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CFB News: Florida wants offensive-minded coach

The Sports Xchange

November 17, 2014 at 6:47 pm.

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said Monday he expects the Gators’ next head football coach to be offensive-minded with a proven track record.

“We’d like an individual successful on the offensive side of the ball,” Foley said during the news conference, one day after coach Will Muschamp was fired as head coach.

Foley, who will oversee the search for Muschamp’s replacement, said retiring university president Bernie Machen and incoming president Kent Fuchs would be involved in finding the next coach.

In acknowledging the Gators need to score more points to energize fans, Foley said he could still hire someone with a defensive background.

Foley said he has not contacted other schools about interviewing coaches, but he would like to get someone in place at some point in December.

“That’s ideal,” Foley said of the timeline.

Two coaches not expected to appear on Foley’s short list are Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen and Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez, according to ESPN.com. Sources told ESPN on Monday that neither head coach will be considered to replace Will Muschamp.

Two other coaches with ties to the Florida program — Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Texas’ Charlie Strong — also wanted to distance themselves from any speculation.

“That isn’t something … No, all I want to be is a candidate at Oklahoma,” Stoops said Monday when asked about the Florida job. “I’m not a candidate anywhere else. I’m finished with that question.”

Strong, who served as Florida’s defensive coordinator from 2003 to 2009, said:

“I have a great job here (at Texas). We have a lot of work to get done here and we’re not very pleased with where we are right now. I look at our record and know we could’ve been a lot better.”

Muschamp will coach the Gators’ final two regular-season games, but he won’t coach a bowl game if the Gators qualify by earning a least one more win against remaining opponents Eastern Kentucky and Florida State. The Gators are 5-4 this season and coming off a 23-20 overtime loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Florida has lost six of its last eight home games.

“We didn’t win enough football games,” Muschamp said Monday at the news conference.

Also, two key contributors on defense will miss the remainder of the season.

Redshirt senior linebacker Neiron Ball needs microfracture surgery and sophomore linebacker Jarrad Davis has suffered a torn meniscus. Both were hurt in a 23-20 loss to South Carolina.

–Michigan defensive end Frank Clark was dismissed from the football team after he was arrested and charged for domestic violence over the weekend.

Michigan head coach Brady Hoke removed Clark after the alleged incident in Ohio.

Clark, a senior, was leading the team this season with 13.5 tackles for loss. He had 42 total tackles and 4.5 sacks through 10 games.

–University of Montana head football coach Mick Delaney will retire at the end of this season.

Delaney, is in his third season as the Grizzlies’ head coach, and has compiled a 22-13 record.

“It’s time for someone younger with a lot of energy and so forth to come in,” Delaney, 71, said.

–Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight will not play on Saturday when the Sooners face the Kansas Jayhawks.

OU football head coach Bob Stoops said team doctors were not pleased with the lack of progress Knight has made from recovering from a neck injury suffered on Nov. 8 against Baylor.

Redshirt freshman Cody Thomas, who made his first start Saturday against Texas Tech, will get a second start.

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