Changing the culture article plus notes at the bottom

[TheTodd]

When he took over as Florida’s football coach after leading Utah to a win over Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl in January of 2005, Urban Meyer knew he was dealing with a team that won games it wasn’t supposed to and lost games it should have won. He also knew there was a serious need for an injection of discipline. What he didn’t know was that he was going to have to change the entire football culture starting with the way players treated each other.

“When we first got here five years ago they had freshmen in a separate locker room,” Meyer said at his post-practice media briefing Friday morning. “It was like a bunch of little tin lockers. Think about this for a minute. This is a big time college football program and we had fights and stuff because they treat the freshmen like they were non-people … don’t walk through here or we’ll kick your tail and shave your eyebrows.”

Meyer puts such emphasis on team-building as part of building a program from the ground up. Older players are taught to respect and mentor the freshmen and when the freshmen become sophomores, they have to start taking on leadership roles by helping the newbies from the moment they arrive on campus.

Obviously, it’s a philosophy that works. In the three years Ron Zook ran the program, the Gators were 23-15. In Meyer’s four years on the job, the Gators are 44-9 with two national championships.

The championships couldn’t have happened without breaking the culture that was in place and changing it to one where the team priorities are over and above individual and personal goals. Everybody shares the same locker room and players that don’t treat other players with respect either change or find themselves looking for a new place to play.

“It took us awhile to break that great culture that was here,” Meyer said. “That was tremendous. You don’t win many games but you beat up freshmen and shave eyebrows. It was absolutely unbelievable.”

Proof that team-building attitudes prevail was offered recently when a freshman stood in front of the team to thank his upperclassmen.

“Now we have a freshman that’s really going through some hard times and he stood up in front of the team the other day and with tears rolling down his eyes he said he want to thank the older guys for taking care of me,” Meyer said. “That’s called a team, that’s not called some silly nonsense.

“We had that [silly nonsense] before. That was five years ago. Let’s get our brains kicked in by our rival but let’s go beat up a freshman.”

DOE NOT PRACTICING: Dustin Doe might have cleared up his legal troubles but he is not practicing with the team yet. He is working out and trying to get in shape but it might be awhile before he sees the field.

“Dustin Doe is not back,” Meyer said. “Dustin Doe’s still just training to get himself back in shape and get himself in position. There will certainly be a suspension or more. I’m still evaluating that but that has not been decided yet but there will be one [suspension] and there could be more.”

Doe had a fine sophomore season but seemed to regress in 2008. Meyer hinted at attitude and used Doe’s legal problems which stemmed from an arrest for driving on a suspended license the same day an officer cut him (Doe) a break and didn’t ticket him at a routine traffic stop. Four hours later Doe drove by the exact same officer, who had no choice but to arrest Doe.

“It’s really, really disappointing,” Meyer said. “[He’s] defiant … he’s a good guy just for some reason don’t drive … don’t drive. I don’t want to make light of a career because the great thing is it’s not over. We’re certainly not turning our back on a guy for that kind of situation but we live in the united States of America and there are laws. Follow the laws.”

SECOND CHANCE GUY: Meyer has a reputation as a coach who will give a second, third or even a fourth chance to someone who is really trying to get his life back in order. Sometimes, the chances run out, however, and that moment when he has to cut a player loose was described as “awful.”

The worst time ever for Meyer was when Avery Atkins left the program. Atkins had a promising freshman year in 2005 and would have been a starter on the 2006 national championship team but he left the program. Meyer still tried to give Atkins more chances but Atkins wouldn’t take them. In July of 2007, Avery Atkins died at his home in Daytona Beach due to an overdose of drugs.

“It’s one of the worst things because we’ve seen what happens around here and we had a devastating thing happen a couple of years ago when the chances ran out,” Meyer said.

Turning a player loose is something Meyer said he tries “not to do that often. We have done it around here but it’s not something we’re proud of.”

SATURDAY: Coming off a Friday morning practice that that emphasized short yardage and goal-line work, the Gators will have their final two-a-day practice Friday evening. Saturday will be a full-scale scrimmage.

“We finish tomorrow with a lengthy game-simulated scrimmage down at the intramural fields where we practice and then we move up here [to the Sanders Practice Fields] on Monday,” Meyer said.

Saturday’s scrimmage will be game-tempo complete with substitutions, kickoffs and punts and it will be officiated by a full crew.

Meyer said he’s not expecting the scrimmage to decide any position battles.

“We’re pretty well grooved up on positions right now,” he said. “There are still a couple of areas that we’re kind of playing around with.”

SPECIAL TEAMS: One of the few battles still taking place is on special teams where sophomore Caleb Sturgis is battling with incumbent Jonathan Phillips for the placekicking job.

“Sturgis is nipping at his toes now,” Meyer said. “As a matter of fact he’s biting at those toes.”

Sturgis struggled with kickoffs the first half of 2008 but handled that well in the second half of the season. Meanwhile, Phillips, who will be attending Florida law school in the fall, set a school record with 114 kick-scoring points.

Meyer said the two could end up splitting the extra point and field goal jobs.

“Sturgis and our lawyer are going at it pretty good,” he said. “We’ll decide about it next week.”

The punting job is secure for Chas Henry although Meyer did single out backup David Lerner. Mike Williamson is the long snapper for punts and his backup is freshman Chris Guido from Orlando. John Fairbanks will snap on placekicks with Chas Henry holding.

CHAMPIONS NIGHT: Former Tampa Bay Bucs and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy was the speaker Thursday night when the Gators did their annual Champions Night. Dungy, who has retired from coaching to devote his time to a higher calling, has written books such as “Quiet Strength” and “Uncommon.” Meyer has read “Quiet Strength” and said he hasn’t had a chance yet to read “Uncommon,” which Meyer said is “about how you live your life off the field, what a real definition of what a man is.”

Dungy’s speech was inspirational to Meyer and he felt the team left the evening feeling inspired as well.

“Tony Dungy came in and gave a strong message, really strong,” Meyer said. “It’s one of my favorite nights of the year.”

DE-STRIPINGS: Freshmen Stephen Alli and Nick Alajajian are officially Gators after losing their stripes at Friday’s practice. Alli is a 6-6, 215-pound wide receiver from Canada while Alajajian is a 6-4, 300-pound offensive lineman.

Alli, who is playing American football for only the second year, continues to surprise everyone with his sheer athletic ability.

“Everybody knows he’s kind of raw,” said Meyer. “He goes as hard as he can and he’s like a deer sometimes, just flopping around out there but he’s going to be a really good player.”

Because he’s only played one full year of American football at the high school level, Meyer would like to redshirt Alli, but it’s possible the young guy will play.

“I’d say no [he won’t play] but if he makes the jump he made from first week to week two it’s possible,” Meyer said. “He’s doing things that only 6-6, 215-pound fast people can do and that’s jump over people and make catches and that’s kind of cool. Our quarterbacks like that for some reason.”

[radbag]

Canada in the hizzle!!!