By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The problem to be solved with the Florida Gator football team runs deeper than Dan Mullen’s hubris. Yes, please fire him (hiring Todd Grantham much less keeping Grantham for another year is a Nussemeier on staff levels of incompetence) but the administration just doesn’t get it.

Florida doesn’t need an X’s and O’s coach; they need a CEO type that knows what it takes to build a program. I have no doubt in my mind that Coach Mullen wants to be successful at Florida, but it takes a lot more than wanting it, especially at Florida.

Someone who “gets it” is Kirby Smart. He sacrifices so much time with his family and so much of his free time to recruit. Kirby demands so much from his assistants, you ask yourself, why the hell would anyone do that?

How do you recruit so hard, you rival Nick Saban in relentlessness and even beat him on the trail consistently? What drives a person to do something that makes many normal men insane?

Well, Kirby is a Georgia alum who spent his playing days being consistently clobbered by Steve Spurrier coached Florida teams. It’s almost like his very identity revolves around Georgia Football. He is Mr. UGA!

Kirby was born and raised in the South and knows the culture. I think that’s why a lot of recruits gravitate to him.

Would you ascribe the same “X factor” about Dan Mullen? This is what recruits think: Some dorky Northeasterner who talks too fast and isn’t funny or relatable, and who thinks Publix cakes and some tastefully Jordan sneakers can woo recruits on their official visits.

Mullen has been quoted as saying “I want guys who want to be Gators”, but at this point as a program when you have the likes of Kentucky and Missouri out-recruiting you. You have to wonder if the brand has lost its’ sheen after the lost decade.

In order to compete with the Elite (hell to even remain relevant in the SEC East) in the present day, you HAVE TO GO ALL IN. There is no half-ass in the current recruiting landscape. The push to become a top 5 public university is great but all these young men have dreams to play in the NFL.

Mullen has some of the top attributes I would seek in a head coach. He can game plan and coach offense, quarterbacks and call plays, but he has to reflect on just about every other part of the program at this point and make some really big changes.

I do believe there will be some significant staff changes this offseason. Todd Grantham being gone is all but a foregone conclusion.

The following coaches have their contract set to expire after the recruiting cycle ends February 8th: John Hevesy, Billy Gonzales, Tim Brester, Greg Knoz and David Turner.

Change is coming Gator fans, but you are not fixing the roster issues overnight and simply replacing coaches is not a guaranteed fix.

“If you don’t recruit, there’s no coach that can out-coach recruiting, I don’t care who you are.” Kirby Smart definitely understands how to build a program.