I agree that all Gator fans should hope that Billy makes another year, but for reasons more related to wins and significant improvement in performance. If the interim president was an outsider it might be a significant impediment to any coaching decisions, but Dr. Fuchs is familiar with those who will realistically be making the call. He might be tasked with making it official, but he’s much more an academician, and while involved, not nearly as much as Sasse would likely have been. He will most likely be inclined to let the UAA and top level boosters do the groundwork and follow their recommendations. I might not personally agree with keeping Stricklin, but I think he will continue as Athletic Director until a permanent president is selected, but I think the power brokers are just a wee bit upset, and Stricklin will have limited say in the actual choice of any new football coaches.
I think it’s not an either-or as your language suggests; I think both of those things would need to happen. Understanding that there are few proven P4 coaches who have probably peaked at their current schools, Kiffin is by no means the only one out there, just the one who would immediately illicit the greatest support and enthusiasm. Off the top of my head, I would say Gundy fits that description and probably so does Mark Stoops, frankly. If we are not going to get someone like that, then there’s no sense firing Napier, no matter how bad this season goes.
Well we crapped the bed against A&M. But here we are.... He is still here. I dont think he makes it the rest of the season, but I also thought Saturday night he would be gone by Monday.
I'm pretty sure he's gone, but just not "technically" yet. Firing a coach is easy. Doing it the right way takes a little more thought, I guess.
Oh, and to answer the question of the thread, I would have bet that he would still be coach in 2025. I wasn't convinced that we would have a great season, but no way in hell did I think we would be this terrible. Oh well.
Have to have a plan, yes a process. Hard to have an interim HC for 9 games, they are usually inserted end of season right? Not to mention, our disorganized organization has some planning and preparation to do so they do not end up with middle of the road candidates remaining on their search list.
typically, interim head coaches end up being someone promoted from the current staff to handle the rest of the year. Once that assistant is made interim head coach, an off field analyst (which we have like 100) is promoted to an on field coach to take the place of the assistant that was promoted. If the head coach is canned mid season, that may also come with some additional assistants being canned mid season as well. Not as common but possible. For example, in our case, if Napier is fired and - just using this as an example, Billy Gonzales is made interim head coach…Gonzales /the AD would likely promote Doecker (off field WR analyst/coach) to on field WR coach. With the defense being so atrocious, Gonzales could fire one of the two DC’s and promote another analyst to on field coach (say Joe Houston to actual special teams coach). Not having 10 on field coaches would be detrimental.
good question. The gator nation football podcast talked about switching coaches mid season and how successful it is or isn’t but used Premier League soccer as the data set. This is because in soccer, unlike college football, coaches are fired/changed quite often during the season. The synopsis of the data for coaching changes made during the season for Premier League soccer showed that the earlier in the season the change was made, the greater the positive impact for that season. Coaches canned before 25% of the season has been completed, the team had more often a better winning percentage after the change then when coaches are canned after 50-75% of the season is completed. Don’t quote me on those season percents- I am generalizing as I don’t remember the exact numbers. The gist was that if you are going to make a change, you increase the chance of a turnaround (for that one season) vs waiting. Different sport, pros vs ncaa, etc but was still interesting. a recent success story as an example….Georgia Tech fired Geoff Collins in 2022 after starting 1-3. They hired Brent Key as the interim (he was the OL coach) and they went 4-4 the rest of the way (and pulled an upset or two) and Key was hired as the new head coach. Doubt that scenario would play out ar Uf but…I guess if an interim coach went 7-1 or 6-2 that would be something. Closer to home -(Galen Hall went like 8-0 at UF as interim in 1984 and was hired as permanent coach). Moral of my long boring post…in random and rare occasions an in season change in coaches can lead to good things.
What comes to mind is, GT had a future HC on staff, whereas we probably do not. We could have an assistant take over but is one strong enough? We could keep Napier and force him to earn what he's paid, but that seems unattractive and bad for program optics. I imagine whoever is in charge is trying to find replacements candidates who are sincerely interested so they have a vision of UF Football after Napier and then would assign an interim.
I believe it is possible. Stricklin won’t fire Billy. Fuchs won’t fire Stricklin. Boosters can threaten all they want but if SS thinks he’s going to get canned by new president what does he care and what does Fuchs care. That’s the new guys problem. This is really a huge mess and I’m afraid until a new president comes on board it isn’t going to be resolved.
Ever since the Arkansas game, I haven't been able to get this image out of my head...Eerily familiar.
