Tell me about Florida

[LTtxfan 49991]

Turner and Wade ready to dish the Ritz-Carlton effect to recruits

Quote

Florida’s head coach Billy Napier has talked about the army of people he is hiring as the new man in charge of the Gator football program. One of the things he is doing is hiring help for the help so to speak. He wants the quality of life for the staff working under him to be great, so in turn they will do a great job at whatever they are assigned to do. He wants a finely tuned machine and so he is now the first head coach at Florida to bring on two hospitality experts to be in charge of prospects both on and off of campus in Katie Turner and Briazja Wade.

To put it nicely, the planned multi-player visits to campus by prospects in recent years were kind of like the Red Roof Inn stays that you may stop at if single and looking to save a little money on a trip. Recruits left talking about the players and the coaches and the education they could get at Florida. There was little mention of the atmosphere and things to do, not even like they slept at a Holiday Inn Express.

But the expectations will be a bit higher now, especially when the new stand-alone football facility is completed. That’s part of it of course, but Turner, technically titled the Assistant AD of Recruiting Strategy, and Wade who is the Director of On-Campus Recruiting, are two that have a background in going the extra yard and making parents and prospects feel like this is where they want to be.

Both worked with Napier at Louisiana-Lafayette. Kirby Smart was able to lure Turner to Georgia, a much bigger program, for the last two years, and Wade was brought in to ULL to replace Turner after serving as a recruiting assistant at Mississippi State.

Napier was able to lure them both to Florida in the last few weeks.

Napier expects much more than a Holiday Inn Express experience with these two in charge of visit weekends. And Napier understands the value of making sure that the University and the city, etc. is where prospects want to be.

“I think you have to separate the evaluation process from the recruitment process,” Napier said at a press conference Friday when asked about Turner and Wade. “So you have the personnel component of what you do and then you have the Ritz-Carlton effect, the hospitality component of what you do, the customer service side of what you do. We’re basically in the sales business, right, we’re selling our product, right, we’re presenting our product, we’re creating unique experiences for the players, their families.”

Napier has been around these two women long enough to understand how organized they are and how much they care about people they come into contact with. That’s the presentation he wants his people to make to the prospective scholarship football players at Florida.

“I think in recruiting it’s important that you get really individualized because no situation is the same,” he said. “Some parts of the decision are more important to certain families. I think that’s what Katie and Bri do. They help us organize that experience that these players have for us and no detail is too small. I think that they have experience doing this and I think that they're going to do a great job.”

One thing to remember is that both of these ladies have been on this job for just weeks. As much as they have tried to consume everything they can about being a Gator and knowing the facilities and knowing all the current players they can get to know, they will be that much better for it as time moves on. There’s also that little thing called a brand spanking new football facility that will be waiting for them to introduce prospects to in a couple of months.

“This will be kind of our first run at it this weekend, and one thing I can tell you about Katie and Bri, they will get better each opportunity,” Napier said. “So it's a big part of what we do and certainly for me, you give them ownership, you let them do their job and you give them feedback as you go. So that's the approach we take."

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

Notebook: Napier purposeful with hires, Jones still around, more tidbits

By    Ethan Hughes    January 14, 2022

Quote

Billy Napier has kept his word about building an army of support staffers. At the moment, UF’s official staff directory lists 30 staff members, not counting the on-field assistant coaches.

While his staff is nearing its completion now, for a while it felt like the school was announcing a new hire every hour. That prompted some good-natured joking among fans and media about some of the unusual job titles that some of Napier’s employees have been given and whether there will be anybody left in the state of Louisiana by the time he’s done.

To Napier, though, his insanely large staff is no joking matter. The two teams that played in the national championship game, Alabama and Georgia, utilize a similar staffing strategy.

He said on Friday that everybody he has hired and will hire will perform tasks that he believes are essential for the success of the Gators’ program, or the “organization,” as he likes to call it. He’s not just hiring people because he’s been given a $5 million salary pool for support staffers and feels compelled to use it all. He’s not just hiring his buddies so that they can go on vacations together.

“There’s nobody’s that’s just sitting around eating popcorn, just watching the game,” Napier said. “We’ve got things to do, so we’re not going to hire anybody we don’t have a very clearly defined role for or we don’t feel like their role is very important. The key here is that they all understand what their role is, they do their job, and they understand the impact that they can have on the player and the impact that they can have on our team. If we create that kind of culture, I think we’ve got a chance. I think that’s our process.”

Napier also reiterated his desire to create a nice balance between work and home life for his assistant coaches. He doesn’t want them to have to work 24/7, rarely see their wives and children and be miserable. The only way to create that balance is by spreading the work out among many people.

His plan is about being efficient. He wants to get as much work done in as little time as possible. The larger his staff is, the more efficient they will be.

“This profession can chew you up and spit you out,” he said. “Literally, I could work every day of my life, from sunup to sundown and more. There’s that much work to do. As competitors, we can let it consume us. One of the things I appreciated about some of these places I worked in the past is that you had a team of people that help you, and that allows you to delegate, allows you to be efficient with our time, to get good at the things that are important, to keep the main thing the main thing and not get caught up in the minutia.”

Napier said that building an army of support staffers is something that has evolved over the last 10 years or so in college football as the challenges facing the sport have increased. He said that they only had nine assistant coaches, two graduate assistants, an operations person and a high school relations person when he worked at Clemson from 2006-10. One of the assistant coaches doubled as the recruiting coordinator.

Now, large staffs like the one he is assembling at Florida have become the norm.

And Napier’s model will continue to change as the rules change. For example, he has hired someone to oversee matters related to name, image and likeness and someone to serve as the lead evaluator of transfer portal prospects. If NCAA rules change even further, he’ll be ready to adapt.

“The game has always been evolving, and it continues to evolve,” he said. “We’re fortunate to be at a place where they’re giving us the resources to do it a certain way, and we’re taking that on.”

Jones still around

Prior to the Gasparilla Bowl against UCF last month, quarterback Emory Jones announced his plans to enter the transfer portal.

However, he never actually entered the portal and is still enrolled in classes at UF.

Napier confirmed that Jones is still with the program and has followed the coaches’ instructions so far.

While Jones isn’t exactly in good standing with the fan base because of his turnover-plagued 2021 season, Napier hopes that the fans will give him a fresh start under a new staff.

“This is a guy who is a class act,” he said. “It’s been very impressive to me the caliber of person that he is. He’s managed a very difficult situation well. And anything that happened in the past, it’s important for not only the players but all the people that care about the University of Florida, that care about our football program, to kind of separate those things. This staff has given each one of these players a new beginning, kind of a fresh start. I think it’s important our fans do that.

“I think he cares about this place. It’s important to him to represent this place the right way. And he’d be the first to admit that he’s played really well at times, and he’s struggled at times. I think for me as a coach going forward, and in particular the quarterback, you’re the teacher, and they’re the student. I’m going to work with those guys exclusively every day. So, when the team struggles or the player struggles, it’s important that you take ownership of that as the teacher, and, certainly, we’ll have that approach.”

Raymond “a true expert in his area”

Cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond has forged a reputation as one of the top recruiters and developers of defensive backs in the country. In 10 years at LSU, he coached seven First Team All-Americans and 14 NFL Draft picks.

Several teams tried to poach him away from his alma mater over the years, but Napier is the only one to successfully do so.

Napier was very familiar with Raymond from his time competing against him as an assistant at Alabama, and they coached in the same state for the past four years. He’s confident that he hit a home run.

“I used to watch him in pregame, his drill progression, the detail and the technique that his players play with,” he said. “They played with really good fundamentals, played with great leverage, understood the concepts. And, certainly, he did a good job evaluating players and then developing those guys, and, obviously, his pedigree, his track record speaks for itself.

“This is a proven developer of talent. This is a proven evaluator. This is a proven relationship-builder. He has wisdom, he has experience, he has insight, he has relationships. This is one of those hires where you’re hiring a true expert in his area, and he’s already made an impact on our team and recruiting. So, we’re very excited about Corey.”

Napier emphasizing individual approaches to recruiting

With Friday marking the first day of the contact period, the sprint toward signing day on Feb. 2 has begun. Assistant coaches are heading all over the place to visit recruits, and the Gators will host official visitors on campus over each of the next three weekends.

Napier said that one of the biggest keys to his recruiting plan is to tailor their messaging to what each individual recruit cares about most.

This isn’t a one-message-fits-all type of situation. Some recruits might care most about their relationship with their prospective position coach. Others might care more about the depth chart, the facilities, the academics or which school offers them the best NIL opportunities.

“We’re basically in the sales business,” Napier said. “We’re selling our product. We’re presenting our product. We’re creating unique experiences for the player, their families. I think in recruiting it’s important that you get really individualized because no situation is the same. Some parts of the decision are more important to certain families.”

That’s where Assistant Athletic Director of Recruiting Strategy Katie Turner and Director of On-Campus Recruiting and Football Events Bri Wade come into play. Their jobs are to identify what each prospect cares about the most and plan the itineraries for their visits to campus accordingly.

“They help us organize that experience that these players have for us, and no detail is too small,” Napier said. “I think that they have experience doing this, and I think that they’re going to do a great job. This will be kind of our first run at it this weekend, and one thing I can tell you about Katie and Bri, they will get better each opportunity. So, it’s a big part of what we do, and, certainly for me, you give them ownership, you let them do their job and you give them feedback as you go. So, that’s the approach we take.”

Gators preparing to enter the “Foundation” phase

Napier believes in dividing the year into eight phases. Each member of his staff has a specific set of tasks to accomplish in each phase.

The first phase, “Foundation,” begins on Tuesday. It will consist of 12 weightlifting sessions and 10 team runs and will last until after signing day in February, when the “Identity” phase begins.

“This is an action establishing an organization,” he said. “It’s a body upon which something is built, a basis on which something stands. I think in college football, each year you’ve got to kind of start the process over. It’s a new group of players, a new group of staff. Certainly, the organization always has probably 25-30 percent attrition, new leadership roles at all levels. Then you have a group of players, rookies, staff members who have to learn expectations and systems and kind of our approach.

“The goal here is to build trust within the organization, to establish communication. I think it’s important that you define self-discipline to the players. We want to define attention to detail, and we’re trying to create a structure of routine and time management. That’s a big component of this. We want to establish expectations as a new group, a new way of operating here, establishing accountability. It’s important that we’re consistent, we’re fair.”

Before they start building that foundation, however, Napier is conducting a 13-day evaluation period to get a feel for where each player is at physically and to learn more about what type of person they are away from football.

“You’re not just evaluating a guy from a physical component,” Napier said. “You’re evaluating ‘What is his history on the field from a production standpoint? What is his history as a teammate? What is the consensus amongst the people in the building about him?’ Certainly, they’ve got a track record academically, and some of these players we have history with where we know them from the past.

“I think the big thing here is that we’ve got to establish working relationships. We’ve got to establish trust and communication with all the areas of the organization that work with the player.”

 

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

16 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Bailey hired as senior director of player relations and GatorMade

By    Ethan Hughes   January 14, 2022

Billy Napier has hired Savannah Bailey as the Gators’ senior director of player relations and GatorMade.

GatorMade is “a holistic player-focused and purpose-driven initiative that develops each Gators football team member during their tenure at Florida and beyond.”

The GatorMade program will serve as an extension of the resources and experiences offered to all athletes through the Hawkins Center.

The GatorMade staff will also consist of Senior Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations Vernell Brown and Director of Player Engagement and NIL Marcus Castro-Walker. Collectively, they will support and challenge the entire football team and connect with former UF football players for “opportunities of celebration and growth.”

Bailey, a Columbia, Tennessee, native, graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology in 2016, and she earned a Master of Education degree in Student Affairs/Counseling from Clemson University in 2019. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in education leadership at Clemson.

She spent the last five seasons at Clemson as the director of life skills and community service with the Tigers’ P.A.W. Journey program. In this position, she helped develop football players through daily mentoring, civic engagement, service-learning and life skills acquisition.

Bailey’s role at Florida will consist of creating and implementing opportunities for leadership and professional development of football players.

She spent the last five seasons at Clemson as the director of life skills and community service with the Tigers’ P.A.W. Journey program. In this position, she helped develop football players through daily mentoring, civic engagement, service-learning and life skills acquisition.

Bailey’s role at Florida will consist of creating and implementing opportunities for leadership and professional development of football players.

Edited January 15, 2022 by LTtxfan

[LTtxfan 49991]

Roster getting better already -- Mullen really fucked up.

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

New Trend:  Off-field Special Teams Coordinators

Billy Napier and Florida hop on emerging hiring trend in college football with their new special teams point man Chris Couch as "GameChanger coordinator"

 

DOUG SAMUELS      3 HOURS AGO

Florida gets creative with "GameChanger coordinator" title for new hire

Quote

Earlier this week we shared Billy Napier was beefing up his special teams with the addition Chris Couch, who had served as his special teams coordinator at Louisiana.

Today, Florida formally announced the hire of Couch and shared the unique title that they're bestowing upon him.  Instead of labeling him in the typical special teams analyst role, in his off-field role Couch will officially serve as Florida's "GameChanger Coordinator." 

That certainly makes for one of the most unique titles in all of college football and illustrates the importance that Napier believes are key in special teams.  But there is also a bigger storyline developing here about how coaches are starting to use their 10 on-field assistants.

The decision to not designate a special teams coordinator among one of the 10 allowed on-field assistant coaches is an emerging trend in college football.

Georgia had veteran special teams coordinator Robbie Discher on board during their national title run in a special teams quality control role, as he largely oversaw special teams and ran special teams meetings. Discher recently left to be one of the 10 on-field coaches at Tulane, where he will coordinate the Green Wave special teams. 

Yesterday, Oklahoma made a similar move in hiring Eastern Michigan special teams coordinator Jay Nunez to an off the field role. While he won't be one of the countable 10 assistant coaches, we shared yesterday that Nunez that "will have significant oversight of the special teams from a support staff position."

In Norman, having an extra spot has allowed Brent Venables to have both two defensive line coaches (Miguel Chavis as defensive ends and Todd Bates handing the defensive tackles) and two secondary coaches (Brandon Hall coaching the safeties and Jay Valai working with the nickels and corners).

While it certainly takes some creativity, with the success Georgia had utilizing this strategy it will be interesting to see if this continues to be a hiring trend that will allow coaches some additional flexibility in building their staff.

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

On 1/29/2022 at 8:28 AM, LTtxfan said:

 

 

Gonna be interesting to watch GATA with Napier...

 

[LTtxfan 49991]

Gata fan not happy... 😩 

 

[Gatorubet 30711]

20 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Gata fan not happy... 😩 

 

 

One of our beloved Florida Memes about Peyton Manning was/is “He never beat Florida….”

I’m sure the Manning family wanted to go to Gainesville and constantly hear that shit.   That rivalry was pretty fierce in the late 90s early 2000s

In  fact, hanging on my wall is this:

[LTtxfan 49991]

Gata folks not happy...

The Florida Gators fell to the Oregon State Beavers 30-3 on Saturday in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, finishing the year with a 6-7 record in Billy Napier's first season as head coach.

Florida kicked a field goal with just seconds remaining on the clock to record its only points of the game.

 

[markstanco 12786]

Meh. Bowl games are different now. If texas beats WA with all the opt outs I will be shocked.

[tx ind 7057]

 

[txduck87 1021]

.

[txduck87 1021]

 

It just means more.

[DFW Horn 6650]

 

[DFW Horn 6650]

39 minutes ago, txduck87 said:

It just means more.

Not to #33, it doesn't.

[59 Burst 434]

It is exactly this type of performance that makes me laugh when people say we better watch out going into the big bad SEC. 

[JOSEYWALES66 1853]

7 hours ago, tx ind said:

 

That’s none other than Princely Umanmielen from Manor, Texas. 

[LTtxfan 49991]

50 minutes ago, JOSEYWALES66 said:

That’s none other than Princely Umanmielen from Manor, Texas. 

Nice catch @JOSEYWALES66

 

[40acredropout 2911]

23 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Nice catch @JOSEYWALES66

 

If I were his coach I'd make him change his handles to d2princely after that sorry ass effort.

[LTtxfan 49991]

Twitter grabbing it...  Thx for this @Post Oak

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by LTtxfan

[Helobious 9817]

That was really shitty effort but in somewhat of a defense I think he was just supposed to spy the QB there. That QB was making plays outside the pocket.

[TKthunder2 5059]

Florida could lose top recruit after massive NIL deal creates controversy (they reneged on a $13 million dollar NIL deal before he was even on campus)

Despite saying last week he intends to join the Gators, Rashada hasn't signed up for early enrollment.

Quote

January 14, 2023 9:41am EST

The University of Florida could be close to losing a top football recruit after a $13 miillion NIL deal has caused some controversy. 

Quarterback Jaden Rashada, an All-American from Pittsburg, Calif., is a four-star recruit who signed an NIL deal worth that massive price tag on Nov. 10 with the Gator Collective, reports The Athletic. 

"I would venture to say the Gator Collective is paying more guaranteed money than any group in the country," Eddie Rojas, a former Gators baseball player and head of the Gator Collective, said in April. "When I write a contract, I want to make sure that we actually have the money in our account."

It’s doesn’t appear that Rojas’ group did have that money, as they reneged on the deal with Rashada. The Athletic states that the deal had presumptive support from one of the Gator Collective’s top boosters, Hugh Hathcock, who donated almost $13 million last year. 

But on Dec. 7, Rashada received a letter from Rojas wishing to terminate their deal. While it’s unclear the exact reason why that happened, the Gators’ football program was caught by surprise as they are not allowed to know specifics of NIL deals with players. 

Rashada, though, is still a part of the Gators’ recruiting class for 2023, yet there’s still a catch: He hasn’t enrolled yet. 

Early spring enrollment, which is usually what top recruits do to get in the building as quickly as possible to make the transition into college easier, ended on Jan. 13. 

Quarterback Jaden Rashada runs with the ball during the Under Armour Next All-America Game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, on Jan. 3, 2023.(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images.)

And while Rashada did indicate last week that he intends to go to Florida, the early-enrollment status still leaves him in limbo. 

Harlen Rashada, Jaden’s father, told 247Sports that he and his son are "working through some things right now with Florida and hoping that they get resolved soon."

"I just think there’s a high level of trust on both ends there," Florida head coach Billy Napier said of Rashada when the recruiting class was announced. "I’m really excited about what he’s going to bring to our team. . . . Can’t compliment Jaden enough relative to who he is as a person, as a leader, his character. Jaden is a guy who came here and fell in love with the University of Florida and really connected with a lot of people here. It was sincere."

Rashada has reportedly been offered a lesser NIL deal than the $13 million – still in the seven-figure range – but litigation could be on the table after the Gator Collective decided to pull the deal. That could only come if he decides not to agree to a new deal.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/florida-could-lose-top-recruit-massive-nil-deal-creates-controversy.amp

[LTtxfan 49991]

Probably better for Gata if Rashada goes somewhere else...

 

[Clintonaldo 2618]

Florida is a dumpster fire. 

[LTtxfan 49991]

Might be a good thing for Gata...

 

[tx 3 putt 78671]

$13mil is crazy 

[Longboard Horn 41350]

So one of my oldest nephews has shown some interest in Florida and will be making a campus visit sometime this spring. @Gatorubet @gatormarc @locodos @Lidig8r @DallasGatr and any other Florida guys here, tell me a few things about the campus and it's culture. None of us have ever been to Gainesville and my brother is curious about the school, it's traditions and things to do in town. 

[hookemATL 12240]

Tell them to take the Danny Rolling tour. It’s a killer experience!

[locodos 5591]

27 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said:

So one of my oldest nephews has shown some interest in Florida and will be making a campus visit sometime this spring. @Gatorubet @gatormarc @locodos @Lidig8r @DallasGatr and any other Florida guys here, tell me a few things about the campus and it's culture. None of us have ever been to Gainesville and my brother is curious about the school, it's traditions and things to do in town. 

I'll defer to others here, I haven't been on campus in a couple of years.  A lot has changed.   I know a couple of kids in school there now and they are loving it.

• Admission is very competitive.  
• Culturally, Gainesville is/was a liberal bastion surrounded by deep deep red "old south" Florida.
• If they have a grandparent that lives in FL they can get instate tuition rates.
• Like everywhere else, a lot of the small local restaurants have been replaced with chains.
• Have a pizza at Satchels  ... it's a 10 min drive from campus, but it's got the old G'ville vibe.

[locodos 5591]

42 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

Tell them to take the Danny Rolling tour. It’s a killer experience!

I was in G'ville during the murders.  0/5 stars

[DallasGatr 216]

So one of my oldest nephews has shown some interest in Florida and will be making a campus visit sometime this spring. [mention=700]Gatorubet[/mention] [mention=7961]gatormarc[/mention] [mention=7547]locodos[/mention] [mention=137]Lidig8r[/mention] [mention=2061]DallasGatr[/mention] and any other Florida guys here, tell me a few things about the campus and it's culture. None of us have ever been to Gainesville and my brother is curious about the school, it's traditions and things to do in town. 

One of the best decisions I ever made was going to Florida instead of UVA. (I was from the DC area.) Expansive, idyllic campus set in a small city that is defined by the university. Gainesville is pretty much the definition of a “college town.”

The school itself was much more rigorous academically than I expected. (I found out I was nowhere near as smart as I thought.) And you can get lost in the crowd if you want to. That said I became pretty tight with a few Profs.

Other than the setting I have always thought of Florida as very similar to UT. Plenty of everything to choose from and a 4-year experience that has helped define me.

2 fun Gator facts: Florida was an all-boys school until 1948. As opposed to FSU which was all-girls. And there are more Jewish students at UF than any school out side of Israel.

[Gatorubet 30711]

6 hours ago, locodos said:

I'll defer to others here, I haven't been on campus in a couple of years.  A lot has changed.   I know a couple of kids in school there now and they are loving it.

• Admission is very competitive.  
• Culturally, Gainesville is/was a liberal bastion surrounded by deep deep red "old south" Florida.
• If they have a grandparent that lives in FL they can get instate tuition rates.
• Like everywhere else, a lot of the small local restaurants have been replaced with chains.
• Have a pizza at Satchels  ... it's a 10 min drive from campus, but it's got the old G'ville vibe.

Co-sign.  I went there in the 70s, so not clued in to latest eats.  I went to a game last year and thoroughly enjoyed Spurrier’s Gridiron Griddle.  It has a ton of cool UF and Spur-dog memorabilia. 

Classic College town.  If you like small enrollment, that ain’t us.   

[DDD Dad 14645]

1 hour ago, locodos said:

I was in G'ville during the murders.  0/5 stars

Me too (law school)

[hookemATL 12240]

4 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Me too (law school)

[DDD Dad 14645]

Just now, hookemATL said:

PM @Nicole44

[gatormarc 937]

Agree with what I have seen here.

It's always fun talking to current and former students. Everyone really has their own experience. The city changes a lot.

There are definitely more chains now but there's frankly more of everything than when I was at school. The unique local options are still there but they aren't the same as they were before.

[locodos 5591]

25 minutes ago, gatormarc said:

Agree with what I have seen here.

It's always fun talking to current and former students. Everyone really has their own experience. The city changes a lot.

There are definitely more chains now but there's frankly more of everything than when I was at school. The unique local options are still there but they aren't the same as they were before.

Perhaps, but wasted freshmen will never know the joy of hopping on an old school bus and getting carted off to a 24hr diner that has a 30min wait at 2AM.  Then you get seated and there is a band playing kids songs and the whole restaurant is singing Puff the Magic Dragon.

That does not exist and it's a tragedy.  

Also the student ghetto looks very corporate now.

RIP

• Burrito Brothers
• Leonardos
• Skeeters
• Balls
• Copper Monkey
• Joe's Deli
• Iveys
• Rocky Rococco (Chain)
• CJ's

 

Edited February 16 by locodos

[gatormarc 937]

7 minutes ago, locodos said:

Perhaps, but wasted freshmen will never know the joy of hopping on an old school bus and getting carted off to a 24hr diner that has a 30min wait at 2AM.  Then you get seated and there is a band playing kids songs and the whole restaurant is singing Puff the Magic Dragon.

That does not exist and it's a tragedy.  

Also the student ghetto looks very corporate now.

RIP

• Burrito Brothers
• Leonardos
• Skeeters
• Balls
• Copper Monkey
• Joe's Deli
• Iveys
• Rocky Rococco (Chain)
• CJ's

Losing the ghetto sucked. So much of my regular schoolday activity was there. I worked in the Dean of Students office so regularly walked over to the Black Student Union or Institute of Hispanic Culture since they were only connected to the campus network by modem. I'd usually grab lunch around there and check out Schoolkids or Hyde n Zeeks to see if they had any new used CDs.

I've heard that the Mexican place that took over at CJ's is decent but I haven't tried it yet.

Kids today have The Top, Mojo, Dragonfly, plus they've got access to Blackadder, Swamphead, and First Magnatude. We thought we were cool because we sprung for Killians Irish Red.

I think the other Leonardo's location is still open.

I hear that Maui Teriyaki is back too.

 

[Lidig8r 1906]

3 hours ago, Longboard Horn said:

So one of my oldest nephews has shown some interest in Florida and will be making a campus visit sometime this spring. @Gatorubet @gatormarc @locodos @Lidig8r @DallasGatr and any other Florida guys here, tell me a few things about the campus and it's culture. None of us have ever been to Gainesville and my brother is curious about the school, it's traditions and things to do in town. 

I am a Texas guy, living in Dallas.

In the wayward days of my youth, I did engage in acts of inflagrante delecto with a coed from UF.

But, that is about the extent of my knowledge of Gainesville.  Unless we are speaking of Gainesville, Texas.

[DDD Dad 14645]

1 hour ago, locodos said:

Perhaps, but wasted freshmen will never know the joy of hopping on an old school bus and getting carted off to a 24hr diner that has a 30min wait at 2AM.  Then you get seated and there is a band playing kids songs and the whole restaurant is singing Puff the Magic Dragon.

That does not exist and it's a tragedy.  

Also the student ghetto looks very corporate now.

RIP

• Burrito Brothers
• Leonardos
• Skeeters
• Balls
• Copper Monkey
• Joe's Deli
• Iveys
• Rocky Rococco (Chain)
• CJ's

 

CJ’s dime time 10 cent beers) and law school nights ($1 pitchers) were hard to beat. 

Edited February 16 by DDD Dad

[locodos 5591]

5 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

CJ’s dime time 10 cent beers) and law school nights ($1 pitchers) were hard to beat. 

Nickle beer night when I was there and you could get the tray shot too.   I lived across from the death wall so it was an easy walk home ... from a distance standpoint only

 

Edited February 16 by locodos

[DDD Dad 14645]

2 minutes ago, locodos said:

Nickle beer night when I was there and you could get the tray shot too.   I lived across from the death wall so it was an easy walk home ... from a distance standpoint only

 

I was there from ‘87-90. 

[gatormarc 937]

Shit, even Sonny's BBQ had like a 25 cent beer night back in the day.

I had to look up and see if they still had Beat the Clock but I guess Grog House closed last year.

[gatormarc 937]

Back to the original question to see if I can add anything.

Gainesville's geographic location within the state is great.

It's a college city in that the campus does dominate the culture but it also has some actual real-city amenities like museums, regional theater, etc. since UF is the flagship. There's a significant amount of the population there connected to Shands, UF's Teaching Hospital and a large grad student population so it's both a UF connection and also a big demographic separate from an 18 year old underclass student.

It's also about 2-2.5 hours from Orlando, Tampa, and major beaches on both the gulf and Atlantic, and also about an hour from Jacksonville. So it's never far from a "big city" or touristy things.

Plenty of in-state kids who couldn't get to UF end up at FSU, UCF, or USF, so it's not unusual for UF students to be traveling to Tally/Orlando/Tampa to party or hang out with old-friends or hosting friends from those other schools. Your nephew would soon enough have friends/roommates with connections to one or all of those cities and an excuse to roadtrip.

--

If your nephew is into outdoorsy stuff, Gainesville is basically in the heart of Florida's natural springs. Lots of state parks in the area. Activities like tubing the Itchitucknee and walking down the Devil's Millhopper are part of the student experience.

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If your nephew likes sports, UF is an "everything school" like Texas. A lot of students latch on to something other than just football or basketball. It's a great way to spend time on the cheap. My friends and I went to lots of soccer, volleyball, and baseball games.

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Weather wise, summer is hot and humid. Gainesville gets both Florida extremes. It's interior enough that it doesn't get the coastal breezes. I swear that Orlando has less humidity in August. In the winter, it's usually the edge of the frost/freeze belt.

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Like any big school, UF can be intimidating for a Freshman away from home for the first time, but there's no shortage of activities and things to do. Some kids do better closer to home or on a smaller campus. That's really up to the kid and what they want and need.

 

[DDD Dad 14645]

4 hours ago, DallasGatr said:

One of the best decisions I ever made was going to Florida instead of UVA. (I was from the DC area.) Expansive, idyllic campus set in a small city that is defined by the university. Gainesville is pretty much the definition of a “college town.”
 

Interesting. We’re like mirror images. I grew up in Miami but eschewed UF undergrad with scholarship for UVA. Came back for law school though. 

[Ellellelle 355]

I lived in Gainesville and worked for UF for years before moving out of the state. Great school, I spent a lot of time with more ambitious students and they were always amazing to be around. People are generally pretty nice there. I did have culture shock when moving there because some of the locals just say wildly inappropriate (racist) things but students are from all over Florida so culturally it's pretty mixed.

The campus can be an absolute cluster fuck. Scooters dominate and they are trouble. I almost witnessed a student get killed by a bus on one and they just generally are everywhere and are annoying. Like most major unis, it's hard to park and there is a lot of walking. Most of my commute was just trying to get off campus.

Like a lot of college campuses, there's creeps around. I had someone follow me home once when he saw me get off the bus. Lots of fake Uber drivers trying to trick drunk girls to get in their car also. Just need to be smart.

The town in general has grown substantially and I feel like the roads can't handle the heavy traffic. But the town has everything you really need, a mall, grocery store options, bars, plays. There is also a rec location off campus for water stuff (swimming , boating, etc) available for students and staff which is fun and you don't have to drive an hour to the coast.

I don't really miss Gainesville (I do miss some of the people there) but many people love it - if you're a student it's a good place and they should be able to develop some fond memories if they choose to go to school there.

[locodos 5591]

3 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

I was there from ‘87-90. 

'89-93  Lived in Rawlings Hall first year.  It was NOT airconditioned.  But you get to know a lot of people when everyone has their windows and doors propped open.  It was like one big house with 100s of other freshman.

 

Also make sure he stops by Lake Alice.  There are real gators on campus.

 

 

[GhostofDanJones 336]

A friend from high school went to UF. Everything above is true about being a big school, having great academics, and easily being an intimidating school for freshmen. Game day at Ben Hill Griffin is awesome, but with the humidity you're going to want to drink a bottle of water for every other beer you have. Gotta stay hydrated. That's all I got. Best of luck to you're nephew if he chooses to enroll Longboard. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

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