Post Bowl Game Thoughts on CBN

One of the reasons tendered, for Billy’s certain success, is because you wouldn’t out-organize or out-work him.

Problem: other staffs are super-organized and working their butts off.

 

Possible. But Miami is not beating us for recruits because of organization, apparently. They just come in the last minute with their bags to secure the commit. Wonder why Bama and Georgia dont face this problem? Why does Florida get beat on NIL ?

 

Sorry if I am barging into a discussion without all the pieces. I keep hearing the same, um, whining. "I support Napier, BUT..." Support does not have a caveat. It DOES come with questions as to what is the process and why do we fall short of our expectations? And while what I am talking about is best described as faith, it isn't blind faith. It merely means you support the regime until you don't. Basically nothing in the middle. Now support can go away because they no longer support what you believe is sacrosanct (ie, they are cheating or stealing). And obviously it means because your expectations (ie, achievement goals) are not being met after.........a certain period of time. If I may project, what is being "discussed" is what is an appropriate time to achieve our goals.

Now, to what I think is THE salient point. Point "A" is Regime Mullen as it ended, including the nebulous concept of "culture". Point "B" is Regime Napier and what is its ultimate goal. Let me take a sort of tangent and discuss other jaunts, namely what is happening at other universities. LSU, TCU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USCw, Tennessee, Miami, and FSU are all viable choices. What I want to impress is that, in every case, their jaunts are NOT exactly the same as what is happening at UF, and it also includes the time frames as well as how to achieve the goals. Until further notice, this isn't professional sports with a commissioner and ultimate achievement. And even in the pros, there are different goals (some only care to make as much money as possible or build the most immaculate house).

Napier has a plan, or should I say, he sold an idea of a plan to the stakeholders of UF sports. Now, was he THE best answer to the dilemma of how to get from Point A to Point B? People have staked their position on an affirmative answer. What I see and hear on this forum and others is how he is proceeding. I am reminded of some complex projects (mainly IT related but it can be pretty much any project) to where you don't truly know what you are going to receive until it is completed, or at least until it gets a "shakedown cruise" to test it and work out the kinks. And yes, there are plenty of instances that the product that was sold is NOT what you get. At least not the way you envisioned (ie, a communication gap).

And if what I am reading in your post is somewhat correct, why do you ask someone to "build you something" and then wonder why 1) it is taking longer than what you expected (I said what YOU expected and not what UF expects) and 2) a partially-built car doesn't look anything (or operate) like a fully built one? I think I know the answer and that is because 1) the others got their stuff sooner (although Tennessee and FSU started earlier) and 2) it wasn't as if Napier had to invent the game of football at UF, it was already in place (see Point A). But still, isn't THE point getting to Point B?

As I have posted plenty of times, we Gator faithful have a LOT of fatigue. I wished every coach had worked out but as we all should realize, they did not for various reasons. Now it is Napier's turn. I sincerely hope he meets the goals of a quality program in the face of an ever-changing major college landscape. This is NOT your father's sport anymore. I just wished more of us fans would realize that Napier IS our program builder and he is going to do it his way, regardless of what other universities are doing in their jaunts and goals and whatever we non-stakeholders (individually speaking) desire. And if he ends up not being up to the task, then he WILL be replaced after he has been given the time to get us a preliminary working model (if not a ship getting a shakedown cruise). That is all there is, except for the incessant whining.

 

Cleopatra

 

It is an inapt analogy. The team is and was never 'partially built.' There were players at every position on every squad. That is a complete vehicle.

No those players - viewed as parts - may not have been the 'best' or even the preferred item, but a LARGE part of coaching is improving the vehicle design/vehicle parts yourself. You are not just the driver of the vehicle, you are the engineer, designer, fabricator, and the mechanic. Or at least you are supposed to be.

Beyond the off field/garage aspect there is also the on track aspect. A superior driver, even in a lesser vehicle will demonstrate his skills against lesser drivers. He may not always (or ever) win, but you'll see him demonstrate his skills by keeping it much closer than it ever should be.

That last part is the thing that has me most worried. I didn't see a lick of that this season, if anything things only got worse as the season wore on.

 

Well, at Alabama and Georgia you can be reasonably sure you'll get to play for a CFP title and you'll get the best coaching in the business. At Miami you will be a star college athlete living in Miami. South Beach, big money boats, among the top nightlife in the country, etc...

Currently at UF you will get coaching of unknown quality and the chance to start for a team that will maybe be above .500. Also you will be in Gainesville, which isn't bad but doesn't hold a candle to Miami and isn't better than Athens or Tuscaloosa. As a third bonus it's not only possible but likely that the coaching staff you are recruited by is gone by the time you actually play. These issues need to be fixed if you want to compete with the top schools.

 

6 false starts by the OL and the usual special teams gaffe in game 13 aren't very good signs of discipline or organization. I hoped to see a bigger improvement in these areas (seen some in some games) but have been disappointed so far.

 

You've apparently never been to Tuscaloosa . I know I'm not a recruit looking for the bling-bling or the nightlife, but I would choose Gainesville over Miami 10 times out of 10...and I did in my 20's when I moved from Miami to Gainesville.

 

And how does this affect 1) what Napier has been contracted to build and 2) your overall mental health? I understand this is a venting forum and so we get to vent. But still, he IS in charge and he WILL do it the way he sees fit, whether you or I like his approach or not. As I said, you have faith, until you don't. Middling is NOT faith.

 

This is really well thought out. Great post. The hopeful side of me likes your partially built car scenario. The logical side of me is frustrated that the parts of the car that were there were not utilized correctly or at all and that it could spell trouble even if all the parts are in. I don’t think comps are 100% accurate. The Brian Kelly comp is ridiculous because what he had at LSU was not close to what Florida had. However, if you look deeper- Kelly was more organized and managed what he had better than Billy managed what he had. Billy said during each post game “I’ve got to do better” So that is the question. What does that look like? He’s a system guy NOT a tactical guy. Meaning, he has an overall goal and steps to get there and is not deterred from a tactical standpoint. Conversely, Mullen was a tactics guy but had no overall systems approach. So what is Billy going to do to get better? What is he going to do to make up for the talent gap? How does he give us an advantage. Especially now that Miami and NIL has thrown a huge wrench is his plan? He’s not getting guys he wants. So if it is largely “we don’t have the guys” and you still don’t have the guys… what do you do? He has 400 coaches and 1 OT and no LBs in recruiting or portal.. how does he overcome that?

And to your point about the binary choice of with Billy vs against Billy- I don’t fall into an either/or argument. I think there is a spectrum or support and anti-Billy stuff. My brother for example calls him SBB and I feeel like he has confirmation bias and can’t be hopeful at all. I’m super hopeful and yet I see major flaws in year one that go beyond talent. There are others - “all kinds of weather “ folks- now blaming fans for losses on the field and in recruiting. Which is ridiculous. No recruit ever said “ya know, I was coming but man those fans are critical… so Nevermind”. I just think it’s ok to be hopeful and concerned simultaneously. And yeah, we are a super critical, impatient fan base- but largely, we aren’t wrong. I think Gator fans are smart. They question on field decisions and usually back it up. Miami doesn’t have that issue because it’s either “Go canes” when they’re winning and if they’re losing- they don’t show up so there’s never noise in the system down there. But passionate fans usually complain. That’s the nature of the deal

 

One can still support CBN while at the same saying, dude, you need to go to the Doc for what ails you…. Tough love seems to equal being a troll these days. We all need it some times

 

Nothing to argue about your post. Thanks for the soliloquy. If you see my other reply above, I merely am saying, how does this help? Napier WILL be given his effort to build what he has sold or he will be ferried off. Worrying about his "use of 2 x 4's when everyone else uses 2 x 6's" isn't going to make things better. If history is an indicator, his big push happens in Year 2. Now I did not say we are going to compete for the SEC championship, just that I anticipate some real differences. What I am mainly worried is whether we can field a QB or two to make his offense work. Maybe in the time of the NIL he knows he has to pony up more than planned this upcoming year. Obviously the front 7 on defense needs some help also. A lack of progress in those areas is definitely a sign that he may be too long-term focused for this group of fans.

My completely ignorant prediction is that he will show all of us what he is building by the end the next year or we may have an amicable split. But I am not going to worry about it right now.

 

1) Absolutely no effect at all. It's an observation of his building 'progress.' And other than the possible improvement in recruiting what I'm seeing is a lot of stasis if not necessarily regression.
2) Again, no appreciable effect. It's all an observation.

While this is a matter of opinion I would never advise anyone to place faith in a sports coach. At least not anyone who is merely a spectator. People who put their actual careers in his hands might need a little faith in the guy. We can hope he turns this around, and I continue to do so. But to repeat my observation, the net effect of watching the season has increased my belief that he will most likely never be more than a middling success at UF. Hopefully next season alters that perception.

But now you get to explain to me why you thought asking questions of my mental health was remotely relevant here?

 

I mean I'm not saying Gainesville sucks, in fact I lived there for about 30 years and it was pretty great. Left as 30 years is enough to do most things there, all my friends grew up and left or stagnated and everywhere I used to haunt is closed now.

Anyways, I'm talking about perception from an outsider who is 18. Go do a survey and see how many would pick Gainesville over Miami. Or for that matter Gainesville over Tuscaloosa or Athens.

 

Gainesville >> Tuscaloosa

 

I'd expect that to be the case on a UF sports forum.

 

Been to both

 

Yes that's awesome. What does that have to do with a college recruit visiting them? I hate Miami myself, but as you can see from it's population most disagree with me on that.

You're a dense guy huh. The vast, vast majority would consider Gainesville vs Tuscaloosa a tossup and prefer Athens anyway. Just go google it if you don't believe me

 

You made my point even better than I could. See how many people he can delegate to? But that's not happening.

And lets be honest here, some of them have to be dead weight.