Topic: NHR - Swamp Kings on Netflix

[Johnnyherd]

I recommend it.  It's about 2005-2009 Florida Gators.  Wow, it shows a completely different side of Urban Meyer. 

[MUther]

I recommend it.  It's about 2005-2009 Florida Gators.  Wow, it shows a completely different side of Urban Meyer.

I though Urban only showed his backside.

[herdorbust2]

Very good.

[Johnnyherd]

I though Urban only showed his backside.

He was an abusive to those young men emotionally, physically and mentally.  He could have won without all that crazy stuff.

[HerdEcon]

Watched it a few days ago.  Very good and insightful docudrama.  Not sure I would go as far as to say abusive.  I haven't heard any ex-player refer to it as abusive (of course I haven't looked for it either).  It seemed the ex-players interviewed were proud of what they accomplished and what they went through to get there.

Definitely a demanding boot camp type mentality which may have saved some of those players lives or kept them from going down a very bad road in life.  Great insight into what it took to achieve what they did. 

[Johnnyherd]

Watched it a few days ago.  Very good and insightful docudrama.  Not sure I would go as far as to say abusive.  I haven't heard any ex-player refer to it as abusive (of course I haven't looked for it either).  It seemed the ex-players interviewed were proud of what they accomplished and what they went through to get there.

Definitely a demanding boot camp type mentality which may have saved some of those players lives or kept them from going down a very bad road in life.  Great insight into what it took to achieve what they did.

Mainly when he would exercise them until they were puking and passing out.  When he would do things like make you do an ab routine of leg lifts for 20 mins and if one player dropped his feet.  He would call out the player that failed and he would punish the whole team and make them all start over, which would ostracize that player.

Their middle linebacker was Urban's muscle.  He said that a freshman dropped his feet and the LB said you do that again and I'm gonna punch you in the face and the freshman did it again and the LB went over and hit him in front of the team and coaches.

Having coach points like "Do your F*cling job!!!" And "beat the f*cking %^&* out of those motherf*ckers"

He even said in 2009 he had his new middle linebacker calling Tebow out in front of the team at halftime for not playing well enough caused the whole team team split in half.  He said the linebacker was mimicking him exactly because he thought that's what you do.

If a player makes a mistake under Urban, it's the team's job to go over and tell him, he's a p-o-s and blame him for the mistake and the loss.   That's a lot to put on 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds that don't know any better.

[Flat Tire 2]

Goodness, you boys have no idea what Sonny Randle did when he was the coach at of the MU football team. He made Urban look like Mother Teresa.

[Johnnyherd]

Goodness, you boys have no idea what Sonny Randle did when he was the coach at of the MU football team. He made Urban look like Mother Teresa.

Randle averaged 2.4 wins a season for 5 years, so that tells you exactly how much treating players like that helps you win.

[Flat Tire 2]

Johnie, I watched Sonny practices. You have no idea of how badly he treated players. He cost MU money with the settlement of legal cases.

[wasbarryb]

Randle averaged 2.4 wins a season for 5 years, so that tells you exactly how much treating players like that helps you win.

Hed recruit far better players than Marshall was used to getting at that time, then chase them off with his approach.

[Flat Tire 2]

Hed recruit far better players than Marshall was used to getting at that time, then chase them off with his approach.

He tried to run off all the players from the previous regime under Ellwood. One player he ran off one of the best player from Ellwood who was better than any player Sonny ever recruited. Sonny was stupid by not evaluating the players on the team, he just made the decision to run them off.  Sonny didn't have to physically and emotionally abuse players.

[Johnnyherd]

He tried to run off all the players from the previous regime under Ellwood. One player he ran off one of the best player from Ellwood who was better than any player Sonny ever recruited.

Just call them in the office and tell them theyre being cut and need to find a new school or retire.  Part of being a coach is cutting athletes.

I just remember Doc Holiday was on that staff 05 06 07.  I don't know if people put together that we have sort of hired off a national championship team staff.

[Herdalum83]

I thought it was a PR Fluff piece for Urban and the Gators. The documentary barely glosses over the dozens of legal issues and controversies players on those Florida teams had both at UF and beyond and how frequently Meyer covered the tracks and bailed out his stars.

If you want a rundown of all of the off-field insanity the "documentary" left out this article does a good job of it. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-florida/article278544154.html

With that said, I was still entertained by the 4 part series and enjoyed the things it did cover. I just think it could have told a more well-rounded story of what was really happening on and off the field at Florida at that time. Instead, it seemed like it went out of its way to sugarcoat the low points and only really dive into the highs of the Meyer Era of Gators football. Hell even at the end it mentioned that Meyer returned to coaching at Ohio State and won another National Title, but doesn't mention that things there ended on a sour note before mentioning he made a jump to the NFL to coach the Jaguars but states that "Meyer left after 13 games into his first season." It doesn't say was FIRED it purposefully uses the word "left" to make it sound better for Urban's sake.

I just would have enjoyed it more with a little more objectivity and a little less flattery to Urban Meyer and the UF Program.

[gochneaur645]

Urban is garbage. I haven't seen it, but the unanimous opinion seems to be it might as well be PR for him.

[Flat Tire 2]

Just call them in the office and tell them theyre being cut and need to find a new school or retire.  Part of being a coach is cutting athletes.

I just remember Doc Holiday was on that staff 05 06 07.  I don't know if people put together that we have sort of hired off a national championship team staff.

Johnnie, he literary tried to run off players by turning practice into marathon runs. He berated the players and in one case, a player was assaulted by an assistant coach. MU was faced with a legal suit by the player's parents. He would make players run laps around the field with a truck tire on his shoulders The Michelin Man. Sonny should have been fired at his first spring practice.

 I not sure if you could pull a scholarship in those days? If he could have pulled scholarships, why did Sonny physically and emotionally abuse the players to get them to leave the team?  I know one Elllwood recruited player he tried to run off and he told me that a group of about five of former Ellwood stayed with the team.

I got to know Sonny when he was working in radio in Virginia after MU football. He seem to be a OK by that point in his life.