A message from “toxic” Florida to Tim Brando

“Florida’s fanbase is toxic” – @TimBrando pic.twitter.com/9hZZbea4O2

— Crain & Company (@CrainCompany) July 2, 2024

Fox Sports broadcaster Tim Brando trotted out a recycled “arrogance of Notre Dame with the resume of Wake Forest” take about Florida fans in a recent appearance on Crain & Co. Here are the highlights:

Florida’s fanbase is so toxic – and by the way, I don’t mind pissing you off, Florida fan. I really don’t. I’ve said this for years, you gotta know who and what you are and where you’ve been.

After briefly acknowledging the magnitude of both the Spurrier and Meyer eras, Brando stated, “If you take those two eras away, where was Florida football?”

And yet the Florida people believe, ‘Hell, we’re Alabama! We’re as good as them. We’re Michigan’…No you’re not! No! And you haven’t been!

Florida is without question the program within the SEC that has a fanbase that doesn’t understand or have any context of their history.

Let’s start by applying Brando’s overly simplistic “take those two eras away” view to the best two coaches of other college football programs.

• Outside of Bear Bryant and Nick Saban, Alabama has only won two outright SEC championships since 1953 (1992 Stallings and 1999 DuBose).
• Outside of Vince Dooley and Kirby Smart, Georgia has zero outright national championships and only two SEC championships since 1959 (2002 and 2005 Richt).
• Outside of Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher, Florida State has zero outright national championships, and only one major conference title (2023 Norvell).

Removing two of any program’s most successful head coaches can do a lot of damage to any school’s history books.

ON TO ALABAMA…AND MICHIGAN?!?

Historically, Florida is not Alabama. I’ve never met a Florida fan who has said otherwise.

Alabama rolled to five national titles between World Wars while it took Florida 22 seasons to win more than three games in SEC play. As Bear Bryant continued to add to the Tide’s trophy case, Florida began to find its footing as a program, just missing out on its first SEC championship a few times under Graves (1960s) and Dickey (1970s).

Charley Pell, who played for the Bryant’s first national championship team in 1961, arrived in 1979 with the goal of fulfilling Bryant’s vision of awakening “a sleeping giant” in Gainesville. Pell built a foundation on and off the field for the first SEC championship in school history 40 years ago in 1984 and the Florida fanbase has seen plenty of evidence over the last four decades to justify high expectations.

In an unprecedented act, the SEC vacated Florida’s 1984 football title. Though ineligible in both seasons, the Gators won their second SEC title in 1985 and third in 1990 (both claimed by Johnny Majors and Tennessee…good for you, Johnny).

Hey Tim, for the sake of historical context, how many SEC titles has Alabama vacated?
This question is brought to you by the Dodge Charger.

Bama dominates the history books in the SEC.

Florida is not Alabama.
Georgia is not Alabama.
LSU is not Alabama.
Tennessee is not Alabama.
Alabama was barely Alabama if we’re judging by Alabama standards throughout much of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. During the 24-year gap between the Bear and St. Nick, the Tide were far from the picture of patience and stability, hiring three Mikes, two coaches who left to flame out in other places, and Bill Curry between run-ins with the NCAA. Only Gene Stallings managed to come close to meeting expectations in Tuscaloosa.

Florida is not Alabama, but over the last 40 years, no team has challenged the Tide for SEC dominance more consistently than the Gators. In the last 34 seasons, Alabama has won 11 SEC championships and Florida has won 8 SEC titles (9 counting 1990). Alabama has made 15 trips to play in the SEC championship game and in 10 of those trips, they went head-to-head with the Gators. Florida has made it to the SEC title game 13 times overall during that same stretch.

Florida has left a significant footprint within the SEC record books over the past four decades, but someone would need to understand or have any context of our history to appreciate who and what the Gators are and where they have been.

Looking at the success of Florida through the Alabama lens fails to recognize how successful the Gators have been compared to other blue-bloods across college football.

Brando used Michigan as an example. In 2023, Michigan won its first outright national title since the Truman administration. In 2021, the Wolverines brought home their first Big Ten championship since 2004. Does Brando recall a Michigan fanbase that was ready to remove Harbaugh after a disappointing 2020 season? Or how Michigan cycled through Rich Rodriguez (3 seasons) and Brady Hoke (4 seasons) before landing Harbaugh?

• Did FSU make a poor choice by moving on quickly from Taggart to Norvell?
• Josh Heupel is Tennessee’s fifth head coach since Phillip Fulmer retired in 2008.
• Southern Cal is on its fourth head coach since Pete Carroll bolted for Seattle.
• Mario Cristobal is the fifth head coach at Miami since Larry Coker was fired after the 2006 season.
• Nebraska is also on its fifth head coach since letting go of Frank Solich in 2003.

Firing coaches is only toxic if the program continues to lose.

Find me another fanbase in America at the top of the sport who would accept the results Florida has produced in the last decade.

Was it unreasonable to let go of Muschamp after an uninspiring fourth season? Florida went 4-8 in 2013 with a loss to Georgia Southern and he was given another opportunity. Muschamp couldn’t figure out the offensive side of the equation and it became clear that it was time to move on.

Was it unreasonable to part ways with Jim McElwain when it was clearly not a fit from the get-go? Mac also couldn’t figure out the offensive side of the ball and scratched out a couple of SEC East championships thanks to Muschamp’s players on defense. Florida won a lot on paper, but would often be exposed against the best competition.

The offense was resurgent under Dan Mullen, but he failed to make adjustments when needed. Georgia’s rise to annual playoff contender under Kirby, the Grantham situation, an aversion to playing young players, and a few notable PR blunders behind the microphone were all factors in his downfall. Now that we’ve seen the results of his recruiting efforts from the tail end of his tenure, was it unreasonable to move on from Mullen?

The Florida job is challenging enough without all of the changes to the structure within the sport that Billy Napier has had to endure in his first two seasons on the job.

I believe that merits extra consideration when evaluating the job that has been done so far.

Napier has engaged in a full scale rebuild of the program. As a proud Gator, it’s been difficult to watch, but after three failed coaches in a decade, it’s not hard to believe that this program needed the work.

I don’t know if Billy Napier is going to work out at Florida in the long run, but there are enough highly talented young players in place at key positions to create hope for the future.

I’m rooting for Billy Napier. I want this to succeed. My hope is that Florida has spent these last couple of years planting seeds that will yield a more sustainable model of success that has been built by Napier on a hard-won, rock solid foundation.

However, I do not fault anyone that looks at what they’ve seen to this point and has a different opinion. Nor would I refer to them as “toxic.”

This program has been in a state of flux since that shoe flew through the air in December 2020, and, unfortunately, it will remain that way until the team starts representing Florida on the field in a manner that befits the logo.

The Florida fanbase expects a winning team that can compete for championships—as many have over the last 40 years—and we don’t care if that pisses you off, Tim.