the sports science part is interesting....how are we so dominant in every other sport besides football and basketball yet fall behind in sports science? If so it's incredible how successful we've been in other sports
And then again, we could beat Miami, play pretty well, and still only win six games if the teams are as good as we think they might be.
Napier is the good ol' country boy who comes off as the likeable loser. This is year 3 with 2 losing years (3 with Mullen's last flail); if he can't pull a winning record he's toast. Gator Nation does not tolerate chronic losing for long. Nape has cost this school lots of money with no bowl games and some disappointing losses to inferior teams. 7 wins minimum + bowl game or Nape gets a bus ticket to the bayou.
The rebuild coinciding with the landscape of recruiting/NIL change didn’t help either. We need to win for anyone to feel good about Napier’s vision and process. Schedule is really tough. 8 wins with competitive losses to the good teams and I’ll be ecstatic.
true but money and science are not necessarily correlated. If we have training programs that can prepare athletes to dominate in track and field, purely physical and technical events, how is it so devoid in football and basketball. The not enough spending on staffing, facilities and player recruiting - not buying players like other programs did - makes more sense in resulting in not winning than does poor sports science.
I’m certain it takes both but without the players no amount of coaching or science is going to do shit
exactly. We just didn't recruit the top players in each sport, because in football and basketball those players cost a TON of money we didn't spend. If we had top talent in both sports, suddenly these other program issues go away or are not nearly as important. You generally need top talent to win.
To be clear, I am not saying a five-win season is guaranteed termination; I just don’t believe it “secures” a fourth season. It depends on what happens this season. In that horrible scenario, I think there are four games Napier must win to be here in 2025, no matter what happens in the other games: Samford, UCF, Miss St., and Kentucky. Even an upset win somewhere else should not save him if he cannot close in all four of those. It’s been three years. It’s wholly his team now. He should not need any more time to get a win over Kentucky, especially at home.
The media already has him pegged as the 2nd hottest seat in college football and that's before the season even started. I'm not saying that it should be that way, but if UF under-performs* this year, that seat will be surface of the Sun hot according to the media. *My metric: Less than 7-6 record.
The Portal. Mullen's misfit toys beamed out whereas Doug's leftovers didn't have much choice but hang around in 1979.
Appreciate you. Grantham should have never been allowed anywhere near the Swamp. Mullen's biggest blunder. He had some talent fall in his lap but most were passed over because they came up short under scrutiny. Everything seems to be straightened out now and it feels good.
They took the Football lucre and spent it on other sports. I vividly recall JF standing at the podium detailing the capital expenditure plan and planning the Ladies' Softball stadium reno's before that of the football facility (back when facilities mattered). I have nothing against the ladies, or softball, but I'm sorry you just don't prioritize a sport that doesn't even break-even over your cash cow.
The top recruits these days are not looking at the win loss record these days. They are looking at the NIL money. Florida screwed up getting set up to handle the NIL and fell behind teams like Ole Miss. I think they are better set up and funded now and will keep more of the top recruits and also do well in the transfer portal.
Another losing season would definitely hurt the program and recruiting, and is really not an option. The question is would it hurt the program more to let him go and start all over again, instead of giving him a forth season? Unless you have a proven coach "in the pocket" it is a big risk. Billy has proven to be a great CEO and player indiscretions seem to be at a minimum under his watch, and both have great value, but now he has to show that he can coach or produce winning football at this level. If he can, it will be huge for the future of the program and the sky is the limit, which maybe worth finding out with a fourth season. From everything I have seen, this is going to be a good football team and hopefully a moot point shortly.
I'm glad you are optimistic, but what, exactly, have you seen? I've read reams of speculation, but haven't actually seen anything yet.
2018 and 2019 were more talented top to bottom. 2012 was probably more talented based on the D alone. Napier has been extremely underwhelming. Undoubtly why he's on everyone's, "hot seat" list.
