Rumph caught Strong by surprise, but chance to return to SEC at Florida was understood
Friday, March 27, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
Florida DL coach Chris Rumph is pumped about return to the SEC. (Photo: Tim Casey)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The announcement by Gators head coach Jim McElwain in early February that Chris Rumph was Florida's new defensive line coach made waves.
For Florida fans, it was the surprise that after only a month on the job, Terrell Williams had left to accept a position with the Miami Dolphins.
They quickly moved on.
As for Texas fans, Rumph's departure after only a season in Austin lingered for a few days. A well-respected coach and proven recruiter, Rumph's decision to leave the Longhorns caught many off-guard, including Texas coach Charlie Strong.
“I think initially it was a shock,'' Rumph said Friday afternoon during his first UF press conference.
However, after Strong and Rumph discussed the matter in detail, the second-year Texas head coach accepted reality.
Rumph's move was for multiple reasons, not just about football.
“I don't want to sound conceited or anything, but he definitely didn't want to lose a coach, to not only Florida, but to any university,'' Rumph said. “But he knew the tradition here, he knows what can be done here.
“He knows it was closer to home for me, my family. So he was a little disappointed, but after he thought about it and knew where I was going, he could understand.”
Strong knows perhaps as well as anyone what Florida offers. Strong began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida in 1983. After stints at Texas A&M and Southern Illinois, he returned in 1989 to coach outside linebackers.
He left again but returned in 1991 as defensive ends coach. And after stints at Notre Dame and South Carolina, Strong returned to UF once more in 2003 and stayed through the 2009 season before becoming head coach at Louisville.
For those scoring at home, Strong has served as an assistant coach at UF under Charley Pell, Galen Hall, Gary Darnell, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook and Urban Meyer.
Rumph, who played at South Carolina and was on Alabama's staff under Nick Saban from 2011-13, also couldn't pass up an opportunity to the return to the Southeastern Conference.
“Ain't nothing like it,'' he said. “Every week you gotta be on your game, so as a coach you love the challenge. Every week it's on the line. It's different when you go up to Tennessee and have 100,000 fans; play here and you got 90,000, Alabama, those other places. That passion here is just different. It's just different.”
Rumph does want to clear up one aspect of his past. His hometown is often referred to as Orangeburg, S.C., located about 35 miles from Columbia. He is from a smaller town nearby, St. Matthews.
While Rumph might be one of the better-known folks from the small community, he probably ranks behind at least a couple: Academy Award nominee Viola Davis, and former South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffrey, now with the Chicago Bears.
His parents and many friends still live there.
“I've been getting threats on my life,” he joked. “From my homeboys and my homegirls back at home. Every time they see something it says that I'm from Orangeburg. I don't need my friends calling me saying, 'you changed man, now you're saying you're from Orangeburg, man you right here from St. Matthews.' So I'm from St. Matthews.”
Now you know. And Gainesville is a lot closer to St. Matthews than Austin.
