Here are the five worst coaches in the history of Florida Gators Football

Josh Cody (1936-1939)

Cody has a 17–24 record while leading the Gators for four years. This was unexpected given that he had

just started his new position and had recently finished a productive four-year career (29-11) with the

Clemson Tigers. When comparing his winning % in Gainesville to his tenure with the Tigers, Cody

almost cut it in half.

Tom Lieb (1940-1945)

Prior to moving to Gainesville, Lieb underperformed at Loyola Marymount University, finishing his final

two seasons there with records of 4-7 and 4-8 in 1938 and 1939, respectively. It is perplexing that the

Gators hired Lieb after Josh Cody’s poorly performing tenure. However, they went ahead and did so,

which led to the program’s ongoing decline.

After a 4-5-1 season in 1945, Lieb’s contract with the Gainesville squad was not renewed. He would go

20-26 in his five years there. In his first year at the school, 1940, Lieb had a 5-5 record.

Raymond “Bear” Wolf (1946-1949)

Wolf would enter a difficult situation in Gainesville, following two unsuccessful coaching tenures in Josh

Cody and Tom Lieb who combined for a 37-50 record in their combined stint spanning the prior 10 years

before his arrival. Trying to resurrect a program with that recent history is no small task. Regardless,

Wolf was not up to it.

During his four years in Gainesville, Wolf would go 13-24 with his best season being 5-5 in 1948. His first

year would be an 0-9 season which did not leave the Gators with much hope either. Wolf would be fired

after the 1949 season.

Ron Zook (2002-2004)

Zook was 23-14 during his time at Gainesville and never experienced a losing season. In actuality, his

first two seasons were 8-5 campaigns. The issue was that the Gators had just finished a lengthy and

prosperous period of success under the direction of the renowned Steve Spurrier, a quarterback who

won the Heisman Trophy and led his alma mater to nine seasons of ten wins or more in his twelve years

at the school. In 1996, this also included a national championship.

One would expect that Spurrier’s success would enable the next coach to win more than eight games in

his finest campaign, but Zook was only able to achieve that much. Furthermore, given that Florida is a

hotbed of high school talent and the Gators are Zook’s tenure atop the SEC mountain during the 1980s

and 1990s was brief, since he was fired in 2004.

Will Muschamp (2011-2014)

Like Zook, Muschamp took over a team that appeared to be at the top of the college football world

following the victories the Gators had in two BCS National Championships during head coach Urban

Meyer’s six years at the school, thanks to the play of quarterbacks Chris Leak and Tim Tebow.

Although Muschamp was considered the next young, up-and-coming coach who had recently assisted in

leading the Texas Longhorns to the 2009 national championship as the defensive coordinator, he was an

offensively minded Meyer’s opposite in terms of mindset.

But Muschamp’s success as a coordinator would not translate to Gainesville, where he would lead the

Gators to a 28-21 record in his four years as head coach.

school. While Muschamp did have a successful 11-2 season in 2012, his prior seasons were poor, with his

second-best season in 2011 being only 7-6, which finally resulted in his firing.

Gainesville’s situation deteriorated to the point where at times one could hear “fire Muschamp” clearly

within the stadium. A particularly low point for Muschamp came during the 2013 season in Gainesville,

when the Gators fell to Georgia Southern 26–20. At the time, Georgia Southern was an FCS program.

Get more content on ajbnews.co.uk