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1978 Florida Gators football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	1978
team	Florida Gators
sport	football
conference	Southeastern Conference
short_conf	SEC
record	4–7
conf_record	3–3
head_coach	Doug Dickey
hc_year	9th
def_coach	Doug Knotts
dc_year	9th
captain	Mike DuPree
captain2	Don Swafford
stadium	Florida Field

The 1978 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Doug Dickey's ninth and last year as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The 1978 Florida Gators finished with a 4–7 overall record and a 3–3 Southeastern Conference (SEC) record, tying for fourth among ten SEC teams. Former Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier, who had lived in Gainesville since wrapping up his NFL career in 1976, was tapped by Dickey to be the Gators' quarterback coach, his first coaching job.

However, without the proper talent to run the new scheme, Florida's 1978 scoring output was almost identical to 1977's output – about 22 points per game. Florida struggled with consistency, never winning consecutive games, losing to traditional rivals Georgia and Florida State, and enduring their first losing season since 1971. Days before the final game, Dickey (along with Spurrier and the rest of the coaching staff) were told by University of Florida president Robert Q. Marston that they would be let go after the season. Days after the season finale, Florida announced that Clemson coach Charley Pell had been hired to coach the Gators.

Schedule

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Postseason

After leaving Florida, Dickey went into private business for several years before becoming the athletic director of the University of Tennessee's Volunteers sports program in 1985. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2003. After a dozen years spent as an offensive assistant and head coach in college football and the USFL, Spurrier would return to become Florida's head coach in 1990.

References

Additional sources

References

UPI. (20 November 1978). "No Title so Florida Gives Ax to Dickey". The Evening Independent.
(29 November 2001). "UF Fans can thank Vol's AD for Spurrier". Orlando Sentinel.
Golenbock, ''Go Gators!'', p. 438
Cobb, Mike. (6 December 1978). "UF Unveils Pell as New Head Football Coach". Lakeland Ledger.
(September 17, 1978). "SMU drops Florida". The El Paso Times.
(October 1, 1978). "Gators stun State". Alexandria Daily Town Talk.
(October 8, 1978). "Alexander, Tigers run over Gators". Tallahassee Democrat.
(October 15, 1978). "Bryant unhappy after beating Florida". The Pensacola News-Journal.
(October 22, 1978). "Florida blasts Cadets by 31–7". St. Lucie News Tribune.
(October 29, 1978). "Ivery shines as Ga. Tech sacks Florida". Fort Myers News-Press.
(November 5, 1978). "Limping Gators run over Auburn". The Orlando Sentinel Star.
(November 12, 1978). "Gators' late rally commes up two points short". The Bradenton Herald.
John A. McGill. (November 19, 1978). "History haunts as field goal sinks Wildcats". The Lexington Herald.
(November 26, 1978). "FSU throttles Florida, 38–21". The Miami Herald.
(December 3, 1978). "Gators muff Dickey's sendoff". St. Petersburg Times.
''[http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2015/media_guide.pdf 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide] {{webarchive. link. (2015-12-08 '', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.)
"Florida Football '79". University Athletic Association, Inc..
{{College Football HoF

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