Mutiny at the Outback

By
Pat Dooley
-
25
318

In 2007, I wrote a book called “Game of My Life” which was about 30 or so former Gators talking about their favorite game. The book did well but the publishers went bankrupt. The Dooley Curse, I guess.

The good news is that another company bought their assets and wants to re-issue my book. They also wanted an updated chapter. I decided to do Ahmad Black and the Outback Bowl.

They don’t come any better than Black. What a great young man. The Gator Nation may be reeling from arrests and dummies doing dumb things but in Black you have a real gem.

During our interview, he confirmed something I had heard during Outback Bowl week but could never nail down — that there was a mutiny of sorts.

He laughed when I asked about it because he was surprised anyone knew about the mutiny.

“We were pounding full pads every day. It was game week,” he said. “We were worn out. The defense was on the field but the offense wasn’t there. We were wondering where they were. They started texting us and calling us that they weren’t getting off the bus until we were in helmets only.

“Everyone on the defense looked at me like what was I going to do. I just sat down and started chillin’. It lasted maybe 30 minutes. The bus driver was getting ready to take them back to the hotel. Finally, Coach Mick (Mickey Marotti) came over and blew his whistle and said ‘You have five minutes to get on the field in helmets only.’

“We have some characters on our team.”

For the rest of the story, you’ll have to buy the book. He also told me an interesting story about why he chose Florida.

Teaser alert!

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25 COMMENTS

  1. Pat: Glad your book is going to be revised and back in print! I missed out the first time and will look forward to the read. Meanwhile, thanks for the preview of the Ahmad Black story. What a great Gator, a true blue champion, he is. Talent, heart, character, commitment — enough to overcome lack of size and speed. He’ll do well in the NFL or whatever route he ultimately takes. If bigger, faster, more gifted athletes had Ahmad’s ethic, we would win a championship at least every other year.

  6. It would not have happened with Tebow on the team and perhaps it would not have been needed as he might have talked to coach when the team was out of gas and needed a small break. Lack of player leadership is a critical reason for our lack of performance. It will be interesting to see if it improves this year.

  7. I am not sure that this would have happened if Urban Meyer was coaching the team last year. Addazio (the actual head coach last year) lost his team.
    Frankly, I don’t really blame them. What they experienced was not what they signed up for when they came to UF. It was closer to playing for FSU during the last 7-8 years of Bowden’s tenure.
    You sign on to play for a head coach only to discover that you are playing for an assistant.

  8. Nothing but love for Ahmad. Good things happen to good people, good karma guided him to get the opportunity to play for his home team Tampa. Tampa will be a contender next couple of years. It’s a great spot for him. He deserves it. Will never forget the pick to seal the Orange Bowl.

  9. Wow, first I’ve heard of this. New there were problems with a few, and heard a few wispers and tales of “non-unity and immaturity issues”, but I wonder(heatlh issues aside)if this had anything thing to do with Urban leaving…You win though, guess I’m buying the book. Where and when?

  11. nice of you to push yet another personal agenda, will the Sun PPPLllease get a writer….you let Ashcoff go and mark my words he will be one of the best..no more I=pod selections or back patio stories, or chili stories….SPORTS

  12. Hey Suwanneegator-
    Why don’t you relax a little. Pat has a bond with a lot of his readers and we don’t mind a little off topic remarks. If you don’t like it, nobody forces you to read it. Buy a subscription to Gatorscout if all you want are the facts. You are correct, however, that Ed Aschoff is very good. But, he’s also young and apparently wants to test the waters and get different experiences in his profession. Who can blame him for that? I don’t believe the Sun forced him out.

  13. SPORTS? Geez, so serious, suwan. Like Dooley is intermingling fishing stories while conducting heart bypass surgery. Sports, and gator sports in particular, is numbers, human interest, entertainment, academics, finance, crime (unfortunately), and a host of other things. If it weren’t such a fun, cool thing to distract us from the other crap going on, we wouldn’t give a damn. Pat does a phenomenal job of reporting what he needs to report and commenting on what is enjoyable to discover. The electronic age allows for him and so many others to put out tons more than ever before. As long as he continues to be among the best writers out there (and he is), I will continue enjoy reading his work. Don’t underestimate his ability to tie together so many things in such a seamless way. And good luck, Ahmad. It’s tough to remain classy when others around you are acting like worms. You deserve Tampa and Tampa deserves you.

  15. It is interesting that some of you commented that things like this could not have happened when Tebow was on the team. Rumor has it that Ahmad Black and some other member of the Gators defense did not go “all out” in the 2009 SEC Championship game.

  18. First, Gary you’re an idiot, like the SNL character on Weekend Update who hears part of a second hand story and tries to tell it to Seth Meyers. If you don’t know the whole story, keep what little you know to yourself.

    Second, unfortunately suwannee has a point. The Sun did lose their best writer to ESPN and they probably know it. The new recruitment blog is struggling, as it cranks out 1 story a week, and half of those have been what to rename it. Pat, at times, seems too worried about his personal agenda, what famous names he can drop, and, how unbiased he can be to the outside media. I can complain about the other staff writers, but I’m not sure it’s their fault, so I’ll be nice. The entire staff seem like really great, nice, down to earth people, but no one has stepped up and filled Ed’s shoes yet. If you look at the SEC Blog on ESPN, Ed is cranking out the stories, good ones. Chris Low better be careful or he could lose the SEC blog.
    I’m a little disappointed in Pat. There’s been so few good stories to read and he finally gets a good one on Black and the Outback Bowl and what does he do, he makes the readers buy his book to hear it, instead of writing a story for the paper that pays him to write stories. He doesn’t even try to sell it any other way, it is what it is.

  21. I pay for this paper, have for thirty plus years when Jack Hairston was the writer, I expect sports content in sports writers, not to have to skip the stories I buy the paper for, and I do subscribe to Gatorbait and Gatorcountry where they write about sports

  22. I know I’m late to this party, but I agree that the writing at the Sun has gone steadily down hill for the past 30 years. Maybe it happens everywhere, but I don’t care. I want to read about Gator sports, not some name-dropping couch potato’s chili recipe or iPod lineup. It’s a shame, really, because journalism in the rest of the world seems to be alive and well.

  23. pat like most of the sports writers and radio talk guys are in the back pocket of the univ. of florida athletic department. They are scared to say anything that might tic off anyone over there. It’s become a dictatorship , we can’t go to practice asst. Coaches can’t be interviewd. It’s tell it like they want it told or risk being cut off even further. Ask shane mathews he dared say something about that horrible off and urban took his head off. The fans get nothing anymore it’s shut up and give us your money ,show up on game day but otherwise we could care less about you. Unless you are a million dollar donor. They are taking the fun and pasion out of gator football.