Florida football's Mark Hocke will no longer lead strength program
Florida football coach Billy Napier confirmed Wednesday that associate coach/director of football strength and conditioning Mark Hocke has been reassigned.
Hocke spent two seasons as the strength and conditioning coach for the Florida Gators under Napier (2022-23) and four more seasons under Napier in the same role at Louisiana (2018-21). He also had strength and conditioning coach stints at Texas A&M (2017), Florida State (2016) and Georgia (2015).
"I do anticipate some different leadership there, different approach there," Napier said. "You guys all know Mark. Mark's an unbelievable leader, person. He's done an unbelievable job for me personally for six years. I can't compliment him enough in terms of character and loyalty."
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Florida had issues matching the physicality of some SEC opponents during the 2023 season, as missed tackles and yards after contact were the norm than the exception. During its five-game losing streak, Florida failed to hold fourth-quarter leads at home against Arkansas and rival Florida State.
"One of the things that Mark and I have always talked about is what's next for him in his career?" Napier said. "Ultimately we're going to try to help Mark with that, and he's going to be doing different things for our organization, a lot more upstairs, kind of making some of that transition into the coaching element.
"He's always had aspirations to do those things, and I think that presents an opportunity for us to bring new leadership from a strength and conditioning standpoint."
The decision was made as part of the offseason evaluation of the program after Florida stumbled to a five-game losing streak to finish 5-7, failing to make a bowl for the first time since 2017. Florida also jettisoned football director of sports nutrition Kelsee Gomes and fired assistant coaches Sean Spencer (defensive line) and Corey Raymond (secondary).
"This is a production business," Napier said. "We all understand that. Ultimately, it's part of leadership."
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators football reassigns strength coach Mark Hocke
