Gene Frenette: A silver lining in Castleton's absence; NFL coaching progress? UGA's new OC

It’ll be up to Colin Castleton’s teammates to create the one silver lining — greater optimism about the future of Florida’s basketball program — that can emerge from his broken hand injury Wednesday night against Ole Miss, which could sideline the 6-foot-10 Florida center for the remainder of the season.

While the Castleton injury may well sabotage any NCAA Tournament chances for the Gators, the reality is their first year under Todd Golden was no sure thing to get to March Madness anyway.

Gene's previous 3 columns

More:Gene Frenette: Stop crying foul, Philly, officiating didn't deliver Super Bowl win to Chiefs

More:Gene Frenette: Archie Manning got on the Trevor Lawrence bandwagon a long time ago

More:Gene Frenette: Trevor Lawrence understands PR aspect of connecting to Jaguars fans

There were too many moving parts with all the transfer portal arrivals, players and coaches adjusting to each other, plus not knowing who beyond Castleton could provide any consistent scoring punch.

The Gators’ up-and-down season (14-12 overall, 7-6 in SEC) has so far been a replica of last year under Mike White, minus the deplorable fan venting about the head coach.

Moving forward, Castleton’s absence provides Golden a chance to see who among his future core four of returning players — Will Richard, Kowacie Reeves, Riley Kugel and Riverside High product Alex Fudge — will step up to fill the void left by their best player.

If Florida has to settle for an NIT bid this season, it’d be a disappointment, but not a crushing blow. What the Gators need more than anything is to establish a consistent run of success.

That starts with Golden’s program-building players performing with more consistency than they had been when Castleton, who leads UF with 16.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, was around to bail the Gators out of terrible offensive dry spells.

With five remaining SEC games, starting with their toughest matchup Saturday at Arkansas, this will be a good barometer for Golden to assess what he needs to turn Florida hoops into a consistent league contender.

He has two big men, Thomas Haugh and Australia’s Alex Condon, either signed or committed for next season. Golden will likely bring in two or three more players from the transfer portal, depending on scholarship availability.

Castleton’s injury was brutal timing for the Gators. Maybe he can get back for the SEC tournament or postseason play, but the bigger issue for UF basketball is whether his teammates that have mostly underachieved can elevate their game.

The future of Golden’s program will eventually depend on whether they can deliver.

No progress for Black coaches 

Another NFL hiring cycle has come and gone and only one Black coach, DeMeco Ryans, was selected among the five head coaching vacancies by the Houston Texans, where he was a standout linebacker.

The Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals all filled those jobs with white head coaches, two recycled ones in Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton with Denver and fired Colts’ coach Frank Reich with Carolina. The other two slots were filled by Philadelphia Eagles coordinators Shane Steichen (Indianapolis) and Jonathan Gannon (Arizona).

It’s not exactly close to an equitable racial scorecard when only three Black men (Ryans, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles) and one biracial (the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel) are in head coaching positions, along with one Latino (Washington Commanders’ Ron Rivera) and one Lebanese-American (New York Jets’ Robert Saleh).

Hopefully, Ryans gets a better opportunity in Houston than their last two coaches, Lovie Smith and David Culley, two Black men that were dismissed after one season each.

Considering there were six Black head coaches from 2008-11, it’s hard to argue the NFL is making progress. It’s probably no coincidence former Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks and former Dolphins’ coach Brian Flores have attached their names to a federal class-action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in the NFL hiring practices.

Team owners are entitled to hire whomever they want as their head coach. But until more opportunities are given Black coaches to lead a team, the issue of them not getting a fair shake will continue to fester.

Ex-Jaguars streak broken

When the Philadelphia Eagles and backup quarterback Gardner Minshew lost 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs, it marked the first time in six Super Bowls that a former Jaguars QB failed to earn a ring, though KC backup Chad Henne did win it a second time and promptly retired after the game.

In five previous Super Bowls, former Jaguars quarterbacks Mark Brunell (New Orleans Saints), Rob Johnson (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Byron Leftwich (Pittsburgh Steelers), Henne (Chiefs) and Blaine Gabbert (Buccaneers) were all on the winning team. Brunell was the only one in the group to get playing time as the Saints’ holder against the Indianapolis Colts.

Seminoles SB legacy 

FSU had six players on the 53-man Super Bowl rosters, including five defensive linemen — the Kansas City Chiefs’ Derrick Nnadi and Joshua Kaindoh and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Marvin Wilson, Janarius Robinson and Josh Sweat — that is the most of any position group from one school.

At least one FSU player has made it to the last 11 Super Bowls and with Nnadi and Kaindoh winning, this was the seventh consecutive year a Seminole has earned a Super Bowl ring.

Beck adjusting to new coordinator 

Not only is Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken leaving to take the same job with the Baltimore Ravens, but it's also an adjustment for presumptive Bulldogs’ starting quarterback Carson Beck. The two had a long-standing relationship, so it’ll be interesting to see how the transition to new OC Mike Bobo will impact Georgia's bid for a third straight national title.

Losing Monken could be a big setback for Beck, who knew him since the Mandarin High product was 10 years old when Monken was a receivers coach with the Jaguars.

Despite Beck having to transition to a new coordinator, Monken believes Georgia’s offense will be as lethal as it was under two-time national championship QB Stetson Bennett.

When I told Monken that Beck won’t be doing cartwheels over his departure to the NFL, Monken texted this back about the QB’s prospects for the 2023 season: “He will kill it.”

Quick-hitting nuggets 

The most inexcusable aspect of Super Bowl LVII wasn’t any officiating call, but the field conditions. Players kept slipping so many times, you would have thought banana peels were inserted into the sod. That’s embarrassing for the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell when you consider the amount of time it had to get the field ready…

Tiger Woods’ birdie-birdie-birdie finish to his opening round Thursday at the Genesis Invitational for a two-under-par 69, coming after so much time off due to lingering injury issues, was an impressive start to yet another comeback. The only question about Tiger having at least one more win left in him, major or otherwise, is the mystery of whether his body can hold up for 72 holes. On Friday, he bogeyed three of his last four holes for a 74, leaving him one shot off the cut line when his round ended.

NFL postseason crystal ball 

After getting off to a 6-0 start in the wild-card round of the NFL divisional playoffs, my predictions weren’t as effective in the later postseason rounds, being unable to hit .500 (3-4) the last three weeks. Picking the Kansas City Chiefs to lose to both the Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals turned out to be wrong calls before learning my lesson and getting the Chiefs right to win the Super Bowl. My final postseason record: 9-4.

Daytona 500 forecast 

1. Denny Hamlin, moves into 2nd-place tie with Cale Yarborough at four wins; 2. Joey Logano, one of best bets to be in contention at end; 3. Kevin Harvick, old-timer goes out almost on top at Great American Race.

I’ll be going on vacation next week and after Sunday, this column will resume on March 1.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Castleton's injury tough blow for UF hoops, but chance to build for future