Said the following about Billy: "I think he's got to change the culture. I mean, the culture there is not what it needs to be in terms of the intangible things you play with. The toughness, the discipline to control the line of scrimmage. They're not just doing those types of things. I know (Napier) took over a tough situation, but hopefully you can establish that culture in Year 3." The last sentence hurts
It's NOT going to happen with BN coaching this team. The guy has lost 6 games in a row. Plus, the losses at HOME just keep getting worse! BN is the problem.
The culture of the 2024 team has yet to be established, so let's hope for some positive trends. As for Saban, I'm curious why he wants to go to work on a Saturday morning. I've be chillin' and grillin' by the pool.
Yep...a couple guys laughing on the plane, they landed and he threw their shit out on the tarmac and said call a Uber pal you're off the team. Then chewed ass for an hour before he let them off...thats how you change culture and weed players out. I bet Billy says aw shucks we can try harder next week then drives everyone to Cold Stone for some ice cream sundaes.
I know you’re joking re: Billy, but apparently the plane ride home from the UK debacle last year wasn’t far off. Players joking, laughing, planning what parties to hit up after landing back in Gainesville, etc. Nonchalant, no big deal, we’ll get em next time, trust the process, just one game, just one season. Per the source, who was on the plane, it was a shocking change from even the Mullen years, let alone the Meyer years.
Let’s assume Saban is right. Napier has had since December of 2021 to change the culture, and improve our play at the line of scrimmage. How long should that take? Honestly if we were a brand new football program starting in 2020, with the resources our athletic departments has endowed him with, it still shouldn’t have taken as long as it has to “change the culture.” Billy is not the answer.
I think the essence of this story is true. For a start, you’ve got to have a leader who absolutely hates losing and builds a team who hates losing. I never had any doubt that Meyer hated losing (frankly to a toxic and unhealthy degree), but I have never gotten the impression that Napier even minds losing. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all. Why should it bother his team? I mean, it’s all a matter of perspective, right? Why does losing even matter, philosophically speaking? Does the sun not still rise? Does beer not still taste great? Do the coaches and players still not get paid the same?
How do you figure we are going to learn anything today? Next week, surely. This week, I mean, the only way we learn something is if Samford wins. And even a cynical old bastard like me doesn’t seriously credit that as plausible.
He has spent what 16 years keeping his mouth shut, setting an example and now that he is one of us, he's saying what we all want to say.
Agree, and for those longing for the prior staff, recall Mullins running off the field after a loss with a big grin on his face. He didn't mind losing at all, especially after the NFL didn't come calling.
My question is, what in the heck is our staff thinking, seeing in practice, telling one another about our training program? Everyone on our staff must have participated previously with a program that focuses on toughness, S&C, hard practices, and culture to know what we were doing was insufficient. Makes no sense. Team is soft like Napier. I wish I knew his staff tried to change the POV but Napier disregarded their advice.
I’m not sure anyone is “longing for” the previous staff. More fans, however, are recognizing that it was categorically better than this staff, wondering whether Mullen got a fair chance to correct his obvious deficiencies in recruiting and staff selection after things went south in 2021, and questioning some of the narratives about Mullen that seem only to justify Napier’s underperformance to this point. Mullen is gone, and no one is pining to have him back. What remains is what to do about this mess we have today, where Napier has built nothing on what remained of Mullen’s and in some cases had dug us in a deeper hole.
