There are many things that keep Steve Addazio from being a good, or even competent offensive coordinator. Here are the five most prominent.
1. Inability to Adjust
Steve Addazio completely lacks the ability to adjust the gameplan as the game goes on.
In 2009 against Tennessee and Mississippi State, we saw Florida come out trying to run the ball up the middle. It was completely shut down, but Addazio refused to change it, and continued to call futile HB dives that were stuffed over and over and over again. Later in the 2009 SEC championship game, Addazio decided to come out 5-wide and throw against the Alabama defense. It did not work, but Addazio never adjusted, and Florida never even tried their hand at the running game.
In the 2010 opener against Miami OH we saw it again. Addazio continued to call screen pass after screen pass, even though they were stuffed for no gain (at best) every single time. The one time they let Brantley throw downfield, Deonte Thompson dropped a 50 yard touchdown pass. Miami OH had no safety back deep all game long and the Gator wide receivers could manhandle Miami OH’s weak DBs, but they never got a chance as Addazio continue to call screen passes and HB dives against stacked fronts.
2. Pass Routes Have No Purpose
When an offensive coordinator sits down to draw up a passing play, every route has a purpose. They may have a slot WR on one side run a short drag and a slot WR on the other side run a deep in, so that a linebacker playing zone in the middle would have to pick which to cover, leaving the other wide open. They may run streaks on the outside with a TE running up the seam in the middle with the intent of exposing the hole in a cover 2 defense. However, I am convinced that this concept is completely lost on Steve Addazio.
When Addazio sits down to draw up a play, I’m convinced that he just randomly picks routes. “Hmmm, I’ve got five wide receivers. Let’s see, this guy should run an out, this guy should run a hitch, this guy should run an in, etc”. There is no design to his passing plays, they are just a random collection of routes. There are often two receivers in the same area, in each other’s way, and there is never any design to them to get a certain player open.
3. Inability to Develop Talent
No one has ever done less with more than Steve Addazio. Every player he has coached has underachieved. Tebow regressed as a passer in his season under Addazio, and everyone that has played for him has underachieved. We saw this most recently with Mike Pouncey’s attempt at playing center against Miami OH. There’s no excuse for having an entire offseason to teach a guy how to snap the ball and not being able to do it. Further, there’s no excuse for not replacing him if it’s clear he can’t do it. High school stars will not want to play for Florida much longer, because they know that Addazio will destroy their future.
4. Does Not Use Player’s Strengths
Why is it that Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, two tiny scatbacks, are always running HB dives up the middle while Emmanuel Moody is always running tosses to the outside? Why is John Brantley running the option and not dropping back to pass?
5. Scared to Throw Downfield
A huge part of Florida’s success under Dan Mullen was that if team’s started to stack the box and play the run, he would punish them by throwing over the top. Neglecting the deep ball is one of the main reason’s Florida struggles to run the ball at times. Florida’s receivers have 10x the talent of Miami OH’s defensive backs, and Brantley throws a great deep ball. Yet Florida continued to let Miami OH play the run and the short pass, and never take advantage of the mismatches in single coverage that the defenders had down field. After Deonte Thompason dropped the long TD pass against Miami, it was two full quarters before Florida attempted another pass that was more than ten yards downfield.
Florida has got to stretch the field with the vertical passing game to open up the running game and the underneath passing game. They have all the weapons to do it, the only thing holding them back is, you guessed it, Steve Addazio.
I completely agree. Addazio’s predictable conservative playcalling and ineptitude in making adjustments is killing our offense. It’s incredibly frustrating as a fan to watch so much talent go to waste on offense. I thought it would be different this year. I thought after the Cincinati game and Brantley taking the reigns at qb would open the playbook, but so far I have been wrong. We were the most talented team last year in college football player for player and we let that go to waste and this year appears to be headed toward a similar route. The unfortunate thing is Meyer loves Addazio and won’t fire him. Addazio was a decent o-line coach, but now instead of being good at one job he’s doing poorly with 2 jobs. If we drop a game this year, which if the current playcalling remains the same is very likely, we need to rally and voice our displeasure as fans.
fire addazio !!!! he sucks come on meyer snaps some sence into you
Steve Addazio is the reason the Gator’s offense was so offensive Saturday. Tebow carried that guy like Atlas making Urban and everyone else that wasn’t really paying attention, believe he was actually an offensive coordinator. Remove Tebow, who could just simply get it done at will, and you have a miserable excuse for a playcaller. I feel sorry for these guys, I thought Urban would have adjusted his playbook to account for the new style Florida must play with its current cast. But old Addazio just picked up last years script and ran with it. Poor execution didn’t help, but even when the ball did make it cleanly out from under center the play calling was abominable. Hope Urban steps up and takes more ownership of the offense before Addazio can burn the Gator nation to the ground. He’s been trying for years. Unfortunately we don’t have Tebow to save us from him any more!
Addazio couldn’t bring himself to call a pair of deuces if he were holding four aces. No boldness, no imagination, no balls.
God Bless you for this blog. This is so right on I can not tell you. I played ball for a long time and have been a Gator forever. I know that Coach A held us together, but being a motivational line coach, who does sound like Zook most of the time, and has his foundations in the Big Ten school of coaching, will never make this work!
In case yall have forgotten we are 14-1 with addazio calling plays. Remember whenever everyone wanted to fire dan mullen after losing to ole miss and now everyone wants him back. be careful what you wish for bc you might regret it. Making a website like this makes us as a fanbase look stupid and chances are you have never played a down of football in your life
How’s that 14-1 going now big guy. Can u really not see how bad of a coach he is. Honestly how many OC’s are on the field he needs to get in the booth first but hopefully he won’t be at florida when that happens
5 THING THAT NEED TO BE DONE
#1 FIRE STEVE ADDAZIO
#2 PUT Pouncey back on right guard
#3 Knock some sense into Urban
#4 Let john throw the ball down the field
#5 And hold the football and not fumble the ball
You especially need to go learn something about football. You have no damn clue what the hell you are talking about. Addazio is a great OC you just don’t know how damn good you have it, so shut the hell up and go learn something before you fucking talk about shit don’t fucking know!! I hate this whole website gather whats left of you pride people and get the fuck out of here!
You my friend dont know what you are talking about. A great OC you gotta be kidding me. Brantley is a 300 yd day waiting to happen and with ur OC he struggles to put up 150. You my friend need to take a look at Steve Spurrier that is a great OC. He can draw up plays in sand better than Addazio’s whole playbook.
Have you talked to any players?-Obviously not… They LOVE Coach A!- they respect him. We are talking about men repecting another man- not little youth players. They understand the game better than you ever will and they respect the man calling the plays. Stop being a Sunday morning QB and making people think you know something about coaching. My guess is you never even played the game.
It is about the team- not about you. Learn a little bit about football you dumb ass. It is not about scoring 55 pts every game.
Addazio sucks…the big one.
@game ball
The players loved and respected Ron Zook too. How did that work out?
Having the respect and admiration of the players is great and all, but at some point you have to actually be a good offensive coordinator too, if you want to keep the job.
why is steve on the sideline / maybe if he goes upstairs he could call a better game/ more of the oc i know work upstairs / he needed to give up one of the titles / be oc of line coach he can’t do both/ how about we hire mike leach for oc / he is not doing anything
Fire him NOW for driving the offense into the ground and this embarassment… why does he still have a job????
I hope Addazio starts looking for a new job. Could we look any worse?
mike leach for oc
So glad I found this site. After a year of saying Addazio has to go. Problem is nothing will change this year. Maybe Urban will start calling plays, I hope.
Thank you for this website. I too have been screaming this message for too long.
Question – What can WE do to get this guy out of there? It’ll be a slow decline until it is too late. (i.e. Miami Hurricanes and Larry Coker… a 6-7 no bowl game, etc…)
Have you guys ever thought its your players not your coach’es! you guys weren’t winning last year or the year before about your coaches.
I couldn’t agree more that Addazio is a horrible play caller. That is why I mostly stopped watching the games mid season 2009 because it was so painful. It is like watching someone who doesn’t know how to drive a stick shift trying to drive a Ferrari. The beautiful piece of machinery lunges, sputters and can’t seem to get going. The gears grind horribly and the engine burns.
But maybe your campaign would be more effective if you changed the message to “Demote Steve Addazio.” He is a good offensive line coach, just a horrible play caller and game planner. Meyer can’t let his friendship get in the way of business. He needs to demote Addazio now!
I was about to buy this domain name, and had no idea it existed. I was at the game this weekend, and the only thing that hurt worse than personally witnessing that horrible play calling, is the fact that I must face these Bama fans daily after a back-to-back beat down by the tide. I knew Addazio sucked when Mullen left, pretty much the entire offense from 08 championship returned, and offensive production immediately went down hill when Addazio took the reigns. While I would love to see us right the ship against Bama in the SEC title game, I do fear a three-peat. The only way this can change is to stop being so freakin’ predictable in our play calling. The Bama fans I was near were calling our plays just as easy as I was, and they were drunk!
I’m with yall 100% i live in south carolina, but i’m a die hard gator fan since 1992. Addazio has to go, we’re suffering because of his lack of knowledge, and our o-line is getting beat up. he sucks.
Horrid
Any coach can see when something isn’t working. If you can’t run the ball up the middle… STOP RUNNING IT UP THE MIDDLE!!!! It’s as if he thinks we can just over power people but we obviously can’t. How many games does it take to realize Brantley is a drop back passer. Let him throw it down field PLEASE!!
At this point in the season, with 3 losses in a row, it will hurt recruiting to not have a very public removal of what needs to be perceived as the problem. Enter Addazio. I personally think that he is very predictable as an offensive coordinator, he may improve with time, but the Gators need to make a very public change at the helm to save future seasons. See you later Addazio. Better luck at division AA.
his play calling every game reminds me of the outback bowl game against iowa when ron zook was still the coach and he kept running the same plays and everyone in the crowd was chanting “turn the page” as in to turn the page in the playbook and run different plays ya jackasss!!!!!
Coach “Adios” must go. The absolute worst I’ve ever seen. I grade the site a champion..something coach “Adios” wouldn’t know if it sat on his lap and called him Moma.
Thank you for the work you have put into this site.
I have never, ever visited a “Fire (InsertNameHere)” website before. Never. 100% truth. Not even during the darkest days of the Ron Zook years…and I was a student at UF then. But, after watching the loss to Mississippi State and ranting and raving for most of the season at the inept play calling, I made my way over here on the suggestion of a friend. Your articles are knowledgeable, well-written, and well-argued. You do a great job of putting to “paper” what I’ve been thinking since late last season.
The total lack of offensive imagination, the failure to utilize what is some of the top talent in the country, and the refusal to admit even the slightest hint of the problems our beloved program faces are simply outrageous and have no place in Gator football. And the icing on the cake – the thing that really put me over the edge – were the multiple camera shots of Addazio at different points in the MSU game looking placid, defeated, and/or dumbfounded. Thank you for putting those images on your site.
It’s one thing to have a “down” year, especially with a new starting QB who is diametrically opposed in style to Tim Tebow and with the loss of several key players. I said at the beginning of this year I thought we had a shot at the SEC title at most, but that next year would be King Kong for us. But what we have seen thus far this season goes beyond a “down” year. Losing three in a row, two of them night home games that we had every chance to win is indicative of a much larger problem.
If this level of offensive production continues, we face the real possibility of a 6-loss season (a resurgent Georgia, a dangerous even if unpredictable South Carolina, and a – dare I say it – good looking Florida State team are all potential losses). We are simply too good of a team with too much talent to be performing the way we are this year.
Steve Addazio and his play calling and leadership style (or lack thereof) is at the root of the problem.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading every word on this web site even though the contents are often hard to stomach! It just confirmed all of my accumulative fears as to how our talented Gators are being shortchanged by having an incompetent coach. Why Urban is not taking action is a mystery. It’s fair to the players, the fans, and just as importantly, the rest of the Gator coaching staff, assistants, volunteers and sponsors.
FIRE ADDAZIO- All points made are reasonable and accurate and hopefully Urban Meyer will not continue the punishment of the Gator players, fans or the rest of the coaching staff, by procrastinating on the inevitable.
First time visitor and I have to agree with Firing Addazio. I’ve played football and have been a gator fan forever. After the first few games we struggled in I thought it was just a slow start but after the Bama and last 2 games we lost, this is ridiculous! How can Addazio call dive plays up the middle with Demps who is a speed runner and weighs 190lbs.! Then the worst play I’ve seen so far was against Bama when he called Brantley to run the option to the short side of the field, as he tossed it to Demps who then ran out of bounds!!! WTF man! Tebow is gone, get over it! Throw the ball down the field, we have more talent like on the field then every team we’ve played! The recruiting reports don’t lie, we have plenty of 5 Star receivers but if you don’t throw the ball down the field they can’t be utilized! Stop throwing the swing passes, they’re not working!! Throw a screen pass to Demps when defenses blitz! Or in the redzone throw it to Carl Moore who is 6′-4″!!! I don’t like to bash people but COME ON MAN!!! Wake up Urban!!!
Having Steve Addazio as our OC feels a ton like watching Ron Zook’s teams!
you have no idea how much i wanted a site about firing steve addazio for a long time and its finally up, thank you.
writing this as i watch the south carolina game. i’m sure this site will get at least 5,000 hits tomorrow.
horrible offensive effort!
Hire Mike Leach
Doug, right on! I would LOVE to have Mike Leach! Do we ever pass twice in a row throughout the course of a game?! And I don’t mean screen passes either. I can’t remember the last time I saw two vertical passes in a row under this lame duck offense with Steve A as our OC. And when was the last time we actually attempted, let alone completed, a TD pass into the endzone?!!! Heck, on the occasion that we do pass vertically, when we need 6 yards, we’re throwing a pass for 5 yards and thus, are stopped and forced to punt. How about throwing for the minimum of yards needed for the first down?!!! But as much as Steve A seriously sucks balls and needs to disappear, all the blame falls on Urban. Why? Because you are the head coach, Urban!!! You can override any bogus call that Steve makes…and yet, you continue to allow it. Urban says he tailors the offense to fit his players, but that’s a boldfaced lie! He’s forcing the players into the offense he wants. Sure, Brantley is overthrowing receivers sometimes, but how can he get into a rhythm and feel comfortable in this pathetic offense. And this veteran O-line? What happened?!!! Brantley has gotten little protection all year long even against the worst teams! Bring me a coach who will stretch the field and throw the ball down the field. I miss Spurrier so much. We need a coach who plays to win. Time of possesion, defense, blah, blah, blah… that’s the Big Ten lame philosophy. Score points. Win. It’s that simple. STEVE A HAS TO GO!!!
GET THE HELL OUTTA THE SWAMP AND TAKE THE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR WITH YOU! WILBUR MARSHALL WAS AT THE SC GAME AND HE WALKED OUT OF THE BOOTH, HIS BROTHER TOLD ME TODAY AT WORK. SO DISAPPOINTING!
You are spot on dog!
PLEASE URBAN, FOR THE LOVE OF GATOR NATION, PLEASE….I REPEAT, PPLLEEAASSEE!!!!!!!! FIRE OR DEMOTE THIS GUY. I’M BEGGING YOU!!! HE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BEING A O.C. NEITHER DO I, BUT I KNOW IT DOESN’T SUPPOSE TO LOOK LIKE THIS GARBAGE S.A. IS PUTTING OUT. GATORFANS, THIS MIGHT SOUND IRRELEVANT, BUT WHEN DAN WAS THE O.C.,WASN’T HE IN THE COACHING BOOTH, LOOKING AT THE WHOLE DEFENSE AS HE AUDIBLE PLAYS FOR TEBOW & CO? THEN WHY CAN’T THIS IDIOT DO THE SAME? SOMETIMES, I LOOK REALLY HARD AT THE CAMERA SHOTS WHEN THEY GLANCE TO THE SIDELINE, TO SEE IF THIS BOMB IS THERE. LOW AND BEHOLD, HE’S DOWN THERE, WONDERING WHY 1ST AND 10 ALL OF A SUDDEN TURNED INTO 4TH AND 8……DISPICABLE!!!!!!