Will Muschamp is a good man, and that’s why Jeremy Foley looked heartbroken Monday as he addressed a room full of cameras and reporters.
The objective of his statements about Muschamp were not a PR boost, or something he can brag about when he goes shopping for a new coach to help him polish off Florida’s trophy case.
That may be an extracurricular result, and I may be a sucker, but I believe Jeremy Foley meant every last positive word he made about Muschamp’s character.
"Will Muschamp is a good, good person. That is why this is so tough for everybody. … We wish him the best, I’m proud that he’s my friend," Foley said.
Does that sound insincere to you?
I sat 15 feet away from Foley and those words hit me like a ton of bricks.
I can tell you it most certainly was not insincere.
To Muschamp’s credit, the man has taken all of his blows in stride about as well as you can ask him to.
I’m not sure I would shrug off 50,000 people chanting to fire me in the waning seconds of a crushing defeat.
He never mailed things in, he faced the music, even after the most crushing loss in the modern history of the program.
He was a human being, vulnerable through the end, like after the Georgia game when he reflected on his father’s passing.
Or Monday, when he cracked a joke about AP reporter Mark Long’s speculative questions, and even took a shot at himself when he said, "don’t let that new guy tell you he ain’t got no good players."
Foley wanted to make this work, and he wanted to make it work badly, some would argue a little too badly.
He was looking for any ray of hope after a 4-8 campaign.
He said as much when he said if the Gators could have won out and showed improvement this season that Muschamp would be back.
It will fall on deaf ears, but there is a human element to what coaches do.
I know you don’t want to hear that. I know you want to believe Will Muschamp is an ignorant Neanderthal that drove Florida’s football program into the ground.
I know you want to believe these guys are millionaires, and Muschamp will wipe his tears with a multi-million dollar buyout, but that’s not what I saw Monday afternoon as Foley stood at the lectern. I saw disappointment. I saw the hurt of a dream crumbled. I saw frustration.
Have you ever been so frustrated with something you thought was going to work but didn’t? Something you wanted so badly but it just wasn’t meant to be?
That’s Jeremy Foley’s relationship with Will Muschamp.
Imagine what it would feel like to have it all fall apart when Foley wanted Muschamp to succeed.
Multiply that by going on national television to talk about the end of Muschamp’s era.
To admit that Muschamp failed which means by proxy Foley failed, because Foley hired him.
Monday’s press conference stuck me like a pseudo-graduation at times, like Foley was sending him out into the world with full confidence that he would do well because he knows of his potential.
Foley even said so, "He’s won a lot of championships in his career; he will win more, I promise you that."
I have no doubt that Jeremy Foley will root for Will Muschamp moving forward wherever it is that he ends up.
That is the true measure of their relationship over anything else.
It was more than employer-employee, more than contracts and games, even if that’s all you ever thought it was.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
UF athletics director Jeremy Foley (left) and football coach Will Muschamp embrace following Florida's 34-10 win against Vanderbilt on Nov. 8 in Nashville, Tennessee.
