Florida adapting to new faces on coaching staff

In an offseason that was dominated by questions about whether or not Urban Meyer would stay on as Florida's head coach and how the Gators would adjust to not having Tim Tebow are a host of other leaders around for 2010, another huge chance was in the coaching offices.

Not only did defensive coordinator Charlie Strong leave to become the head coach at Louisville, he took running backs coach Kenny Carter and safeties coach Vance Bedford with him. UF also lost receivers coach Billy Gonzales, who left for a similar post at LSU.

That means four of the nine assistant coaches on Meyer's staff at the start of 2009 are gone. Since Meyer became the head coach at Florida in 2005, the only assistants who remain are co-defensive coordinator Chuck Heater and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio - and neither was in that role in '05.

So when UF opens its season at noon on Sept. 4 by hosting Miami of Ohio, there's also some curiosity about how this staff will function.

Tery Austin took Strong's place, joining the Gators after helping Seattle and Arizona reach the Super Bowl. He hasn't coached in college since as a defensive backs coach at Michigan in 2002. Heater took over the role of coaching safeties and D.J. Durkin is working with the linebackers, part of Strong's old job. Zach Azzanni was hired last December to replace Gonzales so he has been around a little longer. And Stan Drayon, who coached at Florida 2005-07, is back to coach the running backs.

Confused? Imagine how the players must have been, at times.

"You know what, Stan's been here before, he's coached in our system,'' Addazio said. "D.J. and Zach are completely aligned, their tree started with Coach Meyer. He never veered off that tree. The terminology is really not that radical. And of course Teryl came from outside in but he adapted really well to tweak what we do, so to speak, in our frame work and within our terminology.

"So I haven't really felt (an adjustment period). I felt it more in other years when people came in completely unattached to this place. so I don't really feel that.''

Durkin played and coached under Meyer at Bowling Green. Azzanni was also on Meyer's Bowling Green staff, his first job as a head coach.

One thing all have in common? They've been a part of winning teams.

"I think they all come from phenomenal programs, good people, they are winners,'' defensive line coach Dan McCarney said. "Most, if not all, have a great background with Urban Meyer, which makes it pretty unique. . . . I've been on some great staffs. I think this one may be as good as any I've ever been around.''

Despite the changes in coaches, the Gators aren't venturing far from Meyer's plan to win.

"We sure don't want to change too much,'' McCarney said. "The formula is working with Urban Meyer.''

Running back Emmanuel Moody said the changes have made this staff, "High energy.''

"(Drayton is) the best running backs coach in the nation,'' Moody said. "I've learned so much just with the four or five months he's been here. I've learned more than I've learned in a long time. So with the coaching staff, we feel comfortable with that. We follow their lead.''

Meyer was sad to see Strong leave but happy with the transition.

"We lost one of the great coaches in the country in Charlie,'' Meyer said. "We didn't lose him. He obviously was well-deserving of a head coaching position at a great school, Louisville. We hired a guy I'm excited about. We spent a lot of time talking football in the spring and summer. He's a great family man. I'm really excited about Teryl Austin. Chuck Heater. The nuts and bolts of our staff, really, Chuck and coach Addazio, they're the original members. . . . We adapt, we don't change. The new coaches have done a great job of coming in and adapting to Florida style. I feel really good about the staff.''

The Drayton hiring raised a few eyebrows. He left UF after '07 for a job at Tennessee, which seemed to anger Meyer - that he would join a rival. But his return was also symbolic of how quickly this staff molded together and moved on.

"We're a tight staff here and coach Meyer wouldn't have it any other way. . . . So we're all on the same page as a coaching staff on what we expect out of each other and what we expect from our football players,'' Drayton said. "When we take that field, we're all nine-strong, 10-strong coaches and all we've got to do is get the players ready to go.''

Austin has been impressed by the entire group.

"This is a different program, it's a high-energy program,'' he said. "Our head football coach expects us to be chaotic on that football field, yet instructional with our players. And sometimes when you come from another program that kind of shocks you at first. The tempo around this program is fast all the time, we even walk fast in and our of our meetings around here. Sometimes when you come from another place you've got to get used to that. But he saw that day, he saw that the moment he got here. He's been around so he understands that. It doesn't take anyone long to adjust.''

Austin realizes if his defense struggles, there will be whispers.

"I can't compare myself to Charlie,'' Austin said. "Charlie was here for a long time, he did a great job here. I can only be me. I'm going to give the University of Florida and this team everything I've got. And that's what they're going to get. . . . The big thing I didn't want to do was come in here and say, 'Okay, I'm changing everything.' At the end of the day, it's what can our guys do and what can they do well? And so we kind of merged all that together.

"There are no egos in our room, the bottom line is we want to do what's best for our team. And so because I did it some way somewhere else doesn't make it right. And because they did it some way somewhere else doesn't make it right. The big thing is what's right for our team, this year.''