If we are going to judge him then judge him through the proper lens. Compare him to Saban and Smart and the struggles they had when they built their teams. The first year is going to be a lot of ups and down when you are in the process of building team culture. It is not an easy thing and it is even harder now in the current political climate and add the NIL with players getting paid and it has become incredibly hard to build culture. Saban struggled mightily with it his first year at LSU which is closer to the rebuild at Florida than his Bama rebuild. Smart lost to Vandy and Ga Tech his first season and almost lost to Nicholls State. No one was as aggravated as I was for losing to crappy ass Vandy yesterday, but we hired Billy to rebuild the program the right way and even though I disagree with the play calling, I really don't think the play calling matters when you don't have the players playing together. This is the most important thing and it is going to take some time. I support Billy to build the team the way he wants and to call the plays the way he wants. I will still reserve the right to bitch about things on Saturdays, but on Sundays I am going to get over it and stick together like Gators are supposed to do. Go Gators
The same comparison applies to all first year coaches, and only 2 are Saban and Smart. We don't know how the future will unfold at this point - too many variables. I am FAR more optimistic about BN than the previous coaches because he can recruit. So, if we can close this class strong...I think the future is extremely bright. I will keep my short-term analysis to that one point (recruiting), or my brain is going to explode.
It’s all true stuff. The issue is losing to Vandy and some fans don’t understand your gonna have games like this in a rebuild.
Another way to build a team is to win. Winning solves everything. You can be a "team builder" and all but if you can't coach winning football it will eventually put cracks in team building. Let's see what BN can do in the next couple of years. He gets a pass this year due to the mess DM left. We all knew it was probably going to be a bumpy year. But what we did want to see beyond wins and losses this year was is the team improving. Is he developing players and making them better. Can his schemes beat superior talent? Has he hired the right coaches? There is no question BN has been handed golden keys. New building. Ability to hire zillions of support staff. Basically he can have what he wants. But that comes with a price tag, how soon will he help make this team a competitor with bama, uga, lsu and ut that ends with division championship and beyond. Right now the first chapter has mixed reviews. I know i'v been critical a lot, but I hope BN makes it. I'm rooting for him to succeed even though some stuff is not good and some a real head scratcher.
Excuses excuses. We are supposed to win now. Spurrier said a couple weeks ago that Napier has never said basically “wait until next year” because obviously, that is for losers. Can’t believe how many are defending the indefensible: losing to a horrible Vandy team with tons of Gator fans driving to Nashville to watch that putrid performance.
You are playing the Tennessee and Auburn level of arrogance. I guess the only reason Vandy is in the league is to 1) raise the academic IQ to less-than-bad levels and 2) be the Washington Generals. If they are just this, why did they get rid of Mason? He was cruising the dorms for fresh meat?
Re-builds and changing culture is rarely linear. There are ups/downs throughout the journey. Utah was definitely an up and Vandy was definitely a down. I am thankful that he has a plan for the long term and I while I don’t like the downs I can appreciate the journey we are in. Go Gators!
So when Billy gets here and looks the team over and sees that the team is going to suck, is he supposed to say, "This team is going suck and we are going to lose a lot of games this season?" No he can't say that even if that is the way he feels. I am not making any excuses, just offering some comparisons. Napier was never hired because of his superior offensive mind or intuitive play calling. He is a relationship guy, team builder and needs everyone playing together. This type of coach takes longer to get his pieces in place, but I think the foundation will be way more solid when it is built. Way more solid. At the end of the day Billy is someone with character who I am glad is leading our program. He will get several years to build the program and not everyone will be able to envision the future, so I am OK with you being one of them.
Also I want to add that Napier is not Spurrier, and even though I love the former head ball coach, I don't always agree with him. And I won't always agree with Napier either.
Gee! Thank you sir!! What a pretentious post. He has character but “ you are what your record says you are” Bill Parcells. Right now we are SEC losers and with no Asst Coach upgrades, don’t see that changing. We need to whip FSU bad or else we will have lost to every rival on our schedule.
We probably aren't going to beat FSU, and the sun will still come up the next day. You are a win right now guy and can't see past that, so I don't have any words to make you feel better. I am with you as far as losing to our rivals, I can't stand it, but sometimes things just don't go your way. That is not to say that the direction of the program is not going the right way. 2 different things.
[QUOTE=" Smart lost to Vandy and Ga Tech his first season and almost lost to Nicholls State. No one was as aggravated as I was for losing to crappy ass Vandy yesterday, but we hired Billy to rebuild the program the right way and even though I disagree with the play calling, I really don't think the play calling matters when you don't have the players playing together. This is the most important thing and it is going to take some time. [/QUOTE] CBN is no CKS..he needds to prove that. He can rebuild whatever he wants but its th decision making on Saturdays that is troubling...that doesnt usually get better.
According to who exactly? You guys are so short sighted when it fits you. This thread is not to argue with anyone about anything. I can nitpick with a million things about the game yesterday or the season thus far, but I am not dwelling in the micro. Billy is building a program and we are still in the beginning stages of it. None of us know what goes into every little decision that is made on gameday, but there are hundreds of factors. I made this thread to proclaim that I am happy as hell to have Billy as the head ball coach at the University of Florida and I stand behind him 100%. I don't care if he did run the ball on 3rd and 8.
And one of the worst run defenses in the nation. Why didn't try and figure out the right run plays? We spread the receivers out wide on one set play and ran Johnson who got like 30 yards, that was until it was called back for a boneheaded personal foul on our center. Why didn't try that again? Running from the bunch set did not work.
Just like the people of Cleveland who wanted Bill Belichick ousted, right? Who would want Belichick as head coach and Saban as defensive coordinator. I mean we can do this all day.
