It makes me wonder if the person that did these rankings looked at the situation the new coaches were walking into. I would have to guess that they did.
I would have different reasons but give the same grade. Lots of turmoil still for BN to negotiate. Wishing him the best!
D+ Billy Napier, Florida (6-6) Napier's first team got to bowl play with six wins but lost every game that mattered, including rivalry matchups to Tennessee, LSU and Florida State. The Gators also managed to lose to Vanderbilt, which would be enough alone to drop Napier a full letter grade.
Even Mike MacIntyre (4-8) at Florida International got a B-. But CBN's play calling was clearly in the dumps as well his choice for a DC.
6-6 was sort of my C grade. He basically equalled last year's record but with a new staff and a much harder schedule. Some befuddling losses, a few surprise wins. I can't hang my hat on anything nor can I look at it as a failure.
In hindsite, I think we overachieved a bit this season. I’ve stated elsewhere that I don’t think very highly of our roster - and 13 transfers so far kinda illustrates that. If we knew preseason AR was NOT really a heisman candidate, we’d likely be thinking 7-5 this season. vandy was just wildly inexcusable on every level.
First-year coaching grades for big programs should be influenced by recruiting almost more than on-field results. We just don't know quite how well this class will finish. Next year, completely different ball game. Does that mean we have to be firing on all cylinders next season? No. But the elites of elites generally don't have bad years in year 2. Coaching Records in Year 2: Nick Saban (LSU): 10 wins Nick Saban (Alabama): 12 wins Urban Meyer (Florida): National title Urban Meyer (Ohio State): 12 wins Ryan Day (Ohio State): 7-1 during COVID year Kirby Smart (Georgia): 13 wins, CFP appearance Jimbo Fisher (FSU): 9 wins Dabo Swinney (Clemson): 9 wins Jim Harbaugh (Michigan): 10 wins Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma): 12 wins The exception, which is not really an exception is Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M) with 8 wins, which isn't terrible in the SEC West, and he's on the hot seat. I guess you can say Dabo (Clemson) and Jimbo (FSU) win a mere 9 games, but of all of the elite coaches in the game, that seems to be the floor. Not sure if Jimbo is even elite anymore, if he ever was. I say he was because he seems to check all the boxes: won a natty, excellent offensive prowess when he was at his best, defenses generally competent to good, recruits well, etc. In a nutshell, if the standard is championships for Florida, the benchmark for a successful season for Florida next season IMO is 9 wins including the bowl game. Anything less than that is not quite damning, but it's a red flag under that standard.
I believe end of year 2 we will have a better idea of the direction we are headed. If it takes 2 or 3 years to get near the level we want to be i'm ok with it. I would like to see us at some point be top 5 and an annual playoff contender every year. We will win a championship if CBN can do what he wants to and thinks he can do. It'a going to be interesting to see what our roster looks like in 2 or 3 years. The key to our success next year will be if we get an experienced, quality QB from the transfer portal..
It has always been about progress for me and losing to Vandy and even fsu kind of raised some concerns. That's not to say I'm not in full support of Napier as I have been but the season didn't have to happen the way it did despite the deficiencies in the roster. Much of the roster turmoil should be sorted this off-season so seeing some cohesive development absolutely needs to happen next year.
Hard to take this guy seriously when he writes UF “lost every game that mattered, including rivalry matchups to Tennessee, LSU and Florida State” but omits UGA.
“The Gators also managed to lose to Vanderbilt, which would be enough alone to drop Napier a full letter grade.” Hard to argue with that. The loss to Vandy was a doubled over gut punch, still can’t believe it. The roster was way over thought of by many, imho. Some areas were low to mid G5-ish. Roster upgrade is job #1, the staff appears to be all in on that. Still very bullish on Billy, no doubt to me he’s the right guy for this job. He’s playing the long game here, building a strong foundation. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was Bama.
I expect progress next year but that might not mean wins. New qb starting and no idea if he will last the year or not. There will be a new 1/2 roster and I’d bet as many as 20 could get some sort of playtime. We have some talent coming back and what could be a very good class but I doubt it will be freshmen to the revue time.
Very fair on Billy and For those that continue to make excuses and say “it’s his first year “there are 15 to 20 other coaches graded A and B that did very well. Be any of your rivals and I would say C minus. Losing to Vandy makes the D.
