**The end is not near, for Billy Napier at Florida**

lagway was not a bargain. He may have turned down some huge offers from others but Florida NIL is paying a lot on this one.

 

Florida has only played 1 game vs a team with a higher talent composite and got stomped. The NIL argument doesn't hold water when you actually look at what we have, they are getting paid and to suggest otherwise is naive. If NIL is drying up it is yet another symptom to the actual problem, BN losing.

 

You could be right. But I was responding to someone who said Cignetti's resume was basically identical to Napier's, so I was countering the example of one Gator coach with a different, and I believe more apt, Gator coach comparison. But definitely not a perfect metaphor.

 

I think what you are saying is a little misleading. The talent composite does not count portal players in the ranking AND the original high school ratings should not be relevant for upper classmen port players. Miami for instance had a great portal class, and their roster on O and DL is loaded. Cam Ward was not rated coming our of high school, but as a portal player he has to be considered in the upper echelon of collegiate players.

 

How the ncaa/schools have gotten customers (fans) to directly pay employees (players) is beyond me. Should we switch to that model for coaches? Basically everyone is underpaid by the employer and works for “tips”.

Death knell of any team. As for alums paying nil money, hell of an expensive hobby…

 

This bizarre funding model we find ourselves in right now may not be the darkest timeline, but it might be the dumbest.

 

Thought I heard on Matthews in the Morning it was a cool million but I cannot substantiate that figure.

 

Is UF paying a lot? Yes
Could Lagway get obscene money elsewhere? Yes
I consider us getting him below market value, especially with TAMU lurking and stupid money available

 

Interesting post. I wonder if a team by team yearly "pay-out" to the players on the roster is available? If so I have not seen it.
It may exist. If it does my assumption is UF would be competitive with the upper half of the SEC at least.

Getting to your "root" comment, BN losing, he has been tip toeing on the precipice all season, year three, for sure.
It looked, after the 1 - 2 start, losing two at home BADLY, he was "done". I don't think I was alone in thinking it could be a historically BAD year, along the lines of what is happening at FSU.

To BN's credit, the team did not quit and went 3 - 1 after tamu. But as you say, those three wins have all been against teams struggling and with losing records. The TN game stirred the echos but, IMO, BN was foolish not to go for the win when the opportunity arose, and the decison not to, and the subsequent performance, was about what one would expect from this staff, given the last 2-1/2 years.

So here we are, facing arguably the best team in power 5 (arguably) and are what? Facing a +16.5 Vegas point line??

The fact is, outside of Utah year 1 (game 1) and UT last year, BN's track record against quality opponents is abysmal and he's hitting an 0'fer this year, so far.

Having posted all that, there is an opportunity to survive, prosper even, although at one time the thought of the mighty Gators "prospering" wih a 7 - 5 record was unimaginable. Gator nation is out of patience, while many threads and posts exist about the future it would seem BN needs a winning record to survive and I suspect half of the fan base will not be pleased if he does.

 

You have that for a lot of HS coaches. Supplemental income from boosters.

 

You are rationalizing. There was a bidding war because UF looked like his worst option and he was thinking about moving on. So the additional money paid was because UF had to match or exceed new offers. Unless you believe our NIL has unlimited funds, that money might have helped secure another player.

 

My info and your info do not match up at all

 

DJ has said that he was offered more to go elsewhere in interviews. I assume that was USC and TAMU.

 

Undoubtedly. Money aside, he was having serious buyer's remorse as last season played out.

 

#51 at this point doesn't look good - awful in fact. Ton of ground to make up to keep this recruiting class from being the worst in a long, long time.

 

Going all the way back to dial up modems and Swampy's Rumor Mill, I've been following recruiting a long long time. Never seen the Gators this bad this late in the year. Not even close. It's as if this staff can't be expected to coach all phases of the game ( O, D and ST ) and recruit too.
Good Lord that is 100% unacceptable for the mighty Gators to be 51 behind the likes of Va Tech, Texas Tech, Minnesota and cryin out loud UCF. Meanwhile 7 of the top ten are SEC rivals and I guess we'll just out-coach em all to win games... aight.

 

We’re competing with FSU for the most miserable recruiting class (and winning). Recruits can obviously see Napier’s writing on the wall a lot better than the administration. If we were in the top 10 I would say maybe Napier needs more time but this has to be the final nail. Honestly, he has to somehow beat Georgia or it’s over.

 

BN - "This is a talent acquisition business." Well, you either gotta out coach them or you gotta out talent them. Preferably some of each. Right now, we got neither.

 

Craziest business model ive ever seen. The school rakes in 100's of millions and puts tge payroll on the boosters. You cant make this shit up.