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

That is how they make their money! Controversy sells.

 

HaHaHa!

That is a big check and I do not think many people are going to be willing to raise that much money when giving that money to the football program or a NIL program might solve all of our problems!

 

A sage once said, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still!" (Before gender confusion in the 21st century!) I am reminded of that saying often; and, sometimes that.saying applies directly to me.
In the end, we are all just trying to be Gator fans. Go Gators!!!

 

Exactly, if they won’t give it to Nell for the players why in the hell, are they gonna give it to the coach

 

I don't believe any poster is wanting Billy Napier to fail. It's just that some are eternally optimistic, while others look at things the way they are and it causes pessimism and doubt. Consider these things: Coach Napier's 2 year record is 11-14, with a terrible road record; there was no improvement from 2022 to 2023 in on the field execution and no real improvement in recruiting from either high schools or the portal. Combine that with maybe the toughest schedule in the nation for 2024 and what evidence is there that the team will improve enough to have a winning record?
Some point to 5-stars D J Lagway & L J McCray to claim that we've turned the corner in recruiting and now have elite talent coming in. With those 2 guys and a couple of others, we do. But the reality is that 3 months before signing day we had the #3 rated class, yet had so many late defections that our composite ranking fell to #16, behind 7 SEC schools, plus FSU & Miami. On top of that, right now our 2024 transfer portal ranking is #36, 13th in the SEC, plus well behind Miami & FSU. In short, most of our competition has improved their teams more than we have, so how are we going improve on 5-7 when we're losing the roster battles?
And for further comparison, go back to Napier's first signing class - 2022. Understandably, he had to patch together the best group he could under the circumstances and I'm not criticizing him for the #18 ranking for this class. But that's what it was, 8th best in what was the SEC then, plus behind Oklahoma, Texas & Miami. Our 2022 Transfer Portal ranking was #20, 7th best in what was the SEC then, plus behind Oklahoma, Texas, Miami & FSU. Now consider that of the 21 signees and 6 transfers from the 2022 class, only Montrell Johnson, Kamryn Waits, Trey Smack, Hayden Hansen, Christian Williams, Tony Livingston, Jack Pyburn, Arlis Boardingham, Devin Moore, Jamari Lyons and Shemar James are still with the team. That's 16 out of 27 players from the 2022 class who are gone.
Our 2023 signing class had a composite ranking of #13, behind Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Georgia and Miami. And our 2023 Transfer Portal ranking was #16, again behind 5 then SEC teams, plus Oklahoma, FSU & Miami. We added 22 signees and 12 transfers in 2023 and several of those guys have left as well.
My point is that while there has been a lot of player movement and a lot of very good players brought in, we've lost a lot of good players as well and the players most of our competition have been getting, whether from high schools or the portal, are rated better than ours as a group for 3 years in a row. So I just don't see how we can honestly think the results on the field are going to be significantly better in 2024. I want us to be better, I want Florida football to get back in the hunt for SEC titles, I want us to have stability in our coaching ranks, as I think ALL Gator fans do. But D1 football is big business that is all about winning - results on the field with no excuses or rationalizations. I truly hope that the team is magically transformed in the fall and wins 7, 8 or even 9 games. But based on what I've seen over the last 2 years, plus the facts about player recruitment rankings and attrition, it's very hard for me to comprehend that type of transformation. Fingers crossed and I will continue watching and rooting, but I'm not optimistic, unfortunately.

 

What was disastrous was keeping him around for a 4th year with everyone and his brother knowing he would be fired at the end of it without enough OLinemen left to hold an intrasquad scrimmage and an offense and recruiting class ranked in the triple digits.

 

Facts are not allowed, you are just anti-CBN.

 

Keeping him around was far less disastrous than firing him just a year after an eleven win season.

No logical nor reasonable person would have fired him. They would have given him the chance to rectify the situation.

Hindsight is rarely 20-20. People reinvent history to try to prove what they want to be true rather than what was.

I and everyone else are the same. All one has to do is keep examples of one's past history (film, diaries, etc.) and compare them to one's memory to see that we almost always remember things the way we want to rather than the way they were. That is why history is recorded for posterior then ignored when it contradicts our memories. ;-)

Of course, that helps keep GC thriving.

It reminds me of the story of the difference between a rat and human being.

If you put a rat at the beginning of a longitudinal maze and put cheese at the bottom of one of the holes, a rat will go down each hole, look around and come back up if it finds no cheese. It will keep going down the holes until it finds the cheese and it will eat it.

If you put a human at the beginning of such a maze (large enough for a human), the human will go down the first hole and find no cheese. He will go back up out of the hole, look around, and go right back down the first hole. He will keep going back down the first hole because he is convinced that the cheese is down the first hole. He is convinced that he is right.

I am not going to tell you who is right in the situation when it is the time to fire or keep a coach.

But I doubt that very few people are willing to change their mind either way.

I will finish with this. People who have studied this have concluded that changing a coach before the end of the fourth year is counterproductive.

The only time it works is when the incoming coach walks into a loaded roster.

Like DeBoer did at UW after Jimmy Lake had two mediocre seasons while loading his team.

When coaches are kept for a third and fourth year they usually win like Norvell did at FSU.

So, the third and fourth year are where teams are rebuilt and can begin competing.

That may change with the new recruiting dynamics. We will have to see.

We have changed most of our defensive coaches so that may be the same as changing staffs. Our offense has been good enough to win. Our defense has been our problem.

That is my opinion, anyway.

So, my opinion is that Napier will get a 3rd and 4th year because things will improve just as they do with most 3rd and 4th years coaches.

We shall see.

I am not going to make any jokes about being wrong only once. It was twice! ;-)

 

This is not what some want to hear, but it’s true.

 

I see no evidence to believe that the fate of SS and Napier are tied together in any way.

SS is considered one of the best ADs in the US and already has offers to go elsewhere so he is not worried about his future in any way.

The only way that he is leaving UF is if he wants to. The UF admin is solidly behind SS.

The UF admin does not want the job of being AD. They believe in delegation. They have enough on their plates already with the big push to strengthen our academic reputation. Which is already pretty good and will only get better (I hope!)!

 

Great question. You could say we’re extending his contract and that’d shut em down.

 

Name a good hire he has made.

 

IMHO, the reason why Mus-take got 4 years was because...Meyer told Foley and all that it was NOT kosher to have fired Zook after 3 years. We "got the message".

 

Yeah, nothing much said on these boards is "fact", just conjecture.

This conjecture is pretty far out there. I seriously doubt this is the way it will play out. I am not even sure Foley would survive what Stricklin has wrought in the way of hires, IF things go south with either Napier or Golden.

 

Well, with the bacon it’s clear that @cyberdyne just wants Billy Napier fired period. To this guy it’s more important for Billy to fail than for our team to improve. So what’s the definition of a troll around here?

 

Which post are you referring to Rick? I’m just saying it’s optimistic to hope the holes get what they should have coming to them. It seems the cheaters get away with it more often than not. Look at Michigan

 

For context, here was my post:

That would be a textbook example of equivocating and/or misdirecting, both of which I asked you not to do in directly answering a direct question (which you never even came close to doing) … but I guess I’ll allow it.

I feel like this has been asked and answered in a number of other posts, but just to demonstrate the apparently lost art of answering a direct question with a direct answer, my answer is thus:

Because Napier has, in two seasons, turned in two losing seasons, both of which should have been winning seasons. Not championship seasons, mind you. Merely seasons where wins outnumber losses and the Gators win games against clearly inferior competition, such as Vanderbilt and Arkansas. Doing less is not meeting the minimal expectations of any University of Florida head coach, regardless of being in the process of rebuilding or not. Hence, my drawing a line in the land and saying a third such performance is an existential offense.

Would that I had such power. If I do, then I hereby choose to will Florida to an undefeated season; Georgia to a winless season; and FSU to catastrophic NCAA sanctions that cripple its football program for all time, including official recognition that the Crims played with an ineligible QB, who should have been facing felony charges, in 2013, and therefore is stripped of its ill-gotten championship. There. Now you will know that if — God forbid — the Gators have another losing season in 2024 that the independent variable was not whatever I might be willing with my mind but rather more traditional reasons, such as poor coaching.

I have no idea. Consider that another direct answer. And admire the trend.

Very well. I will honor your request.

As you say.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I can admit no such thing. If Napier spends the whole offseason generating some serious hate and discontent with Miami, comes out and beats Miami into the turf of BHG, and sets the tone for being born-again hard, then no one would be more pleased than me. But I did earlier agree not to tell you I was pulling for Napier, so we will just have to leave it there.

 

But that's an example of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Lots of other schools out there. TA&M and UT-Austin are the last places I'd go...

 

Who besides you think that SS is one of the best AD's in the country? I bet he isn't in the top 25, if there is a ranking.

 

First list that popped up on my google has him at number 2. My guess is anyone can find a list that says what they want it to.

Athletic Director Performance Ratings (Part I)