Article: Napier two years in

Then Napier’s gone, in my opinion. And we look for someone who understands that rebuilding starts with winning seasons. That isn’t some kind of accomplishment that one waits five years to see.

 

How does rebuilding start with winning seasons? If you have winning seasons, you don’t need to rebuild. You rebuild to get winning seasons. They’re the result, not the starting point.

 

I agree with much of this… But I take a little bit of an issue with it being a coaching graveyard… That is one perspective, but wouldn’t another perspective be that the athletic Director and administration that made these hires have made mistakes?
at the end of the day, it may signal the same thing which is “don’t come to UF “… but I think Billy came in with the right idea which is “you all need to put your money where your mouth is” and the administration did a lot of what they said they would do… But once again, they are slow to pull the trigger when it comes to spending money, playing in the dirty end of the pool ,nil etc so just like they were behind on facilities and incorrect in their evaluation of coaching hires previously… Now they’ve rectified some of that, but are behind the ball in other areas… So I don’t see it as “you’ve got to give a guy for five years to send the right signal to the next coach “… you can tell on game day if a guy is the right guy or not after three years… Even if you add into the equation, injuries, talent, gaps, mistakes by players… There are clear signs that you’ve got the right guy on game day after a couple of years… and if you don’t have the right guy, then you have to let him no matter the sign it… If we’re on two year cycles for 30 years until we get a guy that competes for championships then that’s just where we are… I wholeheartedly disagree with the Texas A&M philosophy of giving a guy six years and hoping it’ll work out

 

Yay!!! Let's fire our fourth coach in a row!!! So much fun!! So productive!!

 

He is not gone. He will be the coach at the start of 2025 no matter what. If he is canned, guarantee you that DJ portals out.

 

Because a winning season is a minimal expectation, every year, not an end state. The very notion that we should wait four or five years to have something Napier should have had in his first is nothing short of ludicrous.

 

I’m not calling for his head yet. I will be if he fails a third season in a row. The resources at UF are too great to suffer this kind of abysmal performance. If Napier was a bad hire, then he was a bad hire. We move on. The whole idea of sticking with a head coach who doesn’t have what it takes just because we have had to fire other head coaches who didn’t have what it takes is almost as ludicrous as the idea that we should give Napier five losing seasons to figure what should be obvious — if it comes to that — after three.

 

And I guarantee you if he would Portal out for that, then he would Portal out in the event we kept Napier for a fourth losing season, after which he would assuredly be fired. ETN jumped ship, didn’t he? We all want Napier to start winning next year. If he doesn’t, then we need to find someone who can. Because in that case, four, five, or six years won’t make any difference and will only prolong the suffering.

 

Not happening that he gets canned.

 

Expectations need to be adjusted at this point. UF is the #1 Public university.

 

Excellent article using a lot of stats to back up the arguments. BN has tough sledding for 2024, IMO, but I want him very much to succeed.

 

My expectations are already pretty low. Sorry yours are so low that losing seasons are normalized for you.

 

I’m talking about rebuild. Not every new coach walks into a total rebuild situation.
It’s called a rebuild because what’s there has to be torn down and …… “rebuilt”.

What’s ludicrous is you saying Napier should have had a winning season in his first year with the disaster he inherited. Sure it would have been a great start if he had, but “should have” suggests either lack of understanding of how bad a state Mullen left our program in, or an unwillingness to even consider it

 

Nobody wants losing seasons, but being #1 as an academic institution is a tremendous goal achieved that has had consequences. Look, CBN is going to the HBC at the start of 2025...Strickland will have to be leave before a change in coach is made. There is no way he is given a third bite of the apple in making that decision again.

 

I have no sources inside Gator football or the athletics department, but I have read in several places that when Napier was hired he was told he would be given at least 4 years to prove himself. That doesn't mean the AD or UAA can't fire him at any time, but some people believe he has through the 2025 season no matter what occurs, short of him breaking a law. Other people believe 2024 is his make or break year after what happened in 2022 & 2023. Time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me either way. I'm just a lifetime fan wanting the Gators to win championships, voicing my opinions and perceptions along the way. Gooo Gators.

 

If it’s just predictions we’re making, then I predict that if — if! — Napier fails to succeed a third year in a row, then the noise will become unbearable and Stricklin will either have to move in a new direction or he, too, will be toast. There is simply no realistic scenario where Napier gets a third losing season and gets a fourth opportunity. You can say no one will want to work at UF the way we go through coaches, but I’m not buying it. Everyone would understand why Napier was fired after three losing seasons.

But hopefully this will all remain hypothetical and Napier will get it together.

 

Depends on how you define a winning season. I think the person you quoted was defining it in simple terms (above .500). Hard to say you're on the right track if you have losing seasons.

Coach............season1.......season2.......%
Pell................0-10-1...........8-4..............36.4
Hall...............9-1-1.............6-5..............71.4
Spurrier.........9-2................10-2............82.6
Zook.............8-5................8-5..............61.5
Meyer............9-3...............13-1.............84.6
Muschamp.....7-6...............11-2.............69.2
McElwain.......10-4..............9-4..............70.4
Mullen...........10-3.............11-2.............80.8
Napier............6-7...............5-7..............44.0

I bring these numbers up as a matter of perspective, not to try and make a particular point. Take away Pell's first season, though, and one of these percentages looks wildly different than all others. I think a rebuild has to show some kind of on-field success early on. Gator fans are still waiting for that under the current staff.

 

It’s always easy to spend other people’s money.