Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They are so close in age and appearance that many people think Gators assistant coach Larry Scott and his brother LaVaar are twins. In fact, they have the same birthday.

The parallels run deeper than looks for the Scott brothers.

They grew up in the small town of Sebring and were teammates on the Sebring High Blue Streaks for two seasons. Larry starred on offense and LaVaar on defense. They each earned scholarships to play in college. Once they finished playing, both discovered their love of coaching.

"Years ago, I had to learn the game,'' said Ernestine Stone, the mother who raised the boys with the help of her large family until she met and married their stepfather when Larry and LaVaar were older. "I can truly say it was interesting. LaVaar was always a student of the game and on the defense. Larry was on offense and he told him what he could have done better. I would say they encouraged each other, but I saw them go fisticuffs one time. They've been close all of their lives. And they both wind up in football. It's just been great."
 
The highlights have added up over the years. Larry is now 42 and entering his 15th season as a FBS assistant, his second as Florida's tight ends coach. His oldest son, Larry Scott III, is in his first season as a defensive graduate assistant at N.C. State. And LaVaar, two years younger than Larry, is entering his ninth season as head coach at Sebring High.

When the brothers get together, football never strays far from the conversation.

"We try and sometimes talk about life and other things,'' LaVaar said. "But obviously the grind is a big part of both of our lives."

Their discussions are perhaps more animated than usual lately with the Gators' season opener against Miami less than two weeks away.

LaVaar Scott played for the Hurricanes and was a reserve defensive lineman on UM's dominant 2001 national championship team. As the first meeting in six years between the old rivals nears, folks around Sebring keep asking LaVaar where his heart will be that night at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

"It's actually a really tough one for me,'' he said. "I love my brother and I'm proud of my brother for everything that he has been able to accomplish. Miami is my home, my school and my program. I'm a Cane for life, no doubt about it. But he's also my brother for life. I'm going to be happy for whoever wins and disappointed for whoever loses."
 
While LaVaar's conflicted view of the game and diplomatic response to strangers is understandable, Larry's outlook is pragmatic. The mission is clear: beat Miami.

He is undefeated in the rivalry considering Miami's 21-16 victory in 2013 at Sun Life Stadium.

"Anytime these two teams get together, it's going to be a barn burner,'' Larry said following a recent practice. "You are going to see guys play as hard and as fast as you've seen them play. The rivalry is there. Everybody knows what's coming and what's ahead of them."

The last time the schools met, Larry was on Miami's sideline in just his second game as a Hurricanes assistant coach and second game away from the University of South Florida program. Scott played for the Bulls from 1996-99 and after starting his coaching career at the high school level, he had been a part of USF's program every season since 2005 either as a staff member or assistant coach.

An opportunity to join Al Golden's staff at Miami arrived following USF's dismissal of Skip Holtz after the 2012 season. Scott had an offer to stay at USF from new Bulls coach Willie Taggert, but as word spread through the industry of Holtz's ouster, Scott got calls from Golden and former FSU coach Jimbo Fisher on the same night to gauge his interest in joining their programs.

He chose the Hurricanes in part because of connections he had built in Coral Gables during LaVaar's playing days.

"It was a program outside of me playing at USF that I had become pretty familiar with,'' he said. "When that opportunity came about, I had been at USF for almost 10 years, so it was just an opportunity to go and grow a little bit, to work and learn a different style and different philosophy. It was a heck of an opportunity to join that program at that time."

There was no way for Scott to realize when he took the job how much of an opportunity awaited. Following a 58-0 loss to Clemson in 2015, Scott's third season at UM and the worst loss in Hurricanes history, Miami Athletic Director Blake James fired Golden at midseason and turned the program over to Scott as interim coach.

In his first game in charge of the program, Scott led the Hurricanes to a 30-27 victory at Duke that ended in dramatic fashion when the Hurricanes used eight laterals to return a kickoff for a touchdown on the game's final play. Besides the turmoil that accompanies a midseason coaching change, the team was forced to deal with the unexpected death of defensive back Artie Burns' mother the week of the Duke game.



Nearly four years later, Scott has fond memories of how the Hurricanes responded and the feeling inside the visiting locker room at Wallace Wade Stadium.

"I'll always remember that one,'' Scott said.

Same goes for LaVaar, who suddenly found himself captivated by what was going on at Miami in the middle of his season at Sebring High.

"That was amazing,'' LaVaar Scott said. "When he became the interim coach, it was like surreal. He's the man that's running the program that I love dearly. After a while, then it was like a they-have-got-to-win type of deal. You want your school to win and you want your brother to be successful."

Big brother got the job done, leading the Hurricanes to four wins in their final five regular-seasons game to earn a berth in the Sun Bowl.

Gators head coach Dan Mullen is very familiar with first-year Miami coach Manny Diaz – he hired Diaz twice as his defensive coordinator at Mississippi State – but Mullen did not know Larry Scott well prior to hiring him at Florida.

But with a decade's experience as a head coach, he understands the challenges that come with accomplishing what Scott did with the Hurricanes. In their 18 months working together at UF, Mullen's appreciation of Scott's approach has only grown.

"Really good football coach, all around,'' Mullen said. "You can see, as a guy, if you are stuck in a situation where they're stuck in, here's a guy that's going to bring great stability with everybody and a great personality to relate to everybody on the team to finish out the season. I thought he did a great job with that. Obviously, he got in the mix, would have been a great choice for them if they would have promoted him at the end of the season."
 
While James said at the time Scott did an "incredible" job of saving Miami's season, the Hurricanes targeted and hired ex-UM quarterback and Georgia coach Mark Richt to become their next head coach. He stayed for three seasons before retiring unexpectedly following the 2018 season.

With ample storylines hovering over the Florida-Miami matchup, Scott's stint as Miami's head coach is one that is easily overlooked. Of course, it hits home in more ways than one for the Scotts.

While LaVaar has been a high school head coach for nearly a decade, Larry has spent his career as an assistant. He is appreciative he got a shot to lead a program as prominent as Miami's if for only six games.

"It came unexpectedly and it came at a time I don't wish on no one," Larry said. "But it happened and we had a responsibility and an obligation to the young men in the program. We had a lot to play for at that time."

Between his time at Miami and arrival at UF, Scott spent two seasons at Tennessee, where in 2017 he became the first African-American offensive coordinator in the program's 121-year history. If another opportunity to be a head coach comes his way, Scott would be interested. He has an outline to rely upon for success.

Gators tight end Kyle Pitts, whom Scott recruited at Tennessee and then at UF, is not surprised by Scott's sound reputation in coaching circles.

"He's just a great mentor on the field and off the field," Pitts said. "He helps us just do the right thing and he's smart at technique, which makes him special."

No one was more impressed by Larry's impact on the Hurricanes than LaVaar, who plans to be at the season opener dressed in Sebring High gear on Aug. 24. He had former UM teammates, some of the best players on the best team in school history, to call and offer their support for his brother.

In the end, Miami officials hired a proven commodity in Richt.

"He was able to keep that thing afloat, and not only keep it afloat, but keep it successful and win,'' LaVaar said. "To hear people in the organization say he was the right choice, that it was the right move and he did a great job. That will always stick with me no matter what."
Only a handful of fifth-year seniors on Miami's roster were part of the program during Scott's time leading the Hurricanes.

Meanwhile, James is still the athletic director at Miami and various administrators and team personnel remain part of the program. Scott expects to see plenty of familiar faces on the opposite side of the field when the teams come out of the tunnel.
 

Mostly, he looks forward to the start of another season and another opportunity to make a difference. When he does reflect on why his tenure at Miami was successful, Scott goes back to the basics.

"It was one of those deals where it made everybody come to the table and say, 'hey, why do we do what we do?' It's for the young men in the program. Let's take our egos and everything out of it and let's just go to work and do the best job we can for these young people,'' he said. "With it all seeming like it was done and we could fold our tent and pack in it, we found the human element and human spirit in football is really strong and it still exists. Anytime you can attack that with young people and come together, you can do anything. That's the biggest thing I took away from that experience."

A retired nurse who later earned a doctorate degree in theology, Ernestine Stone is a regular at Sebring High games on Friday nights. She prefers to park her car behind one of the end zones and watch from there.

When the Gators and Hurricanes kick off in Orlando, Stone plans to be at home and watching on TV. She can stay out of the way and enjoy the replays that way.

But one day, she expects a lively conversation at the dinner table with her boys about whatever happens.

"We're all looking forward to it although we know Larry and LaVaar will kind of see things differently,'' she said.