Orlando Sentinel: UF AD Scott Stricklin Insists Billy Napier Is Not On Hot Seat

Has there ever been an AD that said a coach was on the hot seat? That would be quite the relationship!

 

I think you’re correct for the most part. I was responding to the idea that merely answering the question that he is not on the hot seat somehow means automatically that he is on the hot seat. If someone is not on the hot seat how should the question be answered?

 

I certainly take your point. An addendum to my point would be, has any reporter recently asked the Ole Miss Athletic Director if Lane Kiffin is on the hot seat?

 

I think Stricklin and Napier are joined at the hip and if Napier ultimately fails, they both get shown the door. So, naturally, Stricklin would state the position he did. There is now, however, some speculation that Texas A&M may be looking at Stricklin to replace their AD who was just hired by Ohio State.

 

Obviously. We have people who seem to have little patience.

I think that is true everyone.

I like to win as much as anyone. I compete at almost everything but I also can take into account the situation and Billy got dealt from the bottom of the deck.

I am sure that we will know by the end of the fourth or fifth year. I hope that he can get it done but if not then we will have plenty of people wanting to come here because we give coaches a chance to succeed.

 

If he’s on the hot seat with many at GC then he’s scorched hot with the general public. GC is known as the sunshine area of Gator fandom.

 

Mediocre offense
Awful defense
Awful ST
Average recruiting
Awful portal
Nepotism staff

Is that more than just W/L for you?

Of course we all him to win, but don’t blame others if you are blind (or willfully ignorant) of the reasons the program is struggling.

I honestly don’t care if you’d prefer to be blind. But you need to chill out on bashing people with the courage (sarcasm) to possibly mention our poor defense (among other things). You look ridiculous at this point. Drink the hopium, be optimistic, but don’t deny the obvious.

 

That’s one way to spin it.

Another is that the people who finance these things (firings, hirings, buyouts) are disgusted with the performance of those in charge and the trajectory of CFB at large and are electing to spend their play money elsewhere. Stricklin et al are beneficiaries of a lack of money to get them to go away, eventually, to a certain extent.

 

So if I understand you correctly, Napier may get up to five consecutive losing seasons before potential players and coaches will understand that we had to let him go and we’re not just a bunch of impatient, spoiled brats? I just don’t believe that. I have to stand by my prediction that after two losing seasons (with a couple of frankly inexcusable losses) the grace period is already at an end, earlier than some here think or wish it was. He has to start winning now, this season, or he has to find somewhere else to work. If he’s meant to be the coach here long-term, then that’s what will happen. Again, I hope it does. I don’t want to go through a new coaching search again this soon. But about the only thing I want less than that is a coaching search one or two more years after it was obviously necessary. I won’t forget the Lost Season of 2014 when everyone knew Muschamp should have been canned the previous year but inexplicably got a fourth season anyway.

 

There is no good way to answer. The fact that a reporter was brazen enough to ask the AD openly about it tells you what you need to know. ADs with coaches who are meeting expectations don’t get questions like these. It was subtle, but the reporter didn’t really ask Stricklin if Napier was on the hot seat. He told Stricklin that Napier was on the hot seat.

 

Would be a smart move for him.

Start over with a brand new coach you didn’t hire. If he flops you have two more tries.
Should be about 12 years and he can ride that aTm money all the way to retirement.

 

Stricklin’s tone is that of a school that is known for a failing football team and we’re just in it for participation. Fans are cry babies, BN is willing to do “whatever it takes”. Blah blah. This is why we’re not, and probably will not, be competitive on the field for the foreseeable future.

 

All I can think of is who the dummy was that agreed to the interview and what positive thing they thought could have come from agreeing to it.

 

Absolutely, spot on!!! Fans asking for a AD or Head Coach to go because of Napier's record is nearsightedness! College Football has changed, especially with NIL and the transfer portal! Shane Matthews claims the transfer portal needs changing immediately. I would only add the NIL is ruining CFB, and the NIL and transfer portal are interrelated! I just read on X that some schools are offering somewhere around $20 million per year based on fan contributions. Is this accurate? Not sure if it is or is not. What is true is, some schools are outbidding other schools by offering ridiculous NIL money and subsequently attracting recruits and transfer portal players. This has happened to UF as recently as December when we suddenly lost a bunch of defensive recruits over NIL. I am not making an indictment on FV, but I am accusing other NIL's of being grossly irresponsible!!! Therefore, FV is to be commended for not participating in this BS!!! And what's infuriating, some blamed BN for the 2023 record, when recruits were attracted by higher money deals!

 

Every AD, if asked, Will respond the same to the hot seat question. I have no problem with SS answer. I actually wish that SS, on his own, would have come out in support on Napier right at the end of the regular season. At that time, the public support may (or may not) have helped the coaching staff against the negative recruiting and who knows, may not have lost all the flips that final week or so. May have helped in early portal recruiting.

 

Ok, NIL is a huge problem, transfer portal is either a problem or a Godsend-- depending on your net take loss from it.

TBL however, is that is the terrain that every team and coach is charged with negotiating. It is the AD'S and HC's job to negotiate it.

IF our guy can't figure out how to negotiate the terrain and generate wins, then all we're left with is excuses.

Shall our coach and AD accept excuses in lieu of their pay? Let us pretend to pay them, and they can pretend to work. Then we'd be all squares.

But of course, as you well know, we're actuslly paying them...

and not for excuses.

 

Okay, not going to reply to any particular recent post, but there are plenty of takes to discuss. First and foremost, Bama, UGa, OSU, Clemson and a few others decided that "creative accounting" was a viable strategy. Their choice. Now, we have the Wild Wild West and that allows all of the Great Unwashed to act as silly as they want with impunity. If I may opine, while it is indeed "popular", I am not sure it is THE pathway to success. Obviously, those programs who are not "with it" have some damn bad optics. Until further notice, a program as resourceful as UF and the recent results has some less-than-ideal optics. I said OPTICS.

Now to what is THE salient point of this thread and several others in SG: does Napier have what it takes to run a program such as UF football? And we all continue to "discuss" the exact same things, ad nauseum (obviously myself included here). But I guess, besides to get our energies out during the off-season, we want to "assist" fence sitters who are looking for "answers". And so, Round 52...

I wish "those folks" who are tired of the "wash, rinse, repeat" cycle of hiring and firing to realize the "other folks" do not want it at all. But they are not blind. They know what it takes to succeed and, as of the end of the second season and the signing period(s), there is little in the way of signs in the affirmative. That is pretty much it. Obviously "those folks" see potential, just like a 3-star talent has "potential", it is just that in a game, you either "get it" or you get passed by. No different in coaching and program building.

Now, to the State of the Program. There are a wide range of emotions as it relates to what is the UF program in the Wild Wild West. I have said several times that if I had to make a guess, it is that the UF Brain Trust is attempting to be "a little bit pregnant" because to go "all-in" is too scary to contemplate. And quite frankly, I agree. College football IS the Blob that can and WILL eat a university if allowed. All we see today is the blobs running rampant. The implications of them has yet to be determined.

Now, back to Napier. It is entirely possible that he "gets it" and will show it in earnest beginning this next season...while having a losing record. And, while I implicitly understand the concept of "you are what your record says you are", his "progress" will give him one more year by the UF BT because of what may transpire by the Blob. Is it what us Great Unwashed want? nope, but as I said, feeding the Blob like Auburn or Old Miss is NOT a guarantee of success. Too early to make those kinds of proclamations. Herd mentality is herd mentality.

I posted in the last game threads that it is entirely plausible that he has visions of success but he plainly does not know how to pull it off. THE main difference between he and Norvell is that Norvell attacks the transfer portal whereas Napier is...? Is it damning? I don't think any of us know, but again, the optics are pretty damn bad. What I want to believe (and this is sort of damning) is that, while he knows what he wants in HS talent, and may get most of them to sign, he does NOT appear to have a handle on coaching talent. That is both who fits with the talent as well as being able to communicate with each other. I keep posting.....tick, tick, tick. Time is running out for his finally getting it.

Now to the final piece of the Napier puzzle (IMO): what is the "formula for success" on offense? He has signed a potentially transcendent QB who can be eased into the starting job and that may be all there is. BUT, when we see the O-line mistakes with the same coaches, along with the odd lack of sense of urgency and time outs, we have to recognize a trait that we have seen in the past: stubborn.

Is he stubborn, a la Mus-take and Dumbo? As I posted before, I am quite sure Mike White was "encouraged" to get offense coaching help prior to his last year and he decided to remain on his path of choice. And if it did not work then he would walk. And he did. Is this the path of choice by Napier? As we all should know by now, there are some expiring contracts and perhaps the optics will be different in a month. But again, why does a program as resourceful as a UF have to take so long to make changes IF changes are on the way? And that plausibly puts Napier in one more damning category.

He is a chess player whose acumen could work well 10 or so years ago but the game is now MMA. Does the UF BT ride it out because "they see sanity just around the corner" or is Napier the right person at the wrong time? All I can say is...we shall see pretty early next season. We can all agree that the "wash, rinse, repeat" cycle is lousy. But to think "just a few more seasons and THEN he will get it" when it is apparent to many of us that if he hasn't gotten it by the 3rd year then he probably won't. As I said, progress does not have to be a winning season. But is HAS to manifest in other ways. And as of right now, many of us see little. It is what it is.

 

I'd be careful if I were some of these other schools. FSU just got popped by the feckless NCAA for pay-for-play NIL violations and I hope that's just the first of many more schools to get probation for it.

 

See how FSU and their pay-for-play scheme is going according to the NCAA... these schools that are doing good or okay in this new landscape will get caught too... hopefully.

That might just get worked out if a few more schools get caught cheating the system. Because that is who is winning in the NIL/Portal right now. The biggest cheaters offering pay-for-play are winning and I just hope the feckless NCAA adds more team to the probation that FSU for it. Yes, the NCAA has put FSU on probation for pay-for-play cheating.

 

Just stop