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Former Miami Dolphins defensive icon Bill Arnsparger dies at 88

Bazza

Bazza

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Also former AD at Florida when Coach Spurrier was hired.

Bill Arnsparger designed the first four Miami Dolphins Super Bowl defenses – the No Name Defense of the three 1970s Super teams and The Killer Bs that carried the 1982 Dolphins into the Super Bowl. Of the first eight Super Bowls, five had defenses with Arnsparger’s fingerprints.

The only assistant coach in the Dolphins Honor Roll and former University of Florida athletic director died Friday at 88 of a heart attack at his home in Athens, Ga., according to the Dolphins.
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His three seasons as LSU head coach, 1984-86, was good gumbo in comparison – two SEC titles and Sugar Bowl berths.Arnsparger left LSU for the University of Florida athletic director’s job. The football and men’s basketball programs faced charges of improprieties on his watch, but he changed UF history by hiring former Florida Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier as football coach.
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Nicely written article on Coach Arnsparger HERE for those interested.

RIP Coach....you will be missed.... :(
 
selmaborntidefan

selmaborntidefan

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I have never understood why Arnsparger left LSU. He was incredibly successful (the most successful coach at LSU between Dietzel and Saban, who both won national titles).

I've heard he got run off. Granted, the LSU job back then wasn't what it is now. But going to Florida BACK THEN was NOT a step up. Remember, they were serving horrific sanctions for the Charley Pell era scandals (I think they were off TV for two full years). And it got worse as Pell's successor, Galen Hall, was coach when more sanctions occurred. In fact, Florida was on probation when Spurrier was hired and ineligible for the 1990 title.
 
Bazza

Bazza

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Maybe it was going from head coach to AD that sold him on the Florida job, Bill. Didn't know about being run off.....maybe someone else has info on that.

He had quite a career though.
 
Crimson1967

Crimson1967

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Maybe he was going to make more money as an AD. Maybe he just didn't like being a college head coach. Maybe he just wanted to move back to Florida.

While it does seem odd, there could have been many reasons for it.
 
selmaborntidefan

selmaborntidefan

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Crimson1967 said:
Maybe he was going to make more money as an AD. Maybe he just didn't like being a college head coach. Maybe he just wanted to move back to Florida.

While it does seem odd, there could have been many reasons for it.
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Perhaps I shouldn't be musing out loud. Yeah, I mean I can understand that possibility but at the same time - he didn't seem to be all that popular with the base despite being incredibly successful as a college coach (not so much the pros at least as an HC).

Strangely enough, Arnsparger did burn LSU on the way out by hiring Mike Archer as his self-appointed successor......which made things easier on Florida when they played LSU and put LSU into a 15-year funk.
 
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bama579

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CB4 said:
I believe his son, David, is the former head coach and teaches at West Limestone High School. I believe they moved to Athens to be close to David and his family.
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Thanks for the info. It appears the son went from Alabama A&M to West Limestone. His wife is from Decatur.
 
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