”

» In other Tebow news, he has been named as one of five finalists for the 2009 Walter Camp Award given to college football’s Player of the Year.

2 » Alabama QB Greg McElroy has done his job for the Crimson Tide so far in 2009. Leading the team to an undefeated regular season, McElroy’s SEC passing numbers are comparable to Tebow’s (though he does not use his legs). McElroy has also proved that he can get it done with the game on the line, like he did last week against the Auburn Tigers. Nevertheless, “he’ll need that same kind of poise Saturday (and maybe then some) against the best defense he’s faced all season.”

3 » Tebow may be getting all the press, but does it really take The Huntsville Times to point out that the Gators are about more than just their star QB? Paul Gattis writes that, “when it comes to the Gators, they are more than their brightest stars.” For example, Florida senior wide receiver Riley Cooper has more catches and receiving yards than Alabama’s Julio Jones – and twice as many touchdowns, too. That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Gators’ complimentary players.

4 » Tickets to the SEC Championship showdown of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country are the hottest things going right now. Averaging $583 per seat on StubHub, ticket prices for the 2009 game in the resale market are almost $100 more than they were in 2008. The SEC has even gone as far as to alert fans to be cautious of purchasing counterfeit tickets.