The Florida Gators are looking for a new head coach to replace Billy Napier, who was fired earlier in the season.
The Gators have remained a middling SEC program for years, consistently failing to find consistency on the field. They have the talent to get a few upset wins and scare some teams, but they have not sniffed a CFB Playoff spot.
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Despite their lack of success as a program, the Florida coaching job remains one of the more sought-after in the country.
There is a promising talent pipeline in Florida, and it has a wealth of resources, providing a strong platform for a coach to awaken the sleeping giant.
Names like Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin have been linked to the Gators’ job, though there are numerous obstacles in the way of the move happening.
Kiffin is already having success at Ole Miss, a job in which he is more than safe, while the Gators’ state of disarray requires a lot of work, and he may end up being on the hot seat quickly.
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CBS Sports expert Tom Fornelli predicts that Florida goes with a lesser-known option rather than the big names available.
“I got Florida going to their rival and poaching one of their coordinators, getting Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. If you look at the last time somebody hired Georgia’s defensive coordinator away, it went pretty well. Dan Lanning is doing pretty well at Oregon with the Ducks,” he said.
“And I think Schumann is somebody that Florida should go after because he has the blueprint for how to run a successful program, because he’s been at Georgia for years under Kirby Smart. He has seen it up front.”
Schumann would undoubtedly be a good move for a program that wants to build itself up quickly. He can help get the defense firing, while also recruiting some talent within the state that will raise the team’s floor.
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Like many defensive head coaches, his success will depend on who he brings in to help lead the offense, a hire that could doom his time in Florida or finally turn around a team that has been desperate for success.
In Georgia, Schumann’s scheme has proven to succeed with the right talent, and there are good indicators that it could translate to the Keys.