Only a little bit. The team with the best players wins almost all the time. That is why smart coaches get to a football factory or a fertile football area as soon as they can. A great coach might win you one or two extra games but great recruiters will almost always prevail if they get along with the boosters, AD (or whoever does the hiring and firing) long enough to develop talent. Take can take as long as 5 years. But everyone wants to win all the time. I do. Now, if they cannot develop talent then they will just leave a great situation for the person who follows them. Such as Meyer following Zook. Or Saban choosing Bama (duh!). Or Kirby Smart following Richt.
Pretty much but I hope that he is smart enough to hire an OC like Korn who will grow with the program. We will see.
THERE WAS NO HIRING COMMITTEE!!!! Nobody else was interviewed, ADSS marched to Lafayette and got his soldier.
There was no search committee in November 2021 [source]. Scott Stricklin had been tracking 20-25 potential candidates and he knew when he fired his friend Dan Mullen that he needed a different approach. I cited an article earlier in the thread that provided hints about Stricklin’s approach to replace Jim McElwain in November 2017, which was really centered on bringing back explosive offense and restoring the Gator Standard—which the search committee successfully accomplished when choosing Dan Mullen (until Mullen gave up). In a 2017 interview Stricklin hinted what the article above says: he needed someone to rebuild a program that was having issues, and he needed someone with a vision for NIL & Transfer Portal 2.0. Billy Napier was the only name in Scott Stricklin’s rolodex who had rebuilt a program and met some other criteria he has not shared with us fans. My guess is that Napier coming from the Saban’s school for wayward coaches and up-and-coming coaches helped narrow down the field. Remember that Napier took over for Mark Hudspeth at Louisiana-Lafayette at a time when the school was rebranding itself as Louisiana, and was going through NCAA sanctions. Napier turned Louisiana into a relevant G5 school, and Stricklin wanted to give Napier the opportunity to scale up that plan and sprinkle in a vision for NIL and Transfer Portal 2.0. Stricklin also mentioned multiple times that the rebuild would take time (even if we the fans still do not believe we should give him or Napier that time). Napier then restated the same thing about taking his time and frustrating the fans. Stricklin then locked in a 7-year contract that makes it unaffordable to fire Napier before year 4 or 5. Despite all that, we the fans still think Napier will be fired in year 3 or 4 for not winning 10 games. Despite Stricklin explaining the different approaches he took with Mullen and Napier we are calling for Stricklin, Napier, Armstrong, the 17 offensive line coaches, and the janitors to be fired if we do not get instant results. Napier might not be the guy to win a national championship by 2025, but I do believe that as long as he does not quit in the middle of the contract like Mullen that he should be given until 2025 at least to make his slow rebuild work. Back on the topic of an OC, I can estimate his probability of surviving past 2024 depending on his choice of OC. If he insists on calling plays himself then he has basically sealed his fate and will not last long. If he hires a clone of himself as a dedicated OC so he can focus on other things, his chances go up. If he hires a dynamic play caller then he might last a long time at Florida.
This is hilarious. I think most fans would be ecstatic with 8 wins, heck just year over year progress would be enjoyable.
He can get his five year rebuild if he wins. So far he’s hired a huge staff and hasn’t won squat. At what point do you hire a new contractor, he needs 3 years working on a cracked foundation? If he has another garbage season in ‘24 he absolutely should not be given a fourth year. The TV money alone should take care of a good chunk of his buyout. What we can’t afford is continuing to spend more time at the bottom of the conference. If year three with his entire thumbprint on his roster and culture can’t make this a competitive top 12 team he has to go. He doesn’t get to lower the bar four rungs, raise it by 1, and get a pass for progress. He was a gamble hire from the jump just like Muschamp and McElwain. At least the other two gave us some hope at one point.
I would be happy not extending the streak of losing seasons. That is how far I think the program has fallen. I seem to be in the minority on social media where the magic number is 10 wins. My number is 6 wins, or 7 with a bowl—at least until 2025 when the excuses run out. Maybe 2026 if the boosters do not want to pay the buyout in addition to the bonds for the stadium upgrades and the last couple years of Mullen’s buyout, plus the exorbitant cost for the next coach.
That is part of the problem. Muschamp and McElwain gave us false hope by winning 10 games, earning fan support, extending the contract, and then crapping the bed all while failing to address the underlying issues. Stricklin built in a 7-year plan via the contract structure, yet we are still talking about 4 and 5 year measurements. What is another year or two in the bottom of the conference if it finally fixes all the hidden problems that have been ignored for 15 years? This reminds me of the time my parents saved up some cash to upgrade and modernize the house after my brother and I moved out. Instead of modernizing they had to use the cash to fix cracks in the foundation and mold in the walls. That is where Florida is now—fixing the cracks and mold.
10 Wins!! What on earth are those ppl smoking? We'll be lucky to win 6 and anything more would be almost miraculous.
Muschamp and McElwain were gamble hires just like Napier. Keeping Muschamp the extra year led to McElwain being hired. Neither were the right hire. We’re going to invest even more time with a third gamble hire who is off to a worse start than the other two? That’s a great way to let fans know the university isn’t serious about winning football games. Two ADs in a row that have tried to outsmart everyone instead of going after the best available coaches. Muschamp, McElwain, and Napier are exactly the hires your parents made. The underlying issue at Florida is hiring the wrong coach for what appears to be the fourth time in a row.
