Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Emmitt Smith, Wilber Marshall, Fred Taylor, Cris Collinsworth, Lomas Brown, Jack Youngblood and, of course, Tim Tebow, to name a few.

Urban Meyer won two BCS titles coaching the Gators, but the way he left Gainesville rubbed a lot of UF faithful the wrong way, including Youngblood.

Speaking with Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi on his Open Mike radio show on 740-AM in Orlando, Youngblood blasted Meyer.

“When somebody tells me something to my face, I expect it to be truth,” Youngblood told Bianchi. “When it turns out to not be the truth, that doesn’t (put him) very high on my Christmas card list.”

After the 2009 season, Meyer announced he was taking a leave of absence after suffering chest pains and being taken to the hospital after Florida lost the SEC Championship Game to Alabama, 32-13.

But in March, Meyer returned to full-coaching duties, after assistant Steve Addazio served on an interim basis. 

But after an 8-5 season, Meyer said he was retiring to spend more time with his family on Dec. 8, 2010. He coached the Gators to a 37-24 win against Penn State in the Jan. 1, 2011, Outback Bowl.

He then took a job as ESPN college football analyst and on Nov. 22, 2011, accepted the head coach position at Ohio State, less than a year from saying, “I’ve not seen my two girls play high school sports. They’re both very talented Division I-A volleyball players, so I missed those four years. I missed two already with one away at college. I can’t get that time back.”

Youngblood, who played at UF from 1968-70 and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, said Meyer used Tebow during his tenure at Florida, too.

“He said character was the No. 1 thing and the main thing he was recruiting on,” Youngblood told Bianchi. “That didn’t happen. And then all of the stuff at the end of (his time at Florida), there just was no consistency to me.”


PENN STATE STAFF IN PLACE


James Franklin worked magic at Vanderbilt.

His Penn State staff is now in place as he embarks on returning the Nittany Lions to college football relevance.

On Friday, Franklin announced his first staff at Penn State, largely a collection of assistants who were with him at Vanderbilt and the majority of them already reported headed to University Park, Pa.

Seven of the nine assistants were at Vanderbilt at least the past two seasons.

“I am very pleased to bring to Penn State a staff of great family men, tremendous teachers and developers of talent, and the most aggressive recruiting staff in the country,” Franklin said in a statement.

After appearing in just one bowl game since 1983, Vanderbilt went to three consecutive bowl games in Franklin’s three seasons in Nasvhille. Franklin was 24-15 and the Commodores had back-to-back nine-win seasons the past two years — the most wins by a Vanderbilt team since it went 9-1 in 1915 while playing in the SIAA. 

The coaches arriving from Vanderbilt include Bob Shoop (defensive coordinator/safeties), John Donovan (offensive coordinator/TE), Brent Pry (assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/LB), Josh Gattis (offensive recruiting coordinator/WR), Herb Hand (run game coordinator/OL), Ricky Rahne (passing game coordinator/QB), Sean Spencer (DL).

Terry Smith (defensive recruiting coordinator/CB) comes from Temple and Charles Huff (special teams coordinator/RB) arrives from Western Michigan.

Bill O’Brien left Penn State after two seasons to become head coach of the Houston Texans in the NFL. The Nittany Lions, who are ineligible for the postseason for two more seasons and still face scholarship limitations from NCAA penalties stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal, went 8-4 and 7-5 under O’Brien.


STANFORD PROMOTES DC


Stanford named assistant coach Lance Anderson as its defensive coordinator on Friday, head coach David Shaw announced.

Anderson, who coaches outside linebackers and with the Cardinal for seven seasons, replaces Derek Mason, who left to become head coach at Vanderbilt.

“Lance has worked under two of the best defensive minds in football in Vic Fangio and Derek Mason,” Shaw said. “He will continue our defensive tradition of being aggressive, being physical and setting the tone for how we play football here at Stanford University.”

Anderson also has coached defensive tackles at Stanford.

Last season, the Cardinal was 10th in scoring defense (19.0 points per game), third in rushing defense (89.4 yards per game), 16th in total defense (343.1) and seventh in tackles for loss (7.8 per game).


DORRELL JOINS VANDY STAFF


Karl Dorrell is officially offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt.

On Friday, new Commodores coach Derek Mason announced his staff and, as expected, the former UCLA head coach will run Vanderbilt’s offense.

Since going 35-27 in five seasons at UCLA (2003-07), Dorrell coached receivers with the Miami Dolphins (2008-10), quarterback with the Dolphins (2011) and was quarterbacks coach the past two seasons with the Houston Texans.

Along with Dorrell, Mason’s staff includes David Kotulski (defensive coordinator), Charles Bankins (RB, special teams), Gerry Gdowski (WR), Keven Lightner (OL), Kenwick Thompson (OLB) and Vavae Tata (DL).

“Each of these coaches are quality individuals, the type of men you want to be associated with, I can assure that the young men we attract as Vanderbilt student-athletes will receive tremendous coaching on the field and be guided by great mentors off the field,” Mason said.

Kotulski spent the last two years coaching inside linebackers at Stanford, where Mason was defensive coordinator.

Contributor: Ken Bradley, The Associated Press