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

No one here is going to show you as no one has a crystal ball to foresee the future with certainty, you will have to wait until the end of the season next year to see how this all pans out. Obviously you can choose to view what has been done and how the season will pan out in your own way. Being skeptical is good, being dismissive not so good.

 

Urbs would have had last years team close to top 5, no wonder you’re so confused.

 

A good friend of mines platoon of marines were tge first boots on the ground clearing mines for the assault. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

I’d say he would have possibly won 8 games and had us ranked.

 

Year four with Lagway in his first starts competing for titles. Just give him the heisman already. No pressure kid. A little more patience or you’re going to be disappointed.

 

Pretty sure everyone would rather have 5 years of great football and then the coach burning out versus cycling through coaches because they can’t win.

The era of Bowden or Paternos are over. Even if Napier does well you shouldn’t expect him to stick around for 20 years

 

3 years is plenty of patience to be an above average SEC team

Y4 we should be competing. I’ll define that as top 5 in the SEC with not a huge gap between the winner and us.

It’s not about Lagway. All recruits have a decent bust rate. It’s about after 4 years it’s his program, his players, his development, his systems, etc. His program should be competitive. That’s what I care about.

While I’d love a title I don’t want a Cam Newton and Chizik situation. Napier needs to be able to build something that isn’t reliant on 1 player.

 

There is no question about that. But it is all connected. The OL blocks better when they have a back that demonstrates that even with lousy blocking, he is a threat to take it all the way in each rush. Barry Sanders is a classic example. He had okay front lines at Detroit, but what made their running game successful was Barry, not the OL. Florida has not had an ALL SEC running back since Ciatrick Faison in 2004. We have had nine offensive linemen get drafted into the NFL since 2004 and three offensive linemen who made squads after not having been drafted. We have not had one undrafted running back make an NFL roster since 2004 Ran Carthon.

While I agree with you, that I could gain a 1000 yards at 65 with a superhuman front line, the numbers or lack thereof show that we have not had a superstar back not necessarily because of a lack of quality linemen, but because of a lack of a super back. Etienne and Johnson were/are good backs, but neither even came close to postseason honors. I believe that Daniels and Baugh are the best recruits we have had at the RB position in decades. As you can see from my age, I have been following Florida Football a loooooooooong time.

 

First step: find the right combination to run the ball effectively (we did this).
Second step: find a runner who scares the heck out of the opponent's defense.
Final step: throw the ball down the field when that defense puts 8-10 players in the box.

We are merely in step one....for a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. This HAS to stop.

 

I'm not dismissive, but I am deeply skeptical, and why not?

2010: 8-5
2011: 7-6
2012: 11-2
2013: 4-8
2014: 7-5
2015: 10-4
2016: 9-4
2017: 4-7
2018: 10-3
2019: 11-2
2020: 8-4
2021: 6-7
2022: 6-7
2023: 5-7

Total: 106-71 (.599)

For some perspective (current and historical).

In the SEC:

Alabama: 173-21 (.892)
90s Florida: 102-22-1 (.820)
Georgia: 150-40 (.789)
Oklahoma: 145-39 (.788)
00's Florida: 100-30 (.769)
LSU:........134-47 (.740)
60s Florida: 70-31-4 (.686)
80s Florida 76-38-3 (.662)
Texas A&M: 113-64 (.638)
Auburn: 110-71 (.608)
Florida:..106-71 (.599)
Mizzou: 104-73 (.588)
Texas: 103-74 (.582)
Miss State: 104-75 (.581)
South Carolina: 100-77 (.565)
Ole Miss: 94-79 (.543)
Tennessee: 93-81 (.534)
70s Florida: 58-53-3 (.522)
Kentucky: 86-89 (.491)
Arkansas: 81-92 (.468)

I, like many others here, are old Gators, and remember "next year." No disrespect to you at all, but I got to go Missouri. They are going to have to show me.

 

You are correct. I would take that right now in the room.

 

Excellent post. I agree.

 

ETN might not be able to block very well, but watch what he does behind George’s line if they give them the ball 20 times a game. I think Johnson would have similar results.

 

How much you wanna bet he doesn't even get a 1000 yards. He was the key figure here. He will be a roll of the dice possession at Georgia. He'll be lucky to start for them. You watch.

 

It’s surely questionable how many carties he will get. They won’t let Beck be sacked from poor blocking. He is a very explosive runner when he has space though. He knows his blocking is an issue. He will work on it or maybe he thinks he’s too good to block.

 

UGA already has three top tier RBs on roster and for three more from HS. Etienne is going to have to compete for playing time and not rely on his name.

He is nothing more than insurance for UGA whereas he would have been a featured back here. It was a colossal blunder on his part.

He will struggle to get 5 reps a game and will undoubtedly try to get into the pros on the strength of his brother.

Meanwhile the once the mighty Georgia plays Clemson, Kentucky, Alabama, Ole Miss, Miss St., Tennessee, Texas, Auburn, and Florida- the last two being games where the coaches’ positions are coming under intense scrutiny. They will have a MINIMUM of three losses this year and revert to the peach program we’ve known them to be. Kirby like Saban will run to the NFL and order will be restored.

you just cannot justify the amount of money that program spends on football and lose three games.

 

Shit….. I wish you weren’t way off base. I’ll bet my life the supplies don’t lose three but anything is possible. Bama, ole miss and Texas could beat them but no one else. Perhaps they lose all three possible losses but I seriously doubt it.

 

I know that autocorrect did that; but that's awesome. From now on, I'm referring to any team from UGA as the supplies.

 

it was supposed to be slut puppies

 

It is virtually impossible given the parity from the transfer portal and NIL for a program to maintain dominance as one of the top four teams in college. Saban realized that and ran. He knows he can’t justify being the highest paid coach, get one of the highest budgets, and not be able to win an NC.

The standards at Alabama and Georgia are so high and they have spent so much money that not getting into the playoffs (Georgia) and a two year drought (Alabama) places as much of a strain on the coaching staff as a mediocre or a losing staff faces.

The difference is that is it a lot easier to improve from a losing record in the SEC than it is to go undefeated or suffer only one loss in the SEC.