I don’t know how many of you keep up with college football but in 2002, Steve Spurrier left his head coaching position at the University of Florida to join the Washington Redskins. At the time, the logical coaching replacement for Steve Spurrier would have been either Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan or the University of Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. However, after much negotiation, both Shanahan and Stoops decided to remain with their respective teams. In response, Florida’s athletic director, Jeremy Foley, went with who he believed was his next best option, New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator, Ron Zook. Most UF fans were pretty upset with the pick because they felt that after Spurrier’s 12 year run of success that the Gators deserved a much better coach than settling for their third choice. In response, a Florida fan started a website called FireRonZook.com that gained national media attention.

Over the next 3 seasons after Zook’s hiring, The Gators compiled records of 8-5, 8-5, and 7-5. While 7 and 8 win seasons may have been acceptable at other lesser universities, it was not good enough for the Florida Gators. After much thought and deliberation, I have come to the exact same conclusion about current Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Just as a head football coach is directly responsible for his team’s success, so is the CEO of a company. Steve Spurrier spent 12 seasons developing the Gators into a national powerhouse that won 6 SEC championships and 1 national title. Likewise after being named CEO of Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs went on a historic run at the company returning it to profitability and coming out with revolutionary products like the iPad, iphone, and MacBook. Although Steve Jobs sadly passed away in October 2011, after an extensive battle with pancreatic cancer, it was due to Jobs’ leadership that Apple’s stock reached a record high of $702.10 per share in September 2012 and a record market capitalization of $627 billion in August 2012, making it the most valuable public company in history. Over the past 8 months, AAPL has lost $250 billion in market capitalization, over 40% of its value. Just as a Florida football fan was outraged by the hiring of Ron Zook and decided to create FireRonZook.com, as an Apple shareholder, I am outraged by Tim Cook’s reign as CEO and that is why I have created FireTimCook.com. Both Steve Jobs/Spurrier were the titans of their respective organizations. Florida eventually rebounded after firing Ron Zook and went on to win BCS national championships in 2006 and 2008 under the helm of Urban Meyer. I believe that Apple has the potential to rebound to greatness but first Tim Cook must be fired as CEO and new leadership must be brought in. I think that Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, Jony Ive is the perfect person to instigate an Urban Meyer like comeback at Apple.