For all you naysayers, who berated our coaching staff most of the year:

I don't know what you are disagreeing with. I didn't discuss Meyer taking over Zook's recruits. What i said was Zook had a lot more to work with following SOS than CBN had to work with following Mullin. Since Zook couldn't build on that with team buy in and team chemistry, the results weren't so great. Further to that, you make the case, which I agree with, that CBN had to do a total rebuild include S&C, FOOD, staff etc.
I just think you cannot go on w-l record alone when comparing Zook with CBN, as some have tried to do.

 

Don't forget, though, that Spurrier inherited a strong defense. That side of the ball was ready; he only needed to get the offense going. I don't think comparisons to Spurrier & Meyer are fair, though.

 

10 pages and counting ...

 

Sweet! How will that stop our head coach from running out 12 men and losing the game?

 

Could not have stated it any better.

 

The whole blaming Mullen angle is really lame after 3 seasons of CBN.

 

Funny, because Spurrier told us back then he "left the cupboard bare".

 

Have we been paying discount salaries to all of the coaches since Meyer left? Or are we paying championship-caliber coaching salaries with eye-popping buyouts? I don't recall any of these coaches negotiating for a lower salary at any point in their tenure. If they say they are worth the massive salaries, then they should be willing to accept the lofty expectations set by prior coaches.

 

These are all lame excuses. Curt Cignetti took over an Indiana team that had gone 9-27 in the previous 3 seasons. 3-9 last season.. has them at 11-1 and in the CFP in his first year. Cignetti took over a graveyard and in one season, flipped them into a playoff team.

 

And if you expect every Gator coach to win at the level of Spurrier/Meyer, you are going to be disappointed. Using the coach's salary as the defining metric, fans at most programs would be disappointed 90% of the time.

 

Nay!

 

I have been trying to ascertain where I stand with BN throughout this very odd 2024 mess. To me, Wunderlich, again, nails it in the article below. Hopefully, BN has figured out his staffing and player woes, because he miserably failed in 2024!
Despite stronger footing, the Napier era at Florida is still a work in progress | GatorCountry.com

 

Yep. It's like people just want to feel good instead of acknowledging how far we have fallen since Meyer left.

 

Very well written and level-headed article. His points about the handling of Armstrong and the defense gave some additional insight. If what he wrote about Armstrong being demoted to a safeties coach while maintaining a DC's salary is true, it seems to me like CBN is playing the system and being indecisive. That won't end well. I hope everybody realizes that.

 

So Napier recognizes Armstrong is not the answer as d coordinator, brings in an experienced D coach like Roberts, which ends up with Armstrong leaving on his own. Any contract he was under that maybe had a buyout with a firing, has now been avoided since he left on his own. We hammered Mullen for not firing his buddy Grantham, and now you’re hammering Napier for “playing the system”, whatever the hell that means, for making a change
that needed to happen. Got it.

 

That strong defense AND an offense featuring Emmitt Smith only won 6-7 games a season for the previous several years. Obviously, something was wrong. And the SEC was not especially strong in those years either. Alabama had fallen apart and was inconsistent in the post-Bear Bryant years (7-5 in 1990). Georgia wasn't especially dominant after Herschel left (4-6 wins in 1989-90). Auburn was good, but not a national contender (they won 5-8 games from 1990-1992). LSU was terrible, winning 2-7 games a year for 1989-1995.

 

I wanted him fired last year—and still contend he will never coach UF to a championship (SEC OR NC). Am I happy that the team rallied behind him, the defense good exponentially better, and we have a ‘franchise’ QB? 100%! And yet, every game matters and in year three his team was woefully underprepared at times, with head scratching personnel decisions, subpar game management and on a thin margin of error in some of those wins. Let’s see if ‘25 is truly a corner turned or as I’d expect, same ol’ same ol’.

 

Not to mention it was simply more difficult to turn a program around back then, because you couldn't offer NIL contracts.

 

If he opens up the offense and leverages Lagway's strengths, the team could win a lot games next year. But that is a big if. I was waiting for Lagway to have his signature breakout game and that never materialized. (Samford doesn't count) I thought it would definitely be the FSU game, if nothing else and dude throws for 1 yard in the 1st quarter. There's something wrong.