Florida AD Scott Stricklin appears to be having fun debunking coaching rumors on Twitter

There are few things that drive fan bases crazier than college coaching searches.

It sure looks like Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin realizes that. And he’s doing his best to poke at the fan paranoia and rumor-mongering that’s popping up as the Gators prepare to hire a new football coach.

Tuesday, a plane with tail numbers that purportedly matched those of a University of Florida plane was scheduled to fly from Gainesville to an airport in Connecticut, not too far from Bristol, where ESPN is located. ESPN analyst and former Oregon and NFL coach Chip Kelly has been considered a candidate to be Florida’s next coach. And college fan bases love Flight Aware when their team is looking for a coach. The website’s traffic must spike mightily during searching season.

Not long after that scheduled flight was noticed — and an article or two on some college football sites were written — Stricklin sent a tweet.

Mere coincidence? Possibly. But consider what Stricklin has tweeted before then.

Monday, Stricklin replied to a tweet that cited a message board poster saying Kelly would be Florida’s next coach.

There was this tweet on Sunday.

And this tweet on Nov. 9.

At this point, we expect Stricklin to announce the team’s new coach on Twitter before anyone is able to break the story. It would only be appropriate. And, until then, we hope he keeps (sub)tweeting. It’s fun to watch.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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