Call it a vote of confidence if you want, but Florida Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley did not mince words when he told the St. Petersburg Times that he firmly believes head coach Will Muscahmp is the man to lead the football program into the future.

Muschamp’s version of the Gators is 5-5 (0-5 against ranked opponents) and skirting on being bowl eligible, a concept previously foreign to Florida fans.

Yet Foley appeared as confident as ever in his latest hire when asked to evaluate the job Muschamp has done up to this point in the season.

“I hate this for Gator Nation. I hate it for our coaching staff. I hate it for Will,” Foley told the Times. “The guy is a competitor. He’s got a fire in his belly. I’ve had to tell him, ‘Will, I can’t help you. It’s unfortunate, but I can’t help you get through this. The future only comes one day at a time.’

“For successful coaches, and I’ve been around them, the Billy Donovans of the world, the Kevin O’Sullivans of the world, the Urban Meyers, it’s always one day at a time. We can’t just fast-forward tomorrow and it will be next year. We’ll go back to work, and we’ll be okay. We’ll be fine.”

The Times observed that Foley appeared “more impressed with Muschamp today than 11 months ago, when he hired him to replace Meyer,” and the athletic director dismissed the notion of possibly making a change.

“He’s a hard worker. All of his coaches are,” Foley said. “I like the way Will handles himself. He doesn’t make excuses. He accepts responsibility. ‘It’s all on me.’ He says it every time we lose. ‘It starts with me.’

“He doesn’t blame the youth. He does say we need more numbers, but that’s a fact. We have less than 70 on scholarship. Saying that is not an excuse.”

Perhaps most importantly, Foley is confident in Muschamp’s ability to turn things around and plans to give him the necessary time to prove that he can do just that while wearing the orange and blue.

“He’s going to keep working. He’s going to keep grinding. There is no woe-is-me,” Foley said. “When you work that hard, you have a chance to be really special.”