Florida Football: 5 worst coaching hires in Gators history

The Florida Gators have had their share of success. Coaches and players like Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier and Tim Tebow have brought prestige and national championships to the program since it joined the SEC in 1932. Like any program however, they have also had their periods of subpar performances in the football field. Not every coach has had success to the level of Meyer and Spurrier.

Here are the five worst coaches in the history of Florida Gators Football

Josh Cody (1936-1939)

In his four years as head coach for the Gators, Cody’s record was 17-24. This was surprising considering he had just taken the job off of a successful four year tenure with the Clemson Tigers which saw him go 29-11. Cody nearly halved his winning percentage during his time in Gainesville compared to his time with the Tigers.

Tom Lieb (1940-1945)

Lieb regressed before arriving in Gainesville at Loyola Marymount University with his last two seasons at the school being 4-7 and 4-8 in 1938 and 1939 respectively. Why the Gators decided to hire Lieb coming off of a subpar tenure of previous coach Josh Cody is mind boggling. Nonetheless, they did it and the continued regression of the program ensued.

Lieb would go 20-26 in his five years in Gainesville and the team would not renew his contract following a 4-5-1 season in 1945. Lieb’s best season at the school was 5-5 in his first year in 1940.

Raymond “Bear” Wolf (1946-1949)

Wolf would enter a difficult situation in Gainesville, following two unsuccessful coaching tenures in Josh Cody and Tom Lieb who combined for a 37-50 record in their combined stint spanning the prior 10 years before his arrival. Trying to resurrect a program with that recent history is no small task. Regardless, Wolf was not up to it.

During his four years in Gainesville, Wolf would go 13-24 with his best season being 5-5 in 1948. His first year would be an 0-9 season which did not leave the Gators with much hope either. Wolf would be fired after the 1949 season.

Ron Zook (2002-2004)

Zook never had a losing season in Gainesville and went 23-14 at the school. His first two seasons in fact were 8-5 campaigns. The problem was this was coming off of a long time successful run under legendary Gators head coach and Heisman Trophy wining quarterback Steve Spurrier, who coaches his alma mater to nine seasons of 10 wins or more in his 12 years with the school. This included a national championship in 1996 as well.

The success of Spurrier one would think would allow the following coach to have more than eight wins in his best season, but that was the best Zook could accomplish. And with the state of Florida being a breeding ground of high school talent and the Gators being atop the SEC mountain in the 80’s and 90’s Zook did not last long and was fired in 2004.

Will Muschamp (2011-2014)

Similar to Zook, Muschamp inherited a program that was seemingly on top of the college football world coming off of the success of head coach Urban Meyer and his quarterbacks Chris Leak and Tim Tebow which saw the Gators win two BCS National Championships in Meyer’s six years at the school.

The defensive minded Muschamp was quite the shift from an offensive minded Meyer, but was thought to be the next young up and coming coach who just helped lead the Texas Longhorns to the 2009 national championship a few years prior as the defensive coordinator.

Muschamp’s success as a coordinator however would not translate as a head coach in Gainesville as he would regress the Gators program, going 28-21 in four years at the school. Muschamp did have an 11-2 season in 2012, but his other seasons were subpar with the second best being only 7-6 in 2011 which ultimately led to his firing.

Things got so bad in Gainesville that “fire Muschamp” could be heard audibly in the stadium at times. One of Muschamp’s lowest points would be in the 2013 season when the Gators lost to Georgia Southern 26-20 in Gainesville. Georgia Southern was an FCS program at that time.

Why did Billy Napier not make the cut?

While his tenure has been subpar so far with back-to-back losing seasons in his first two years as the had coach in Gainesville, current Gators head coach Billy Napier’s reign is not over, so at this point it is unfair to judge.

The Gators also appear to have a rise in talent coming in with freshman quarterback DJ Lagway and wide receiver Tank Hawkins in town that could see Napier’s program begin to ascend in 2024.