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Less than 24 hours after the end of the Gators' season, the Gainesville Sun is reporting that offensive coordinator Brent Pease is out of a job:
Less than 24 hours after UF’s 37-7 loss to arch-rival Florida State, Muschamp fired offensive coordinator Brent Pease during a Sunday morning meeting, according to sources close to the situation.
The very first report of the move that I saw came from Bruce Feldman, who had a source on November 24 saying that Pease and offensive line coach Tim Davis would get their walking papers. Davis's status is undetermined as of now.
Pease was somewhat of an odd choice. The idea was to bring in the Boise State offense, which in and of itself wasn't a bad idea, but Pease might not have been the best guy to get for that. Bryan Harsin was the offensive coordinator there for the glory years of 2006-10, while Pease was only the offensive coordinator for one year in 2011. Texas had scooped up Harsin for the 2011 season at the same time Muschamp hired Charlie Weis, though, paving the way for Pease's sole year in charge of the offense in Boise.
There also is the question of whether Muschamp gave Pease full reign over the offense. Only at times did we see the kinds of unique plays and large pre-snap movement that are the hallmarks of the Boise State offense, suggesting that Muschamp may have mandated the generic power run attack we saw most often.
UPDATE
Muschamp, for his part, said he'd be open to something new:
UF coach Will Muschamp says he's willing to reevaluate his offensive philosophy: "I'll do what we need to do to win."
— Jason Lieser (@PBPjasonlieser) November 30, 2013
We'll see how much actually changes. Muschamp is no longer the rookie coach he was when he hired Weis and sort of still was when he hired Pease. Three years in, he had better have learned something by now. It's too early to say what direction the team goes in, whether it will find a splashy name elsewhere or do something as banal as promoting former offensive coordinators Joker Phillips or Brian White from within the current staff. Whoever it is will need to be a good quarterbacks coach, as development at that position has been underwhelming at best for UF since Dan Mullen left.
But someone's head had to roll for the 4-8 season in Gainesville, and Pease's is the first one to tumble.