Craig Fitzgerald leaves massive hole for Florida Football

Last week, Bill Napier seemed content with the offseason moves Florida Football had made among the staff. The Gators made several changes along its defensive staff, but it also made a big move to implement a new strength coach.

But one month after arriving in Gainesville, Craig Fitzgerald is leaving Florida to take the job of strength coach at Boston College.

Florida Football: Revolving Door

During his press conference last week, Napier had nothing but praise for Fitzgerald and seemed excited about the offseason weight program that Florida was embarking on. One of the critiques we noted about former head strength coach Mark Hocke is that the Gators were training more like a track team than a football team.

But news broke last night during the Super Bowl that Fitzgerald would be leaving the Gators to join Boston College, who just hired Bill O'Brien as their head coach. Fitzgerald and O'Brien have a longstanding relationship and Napier noted that in comments he made once the news broke.

Napier isn't wrong that the college football world is all about relationships, but even if it makes sense for Fitzgerald himself to leave it leaves Florida in a tough spot heading into this offseason.

Napier likes to take his time with his staff hires, so one can't imagine he has another strength coach just lined up to come to Gainesville. And there is zero chance he can just reinsert Hocke as the lead man two months after demoting him and expect the players to follow along.

But time is of the essence as now through July is when the strength coach is considered the most important person within the program. If Napier has one of his rabbits to pull out of his hat, he needs to find it because each day that goes by right now is a day where Gator players will be lifting just to lift without any real direction.