I was in Baton Rouge for our 2001 LSU game. On the post game radio show the LSU faithful we’re ready to run Saban out of town. They called him every name in the book. We have not been championship caliber 13 seasons. Along that path we have had four coaches, 2 ADs, an Administration that was almost zero percent committed to winning, and four years of a coach with poor recruiting. That kind of mess does not get cleaned up in 11 months. Look no further than Senior day last weekend for evidence. Nothing against those young men who put in a lot of hard work to wear the uniform, but they weren’t going make us contenders in the SEC.
You are partly right but BN was also hired because he led his team to the top. The assumption is his "coaching" can/should bring similar results here. The thing is, yes you can cover a lot of basis, but if you cannot develop players, if you cannot out coach SEC coaches, if you cannot provide a consistent winner and compete for championships, all the rest doesn't matter. Coaching is about organizing, recruiting, assessing coaching staff (and being willing to replace those not producing), motivating players, in game decision making and developing game plans that work. (You don't keep running up the middle for no gains when the outside runs are there. You don't keep throwing wide wr throws that go no where and waste downs. You don't hold onto time outs when you have a chance to get the ball back. You don't call a running play with no time outs and you're down by 10. I could go on but you get the point. Now, he will be given 3 or 4 years to make hay. However, if by then we are still competing with usce and uk for third place, there will be noise in the system.
Billy Napier is objectively more likely to raise the ceiling and floor of this team than any of our last three coaches. We don't know much more.
Understand what you are saying. However, our talent still is far better than Vandy. I hadn't followed lsu those years, but this is the 11th game of the season and against a team that is at the bottom, and it looked like crap. For me, I wasn't expecting a stellar season although I was fooled after the Utah game, but want I most wanted to see was steady improvement, player development, smart in game decision making. BN is not an amateur when it comes to coaching. The other thing such comparisons don't always add up. If so, then certainly BN will have us competing for championships soon. What if next year is 7-5? What if the next year after that is 6-6? I've come to learn that no coaches are a sure thing. Every coach UF hired had some measure of hope and defenders. Most teams go through a slew of coaches hoping to find that diamond. I hope we have found ours but I'm not sure.
It was said tongue in cheek when referring to Billys name. Some took so much offense I was blocked from replying. Lighten up folks. You just want an echo chamber here? BTW UF Class of 84. I still believe there are traits like running into a stacked defense that any decent coach would not do I don't care what year he is in. There is a lack of urgency, down two scores middle of the 3rd and we are running right back up the middle, after using a lot of the time clock. Time management, Passion, situational awareness are qualities Mr.Napier should know by now.
I agree with you that we have more talent than Vanderbilt. But I would add that were are talented enough to bring out C-D game and beat them at their A game. Johnson drops a TD early in the game, and Marshall tries to field a punt over his shoulder inside the 10 yard line. That’s a 14 point swing on that alone. Throw in Miller’s foolish hit, and Burney’s ridiculous hold on a third down stop and there’s probably more. To your hypothetical I would say this: Napier should do better than 7-5 next year. I think he will. If he doesn’t, then yes, it is cause for some concern. But if he is recruiting we’ll I would still cut some slack. Napier did not walk into a Spurrier or Meyer roster/situation at Florida. Galen Hall recruited extremely well, and Zook left a roster full of NFL picks. Mullen did not even come close to leaving a roster of that talent level. And if that wasn’t enough, he, his coaches, and his players quit in 2021. I hate to sound like a broken record but this started after the 2019 season when Grantham and his staff were not let go. Grantham had a career of nothing but mediocrity. It is very hard to get your people to by into “Relentless Effort” and accountability when you accept less than mediocrity from your No. 2 guy. Here is to better times ahead!
Ok year 1 pass Year 2,Saban: 11-2 Year 2 Smart 13-2 You can’t say ‘but season 1’ and ignore season 2. Right?
The only things I'd add to that: 1. It's also hard to motivate unmotivated players when they feel no threat of being benched or replaced. Lack of recruiting and just refusing to play the younger guys will and did do that to Mullen, IMO. 2. Mullen was never going to have a sustainable system based on where recruiting looked like it was going. Both he and the team seemed to both check out on the field and in the recruiting game. You just can't do that in this conference. If we were top 8 or top 7 in recruiting at the point where Mullen was canned last season, he might've gotten a little more rope, and it would've added to indications that he wasn't giving up or moving on.
I’m sorry, but your closing statement requires some clarification. Are you saying that coaches do not grow and become better at their craft over time? If so, that is just categorically false. If that isn’t what you’re saying, my apologies, but that’s how it reads.[/QUOTE] He totally regressed in the last game in very troubling ways.
I think the goal should be 10 wins next season for Billy. If he can't do that, don't can him, but more red flags.The elites tend to turn things around by year 2, Clemson is the outlier.
For me its too early to tell. Progress is key. I just get tired of comparing Saban year one… while not mentioning year 2. No one ever compares SOS season 1
Part of the problem is comparing Napier to Saban and not to someone like Charley Pell. I think we are seeing a complete rebuild like we saw with Pell, but without going 0-10-1 in year 1. Meyer had a head start on rebuilding Florida because he was only 4 years removed from Spurrier’s rebuild and there was an adequate caretaker in Zook. Napier is over a decade removed from Meyer’s rebuild and three caretakers have run the program further into the ground with each tenure. I am not saying we should give Napier 6 years like we did with Pell, but we should cut him some slack and not pressure him to sacrifice the long term goal for some quick wins like Muschamp, McElwain, and Mullen. Trading and 0-10-1 season for a 6-6 (maybe 6-7) season with the potential for a Pell-like rebuild in 3-5 years is not a bad place to be. There are more ways to be an elite coach than Saban’s way.
Random thoughts… Think about this…we have exactly one consistently good tackler on defense and he is undersized for the position and can’t cover the pass. It really hurt losing devin Moore. That kid was showing excellent stuff on tape. Also, we have a defensive back that can’t stay within 10 yards of the receiver. Some of our best looking players are true freshman and transfers from Louisiana. we are in desperate need of a talent infusion and we are getting it. I know we are more talented than Vandy but the gap isn’t large enough to ensure victory when things go against us.
It's more likely that we'll have to build like Dabo did at Clemson. UGA and Bama turnarounds were faster as they were able to recruit at an elite level almost immediately. We haven't been an elite program since 2008-09 and we fell off the cliff not long after that. Bump class will have to be top 5 to turn into a contender by Year 3. I believe we're 8th now. It's better but not good enough to challenge Georgia and Bama.
Napier needs to be a program builder, not a team builder. Success must be sustainable. Gator fans will not tolerate 4 years of suckage with the promise that year 5 we will have a good team. The goal is to return the program to the success of the Spurrier and Meyer years.
Those who say CBN is no Kirby Smart, would you have given Kirby 5 years to win a national championship? Did anyone think Saban would go on the run he did after his team lost to UL Munroe at home after a 3 game losing streak? Thats not to say Billy will surpass either of them but its also false to simply say he will not be either one of them. We don't know that at all. Maybe hes not the best X's and O's guy like Saban and Smart but maybe hes a great CEO and very likeable which allows him to recruit as necessary and make decisions Muschamp, Mac and Mullen werent willing to do (fire people, take a step back, hire an OC if he needs to). Hindsight is 20/20.
I really like Napier as our head football coach, and I hope he gets this all figured out. Go Gators! Beat the Noles!
