On Oct. 27, Mike Taylor said he wouldn’t want to play for anyone but Will Muschamp.
After Nov. 29, Mike Taylor won’t have a choice.
"Nothing compares to what Muschamp was," he said.
Was. Muschamp is not dead, but his time at Florida has expired. And a few of his players were there for the funeral.
Taylor, Max Garcia and Chaz Green watched as Bernie Machen and Jeremy Foley eulogized their head football coach for about 30 minutes Monday afternoon.
When it was their turn to address the hoard of media, the Gators remained somber.
Their coach was being canned because they didn’t do enough in between the sidelines. Taylor wouldn’t go as far as saying that they failed Muschamp, but he said that he and his teammates were "doing the wrong thing with the right purpose."
"It’s just a heart-breaking situation," Garcia said. "All the players in the locker room feel the same way. We’re all devastated that this is happening, but we understand the situation. We understand that we have to produce and win games on the field. That’s the bottom line."
Although Muschamp’s 27-20 record with the Gators was not good enough to keep his job, he made his impact with the players during his time in Gainesville.
Matt Rolin, a redshirt freshman linebacker, originally committed to South Carolina but flipped to Florida when Muschamp reached out to him when he had a torn ACL.
Rolin’s parents each graduated from South Carolina and his grandfather even played for the Gamecocks football team during his college days. But Muschamp, who Rolin said served as a father figure for him, still managed to lure the lifelong South Carolina fan to Florida.
"If it wasn’t for him I would not be here at the University of Florida and I can promise you that," Rolin said in a message posted on Twitter. "I would have stayed committed to South Carolina."
Unlike Urban Meyer’s "broken" program in 2010, Muschamp leaves behind a group united — win or lose.
Throughout the media circus that followed Muschamp, the Gators stood by their embattled head coach because of the impact he had on each of their lives off the field.
Without much football success to boast about after four seasons, Muschamp’s influence on his team was his crowning achievement.
"You’re there for them on Sunday after a tough loss, you’re there for them on Monday when something is going wrong at home and you try and be a great example for them through tough times and adversity," Muschamp said.
"That’s what you do and that’s the role here we’re in at present. It’s not just Saturday afternoon, and I feel like that’s a strength of mine."
Now with just two games left in Muschamp’s career at Florida, the Gators hope to send their coach out the best way they can: 2-0.
In 2004, Ron Zook and his Florida team faced a similar situation. Already knowing he would not return the following season, Zook led the Gators to their first victory against the Seminoles in Doak Campbell Stadium since 1986.
Defeating No. 3 FSU while subsequently knocking the ‘Noles out of the College Football Playoff would undoubtedly be Muschamp’s greatest feat at Florida.
"I would agree that everyone on the team feels like we want to get these last two wins for coach Muschamp and send him out on the right note and let everybody know that we’re behind him 100 percent," Green said.
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Chaz Green speaks to media Monday.
