Dooley’s Dozen: 12 assistants you may not realize coached at UF
It’s kind of a strange dynamic with assistant coaches in college football.
On the one hand, you want to see them have great success at coaching their side of the ball or their positions.
On the other hand, you also know if they get too good, they will go all Dave Matthews on you and “Say Goodbye” (sorry, it’s my wife’s fave).
Billy Napier had to find three new coaches for this season because the NFL gobbled up three from his first staff.
Some Florida fans were probably in the “good riddance” camp on some of them, but that’s because the new coaches haven’t done anything to make them mad… yet.
The next two Dooley’s Dozens will deal with assistant coaches starting with this one – 12 guys you may not know were assistants at Florida.
Some of them you knew were UF assistants, but not everybody is a Gator geek when it comes to remembering the past — present company (me) excepted.
Frank Broyles
The guy is a legend in Fayetteville after winning 144 games for the Razorbacks as head coach (plus five at Missouri) and serving as athletic director for nine years. Not to mention being on the national TV broadcasts on ABC for eight years. In 1950, he followed new Gator head coach Bob Woodruff to Gainesville but was here for only a year before returning to his alma mater of Georgia Tech.
Jim Niblack
The guy was a man’s man and did a lot to help race relations in Gainesville during some turbulent times. He was a coaching legend at Gainesville High and also coached in every pro league that popped up in this country. In 1976, he tried to give Doug Dickey a hand for one season by being on the staff.
Mickey Andrews
The older you are, the more likely you will remember the two years the “Lizard King” (the flicking of the tongue caused the nickname) spent with the Gators before going to FSU and coaching some of the best defenses in the country. Andrews was part of Charley Pell’s staff in 1981 and ’82 and, yes, those defenses came to play.
Bill Carr
Carr still lives in Gainesville and is an active member of the Gainesville Quarterback Club. He was also an All-American center the year Steve Spurrier won the Heisman. He was also Florida’s athletic director, the youngest in college athletics at the time (despite the two years he spent in the military). Carr joined Dickey’s staff as a grad assistant and then as assistant junior varsity coach from 1972-74.
Dave Fuller
Back in the days when head baseball coaches were often football assistants, the iconic Fuller served both roles from 1947-75. He was more than just a baseball coach who also coached football because he secured some of the best recruiting coups in UF history including Ring of Honor inductee Jack Youngblood.
James Bates’ dad
Oh. You probably knew that Jim Bates was an assistant on Steve Spurrier’s first Florida staff, joining the HBC as defensive coordinator for one season in 1990. That defense was pretty salty and a big reason the Gators went 9-2. He left after one season for the NFL where he spent the rest of his career.
Aubrey Hill
I included the late Hill, such a good dude. He was a great Gator, playing here and serving as a grad assistant for the national champs of 1996. Hill returned under Will Muschamp to coach wide receivers, but his name was mentioned in the Miami cheating scandal and Florida moved quickly to cut ties with him prior to the 2012 season. He coached in high school and at FIU before passing away at 48 from cancer.
Lee McGriff
Mcgriff was an all-SEC player for Florida and tried the WFL (he’s got some great stories) before turning to coaching. He was on Dickey’s staff in 1978 and was retained when Pell took over the following year. His last season was 1982.
Everett Yon
You all know about Yon Hall, right? Where the Gator football team used to live? Well, it was named after Col. Yon, who served in the military and also as a line coach for his alma mater in 1924 and ’25. He then was named athletic director before the service called again. He played football and baseball for the Gators.
Chris Leak
The all-time leader in passing yards in the history of UF, Leak tried four different pro leagues before trying his hand at coaching. Muschamp brought him back as a quality control coach before hiring him as wide receivers coach in 2014. But when Muschamp left, Leak was shown the door as well after only one season as an on-the-field coach.
Steve Spurrier Jr.
His name is synonymous with greatness. Junior certainly has continued on the path of being an excellent assistant coach. But very little of that has been in Gainesville. He did have one season working for his dad in 1998 as special teams coach after serving as a grad assistant and video assistant. He’s now at Tulsa as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Lindy Infante
The late coach was a Gator great during his playing career and spent 1968-71 as an assistant coach under both Ray Graves and Dickey before going on to be a successful head coach in the NFL and USFL. Tidbit for you – if Spurrier had taken the Bucs job after the ’95 season, Jeremy Foley was set to hire Infante at Florida as the head coach.
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