Florida Defensive Coordinator Position Filled for at Least Another Month

Hint: he's not the balding quarterback in the foreground.

The search for the University of Florida's third defensive coordinator of 2010* has finished, a fact confirmed by the Arizona Cardinals' website. Why the website of an NFL team in Arizona? Because former Cards secondary coach Teryl Austin is going to be the guy in Gainesville.

This hire continues the sudden trend of SEC teams hiring NFL position coaches to defensive coordinator jobs, with Florida's former guy George Edwards and Georgia's Todd Grantham getting nods. At least Grantham had more than one season of prior defensive coordinator experience, unlike Edwards or Austin.

Austin has experience at Syracuse, Michigan, and Wake Forest, and he worked with Steve Addazio while at Syracuse. That time in upstate New York undoubtedly helped him in being considered in the first place. He will share duties with co-defensive coordinator Chuck Heater. There's no word yet on how big a role Urban Meyer played while on his (wink wink, nudge nudge) leave of absence or why one of the nation's premier programs was either unable or unwilling to find someone with more than a single season of actual coordinator experience to take the job twice.

*Charlie Strong was DC for the Sugar Bowl on January 1.