NEW AD NEW COACH The Athletic's final ranking for 2023: RANK TEAM RECORD #57 Florida 5-7 EMBARRASSING
It would be foolish on our part to make a coaching change right before the expected culminating event. There’s no point in implementing a primary course of action based off of hypothetical transfers. That would be more appropriate as a contingency plan. Let’s not ignore the massive financial repercussions of a hasty decision. Year 4 is the litmus test.
It depends on what you mean by “problem”. Mertz is not a problem by any stretch. He’s a very solid and capable QB. He wasn’t transcendent, however. He didn’t have a Tebow/Burrow/Vince Young/Wuerffel type of year. If he did, I think that gives us at minimum another 3 wins. Not a knock on Mertz… I hope he will have that kind of year next year. Fact remains that not being a problem isn’t the same as being the reason you win.
Well, the fans were forming with pitchforks and torches soon after Zook was hired, because they all wanted Spurrier v.2, rather than take Zook on his merits. Having two 8-5 seasons would not get one fired in year three today, because we have all become numb to the gradual deterioration with the occasional bump into greatness. Part of the reason Muschamp was fired two years after a strong 2012 was because he followed Meyer (the 4-8 season was a nightmare of injuries). McElwain's record was actually better than Zook's, but his struggles in Year Three placed an enormous pressure on him that he imploded with the death threats nonsense. Mullen? He (and his wife) were skeptical about coming here in the first place (during the Meyer years, his wife went to Orlando to go grocery shopping in order not to be sneered at where she was recognized). Many Gator fans expect the SOS and Meyer years (outside of 2010) to be the norm, rather than the extraordinary exception, and those folks still do. If what SOS and Meyer did was so easy, then they wouldn't be HoF coaches...
If we go 7-5 against next years schedule they should start a statue. I barely see 4 wins on that schedule. Samford, UCF, Miss St. and I guess either KY or aTm.
I’m thinking never based on the University’s priorities but hopefully I’m wrong for all the Gator fans that still care.
DJ to Napier, will be like Tebow was to Meyer back in the day. The famous quote was, and I paraphrase: " If we don't get Tebow, it will set the program back ten years." I think that Line coach that went to Michigan said that! The cool thing is we do have him! Now we need everything else around him. A dual threat guy like Lagway will turn this program around. Along with exemplary recruiting and $$$$. Go Gators.
UCF?! I certainly wouldn’t pencil that one in unless they’re losing a ton of good players. Same for Moo U FTM.
We’ll become relevant again when we spend the money to buy the same talent that Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Bama, and the others buy. Until we get to that level of talent parity, we will not be relevant.
I agree he gets 4 years. I disagree with the reductive judgement that complaining about lack of tempo, urgency, not knowing when to run the FG unit out, have 11 men on the field, not using whole sections of the field etc - is whining. I cheer when we win, I root for us to succeed but when it looks like a clown show and it’s more than just youth/talent/injuries… then I criticize coaching. It’s what every fan and fanbase does
You are more or less agreeing with my point. There are unrealistic expectations and there are minimal standards. A winning season is a minimal standard, not an unreal expectation. The dissatisfaction of today’s fanbase is completely reasonable.
I would say that’s a function of what you think this coaching staff can do with this team. And I think that’s a reasonable assessment. And I think it is reasonable to demand better than that.
If he gets four years, it will be because there have been significant improvements in performance relative to the last two years. It won’t be just because this guy is special and rates a string of losing seasons we would never grant anyone else.
Zook got run out of town because he could only produce 7 and 8 win seasons. I don’t care how tough the schedule is, 4 or 5 wins just isn’t going to cut it. Arguably UF would have already been justified this year to make a move. What I don’t get, for the people saying it’s a 4 year project and resigned to more of the same next year, if you are still at 4 or 5 wins in year 3, what the hell do you think is suddenly going to happen in year 4!? Makes no sense. Napier needs to show something next year. I just don’t see how he can manage to get through with anything less than 7 or 8 wins. With the brutal schedule I think 7 or 8 at least shows we are on track, esp if we are passing the “eyeball test” of a team on the rise. Can’t really say that with another losing season imo.
I keep reading these kind of statements, essentially blaming the boosters and the lack of administration support for a losing record. Got any hard facts as to the amounts of NIL money being spent by UF, FSU and other sec teams including Kentucky, and Arkansas?? Any quotes of the administration not caring about football success.?? BTW, Im not saying you are wrong, I just havent seen any NIL numbers broken down by school, just a lot of speculation.
We lost ground in year one with NIL. The whole debacle with that QB and others. And this year, supposedly, we are in the mix. Where we might be falling short is the money players are getting that no one knows about. See Miami for details... Go Gators.
