Florida Takes Another Bite Out Of Cam Newton

A little over a year ago a great friend of mine and reader of this blog predicted that Urban Meyer would leave Florida. Bill T. was right because Meyer resigned from coaching on Tuesday citing family reasons. Good for Urban,to be able to put his life into perspective and do what's right for him and his family is honorable. Now we can only hope that the University of Florida could learn to do the honorable thing and stop trying to steal Cam Newton's moments by upstaging him on one the biggest nights in college football. By announcing that they found Meyer's replacement, Will Muschamp, the Gators completely overshadowed the Heisman Trophy and Cam Newton. Hasn't this school done enough to Newton and his family by leaking the cheating scandal and the near expulsion for theft? Apparently not. I don't have an issue with the Gators hiring Muschamp. By all accounts he is a great guy and a really good defensive coordinator. The hiring is decent, not as flashy as some alums want but it is a good hire. The problem I have is the timing of the announcement. This was Cam's moment, just like it has been all year for him and Auburn and to let the press know you hired Urban's replacement on the same day as the awards ceremony is classless by the school. You cannot blame the 24 hour news cycle for letting the story get out, it is all by design. Florida football had a down year and with Urban leaving there was a definite uncertainty hanging around the program. Want a better way to keep recruits and get some buzz, announce you got a new coach during the Heisman trophy ceremony. That will keep people talking and give some momentum back to the program. All of this just shows how each of this school's do not care about what is good for the conference, they only care about what's good for their school. That's why the Newton information about his tenure at Florida and his recruitment at Miss St. got out. Both schools wanted to take him and Auburn out.

The University of Florida should apologize to Cam and his family and to the Downtown Athletic club for upstaging them on their big night. I doubt they will because in their mind "Its great to be a Florida Gator!!"But if Auburn would have announced they hired Bo Jackson during the Heisman ceremony when Tim Tebow won the award, the University of Florida would have demanded an investigation and apology.

Cecil Newton did the right thing by not robbing Cam of his moment. It didn't matter because the Gators took it from him, again.