Nothing UF is doing has ever shown to work out. Oh well, just sit back and watch them run the ship aground.
Brutal assessment of the current situation. “Florida football is, in a word, lost.” “The decision to retain Napier reflected the university’s weak leadership rather than serving as a ringing endorsement for a third-year coach who is 15-19.”
You seem upset. I was just marveling at the difference. Spurrier was great and remember, he did this for a program that was in arguably worse shape than what Napier inherited. So I just get a little sideways when people act like Napier inherited a dumpster fire. Spurrier did too and finished 1st in the SEC his first year on the job. Don't be upset by the facts.
You are obsessed with Napier. I can make a safe guess that most here know who SOS is and what he accomplished. Captain Obvious it is.
For all of those wanting Cignetti, please look closely at their schedule. They have exactly one opponent that they have beat that has a winning record. That would be Nebraska at 5-4. They beat 5-5 Meatchicken by 5 points and have yet to play a ranked team. We have beat every opponent with a similar record as their’s. Our 5 loses came to teams that collectively have 7 losses. All of which are in the current top 15. Indiana is going to get a reality check against OSU next week. Their entire schedule has two teams with a winning record. Let that sink in.
And the winning records for the teams we have beat? Not advocating for Cignetti, but it's comical watching those trying to diminish what he's done there his first year. It's Indiana. Indiana was always the cupcake that ppl claim that they are beating up on today. They were never an OSU or Michigan in that league. But whatever it takes to defend 15-19 I guess ...
Well, the thread is about Napier, so it would make sense that people posting in the thread are probably going to be focused on Napier. If that bothers you, I might suggest avoiding threads that are specifically designed to discuss Billy Napier.
Your assumption was that I was defending CBN. I was not. Read the first sentence again! The entire point of the post was for those thinking Cignetti would come here and instantly take us to the playoffs. Cignetti is a competent coach competing against incompetent opponents. His biggest HC jobs before Indiana was James Madison and Elon. Coaching against SEC opponents every week is different. Every school is paying top dollar for head coaches and use former HCs as coordinators. Just look at the top 25. It’s far easier to turn around a bottom feeder against garbage teams than to completely rebuild a program that has had zero stability since high school players were born. Especially against the best conference in CFB and the current #3 SOS. Kiffin makes far more sense and I don’t want that guy anywhere near my Alma mater.
Any option out there would be a risk. No guarantees to take us to the playoffs. What does the current trend tell you? So what? How many successful coaches have downgraded from OSU or UGA or Bama to go to a historically bad program like Indiana? This continues to be an excuse bc we are not a good and highly ranked team. If we were Texas, we would not be accepting a .500 record (or worse) and stating that is good enough given our schedule.
Hard to avoid when almost all your posts circle back to Napier regardless of the thread title. It seems like Napier Derangement Syndrome (NDS) to me, but i would admit I'm not a medical person. I think you should get that checked out.
Clearly you’re a Cignetti fan, but in my opinion, which last I checked I’m allowed to have, he wouldn’t be successful here. There’s a difference between an excuse and a reason. If I tell my fourth grade daughter to beat up a high schooler and pay her a million dollars, should I expect success based on the price tag? If she says she lost because the other kid is bigger, faster, and more experienced, is it the actual reason she lost, or just an excuse. Calling valid reasons things occur excuses is just gaslighting. I don’t know how many times you have to hear this, but I’m not defending CBN. I’m talking about Cignetti and what he has accomplished in Indiana vs what he could realistically have done here. No one comes into a program as dysfunctional as UF was with organization, a nutrition program of boxed lunches, a hodgepodge roster well below its’ rated talent level and succeeds instantly against the toughest schedule in the country. Anyone thinking because Cignetti is 10-0 against a schedule of .500 or worse teams would come in and knock off LSU, UGA, UM, aTm, etc. with underclassman is delusional. In general you don’t beat top 10 teams with an underclassman roster and a few transfers. You however can feel free to think that’s the norm, but you’d only be pushing a false narrative. CBN’s transition class of high school players have two years of college under their belts coming into fall. And the vast majority of his recruits have completely displaced what was left behind by Mullen. Cignetti would struggle with that same scenario. Especially since his pass happy offense would have gone through three QBs due to injury.
I could observe that if he has NDS then you have NOD (Napier obsession disorder), because you launch into a Napier defense program in response to every post that discusses Napier. Or, how about instead of attacking the character or intent of posters, who we don’t even know, we take post supporting and critiquing BN at face value and refrain from personalizing such topics? And I can’t help but recognize the correlation between those rejecting Kiffin and suspicious of Cignetti with those who want to keep Napier. Makes sense if neither is an alternative but it seems that both would listen and any hire is a risk (he’ll, BN was a good hire and has failed historically). A new hire next year will be no more obvious and I think BN will still be BN next year.
We've been looking for accountability with our coaching for 15 years now. When was the last time we had a coach that talked the talk AND backed it up with walking the walk? Our coaches have been either soft like maclwein and Napier or tough talkers that wouldn't demand accountability from aspects of their program like muschamp and Mullen with their deficient offense and defenses respectively. Mullen talked about embracing expectations at Florida and then didn't give a rip about living up to them and it became evident around mid season 2020. Football isnt rocket science. Saban amd Meyer didn't win because of some great scheme. They came in with confident if not arrogant attitudes and didn't shy from the expectations they set for themselves when they put the SEC on notice. The program is beaten down from losing and they need an attitude adjustment that doesn't come from a coach who publicly states this year is the first year the team believed they could beat Georgia. That's a massive problem in college football where attitude and emotion are just as important as assignments and discipline. I don't give a rip about what Indiana does against OSU. Cignetti came in and drew a bullseye on himself when he opened up with his arrogant remarks..."I win, Google me." He took a bottom feeder program and as stated before handled the business in front of them regardless of schedule. We struggled against Charlotte last year. I don't believe for a second a Cignetti led florida team from last year would struggle that bad at home against a team like Charlotte. Anecdotal additional point. I was talking to a friend that played for spurrier in the mid 90s and saw the field a lot and still keeps in touch with Spurrier on a regular basis today. We talked briefly the other day. He was in agreement that coach is a good guy and genuine but all of this effusive praise for the opponents, coaches and his own team after losses doesn't help. You can be a good guy and still set boundaries around us vs them and spit out a little hellfire and brimstone in the world of competition. Cignetti has ties to Saban and so did Napier but I believe cignetti has a much more prominent role in recruiting. He's not aloof to what the SEC is. I think the talent is mostly here now that a a competent and confident coach could come in and make an immediate turnaround. None of that matters because I don't think cignetti is a realistic candidate myself but he's exactly the type of personality needed to give the team an overhaul.
Yeah, but we still had a sick defense and tons of good players on the roster, including Shane, who was 4th string when SOS arrived. Not comparable. Probation had hurt us, but Hall was a good coach and recruiter and SOS had plenty to work with.
I hear all you’re saying, but the roster Meyer inherited from the Zooker was night and day better than what Napier inherited from Mullen. Everyone agrees that Mullen quit on the program and his most highly touted recruits, never made it to campus. I have said on these boards before that Napier is Zooker Pt. 2. No one is disputing that the players he is bringing can play at a high level. Is he the guy to get us a title? I don’t believe so. However, to look at the task laid before Napier upon his arrival without acknowledging that UF was an absolute train wreck following 4 failed hires would be disingenuous. Every part of the football operations was in shambles, from recruiting to nutrition. I do believe overall CBN has done more positives than negatives in his 3 years here. I cannot say that for his predecessors.
Napier is now a settled matter. Stricklin has spoken and Napier will be here for 2025. I do defend Napier mainly because we don't need to hijack random threads and make it about Napier and how bad of a coach he is, over and over. And i stick by my NDS statement. I'm glad that Stricklin gave him the vote of confidence and he will remain for 2025 as i think the real problem with our football program, as can be seen by our record since Meyer left, is the UAA /AD. If SS were to fire Napier and get a new coach, I believer we will be on the same 3/4 year cycle as we've been in the past. I'm willing to wait a year. I take Saban's comments to heart, referring to the 'culture' at Florida. The only way this get's fixed is if a new Pres. comes in, decides to overhaul the UAA, and with that we get a new AD. Then that will be the beginning of getting us on the correct path. The new AD can evaluate the coaches.
