Since the Gators are in the midst of a coaching search, there are a ton of names being thrown around to become the next Florida coach. Lane Kiffin is at the top of most fans' lists, but there are some other notable candidates that Gator fans would be happy with.
But College GameDay just floated two names on their pregame show that Florida needs to stay far, far away from.
Stay far away from James Franklin and Jon Gruden
During a segment talking about Florida's coaching search, two names were brought up that were beyond the usual suspects, like Kiffin.
Kirk Herbstreit said Florida should consider James Franklin, then Pat McAfee chimed in with:
"Why not Jon Gruden? I'm going to keep saying it until it happens. Jon Gruden wants to get back into coaching."
That's great, Pat, Jon Gruden can get back into coaching all he wants, but that doesn't mean his first college head coaching job needs to be at the University of Florida.
This isn't the first time Gruden's name has come up with the Gators, and it's worth noting that no "Hot Board" reports have indicated any serious interest from Florida's administration.
But this infatuation with Gruden ignores his actual on-field record as a coach. After coming to Tampa and winning a Super Bowl with Tony Dungy's players, Gruden never won a playoff game again, and the last ten-win season he had was in 2005.
Jon Gruden is nothing more than Jeff Fisher with a better PR team, despite a more checkered past.
Ask Bill Belichick how coaching in college with zero previous experience is going.
James Franklin isn't the answer either
James Franklin is certainly a safer pick, but he offers such a low ceiling that it would also be a mistake to go after him. If Franklin couldn't get the job done at Penn State, where he had just as many resources as he would in Gainesville with a far more favorable schedule, what makes one think he would turn the corner at Florida?
Because if Gator fans wanted to win nine games a year, make the playoffs sometimes, and then have the bottom fall out, they would have pushed to keep Dan Mullen.
Let's just hope that Scott Stricklin wasn't watching GameDay too closely on Saturday morning.