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

I don’t ask people how old they are - anymore. But Doug Dickey was head coach at UF when I enrolled there, and he was still head coach when I graduated 5 years later. The football team was what it was and I never missed a home game. Loved watching Don Gaffney (#8) run the option, rolling out and getting hit, but right after the ball came out to the pitch man. Wes Chandler was my favorite receiver (and everybody else’s too). Great athletes and we still sucked! And regardless, we rolled out every home game with our trusty flask of Rebel Yell and hollered until we saw spots.

The license plate on the front of my car said “Wait hell, we’ve waited 40 years”. It would be 15 more years before we won our first official SEC Championship, and I was there.

So yeah, @ocalaman may be older than me — but too close to matter. What’s interesting is I find myself at odds with you over a post in which I called for patience with Napier, which drew a thumbs-down from our old buddy from Ocala. I called him out and you called me out. Interesting…..

 

Dude I gotta hand it to you — that’s the first time I’ve ever been called a snowflake. Now that’s funny

 

Sadly, the people clogging our interstates are morons compared to the disciplined drivers on the Autobahns. It’s not the roads, it’s the drivers

 

Might have something to do with the penalties for f’ing up too.

 

You mean the lack of? If I was a cop I’d empty my ticket book in one shift and none of them would be for speeding

 

Yes, the lack of here, and the severity there.

 

Boom

 

I don't think it's a good idea for someone who joined 2 weeks ago to come on here and call people out.

 

If you e reached your limit this quick, you should probably check out til a later date.

 

You've acted like a snowflake who needs his safe space to feel comfortable. You're a newby and seem to be highly sensitive to anyone who has an opinion different from yours. Most of us have years of experience and knowledge of each other on these boards and you jump in like you have all the insight and knowledge in the world. You back nothing up with facts. It's just emotion and fantasyland speculation. Believe what you want, my friend, but get off your high horse and learn a few things about this board before you start calling people out. Debate is great - just learn how to do it right.

 

And now you're going after @hoyt233, too!! You're out of your league questioning one of the most knowledgeable posters on any Gator board.

 

Screw that slated rag called the Sentinel. There's a reason why most Gator sports fans in Central Florida stopped reading that rag 15 to 20 years ago. They have always been Gator haters... and I don't are what their write.

 

Well you got a point there Hoyt

 

Exactly. And here's the part I don't get. The push to pay players was because of all the money the schools were getting from TV deals and things and paying coaches outrageous sums of money. Well, guess what, all that money the schools are generating DOESN'T GO TO THE PLAYERS!. The money for the players comes from the boosters / fans because the schools aren't allowed to pay the players. Someone's a friggin genius for figuring out a way for the schools to keep the same amount of money from TV deals and just get more money from the fans to pay the players.

 

I’m not “going after” anyone Ocala. All I did was respond to his post. I shared a little of my history because Hoyt asked me how old I am. Go back and read it please, and tell me anywhere I ‘go after’ Hoyt.

I definitely get the fact that this is a group of Gator fans who have been posting together for years. I get the fact that a newbie needs to know his place. No argument there, and I likely did come on a little strong. I’ve lurked here for years and have a pretty good understanding of where people are coming from. @hoyt is one of the folks here I find myself in complete agreement with. I jumped in a few weeks ago because I just don’t understand the vitriol for Billy Napier while he busts his ass to undo 10+ years of damage to our program through 3 bad coaching hires.

In fact, that’s what started this entire exchange Ocala — I responded to a post from @wci347 , essentially agreeing that CBN has been doing a solid job and needs some patience from Gator Nation. You gave that a “come on man” and I challenged that. Still do.

I may be a newbie here and haven’t earned any credibility (yet), but I’m still a long-time Gator fan who won’t be silenced when people attack our head coach and his program. Perhaps you can lighten up a bit with your hostility too.

Go Gators

 

Funny - go back and read your post and then try and tell me anything about how to “debate”. I think your anger towards me is just a bit over the top Ocala

 

Here is a lengthy response I had to you earlier in this thread on post #105, responding to your assertion in Post #92 that @uftaipan wants Billy Napier to fail.

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.

I gave factual information to back up my position and I got no negatives and 4 likes on this. @doctorg8r, who has a pretty optimistic position on our football situation, agreed with what I said above. You and some others take the position that Napier has done a solid job in starting to turn the program around and is doing a great job in recruiting, which the facts don't support. You said he's proven he can build a winner at the FCS level in Post #161, which isn't true. Louisiana, where he did a very good job, is an FBS school, a mid-major. You have provided no authoritative source to show that he's done a great job in recruiting at Florida, either at the high school level or in the portal. Where is your evidence? You can't just say recruiting rankings don't matter and then claim what a great job he's doing in recruiting. On what basis? Filling needs? We won't know until 2024 whether the players he's brought in are better than the ones who left, right? It's just positive spin and speculation. And virtually all of our competition has been bringing in better portal players and better high school players than we have, based on the empirical evidence of the recruiting rankings. And for the last 2 years, at least, the on-the-field results have borne that out.
On top of that, I've NEVER called for Billy Napier to be fired, as some have done. I have said several times in other threads that I believe he will be given 4 years to prove his worth. And I hope he turns things around.
I don't like getting into pissing contests with you or anybody else. The thread started out with the article about our AD saying Napier is not on the Hot Seat. And I don't think he is - yet. The argument is between those who think he's doing a good job to this point and those who think he isn't doing a good job. You think he is, I disagree and have stated my case as to why I hold that position. Now, please state yours.

 

What many of our fellow fans need to understand is that there have been 29 people who have acted as head coach for Florida football. ONLY THREE - Van Fleet, Spurrier, and Meyer had winning percentages above .700. That’s twenty years of .700 or better football in 117 years.

Even one of our worse coaches - RAYMOND WOLF- with a winning percentage of .359, got 4 years.


The biggest negative recruiting tools against us are we don’t win and we have NO STABILITY. We can eliminate half of the problem by cultivating a sense of security and stability in the program.

It is evident that the interest in Florida football and basketball has changed for the positive under Napier and Golden. We are getting visits from players that would not even look out way under previous staffs.

And at least in football we have hit homerums in both the HS ranks and the transfer portal (basketball more so through the transfer portal although Condon and Hough are really good looking freshmen).

I agree with you. I think it is time that we rake a collective deep breath, support both programs, and watch these two young coaches develop into marquee level commodities that all players will want to play for. Smart and Sabean would be under average coaches with a plethora of 3 star talent.

If other fans cannot see the improvement in the level of dedication to winning of these young coaches then they are blind.

 

Respectfully, on a fan-based message board, second only to loyalty and reverence to the board's icons, one's membership length is perhaps the primary criteria for respect on the board. It took me a long time to understand this. Even today, I occasionally slip and cross the Rubicon. It's sort of a board etiquette that is protected in varying degrees by the longtime members here.

 

Yes of course, and that’s to be expected for sure. There’s also another angle to this “longevity” issue — posters who became Gator fans long before we were winning championships, opposite younger fans who got spoiled right out of the gate by Steve Spurrier’s run of excellence in the 90s, followed shortly after by Meyer’s return to the top of the mountain. These folks have no appreciation for anything that requires time to build, and dump on Napier at every turn and will continue to do so until their demands have been satisfied. I resent those posts as much as some of the folks on this board resent me for daring to disagree with them.

What I don’t get is the personal hostility from, in this case, the guy from Ocala. Good grief - we’re all fans of the same team