Florida Gators Reportedly Part Ways With OL Coach John Hevesy
Photo: John Hevesy; Credit: Zach Goodall
Along with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, the Florida Gators are also parting ways with offensive line coach John Hevesy, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
Grantham's contract was set to expire following the season in January 2022, while Hevesy was one of the highest-earning assistant coaches in the program at $630,000. Both sides of the football have been an issue for Florida, and the offensive line is no different.
Hevesy, 50, has been with Gators head coach Dan Mullen dating back to the duo's careers at Bowling Green and Utah in the early 2000s, before the two earned their first stints at Florida as offensive assistants under Urban Meyer from 2005-08. He then would serve as Mullen's offensive line coach at Mississippi State from 2009-17 before following him back to Florida as the team's co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach from 2018-present.
While the team was able to improve greatly through the first few weeks of the season, Florida's offensive inconsistency reared its head throughout the year, resulting in plenty of issues throwing and running the football. Florida is coming off of one of the worst losses in head coach Dan Mullen's tenure, too, a 40-17 loss against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Gators' only victories over SEC opponents this year have come against Vanderbilt and Tennessee, two losing programs. Florida has otherwise lost all of its remaining SEC contests, including back-to-back losses over the past two weeks.
The team hasn't only struggled on the field, however, it has also struggled in the recruiting arena. Hevesy, the team's primary recruiter of offensive linemen, has failed to bring in top-tier talent, missing on IMG Academy's Tyler Booker for this year's class while his highest-rated commit in 2022 is a converted tight end in Tony Livingston.
Florida shaking up its coaching staff with a 4-5 record shouldn't come as a surprise, and it wouldn't be surprising to see this becoming just the first of many dominos to fall as Florida looks to rebuild its program.
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