When do we become relevant again???

Relevancy takes investment from the top. We focus too much on the head coach without looking at the athletic director, the UAA, the boosters, the wealthiest investors, and the university president. We the poor fans can do our part by donating hundreds of dollars but in the NIL era with the transfer portal free agency it takes millions of dollars in phase one facility upgrades (our competition is already in phase two), hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIL opportunities per amateur athlete, millions of dollars to upgraded coaches, etc. Because Florida is the flagship university of the state of Florida and it is the everything school, some of those dollars will get shifted to the other 18 athletics programs. Compare the investment in football vs other sports at Florida and other universities and you can see that technically Florida is dumping proportional amounts of money into sports as other schools, but some schools focus as much as they can disproportionately into football.

Summary: Relevancy in college athletics takes money. Florida is taking all the right steps but needs to dump more money into better execution of those steps: better coaches, better NIL, better facilities.

 

You think it’s going to take a “few years” (after he’s already had two) to get to a point where we can consistently beat Vanderbilt, Kentucky et al? If that’s true, then the prospects under Napier are even worse than I thought. In all dead seriousness, Napier does not have a “few years” to show basic improvement. He has one. He has already wasted two. I hope he understands that.

 

Agreed, but I doubt we will see much of Lagway next season. Napier has to win with Mertz or find something else to do.

 

We’re two years into the four-year Napier experiment.

We’ve chosen to build our team by recruiting high school players and developing them rather than going the portal route. Napier said it would take time, but Gator fans have been impatient.

Let’s give it two more years and see how it looks then.

Hopefully, we go 7-5 next year and see how things look going into 2025.

 

Texas was bad since Vince Young. Our fanbase needs to calm down. DJ’s first year starting will tell us if Billy can execute his vision.

 

You kinda indirectly did. I'm just saying that, in my opinion, many fans expect the nearly impossible - competing with schools who will hire complete trash people and allow criminals under investigation to play if it means winning games. Personally I'd rather the team I support go 0-12 than go that route.

Perhaps they need to align their expectations with some other metrics. Good coaching of good student athletes who show measurable improvement year over year and represent the university well. If you do those things at a school with the size, budget and recruiting ability of UF you really can't fail.

I'm probably in the minority as I grew up in Gainesville, spent the first 29 years of my life there, as well as graduating from UF and working there 12 or so years so it's more than just a university to me it's also a representative of the community.

 

Just because I used the number 4 doesn’t mean I meant TOP 4 is what I consider relevant.

My only point is the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC make it harder for UF to regain whatever level of relevancy is important to you.

One’s opinion about relevancy isn’t an important argument to me.

Carry on.

 

Once more, I’m telling you (out of sense of realism, not because I’m implying I have any authority over the matter) that we are two years into a three-year experiment, regardless of what Napier’s buyout is, regardless of what his contract says, regardless of any assurances he has about time for his process to bear fruit. There is not going to be tolerance (including from the people who made those promises) for a third losing season. There just won’t.

So that being the case, maybe Napier needs to rethink his philosophy on the Portal. And he certainly needs to re-evaluate whether his “Game-Change Coordinator!” has changed any games the way he wanted them changed. It certainly looks to a layman like not having a Special Teams Coordinator has only hurt whatever he is trying to do here.

Also, a word on GatorNation’s “impatience.” If Napier had turned in, say, two 8-5 seasons the way Zook did his first two years, and crowds were forming with pitchforks and torches, demanding playoff spots next year, or else, then your point would be well taken. But we are talking about two inexcusable losing seasons in a row, staring down the barrel of a third. That isn’t “impatience” from the fanbase. It’s unacceptable performance from a well-paid coaching staff.

 

I agree that DJ (or any great QB) really make a program go- I totally disagree with this notion that fans are the problem on any level. We spend tons of money, sellout games, buy gear and are passionate on every level… we are doing our part. We have every right to complain when the “stated” goal by admin and coaches is win titles - and for years we don’t see any sign of basic competence- we should complain. If I go to a restaurant that claims to be 5-star for 15 years the food is trash… am I supposed to eat my food and shut my mouth or not go?
now, I will say… maybe it’s time admin stops gaslighting us and tells us the truth -“Gator fans, you need to adjust your expectations because we have ridiculous academic requirements and aren’t gonna spend the money in the top half of the SEC so you need to expect to compete in the realm of Arkansas and Kentucky because that’s where our spending is “ Then as Gator fans we can just expect to go 6-6 and hope to make a bowl game and not be disappointed

 

Morgan and Morgan, for the UAA...

 

I will go to a pretty silly place and say that...

the win-loss record next year will be mostly irrelevant. What I mean is, if we are going to take the slow (and correct) road to relevance, there HAS to be signs of things growing and not what game was lost against a pretty good team. The O-line situation HAS to be addressed. He HAS to recognize that his two-headed monster has failed. It is what it is. And besides a new coach, he HAS to hit the portal HARD for talent. It may be a one-year player or two or three or...but make no mistake, it HAS to be addressed. Otherwise, he is plainly not "getting it" and I WILL call it "Dead Man Walking." That is not being said in anger, it is just the way it works. This is NOT a unicorns and rainbows business.

And yes, this can not be proven, but I will postulate, as I already have on other threads, that one of the main reasons we lost against Missouri was because Brown did not get enough real live fire experience in the obvious win games. When he got in, it was mop-up duty and running a Mertz offense. I did not see any spread-option or RPO. I go there because, if he thinks Brown was not fully formed and therefore did not have scholarship to get into "real" games until Napier had no other choice, then he plainly (again) does not get it. Stubborn or oblivious? It really does not matter. Either is a damn bad character trait. He can get smarter (ie, the oblivious scenario) but in the end, he lost valuable time. And THAT is just as bad.

And so, if I think Napier is playing things too close to the vest and he "soft sells" Lagway, I am afraid he is not cut out for the job. I want to see a real two-headed monster with obviously Mertz taking most of the snaps. But to do less than "all men on deck, DEFCON 1" is...again....Dead Man Walking.

And we still haven't talked about the quality of the defense (talent and coaching) and STs. It IS a damn big mess. It is what it is.

 

Just because we do some things doesn’t mean we should do other things. Regardless, this is not a cumulative evaluation. We don’t judge Billy based upon the total amount of time we haven’t met expectations. We reset the clock and are now two years into a four year rebuild. It’s too early to start whining.

 

Nope. And, again, he’s two years into a three-year rebuild. Seeing a ceremonial throwing of dirt was cute in Year 1. If we don’t start seeing some of the building actually going up this year, it’s going to fall to a new contractor.

 

DJ’s first year starting is expected to be 2025. 4 year rebuild.

 

You’re telling me what you need. I’m telling you what you’ve got. If he wants Year 4, he has to earn it in Year 3. Otherwise, maybe Coach Kiffin has a great QB to work with in 2025, maybe DJ hits the Portal, maybe some scenario no one can yet conceive …

 

Qb won't be our problem next year just like it wasn't this year when we had a losing record.

 

Worth noting Texas hasn't been bad for a long time because that's just how it goes sometimes; they've been bad because they are a mess institutionally and have been too obtuse to make the necessary investments the top schools have been making and think just because they're Texas they can put their chins in the air and win. The boosters want the perks of being boosters without spending what they need to spend and doing the dirty work to win.

 

Certainly understandable the concerns about the program and 24. But Napier IS coming back.

Despite the record UF was competitive in all the games sans KY. Perhaps LSU.

Another recruiting class, some new assistants, transfer portal, maybe, just maybe UF crosses the threshold to winning football. Or Not, I also appreciate the argument about "just delaying the inevitable".

It stinks the last 3 years, I get it. But they say they are keeping Napier, I burned the 23 season house down already, moved on and hope for the best.

Perhaps we get good Recruiting and Portal news, we shall see.

 

If man is still alive,
If woman can survive,
We may find…

 

Zager & Evans reference!!! Lve it.