Pros and Cons of Firing Will Muschamp Before the End of the Season
After Florida's embarrassing 42-13 loss to Missouri, it's getting to a point where it's not "if," but "when" head coach Will Muschamp will be fired.
Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley told ESPN.com in September that he will evaluate Muschamp's job performance after the season, but after the loss to the Tigers—which dropped the Gators to 3-3 (2-3 SEC) on the season—and with a bye week this week, there's no time like the present to make a move.
What are some of the pros and cons to letting go of Muschamp now as opposed to after the season? We examine both sides in this slideshow.
Pro: Motivation
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If Florida were to let go of Muschamp now, it'd be like ripping off a Band-Aid.
The move seems inevitable now and if Muschamp is let go, it can go a long way toward rejuvenating the team—even only temporarily—during the bye week heading into the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
Right now, the team is fragile. When one issue arises between those white lines, five or six inevitably follow. A new coach—whether it's defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin or offensive coordinator Kurt Roper on an interim basis—could provide a spark to the roster and help them finish strong.
It could produce a similar result to the situation at USC last year, when Lane Kiffin was fired and replaced with Ed Orgeron after losing to Arizona State. The Trojans ripped off a win over Arizona after its bye week and then won five of their next six after that, with the only blemish being a loss to Notre Dame.
Does that matter in the long run? Probably not, but some short-lived motivation would at least be fun for Gators fans who have been frustrated for about a year-and-a-half now.
Con: No Available Replacement
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When Florida fired Ron Zook during the 2004 season, Urban Meyer was busy tearing things up at Utah. Meyer was the hottest head coach in the country and the opening created by Zook's dismissal allowed athletics director Jeremy Foley to get ahead of the game and lay the groundwork behind the scenes as the season went on.
When North Carolina announced that John Bunting wouldn't be back for the 2007 season in October of 2006, Butch Davis was out there waiting to be scooped up.
Those kinds of candidates are out there now, but they wouldn't be high on Florida's list.
Dan Mullen is busy coaching the No. 1 team in the country at Mississippi State and even though some back-channel negotiating could happen, he already has a relationship with Florida's administration. He doesn't have to go through the "feeling out" process. That happened when he was Florida's offensive coordinator from 2005-2008.
Meanwhile, Baylor's Art Briles is busy trying to win the Big 12 and earn a College Football Playoff spot. And if Florida is going to lure Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris away from the Tigers, it can wait. Kansas and Michigan—which could open if Brady Hoke's struggles continue—aren't players for Morris, so there's no rush.
Any kind of permanent replacement will therefore come during the offseason anyway, so firing Muschamp now would be unnecessary in that regard.
Pro: Recruiting
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It's safe to say that, in the talent-rich state of Florida, teams are having a field day selling themselves to prospects while putting down the Gators, as Michael Carvell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted.
"If you thought colleges were "negative recruiting" against Florida #Gators BEFORE this game ...
— Michael Carvell (@Carvell_AJC) October 19, 2014"
Dismissing Muschamp now would make it abundantly clear to prospects around the state that change is coming to Gainesville. There'd be no way to determine what specifically that change will be, but Muschamp's firing would at least signal to prospects to hold off on making decisions one way or the other until they get to know the new guy.
There's no good way to let go of a coach. Regardless of how a program does it, there's going to be instability.
Letting go of Muschamp now would at least get the process going, which, from a recruiting standpoint, would cause recruits to hit the "pause" button. That's certainly better than what's going on now.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Con: Recruiting
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Yes, I'm aware that recruiting is on here as both a pro and a con. No, it's not a mistake or an oversight.
If Muschamp leaves now, he and his assistants won't be too concerned with recruiting. They will place a little more emphasis on polishing up the old resume, looking for new jobs and figuring out where to go from Gainesville.
Sure, some assistants could stick around. Former Auburn assistant Trooper Taylor stuck around the Plains after Gene Chizik was let go in 2012 and that kind of loyalty can play well from both a personal and program standpoint.
If Muschamp sticks around until after the season, at least there would be a full staff selling the program to prospects. The definition of that program will likely change based on who's hired, but the current coaching staff can still sell the campus, facilities, tradition and everything else that goes along with being a Gator.
That might not help for all prospects, but it could help for some.
Pro: Appease the Fanbase
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There's definitely noise in the system, as former Gators head coach Ron Zook told Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:
"The noise in the system zaps your team of energy and it makes it even harder to right the ship and start winning. As a coach, you want to have control over everything you can control, but you can't control the noise in the system. The negativity spreads everywhere.
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When it starts spreading into the pockets of fans and donors, that's when it has gone too far.
People can complain about coaches on message boards, Twitter and at the local watering hole. Those discussions don't have much of an impact. But when the fans start complaining with their wallets, it's time for a change. Empty seats and dried-up donations not only hurt the football program's prestige, but hurt the overall ability of the athletic department to compete at an elite level across multiple sports.
Florida is toeing that line right now, based on the picture above and fans chanting "Fire Muschamp" late in the third quarter of last week's loss to Missouri.
Fans don't make coaching decisions, but their wallets do.
Con: Player Development
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If Florida is going to go in another direction as a program, it's likely to retain some of the same philosophies.
The uptempo offense of new offensive coordinator Roper isn't working out the way Muschamp envisioned, but Florida will likely still implement it if Muschamp leaves. If Foley cleans house, current assistants will pay less attention to the team because they will have one foot out the door. That could hurt the new team under new leadership.
Depending on which direction Foley is leaning—and he definitely is leaning somewhere—letting go of the staff might not be the most responsible idea from a player-development standpoint.
How much does that matter? It's hard to tell, but Muschamp staying employed through the bye week would certainly suggest it's bigger than some might think.
What Should Happen
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Since athletics director Jeremy Foley hasn't made a move this far into the season, there's no point in doing it now.
He isn't going to hear squat from Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen is in the midst of what could be a national title run, Baylor head coach Art Briles is sitting on the periphery and several other potential candidates are currently occupied by their ongoing seasons.
Will negative recruiting happen?
Of course it will, but that's not a new phenomenon. If a player is still high on the Florida program after all of the noise surrounding Muschamp's job, he'll likely give the new guy the benefit of the doubt anyway. It's still important to have a full staff out there selling the program and Foley should remember that.
Let Muschamp stay for now and then shake things up after the Florida State game. Doing it that way would provide at least a little stability heading into what is certain to be a turbulent time.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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