2 » Facing a top-15 opponent for the third time in their first five matches of the 2010 season, No. 4/6 Florida volleyball (5-0) defeated the No. 13/15 Colorado State Rams (5-1) in four sets – 25-22, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21. The victory, which won the Gators the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational emanating from the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL, featured another brilliant performance from junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy. She, along with senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe, recorded 13 of Florida’s 10 kills. One day prior, in matches that took place earlier in the invitational, volleyball swept the both the Bowling Green Falcons (25-12, 25-11, 25-16) and Albany Great Danes (25-8, 25-21, 25-14) in three sets.

The Gators will host another tournament, the Nike Big Four Classic, beginning Friday. The other three teams participating in the event are No. 1 Penn State, Texas and Stanford, and all game information is available via OGGOA’s Upcoming Schedule table at the top right of your screen.

3 » Also running through the competition this year is No. 7 Florida soccer (5-0), which had six different players score while shutting out the Jacksonville Dolphins (2-3) 6-0 on Friday at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL. Junior forward Lindsay Thompson (27’), junior F/midfielder Tahnai Annis (30’), freshman F/MF Maggie Rodgers (45’), redshirt sophomore MF McKenzie Barney (50’), freshman defender Mary-Ann Krlin (80’) and sophomore F/MF Natalia Torosian (90’) all punched goals through. As a team, Florida had 30 shots on Jacksonville, 14 of which were on goal. UF is set to face Florida State next on the road Friday at 7 p.m.

4 » Though he missed most of training camp grieving two deaths and suffering from another severe bout of migraine headaches, former Gators wide receiver Percy Harvin says he is “ready to play ball” for the Minnesota Vikings beginning Thursday night in the NFL’s 2010-11 season opener against the New Orleans Saints (including former Florida defensive end Alex Brown and running back DeShawn Wynn). Harvin, who will be on of quarterback Brett Favre’s primary pass catchers along with the team’s kick returner, believes he is finally getting his migraines under control with the help of numerous doctors. “There’s no miracle solution for them,” he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “The people I talked to had them for 40-plus years. My mom had them for 35 years and is just now growing out of them. It’s just something you got to hope to maintain. [...] I think we have a great plan.”

2 » Junior defensive end Justin Trattou is ready for his captainship, and he realizes part of that comes with showing the youngsters the ropes. “It’s always [hard to adjust] when you come in as a freshman, especially when you come in midway in January,” Trattou said, according to The Gainesville Sun. “It’s always going to be tough because no matter what you did in high school, it’s not going to be the same intensity as it is here, between all the strength coaches and all the guys who have been here for a couple years.” Trattou’s toughness is not to be questioned, especially considering he played with a torn left bicep last season. “The one I had is ripped off,” Trattou said per the Orlando Sentinel. “Now it’s basically just scarred over. The key was giving it time to get stronger. […] Any time you can fight through injuries, it always gets respect from guys.”

Two more BITS on RB Jeff Demps and LB coach D.J. Durkin…after the break!

3 » Recovered from his dislocated elbow, sophomore running back (and freshman sprinter) Jeff Demps has been tearing it up for the Gators track and field team this spring. Specializing in the 60-meter dash, for which Demps has recorded a nation’s-best time this season, many experts believe he has a bright future ahead off of the football field. The Miami Herald’s Joseph Goodman spoke with Loren Seagrave of Velocity Sports Performance, who agrees that Demps could be an excellent track and field star but thinks he should concentrate on football for the time being. “If you love playing football and you love running track, then keep on doing both as long as you can and see how the football plays out for you, because if football doesn’t work and you’ve been staying active and running track, then you can step right in as long as you don’t have a real bad injury,” Seagrave said.

4 » “I got to see firsthand, right from the start, talk about a guy coming in [to Bowling Green] and changing the whole culture and the way things are done at a place,” new Florida linebackers coach D.J. Durkin told the Sun about head coach Urban Meyer. “He’s got a plan to win, and it works.” Durkin, who joined the Gators’ staff after Charlie Strong left for a head coaching job with the Louisville Cardinals, continued to gush about his previous experiences with Meyer. “The biggest thing is the way Coach Meyer worked with players, the relationship he had with them,” Durkin said. “With all due respect, Stanford is a great program and Jim Harbaugh is a tremendous coach and a great guy. But the chance to come here and coach with the best players in the country, in the country’s best program for the best coach…it’s a deal you can’t pass up.”

A four-year starter for Bowling Green from 1997-2000, Durkin served as a graduate assistant and defensive specialist on the Falcons coaching staff while he pursued a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision. Florida head coach Urban Meyer, who led Bowling Green from 2001-2002, hired Durkin as one of his GAs during his tenure. After Meyer left, Durkin spent two years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish where he was a GA for the entire defensive staff but worked closely with defensive ends.

An interesting twist to this story is that Meyer has always coached the Gators’ special teams unit, so hiring Durkin for the job may very well indicate that he is choosing to lessen some duties or drop them all-together. OGGOA will have more on this story as additional information is made available.

ESPN spent a day with Durkin during Stanford football practice:

Shelley Meyer, Urban’s wife, explained to Price in July how hard her husband takes a loss and the type of damage it does to his psyche. “He’s miserable,” Shelley said. “He can’t sleep, and he can’t eat: He’s in the tank. The 2004 Utah season was the best ever, because we didn’t lose a game. Last year we lost to Ole Miss, and he went into the depths as he always does. He sits alone, and the worst thing is if we have people over. He just wants to sit all by himself. He goes in the den, he doesn’t want to talk to anybody, doesn’t want to see anybody. He usually puts the TV on and he usually just wants me to come sit with him. He can’t sleep that night. Terrible, terrible. And he’s up by 5 a.m. the next morning and in (his office) watching that film: What went wrong? It’s the most distraught thing you’ve ever seen, because it’s all his fault — in his mind: It’s my fault. What did I do? I didn’t put the players in the position to win.”

Most of all, Meyer’s change of heart came about not just because he loves the players and program at Florida (his “second family”) but also due to the fact that “he was as happy as he’d ever been,” Price writes. “In Gainesville, he had finally been at a school long enough to build a program his way, with his recruits, his system. For the first time, he had a built a machine capable of creating its own self-sustaining fuel.”

“He’s finally stayed somewhere long enough to where the team is where he wants it,” Shelley said. “I told him that: Bowling Green was two seasons, same thing at Utah. We’ve been here four seasons, he’s getting the guys he wants in here, everybody’s buying into the program, everybody knows the expectations and the rules: This is what you’ve been working for. Why would you want to leave it now?”

And therein lies the paradox for Meyer going back on his initial decision. He has worked his entire life, putting all of this stress and anxiety literally on his heart, in order to land the job of his dreams. Yet everything he has done to reach the pinnacle of his profession is exactly what is endangering his life. How do you give up something you have worked your entire life for without at least trying to change and perform your job in a healthier manner? “Anyone who knows Meyer understands he had no choice but to change his mind,” Price concludes. “Whether he can solve his problem, whether he can coach without killing himself or his family, is the question of the season.”

Check out the full list of potential replacements after the jump!!!

Dan Mullen
Head Coach – Mississippi State Bulldogs

Mullen, who has been coaching since 1994, was hired by Meyer as his quarterbacks coach with Bowling Green in 2001 and remained with him through his stops in Utah and Florida, where he would become Meyer’s offensive coordinator. He left after the 2008 season to take the head coaching job with the Mississippi State Bulldogs and led them to a 5-7 record in his first season.

Charlie Strong
Head Coach – Louisville Cardinals

A veteran coach who has been on the Florida staff four different times throughout his career, Strong recently left the Gators to become the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals after seven years with Florida and five years under Meyer. Considered one of the best defensive coordinators in the country at the time of his hire, Strong has signed an offer sheet with Louisville but has yet to sign his contract.

Kyle Whittingham
Head Coach – Utah Utes

Hand-picked to replace Meyer as head coach of the Utah Utes upon his departure, Whittingham has coached since 1985 and has been with Utah since 1994. Since taking over the regins, Whittingham’s Utes have had seven-, eight-, nine-, 10- and 13-win seasons including a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

Bobby Petrino
Head Coach – Arkansas Razorbacks

Though he has been coaching professionally for 26 years, Petrino received his first head coach job with Louisville in 2003. Considered one of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley’s top options when he eventually head coach Ron Zook to succeed Steve Spurrier, Petrino would end up staying at Louisville before leaving for the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons. He lasted less than a season in the pros and returned to the SEC with the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2008 where he has had 5-7 and 7-5 seasons.

Bob Stoops
Head Coach – Oklahoma Sooners

The Gators’ defensive coordinator from 1996-98, Stoops has been head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners for the last decade. He recently turned down an opportunity to leave Oklahoma for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and has said he plans to stay with the Sooners for the immediate future.

Kevin Sumlin
Head Coach – Houston Cougars

Sumlin made an immediate impact when he took over the Houston Cougars, leading them to an eight-win season in 2008 (his first year) and a 10-3 record in 2009. One of the few early candidates who lack a connection to Meyer, Foley or Florida, Sumlin is one of the hottest names in coaching and is reported to be under consideration by the Gainesville Sun.

Gary Patterson
Head Coach – TCU Horned Frogs

Winner of six “Coach of the Year” awards and the 2009 Woody Hayes Trophy, Patterson has won three conference championships while with the TCU Horned Frogs, where he has coached since 2000. TCU has had six seasons of 10 or more wins in Patterson’s tenure including their first BCS bowl appearance this year in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.

Mike Shanahan
Former Head Coach – Denver Broncos

Along with Petrino, Shanahan was the other name on Foley’s short list for coaching hires when replacing Spurrier because of his three-year tenure as offensive coordinator with the Gators. Leaving Gainesville, FL, Shanahan joined the Denver Broncos as a wide receivers coach and eventually became head coach of the team from 1995-2008. Fired last season, Shanahan took the year off and is currently mulling potential offers from the Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams.

Chris Petersen
Former Head Coach – Boise State Broncos

A 22-year coaching veteran, Petersen has been head coach of Boise State since 2006 and led the school to a 48-4 record in that time. At the top of his profession, Petersen has never had less than a 10-win season while at the helm and has taken the non-BCS conference Broncos to two Fiesta Bowls in a four-year span. Peterson won the Bryant Award for National Coach of the Year in 2006.

Bronco Mendenhall
Former Head Coach – BYU Cougars

Mendenhall has been coaching BYU for as long as Meyer has been with Florida, taking the Cougars to five Las Vegas Bowls and four-consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins. Though he has never coached at a major program or in a big-time bowl game, Mendenhall is a young up-and-comer who could be a surprise on Foley’s list.

“He is a tireless worker, relentless recruiter, and a great teacher of fundamentals,” Meyer said. “He is also very familiar with our philosophy and will be a good fit with our players and staff.”

Meyer, a former WR coach himself with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Illinois State Red Birds, Colorado State Rams and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, spent less than 24 hours making his decision on who would replace Gonzales. Azzanni has coached WRs with the Valparaiso Crusaders (1999-2000), Falcons (2003-06) and Chippewas (2007-09), earning a promotion to assistant head coach at Central Michigan before the 2009 season.

“I’ve known Coach Meyer for a number of years and it will be great to be coaching with him again,” Azzanni said. “I’m excited to be joining the Florida football staff and becoming a part of the Gator Nation.”

This season, Azzanni’s top two receivers with the Chippewas are widely considered the best duo in the nation, combining for 49 touchdown receptions. Bryan Anderson (who has set an NCAA record with a catch in 53 straight games) and Antonio Brown (who has a streak of his own with 40 consecutive games with a catch) have topped 3,500 and 3,000 yards receiving in their respective Central Michigan careers. While with Bowling Green, Azzanni’s pass catchers broke almost every school receiving record with five going on to eventually sign NFL contracts.

OGGOA will update this story as more information is made available.

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.