Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that made the 2006-08 run special
You have probably heard by now that Netflix will release Swamp Kings, a documentary about the 2006-09 Gator football teams, on Aug. 23.
I have known for a bit because I am included on the emails the producers sent out since they interviewed me for four hours more than a year ago.
I’m a little nervous because there’s no telling what I said over four hours, but I do know that the intention of the doc is to be complimentary for the most part.
Urban Meyer told me he was really pleased with the direction it was taking so that should tell you a lot.
During my interview, I kept injecting stories about the basketball run during the same time, but this was a football story, so I don’t know if anything made it.
This edition of Dooley’s Dozen looks at both of those teams and what made it such a special time to be in Gainesville during a stretch that may never be matched.
The interviews
Not only was this a glorious time to be a Gator, but it was also pretty cool to be covering the championship teams because so many players were so interesting. It wasn’t just Tim Tebow, the most famous of them all, it was everybody. Corey Brewer was one of my favorites, especially when he told me the story of his father’s ailments.
How 2005 set up 2006
Urban Meyer had to deal with a lot his first year, but the culture changed dramatically. He threw players off the team on the tarmac of the Gainesville airport. Billy Donovan had to deal with his best players surprisingly leaving after winning UF’s first SEC title in 2005. But the two national titles in 2006 were set up by what happened the previous year.
The defense was the story
Chris Leak and Lee Humphrey might disagree, but these teams were built on defense. Just look at the points scored against the football team in the title games – 14 and 14. That doesn’t win you a lot of games. And Joakim Noah’s rim protection plus the length of Brewer made it difficult to score on either of the basketball titlists.
Brand name title wins
Yeah, you do what these guys did from 2006-08 with two national titles in each sport, this is the way you want to do it. Basketball beat UCLA and Ohio State. Football beat Ohio State and Oklahoma. Those are the kinds of bragging rights that never go away.
The homecoming concert
This one is kind of personal, but every time I see a song pop up on the Tom Petty channel that says it is from the 2006 homecoming concert, it takes me back to that time. The boys put on a show that night and when I mentioned this story to my wife the first thing she said was, “The Homecoming concert!”
The venues
Basketball’s run went to Jacksonville, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, then New Orleans, St. Louis, Atlanta. Football was Glendale and Miami. I’ll never forget sitting down in the press box in Arizona and being introduced to ethernet cables. And I still have the working press sign from that venue in my home office.
The plays you watch over and over
You know you will watch them this summer because you do every summer. Whether it was the Jarvis Moss blocked kick or the Brewer three-point play against Georgetown or Lee Humphrey’s 30-foot three against UCLA or even Tebow’s “Promise”, it leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling.
There was also this Heisman thing
In the middle of the two football titles, Florida went 9-4 back when 9-4 was considered a down year. But the solace in that was that Tebow won Florida’s third Heisman and accepted the award with a cast on his hand which made it even more special.
The coaches’ relationship
In a gated community in Haile Plantation, Meyer and Donovan lived one house apart. We even did stories on the guy who lived between them. They were close and could lean on each other for advice and counsel. And they both left and then didn’t leave. Interesting time at UF.
Elvis and the Beatles
Florida was playing its spring game in 2007 when the Oh-Fours showed up at the game. They couldn’t stay long because they were mobbed by fans. I told someone that Tebow was Elvis and those four dudes were the Beatles. I even tried to get a special picture made of them crossing the street at one of those walkways, but Billy nixed it.
The contributors
One thing that made this a special time in Gainesville was that so many guys knew their roles. Chris Richard and Adrian Moss, DeShawn Wynn and Joe Cohen. There were plenty of stars as we know, but these were truly teams that sometimes had to overcome adversity. Of course, some did not but that’s not what this is about.
The golf, the parties and other things
I am fortunate to have covered these teams for a lot of reasons. The way the media was treated at all of the venues was off the chain. Beach party in Fort Lauderdale (after I had won the media tournament at the course where they filmed Caddyshack), the after-party in Indy at 3 a.m., it was all just so awesome. I’m just happy I got to experience it.
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