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

This is just ignorant Walrus. It’s easy to walk into a program that’s been consistently winning 9-10 every season and keep winning. You’re telling us you can’t see the difference between what Kirby joined and what Napier walked into?

Man I can’t believe we’re still having this discussion. No coo coo cachoo for you this round

 

I will hope otherwise. We have been pleasantly surprised in the past under dire circumstances. Maybe we will see a miraculous turnaround again. Napier would do much to increase confidence now by not being so intransigent when it comes to coaching special teams and retaining playcalling from the field. We will see.

 

You described why a below average season was acceptable in Y1. As his tenure increases the expectations increase. In Y3 it’s his whole program annd roster and history suggests the rebuild should be well on the way. Y4 the rebuild should be complete. Expecting above average in Y3 is more than reasonable.

 

With the transfer portal and LOI's having no meaning anymore, the old models are dead.. Why did Drinkwitz go 5-5, 6-7, 6-7 in years 1-3 then 11-2 in year 4? No more expectations according to a schedule for me ..

In any case, obviously CBN had big portal issues in years 1 and 2, however IMO the actions he has taken in this offseason bode well for us. 3 new coaches on D (roberts as D co coordinator, harris and chatman) in areas of weakness and portal players like Turner and Howard in the middle will upgrade our D big time. Upgradin of our S&C and nutrition programs. I'm not even counting on some of our great recruits like Mccray and Lagway.

We could have easily been 8-4 with a functioning D last year. Even without one, LSU without Daniels last year and we could have beat them too, although our D would have made that difficult too (see F$U).

I'm optimistic about the 24' season, and i think we will surprise a lot of people. The hot seat nonsense, IMO, is just people throwing sand in the gears. CBN is our coach, and i will support him until he isn't. I'm of the opinion we should kill this 3 years and out model we have been following and err on the side of longer for his tenure if it turns out to be an error (which i don't think it will)

 

He took them from 3rd base to home. I would argue that is the most difficult part. Is it easier than going from first like BN is trying to do, of course it is. That was not what I was talking about. I was talking about keeping that momentum and taking the next step. It's foolish to assume any coach can do it as we have all seen what a coach not cut out for the big time can do to a team consistently winning 10+ games. His name was Will Muschamp.

 

I think there’s an equal chance that we win four or eight games.the weatherman sucks just as bad at predicting as our dumbass fans.

 

Where was this momentum you’re speaking of.

 

It could be Emmit and Fred back there but somebody has to block. We’ve had 1000 yard backs , they just can’t get tge 100 yards with the lack of blocking.

 

There will be several teams below average every year. Three years and compete for sec titles or your fired. That’s some dumb shit right there. It would be nice and it’s possible but to expect it is just a lack of aware.Tgeres more than a few good staffs trying to win games on our schedule.

 

And Spurrier had enough of fans thinking it’s ok to think 9/3 is unacceptable because it’s not a rebuild. Things don’t always work out like an equation. Shit happens. Guys don’t pan out an others exceed expectations. There’s not some magic formula that if you recruit great and coach great that you get a 12-0. Sometimes it still turns out bad. You can’t see what happens overall in the long run if you never get there. There’s tons of coaches that do better down the road and at this point, he just brought in our best qb on paper since Tebow. What dumbass would fire him before Lagway has his shot. There are plenty dumb enough obviously.

 

Urbs took a couple from third to home. Let me know when he picks up a trash team and wins a natty ever much less in a few short years. Which natty team had losing seasons within 2-3 years previously. It took hairball some ups and downs to get there in a league tgat only osu has won shit in decades.

 

This dumb fan wants to know what Lagway will do to fix our woefully underperforming defense and special teams? If Lagway is the guy, for instance, who’s going to make sure that 11 players (and only 11 players), all wearing different jerseys numbers, are going to show up on the field for a punt return — assuming the defense can stop a team on third and long, of course — then I’m all all in. Let’s give Napier until Lagway’s senior year to turn in a winning season before we start to consider going in a different direction.

 

I suggest watching the games to find out. New, DC, a couple, more defensive coaches, and a big flip and the personnel that will be playing defense for us next year. So it won’t be the same thing as you watch last year better or worse is

 

To restate the recent coaching moves made by CBN - Defense - Ron Roberts co coordinator - ILB, Chatman D line, Harris secondary.. great moves in the portal and signing day to shore up the whole d, especially Howard ILB, Chiles, Graham LB, Turner Safety. I'm assuming the problems are fixed.. The upcoming season should confirm.
Special Teams Joe Houston, very experienced special teams person. I'm assuming the problems are fixed. The upcoming season should confirm. Don't get stuck in the past and ignore what has been done to fix.

 

I’m all about the fixes and am looking forward to seeing significant improvements. I was addressing what seems to be a silly argument that no decision should be made on Napier until Lagway has had his time at the controls, which means no earlier than the end of 2025. First off, QB play was not our problem last year. Even if Lagway meets unrealistic expectations, unless the OL and play calling improve that won’t matter too much. But more importantly we had way bigger problems on defense and ST that Lagway can’t help with. Any strategy that involves waiting on Lagway while so many other problems need fixing now is almost not worthy of discussion.

 

Year 4 is when we should be competing for titles. Year 3 is when we should be above average. I think having a benchmark of being above average in Y3 at a top 10 athletic program is quite reasonable and patient.

If three years of below average is meeting expectations then you simply have no expectations. When do results matter in your world?

 

Is this a joke? Urban immediately killed it at 4 of his college stops. The entire argument was ridiculous. The previous coaches at his stops failed.

If Urban was our coach right now we’d be closer to a top 5 team than whatever we are now.

 

IIRC, we said this after Muschamp, McElwain, Mullen, Weis, Grantham and how many others were replaced as well. Nah, I'll have to be shown...

 

Well, yeah, assuming Urban could keep his mental issues in check. But history says he can’t.

 

When the Armed Forces prepared for war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, we were preparing for the Mother of All Battles against the 4th largest army in the world, supplied with Societ weapons. A hundred hours later, it was all over, and for decades, any type of conventional strategy was built around the Desert Storm. It took 30 years for folks to finally figure out that a potential Large Scale Combat Operation against, say, China, would be entirely different than the hapless Iraqis in 1990, but we are still woefully unprepared.

Imagine going to full-scale war with China while manning 11 active component Army divisions, especially in China?

This is the flipside of what you are saying. Look at the combined regular season W/L records of our opponents in 2022 and 2003, and compare them to 2024:

2022: 88-56 (.611) plus one FCS
2023: 85-56 (.603) plus one FCS

Look at last year's records of our 2024 opponents:

2024: 100-45 (.690) plus one FCS

If this year's Gators played the schedule of the last two years, then yes, I would also expect at least 8 wins, but to expect such from this team against this schedule is unrealistic.