Gainesville, Coach Donovan, Patrick Young discussed on The Paul Finebaum Show
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The absolute success. And I know that it's been a while since this program went back to back national championships. That's still pretty amazing. Absolutely. When you think about it, they seem pretty happy right now with the way the direction of the program is going, but the expectations are going to be through the roof. You know, that fallen before you go. Talk about approaching the job and dealing with what is expected in Gainesville. Yeah, no, it's all valid, what you're talking about. There's a lot of high expectations in Gainesville at Florida. I understand that, you know, what coach Donovan was able to do in his time there was incredible. He really just raised the level at the program and obviously sustained it for significant period of time with the back to back national championships, but that runny had on the back end was pretty special too with Patrick young and all those guys getting to final fours and just competing. And so that pressure is a privilege is the way I look at it and obviously we had a great year at San Francisco last year it presented some opportunities for me and my family, but when Florida became an option and this was the one that I felt like we could win national championships here. And so as a coach, as a competitor, you want to put yourself in a situation where you can give yourself the best chance. And I thought Florida would do that and obviously I think we've done a good job building the foundation. We have some really good pieces that we're going to be able to continue to build off of. And I'm excited for the challenge. A lot of times coach Garland, when someone comes into the SEC, their mouths open, just in awe of all the places that you go, you've already been here. You've had that experience and an extremely high level is built as Bruce built a program that ultimately went to the final four. What was his first trek around the SEC like for you? Yeah, it was awesome. First of all, to your point, just a level of competitiveness on a night tonight basis is something that I don't think many are ready for or can prepare for before getting back into the league. We had some great teams in the WCC Gonzaga, obviously playing for national championships, saint Mary's BYU, some really competitive teams, but the depth and breadth of this league and the fact that if you don't have it on a given night, you're just going to get beat. There's no question about it. And the mental toughness that you have to exhibit to be consistent in this league, we finished 99 in the SEC and I'm telling you, it was a war just to get to that level. So it's a huge challenge. It's something that's going to keep you on your toes on a day to today basis. And something that if you're not prepared for, you're going to get kicked in the butt pretty hard. I would like to get your thoughts on recruiting right now