GAINESVILLE - Longtime Jacksonville high school coach Dan Disch was hired Wednesday to run Florida's secondary, filling the final open position on Ron Zook's staff.
"We've got a guy I'm very happy with," Zook said, adding that he has wanted to hire Disch since he became coach. "He coaches hard, he's demanding and one of the most important things he does is he makes guys better."
Disch, 45, replaces Mike Woodford, fired at the end of last season. Disch will coach the defensive backs, while the entire staff will be involved with special teams in the spring. Zook "will be very much involved" in that area and will decide whether to name a special teams coach at the end of spring.
Zook and Disch have known each other since 1988 when Zook was an assistant at Ohio State. This is the first collegiate position for Disch.
For the past 16 years, he has been at Ed White High, where he is the all-time winningest coach at 122-55. He has worked in the Jacksonville area for 22 years.
"I'm just excited that he called me and gave me the opportunity because it is an amazing opportunity," Disch said. "It's a tough place. The light shines pretty bright over there. I always was working hard and doing what I did and let him know that if the opportunity ever arose that I'd be ready to go.
"It's the best situation in the country, bar none."
Getting Disch on board now is important because Florida lost its entire starting secondary and spring practice begins March 16.
Disch is the former coach of current Florida defensive backs Dee Webb and Dawayne Grace.
