Article: No, Florida won’t fire Billy Napier in 2023. Yes, the pressure is mounting quickly.

Folks have vented this past weekend so we'll now get back to pulling for our Gators. Thanks 62!

 

Agree,

Wunderlich is a grat writer.

 

We HAVE to have continuity in this program. We are stuck in a cycle right now where our current coach is constantly having to utilize the previous HC's players, and then they are fired before they can really get their own guys in and implement their system/culture. Idk if Billy is going to be the long-term solution 5-10 yrs down the road, but you have to give him time.

Norvell did not go to a bowl game in his 1st 2 years and people were writing him off as another Willie Taggart, and now look. Billy likely will not have the same level of success as Norvell did in year 3, but I think it is definitely a possibility soon. This offseason will go a long way towards Billy's career at UF.

 

Nice article, not overzealous in either direction. Next year will be the key. Win ALL games we should and a couple where we are under-dogs and Napier and the Gators will be fine.

It is the losing games we shouldn't that makes me upset.

 

Norvell filled a lot of holes in his team in the portal, and now is having a nice HS recruiting class. We have holes to spare and true Freshmen will not come in and save the day next year. If we are lucky, we'll get 1-2 stars and an additional 3-4 contributors. We will see how the off-season goes, but I don't see a lot of spots for transfer players currently and we have needs all over the place, particularly in the LOS.

 

Takes a good 24 hours to get a loss like that out of your system. Social media platforms help for many who feel the need to vent.

We are fortunate to have that here.

I agree we need to give it more time but I still feel very strongly in what I have posted about the tweaks we need in order to succeed.

 

Everyone should listen to Alli Peek's latest podcast.

Don't think I've seen a better summary of the state of the Gator program after 22 games of Napier.

 

I can wait. I have before if I can live long enough to see it and I am not joking! I don’t know if our current AD is good or bad but I was never behind Foley. He made critical errors with the football program! Retaining Meyer when Meyer clearly wanted out and hiring coaches that could not handle the job! That is on Foley! Now we have a coach who has grabbed the bull by the horns and has structurally rebuilt the program which we needed! A young team makes mistakes at critical times in a ball game and we have a very young team. The great thing about a young team is this. They grow up! It is time for us as fans to grow up!

 

It’s misleading to use Norvell’s first year as a point of comparison. That was a reduced-schedule covid season. This one is much closer to being a true second year for him than last one was.

 

I would have liked to beat Arkansas, of course! But if people can't understand that this needs to be built back up from the foundation, and that takes time, well... then we will get what we've had over the last 10 years, the ups of a sugar high and the downs that are systematic of that.

 

Good article. I hope he turns it around - needs to show some vast improvement next year and to produce on the field.

 

Most do understand that - but there are always a few at every university in the small minority that don’t. Problems aren’t just due to the past staff though - that issue is becoming more apparent unfortunately.

 

I was watching the end of the game with my grandchildren-took me about 1 second.

 

We can’t fire him in 24 either. That would be disastrous for our program. The man is making changes and needs time

 

You would hope that fans would be patient and not so critical, but that’s not in Gator fans’ DNA. I wonder how many recruits that will cost us?

My thinking is to give him 4 years and at the end of 2025, see how thinking about the future then is looking.

 

Losing sucks, no doubt. But...looking over our incoming HS recruits results, one can't help but see just how talented they are. A Premier level group. That's the good news.

I'm hoping and praying Napier can effectively address the issues he needs to. He scares me and sometimes comes off like the Zooker. But I have faith in him and I hope our AD, along with the big money people can 'encourage' our corch to seriously, and effectively evaluate what he's doing with objective eyes sans the ego hurt, and then make changes.

Napier has the ability to be a long term coach here and settle into a big-time coach role. Although, not without gathering some wisdom along the side of the road. He is currently suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune. He preaches learning from the mistakes, let's see how that is ultimately implemented.

It's great to-be a Florida Gator!

Here's to our coaching staff and players rising up in the face of adversity!

Go Gators.

 

While I really hate using it as an example, firing Billy Napier now would have been analogous to FSU firing Mike Norvell in 2021 when FSU went 5-7 including a loss to Division 1-AA Jacksonville State. The Gators are the youngest team in the SEC. While Urban Meyer was able to win a BCS National Championship his second year keep in mind that he inherited a very good roster from Ron Zook who had one of the top recruiting classes (rated No. 1 or 2 depending on the service) in the country in 2003. Although there's a good chance that we could end up with our third losing season in a row including the first losing regular season since 2017 it's still way too early throw Coach Napier under the bus.

 

Best thing to do is not “live and die” with Gator football wins and losses. It took me over 4 decades to finally figure that out. I surely don’t like any Gator loss in any sport but I can now live with them.

 

I agree, but the problem will be how many games we should win. We have to look at 2020's Gators, not the Mighty Gators of the increasingly distant past.