[trekfan]

Ch. 3



Another night, another benefit down — the life of Arthur Newman was, in many respects, a life of fantasy; he was blindingly wealthy, had many exotic cars, was a very active bachelor, and took care to always keep tabs on his many business interests. But all those things came with burdens — he had to attend benefits and parties to keep in the good graces of certain powerful people, he had to make sure to always be presentable to the public, and he had to pretend he was above loving something too much.



The truth was, he loved few things, but the thing he loved the most — what he cherished the most — was the Florida Gators. That team, those sports, got him through some of the lowest points of his life before he made it big; they were the one piece of his old life that he refused to give up. Back when he was a nobody, when he was an unknown, he could always turn to the Gators to boost his spirits … even when they were awful.



That’s why he was one of the university’s biggest boosters and why he was very forthcoming in his opinions about the athletics of the school; he refused to see those teams, especially the football team, enter the cellar on his watch.



It was also why he found himself conflicted with the latest news from spring training; Emory Jones had gone down last week, and now their starting TE, Gamble, was gone too till sometime in the regular season. Both those players were key on the offense and Florida would suffer without them … a bad thing, yet also a good thing. He needed the football team to suffer because Fultz had made a mistake.



Desmond Flyer wasn’t cut out to be an SEC coach, that was the simple fact.



Arthur took off his tuxedo, slipped into a robe, and poured himself a glass of whiskey before taking a seat in his favorite leather chair. He took a moment to appreciate the smell of the whiskey before taking a small sip, enjoying the burn. He turned his TV to ESPN, put it on mute, and paid it little attention as his mind worked.



As much as he hated to see the Gators suffer, experience had taught him that suffering was needed before the mountaintop could be reached. Florida had made a mistake hiring Flyer — the man wasn’t qualified enough to be their head coach. Much like with Mullen, Fultz had plucked a head coach from another, lesser school, and expected him to succeed here.



Florida didn’t need a head coach that was already established, they needed fresh blood, someone who was eager to tackle a new opportunity, who didn’t have baggage from a past head coaching experience. There was no way they would find their own version of Saban from the current head coaching ranks — there was only one of Nick Saban — so they needed to go another way. Get an offensive mind, put him in charge, and watch the magic fly … Arthur and his allies had wanted Fultz to hire Joe Brady, the former LSU offensive coordinator.



But Fultz went with Flyer — she had the support to do it, at least then. But the team, as expected, was falling apart as Flyer was failing them; all Arthur had to do was wait. Flyer would dig his own grave and be out of the building in short-order … perhaps Fultz with him if she fought hard to keep him.

In the end, Arthur would get his way, that much he was sure of.