Florida is looking for a new coach, and rumors are rampant -- so rampant that school officials released a statement Monday morning saying no one has been offered the job.
Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze, who has guided the Rebels to a 9-3 mark this season, is the subject of most of the rumors; there have been reports that he is mulling an offer from Florida.
That Florida officials felt the need to publicly respond is interesting. Rumors surrounding coaching searches are normal, but generally schools say nothing, with the thought being, "Why fan the flames?" Consider them flamed. One school of thought is that Florida indeed is interested in Freeze, and doesn't want it to appear to Freeze that anyone from its side is leaking info; then again, it behooves schools not to let this kind of thing get out (a coach's agent, on the other hand ...). Another school of thought: Florida is not interested in Freeze and instead is focusing on someone else -- someone whom school officials don't want to think that he is the second choice.
Florida is 10-13 in the past two seasons, and Will Muschamp's final game as coach was Saturday's 24-19 loss to Florida State in which the Gators' offense -- which has been horrible, for the most part, under Muschamp -- again had trouble moving the ball. Florida forced four turnovers, but managed just six points off those turnovers.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
