Yeah, and our QB was the unforgettable Larry Ochab. To show you how much the game has changed here is his stat line: 98 completions and that was good enough for 2nd in the SEC 53% completion - 2nd in the SEC 1169 passing yards - 3rd in the SEC 6 TD's - 5th in the SEC 14 Int's - 2nd in the SEC He would be 16th in the SEC this year in all categories (Vandy had 2 with qualifying numbers).
For my part, I saw some progress in the players, sure. Experience. Here's where I didn't see progress: coaching. Game management, play calling, adjustments, strategy, clock management, focusing on our strengths, targeting opponents' weaknesses, discipline in the players.... Make your case. Don't just allege ignorance on our part. Show me where and or how the coaching evidenced progress that contradicts the scoreboard and record. If anything, I saw regression--and it looked worse this Saturday than just about any game this season.
Refresh my memory please. Which one of our previous 4 coaches wasn't given at least 3 years? Which one or ones do you suggest was terminated unjustly?
Zook(last 5), Muschamp, McElwain were all on hot seat by middle of third year. Zook was on hot seat by middle of 3rd game. Mullen crashed and burned very quickly in year 4. There are many here who would make the change today if they could.
My case is that Napier started with a bottom 1/4 SEC roster and is recruiting as well or better than Meyer or Zook.
Fine. If you don’t like the term “fact” to describe the concept I was trying to convey, let’s try this: History strongly suggests that a University of Florida head football coach with Napier’s record, who has not shown significant improvement by mid-season of Year 3 will not get an opportunity for Year 4. This history is very likely to repeat regardless of the language in Napier’s contract, the size of his buyout, or the desire of a minority of fans who fail to grasp how poorly this team has been coached for two years. Better?
Possibly. Where would you like to put the responsibility for not having a special teams coach, for the on-field buffoonery that resulted in a 5-yard penalty before the kicker missed, or for the reason that an at-home game versus an SEC bottom dweller was even close enough to come down to a FG in the first place?
Not much actually. Not trying to be a butthead here, but to a large degree you can take much of what happened in the past and consider it irrelevant. It’s a radically different set of ground rules today and a lot of how you’d handle a situation years ago don’t apply today
come on man, Smack was the biggest constant on our team going into that kick. He makes it and we’re 6-6. Not Napier’s fault he missed the kick
IOW, they were all given > 3 years. So we're in agreement on that count. Whoa!!! He made that much progress in terms of game management, clock management, scheming, strategery, playing to strengths/weaknesses, discipline, in game adjustments.... Who knew.... (^^^that was the question actually asked, in case you forgot). As to the question you answered (which I didn't ask about)--OK, so he's Ron Zook 2.0--excellent recruiting...not much to write home about in terms of game management skills/understanding the actual game... (though Billy = a pair of 5-7 seasons, vs Zooker's first two 8-5 seasons...). Frankly, Zook > Billy--IMHO. But that's merely an academic thought. TBL: CBN is setting the table for someone else to do well with his recruits (like Zook), *IF* he doesn't adjust and delegate play calling duties, special teams, take drastic steps in terms of discipline, and hit the portal for OL and other deficient positions (a luxury Zook et al did not have...)... Naturally I would love to see CBN do well. But as is so often the case in these matters, it's like watching a close friend for family member drink and smoke themselves to an early demise. Sad...and you're powerless to help them. Like watching 'champ play clock ball, or Mullen ignore recruiting... IOW...(reiterating what I posted in other thread...) I just feel like I've seen this movie before.... JMHO/FWIW.
Zook 2.0? Dude … what would you not trade right now for an 8-4 season? Zook was head and shoulders above Napier in terms of performance, even though it felt pretty bad at the time.
