Urban Meyer is dealing with the Departure of Coaches and a Mass Defection

One of the stories that has gained momentum since Billy Gonzales left for LSU was that the wide receivers coach was shown the door because he was aware of the birthday party attended by Dunlap and several other prominent players.
"That's absolutely not true," Meyer said. "In fact, that's the first I've heard of that one. Billy left because he was passed up last year for the offensive coordinator's job (which went to Steve Addazio). It was about the title."
Gonzales is now the passing game coordinator at LSU. Much of the speculation was based on how quickly Meyer hired Zach Azzanni from Central Michigan after word leaked Gonzales was leaving.
"We had to act quickly on that because of recruiting and because we have a bowl game coming up," Meyer said. "I knew the guy and we moved fast on that."
Meyer hasn't had to act as quickly in replacing Charlie Strong as defensive coordinator because Strong, as first reported in The Sun, will coach the defense in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 vs. No. 4 Cincinnati (12-0) before returning to Louisville. Meyer denied reports Ole Miss defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix was offered the job and turned it down.
"I talked to Tyrone. I've known Tyrone for a long time," Meyer said. "But we would have had to change our whole defense if we hired him. We would have had to change everything our players are doing, and we didn't want to do that."
"I'm going to take my time with that hire."
Meyer was also asked about reports that many of the UF juniors are going to turn pro including Joe Haden, Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, Aaron Hernandez, Carlos Dunlap, Lawrence Marsh, Chris Rainey, Ahmad Black and Major Wright.
"They'll be getting their (NFL) paperwork back in a couple of weeks and I'll sit down and talk to each of them," Meyer. "If they're an early-round pick, that's one thing."
Haden, Hernandez and Dunlap are all considered first-round selections according to ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., who lists Maurkice Pouncey as the second best junior center available and Mike Pouncey as the third best junior guard. The remaining players are not among his top five juniors.

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