UF’s Muschamp Takes The Blame For His Team’s Shortcomings

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Florida is mired in its second-consecutive five-loss season.  Gator fans, naturally, are having a tough time accepting that fact.  So at whom should they direct blame?  Will Muschamp… according to Will Muschamp:


“At the end of the game, I’m not like a lot of coaches.  I’m not going to come in and blame all of our players.  There’s a lot of coaches that do that, and I’m not going to do that.  When we play well it’s because our players played well, and when we don’t it’s my fault.  And that’s just been my approach all the time.  The players understand that, too.  I’m the first one that’s going to stand up and say I need to do a better job.  I think it’s really unprofessional for a grown man to come up here and blame a 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kid for a mistake.  I think that’s ridiculous.  And I’m not going to do that.  So if it makes somebody made, let me know.”


Interesting.  While I support the idea of a coach taking blame and giving credit, it would probably be better received if the coach didn’t make a big point of how he won’t blame his players.  By saying that, it sends the message: “Even if it was Joe Freshman’s fault, I wouldn’t tell you… so it might just be Joe Freshman’s fault.”

Muschamp sounds particularly touchy on that subject as well.  Across the SEC, two coaches point out their players flaws more than most others — Steve Spurrier and Derek Dooley.  Might Mushcamp have had one of those coaches in mind?  Someone else?