Charley Pell, former Alabama player and assistant coach from the Bear Bryant
1960's glory years, was tapped to lead the Gators to what would hopefully be
their first SEC title. He had taken a moribund Clemson program and in two
years compiled a 19-4-1 record, 11-1 in '78 with his ACC Champion Tigers
defeating Ohio State in the infamous Gator Bowl game where Woody Hayes punched
Clemson LB Charlie Bauman and was forced to retire. Pell's "Operation
Saturation" began immediately, an all-out blitz to put Gator football first
and foremost in the minds of every high school player and fan in the state of
Florida. Unfortunately, injuries destroyed his first team with LB Scott
Brantley going out for the season and having his career in jeopardy with a
concussion that was so severe, he was diagnosed with a "brain bruise." Other
than a close loss to Houston and tie with Georgia Tech in the first two games,
the 0-10-1 record accurately reflected their performances. The offense
finished last in the SEC and was one of the worst in the country. They came on
against Auburn but showed little past Cris Collinsworth who had All American
ability and caught forty-one passes for 593 yards and two TD's. DE Yancy
Sutton had to carry the load after dynamic David Galloway was injured in the
opener and was out for the year. David Little continued the level of
excellence he had shown in '78 at LB. Brantley eventually received clearance
to resume his career and had a productive eight years with the
Buccaneers. Pell dressed his Gators in new headgear, again utilizing the
orange helmet shell with a one-inch white center stripe that was flanked by
one-half-inch blue stripes and for the first time, the soon-to-be-iconic
script "Gators" logo on each side in blue lettering that was trimmed in white.
Pell maintained the white mask that contrasted well with the blue shell.
As the suspension era came to a close, Coach Pell came blasting out of the
gate in 1980 with three opening wins but in the next game, a loss to LSU,
starting QB Bob Hewko went down and true freshman Wayne Peace stepped in. He
guided the team well, suffering a close last minute 26-21 loss to Georgia on
what is still a famous 97-yard TD pass from Bulldog QB Buck Belue to Lindsay
Scott for the winning score with 1:03 left in the game. FB James Jones came
into his own and eventually had a solid ten-year career with the Lions and
Seahawks. WR Cris Collinsworth was an All American receiver, the Bengals
number two draft choice in '81 where he had a productive eight-year bout with
them, earned his law degree in the off-seasons, and currently is one of the
best known NFL commentators on television. David Little remained a terror at
linebacker and played for the Steelers as a valued member of their defense
from 1981 through 1992. Despite the last-minute defeat by Georgia and the
"salt-in-the wounds" embarrassment at Miami where 'Canes head coach Howard
Schnellenberger, ahead 28-7 in the final seconds, called a time out so that
his field goal team could tack on another three points to the 31-7 blowout,
Florida remained solid. The Gators played Florida State tough in a 17-13 loss
and in the Tangerine Bowl, bested Maryland 35-20 for a final record of 8-4
which was one of the all-time best year-to-year turnarounds in college
football history. The Tangerine Bowl was the first of four consecutive
post-season games Pell led the team to. He was gearing up for a spectacular
1984 but the rumors of recruiting irregularities that had begun in 1982 caught
up to him. The alleged grievances were so extreme that the NCAA pressured the
university to fire Pell which they did. The head coach left with a 1-1-1
record for September and assistant Galen Hall took over and guided the team to
a 9-1-1 mark. When the NCAA released their report of the Florida investigation
on October 23, 1984, the team kept its poise despite proof of fifty-nine major
violations in thirty-one distinct areas of conduct ranging from spying on
opponents, operating an ongoing slush fund to pay players, to illegal
recruiting inducements. A two-year ban on post-season appearances kept the '84
team from a bowl, scholarships were lost, and the staff was reduced by two
assistant coaches. The SEC voted to vacate the conference title for the first
time in its history and Florida again was denied its first SEC crown. Hall
remained as coach into the 1989 season, first posting another 9-1-1 record in
'85 and generally putting good teams on the field each season with many
players who ascended to NFL stardom including Emmitt Smith. Unfortunately, at
4-1 in 1989, Hall admitted to a number of recruiting violations and illegal
payment to assistant coaches and immediately resigned on October 8th.
Defensive coordinator Gary Darnell led the team as interim head coach but a
week later, three players were suspended for gambling on college football. The
Gator program was in turmoil again with sanctions coming for the entire
athletic department but there was a silver lining to the storm cloud. Favorite
son Steve Spurrier, the 1966 Florida Heisman Trophy winner, returned to
Gainsville after coaching Duke to its best performances in years and the rest,
as the popular expression goes, "is history." Spurrier led the Gators to
unsurpassed glory, regular contention for both the conference and national
championships, and developed a number of award winning and eventual NFL
quarterbacks.
