There will be tears

By
Robbie Andreu
-
54
320

Video: Steve Addazio reflects on time with UF

TAMPA – If Thursday’s interview session is any indication of things to come, it’s going to be a tearful farewell game for Urban Meyer and the Gators in the Outback Bowl on Saturday.

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio had tears in his eyes Thursday when he started talking about his senior offensive linemen after practice.

“You get close to these kids and it’s hard to say goodbye to them,” Addazio said. “They’re like family to you.”

At the end of Thursday’s practice, the Gators held their annual senior tackle, where the seniors address the team and Meyer and each position coach talks about each senior. It’s always an emotional event, but even more so this time because Meyer, Addazio and most of these other UF coaches will be coaching in their final game for Florida on Saturday.

“It was pretty emotional speaking about the seniors, what they’ve meant to you here,” Addazio said. “When you go through that, it’s a pretty emotional thing. You kind of travel through the years. You think about all the things we’ve been through and when they came here as kids and are now leaving four and five years later. It always makes for a tough week every year.”

After Saturday’s game, Addazio will head to Philadelphia, where he will take over as Temple’s new head coach.

Addazio politely declined to answer questions his new job Thursday out of respect for the UF seniors and Meyer.

“I just want to talk about the Gators right now, the Gators and my guys,” he said. “I know you can appreciate that. You come off the field with these kids like we did today … that’s all I really want to talk about. I’ve got a short bit of time left now and that’s my focus.

“We talk about togetherness in our (offensive line) room. I said goodbye, they said goodbye today. They’ve had an unbelievable career here. I’m going to miss them and Gator Nation is going to miss them. That whole thing out there was pretty impactful.”

Addazio also welled up when he was asked about the man who brought him to Florida back in 2005 – Urban Meyer. Addazio and Meyer first coached together back in 2000 when they were assistants at Notre Dame.

“We go so far back. It hard for me to capsulize that for me in a few words. It would never do it justice,” Addazio said. “I just love him. We’ve been through a lot together. He’s a great football coach and a great human being. He’s done a lot for my family and this football program. He’s brought some unbelievable moments to Gator Nation. He makes coming to work every day great.

“I’m just going to reflect on that a little bit. That’s powerful stuff. He brought me here. Life is about relationships, being around people you want to be around. I couldn’t be around anyone better.”

It’s going to be an emotional farewell day for the Gators on Saturday, that’s for sure.

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54 COMMENTS

  1. We should all shed a tear. Urban Meyer has done a lot for Gator Nation and we should all be thankful. He has made it one of the top 5 programs in the nation. I will miss him on the sidelines and I hope him and his family a lot of gratitude for what they have done on and off the field.

  3. Don’t be a clown Drew. Coach Addazio wasn’t the best OC true enough, but the man was dedicated to UF and the players for a long time. He should be given the respect he deserves for all he did while he was here.

  6. I’ll probably get pilloried by the SA haters for this but Addazio has been a class guy the whole time he has been here and he was an integral part of our success over the last 6 years. 2010 was not a lot of fun and maybe SA is not the best OC in the world but Coach I wish you the best in your new adventure as HC of Temple and I thank you for all you gave to our program while you were here!

  7. Thank You Coach Addazzio for a great job coaching and mentoring these young Gator athletes. You should be proud that these young men did well especially Maurkice Pouncey who was selected to the NFL Pro bowl .Majority of Gator fans are grateful and appreciated your hard work. Good Luck and God Bless.

  8. Well, Steve, I’ve had some tears in my eyes over the last two years as well.

    Seriously, I wish I had the class to not kick him on his way out the door, but he made us the punchline of every SEC joke this year and I can’t wait to see him go. This year was not disappointing, it was humiliating, and his offense was 90% of the reason.

    It takes a different skill-set to be HC, and I honestly hope those are the skills he has. Everybody has to have some. Enjoy Temple.

  9. Every Gator player and coach deserve respect for what they do regardless of how the fans feel about particular results. It has been a great run and Addazio has been a major contributor to all of that success. Any idiot can sit behind a keyboard and ridicule someone from afar. I, for one, appreciate what this man has done on behalf of my alma mater. Good luck at Temple.
    Go Gators.

  10. to all that say addazio was a class act, how can you say that? did any of you watch his pressers? constantly sucking on something during interviews, talked like we gator fans had no clue what successful football was suposed to look like, never put any responsibility on himself for the poor play. it was always “we gotta execute better, but we had a great week of practice, everyone graded out as champs ” blah blah blah. for having one of the worst offenses in the country he sure was an arrogant POS. but yeah, he was all class.

  11. For all you Adazzio “haters” come on over to Tallahassee learn from some real pros. The ‘noles fans will show you how to screech, cry, moan, and generally bellyache about coaches, and your team….Why kick him on the way out the door? Just let the guy go fer cryin’ out loud. He’s going to Temple, isn’t that enough punishment you classless morons?

  12. Drew and Scott Stambaugh, you would probably feel better about yourselves if you supported a different team. I, for one, do not want to be associated with the likes of you.

    Thanks for the hard work, commitment and accomplishments, Coach Addazio. Best of luck in your future pursuits.

  13. you dont want to be associated with the likes me, but you feel the need to write a sentence about me. I could really not care less about who or what you want to be associated with. dont worry about me, I feel great about who I am.im a gator and always will be. perhaps since you feel addazio was a great coach you can become a temple fan.

  14. Well put PJ,thanks for the memories Coach Steve.
    You guys had a heck of a run and thank you for every minute.
    As for the boo-birds you have no clue the caliber of coaches you ran off,disgusting GatorNation.
    Ive never been so ashamed of my fanbase in my life.

  15. I wish Addazio well at Temple, but look forward to having an experienced (I hope ) OC and a (to be honest) better OL coach. I never understood why the OL could not learn to pick up a blitz or snap a football…isn’t the OL coach responsible? Also, the OL never lived up to it’s potential under Adazzio…especially last year. Carl Johnson did not live up to expectations. Wilson, the OG 5-star, never developed as he should. Nixon, a potential AA, was moved from side to side and confused and frustrated him. Pouncey was NOT a center in the spread. Gilbert never developed into the player he should have. I just don’t see Adazzio being that good a OL coach…but he was a great OL recruiter. I want someone who comes in and gets the best out of the players….and not just their “best friend.” Some of these OL needed a kick in the butt to motivate them…and I didn’t see Adazzio as the kick in the butt type. And….no need to comment on his OC skills. Glad he will not be back doing that!!

  17. I don’t care if you guys say I’m a moron or not a real fan but Dumbazzio leaving is the best thing that ever happened to me next to my children bein born. Just because I display my complete dissatifaction with him doesn’t make me any less of a fan. The guy was a horrible OC and anyone who can’t see that you should go cheer for another team. Gators are winners!

  19. tampa, how could you say such a thing? dont you know that addazio held that recruiting class together and therefore could do no wrong? our offense was one of, if not the best, offenses in the country.or o line have up the least sacks, and or center was the best shotgun snapper in the business. why you ask? because addazio was the best game day scheming coach in america. he could make adjustments inn the blink of an eye and keep the D guessing all game long. he was so creative in his play calling they actually needed two playbooks.every saturday he had his boys ready to play.especially the ready big games ie south carolina, bama, and Fsu. I am truly saddened to see one of the best coaches to dawn orange and blue to leave us. he will be sorely missed.

  24. I’ll shed a tear for Urban. What he did for UF’s program is nothing short of amazing, and the way he treated deceased Micheal Guilford’s family up here (I know them), was a really classy and amazing act. But Steve Addazio is another matter. I do not sense this “high character guy” stuff with SA, just an arrogant buck-passer and who boldly blew sunshine up the skirts of Gator Nation at his pressers. This man was Urban’s worst mistake while HBC at UF. he gave SA too much influence when he got sick and SA took total advantage of it and played on Meyer’s loyalty and friendship to him. No, I won;t shed a tear for a man who knew his incompetence was hurting this program and didn;t offer to hand the O over to someone more capable.

  25. Like I told someone one time when they ask me about my then future son-in-law….”what do you have against him?” I politely replied ” I don’t have anything against him, neither do I have anything for him either”. That’s kind of my sentiment about Addazzio. Sometimes people work their way into an organization by saying the right things, having the right attitude, and keeping their “nose brown”. They are well meaning people, but generally lack the talent and skills to be trusted with key roles. Addazzio is a prime example of that. I think Urban Meyer is a brilliant coach and a wonderful human being, who will be sorely missed by the Gator Nation. I think Addazzio is a quality guy, and wish him the best in his new role at Temple.

  27. BhamGator,

    Well put. There is nothing you can blame Addazzio for that does not really fall back on Meyer. He gave him too much power out of loyalty and we had an unbelievable run- take the good with the bad. We would not have won big this year with Brantley and no pass rush regardless. We are in great shape and the transition was smooth.

  29. In additiionnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, SA had Brantley QB’in too not sayin he is bad ……………but he holds the ball too long, he takes too long to make a decision and therefore gets sacked….. Want more proof he can’t make good decisions how bout when the ball was batted in the air when he was surrounded by D-players don’t catch it knock it down!

  31. Go back and watch all the pressers people….SA was a A-hole and SELFISH!!!! He knew the two things he coached cost us our whole season. (play calling and O-line).

    He should have resigned half way thru the season out of respect for all Gator fans and the University…..Now we are on here “thanking” him……ridiculous

    I know Meyer had his reasons for leaving however if “by chance” we had switched OC’s and the offense saved this season….I guarantee you he would still be here 1/2/2011.

  32. Sambizle,

    The whole defense was on the field the whole damn game! Wtf are you talking about?

    Please stop commenting as your “GATA” and too many posts are meaningless. I’m not going to defend Brantley as he was not even playing in a system for him so we still don’t really know how good or bad he is. That will be determined next year I’m sure.

  33. Hey guys, I found this year frustrating too! But Addazio is class act that has done a lot of good for a lot of young men. THAT is the point of college football, not drunk opinionated d-bag fans.

    We should throw every outgoing coach that served faithfully a freakin parade, who the hell would want to come coach for some of these fans? Ridiculous.

    Sometimes I think I would gladly trade the 2 recent championships just to be rid of these new “fans.” They remind me of Ohio State and USC and scUM fans. Take a page out of Mr. 2Bits book. Look at the teams he cheered….

  36. The irony about Steve Addazio is that he may very well turn out to be a better head coach than he was an offensive coordinator. Keep in mind that Addazio: (1) held this team together as interim head coach while Coach Meyer was on a leave of absence; (2) is an outstanding recruiter; (3) is a good position coach; (4) is loved by his players; and (5) and has worked very hard and been sold out to the Gator Nation for 6 years. The only downside to Addazio as a coach is that he is just not a good gameday playcaller – that is not one of his skills. But I think the skills he does have will probably make him a good head coach. Best of luck to you at Temple, Coach Addazio.

  37. SAMBIZLE, we’re discussed this about Brantley ad nauseum. The main reason most don’t care for Addazio is because he never never remotely designed this offense around Brantley’s skill-set to give him any chance to succeed. Where have you been on these boards the past entire football season?

  38. Let’s be real here SA was the worest mistake as an OC we have made since Zooker coming to coach. Two yrs ago with are 1 loss team that offense sucked Tebow carried it but the defense won us 12 games. SA was terrible OC. For two years we ran dive plays with a 180 lb back. This is the best thing for Gator Nation and for Coach Muschamp he doesn’t have to tell him to pack his bags and put the house up for sale. SA did recurite well but that is all he did. Good luck Temple.

  39. There were PLENTY of times we were in the Shotgun. Shotgun not the spread! Just because the Gatas run the spread doesn’t mean EVERY play IS a Spread play there were TON’s of Shotgun Passing ONLY plays. Brantley would hold the ball and get sacked (I will give u the O-line didn’t play well either, therefore more pressure on Brantley.)

    Early in the year, I believe the USF game (?), he threw a Hail-type-Mary pass at the end of the half and was intercepted. Ever since that pick he has seemed, to me, to hold the ball too long. To add to my point, we were losing a couple games big (FSU comes to mind where also Reed was out the second half after the concussion) so we were in an obvious “Brantley” passing situation…Shotgun plays which you “all knowing fans” call “The Spread Offense.” Stop Stop Stop please S T O P with the square peg in the round hole theory. Brantley was like 10 TD’s and 1 Int before THIS YEAR…..DIDN’T the GATAS run the Spread the last couple year’s too?

    Face!

  40. we shouldn’t forget SA was the coach of two NC offensive lines and it’s not his fault he was promoted to a position that was more than one guy could handle.

    Urb’s the one that let us down by quiting on us last year (and you could argue he quit on us this year too). SA was a vistim of the “Peter Principle”.

    Good luck at Temple and THANKS for everything you did for Gator Nation!

  41. ‘FACE’- THIS… 10-1 ratio as A BACK-UP!!!
    Addazio will be a good HEAD Coach in the ‘big east’, BUT IN THE SEC -not so much esp. at OC!

    Brantly is a good HIGH SCHOOL QB or BACK-UP!
    I will eat my words if JB proves me wrong! But he already HAS!
    I thought, at the begining of the season, John and Deonte would be on fire, well…
    Has the GATOR 2011 SEASON STARTED yet?… let me know when it DOES!!!
    Thanks to URBAN and CHARLIE AND DAN M. THAT STAFF WAS ON FIRE!!!!
    GO GATORS!!!
    gatorgi70x7

  42. You guys are funny! I don’t wish Addazio ill, I just wish him gone. And after tomorrow he will be.

    Here’s his record, as I see it: As Offensive Line Coach I simply don’t have the stats or memory to recall if his O-Lines were great, good, or mediocre. We won two NC however, so I’ll assume they were great. Good job, and thank you.

    In 2009 he became Offensive Cooridinator and inherited a team that should have been absolutely beastly. Instead, we had to rely on our defense all year to keep us in games, and were uncompetitive in the one game that the defense stumbled, thus losing the SEC Championship and a shot at the NC.

    In the wake of the 2009 season he did indeed keep our team together, but we are Florida and I have to wonder who wouldn’t have done a similar job. We are not a flash in the pan team that players should be prone to lose faith in at first hiccup. Still, good job and thank you.

    Now, in 2010 our offense was an embarrassement. It was not bad. It was not mediocre. It was as bad as it possibly could have been, given the talent on that team. All through the season, moreover, Addazio gave contemptuous, condescending, and snide pressers that made me come to dislike him personally a good deal. His offense was humiliating, and, hense, he should have displayed some humility. He did not, and I say good riddance.

  43. Addazio REALLY? Urban is the reason the Gatas run the spread you CAN NOT!!!!! Use the “SPREAD/BRANTLEY EXCUSE” AT ALL to blame Addazio that goes to Urban the 2-time NC Winning Coach. This shows your spread argument is silly in the first place. Gatas #1!

  47. More examples of Brantley being scared on the last field goal the third down play he had the WR running the intermediate route and HE was wide-open for a TD Brantley THREW the “Check Down.” Urban stared in the QB’s direction immediately after the play. And earlier in the game he threw several more check downs, with plenty of time to throw.

  49. Another intermediate completion!!! Brantley waits till the fourth quarter of the last game of the year to start growing some balls and throwing the ball more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

  54. Are we supposed to wait with baited breath to see if Brantley will retutn for the 2011 season? He really didn’t play that well in 2010, whether it be because of the oline not holding blocks, receivers running bad routes, the QB not checking to secondary targets and just throwing to the first jersey he saw, or whatever was the problem with the offense. Brantley is no Andrew Luck even if he was Mr football in HS. Why not start Jeff Driscol next season. Many top tier Div 1 teams have gone with true freshmen as their starting quarterbacks!
    I respect John for waiting behind Tebow but shouldn’t he have seen what the Gators were running and evaluated if his skill sets matched what he saw?! I, for one, am not on pins and needles praying that Brantley will return!!

    Also, if the Gators are going to run more of an in your face offense where are the powerbacks to make this happen in the recxruiting circuits? Guess we’ll just run those 180 pound scatbacks up the middle? 210 pounds won’t even cut it!
    Dixie County has a 6’4″ 240 pound tailback (not fullback!) who was their mainstay on offense. UF did have another small school offense player who did well, Kerwin Bell, so school size doesn’t mean it all! Is Muschamp in a position to really look at the players he needs to make his offense work, Just doesn’t seem that the offensive bazckfield is much of a priority with thuis class or is thisd Urban’s recruiting?
    We need a bull running back and I just don’t see that 28 carries a game monster on the recruiting circuit, and there sure ain’t one on the team now!