Article: No, Florida won’t fire Billy Napier in 2023. Yes, the pressure is mounting quickly.

He already has a built in excuse for next year. I expect more of the same.

 

"Remain process oriented regardless of wins and losses."

He sure as hell wins Sunday through Friday.

 

He is a good coach but maybe not a SEC coach. We are stuck with him so we might as well support him as much as we can.

 

There was a post from In All Kinds of Weather saying to respond 0-100 with whether Billy has failed and fire him (0) or he will succeed and retain him (100). I thought the responses would be around 50 but my mind was blown when vast majority of people were 75-100. Personally I give him a 33. I’m highly skeptical he’ll succeed and it’s better to cut bait if we’re terrible in middle of next year. I want him to succeed and hope he proves me wrong, but the record speaks for itself.

 

Cut bait and then what? Start all.over again with a new staff, system, leadership etc? Riley at USCw should be a great example that simply bringing in a good "hot" coach who had his team in the CFP's does not equate to immediate success at the new school even when he has the Heisman Trophy winner leading his team. I would be more concerned if I was a Trojan fan than we are. 2 disappointing seasons in a row with arguably the best player in the country at your disposal as a coach who was a main stay in the CFP at his old school. Can't win his division or contend nationally. And he's already used his "fire the coordinator" card. Makes me wonder why people ain't calling for Rileys head?

 

But at least USC is winning

 

Huh???? 2020 (3-6) was his first year and it was the covid season which was not experienced by just F$U. 2021 his first year according to you he was 5-7, 2022 his second year according to you he was 10-3 and this his third year he is currently 9-0.

Napier's first year was is 6-7. This is his second year and he is 5-4.

To me, 2020 counts because everyone went through the covid season, not just F$U. I don't expect UF to go 10-3 next year because of that schedule but I do expect improvement. We need to be patient.

 

This is the most likely scenario IMO.

 

There are NFL teams that would struggle with our schedule in 2024. Sets up very poorly for us to have success.

As of today's poll, we play SEVEN top 20 teams next year. That does NOT include Miami or UCF or Kentucky, all of which would likely beat us this year if we played them (Kentucky did, of course).

So, as hard as it is, Gator fans will likely have to live through THREE losing seasons under Napier (4 consecutive if you include Mullen's last year) in order to weather this storm. I believe there are going to be GOOD THINGS on the other side of 2024 based on the players coming in, esp Lagway, who looks like a program changer.

Do we have the patience as a fan base for that? Does Billy have the stomach/heart to deal with the growing vitriol? Time will tell. I'm doing my best to enjoy the good stuff between now and 2025. And just hope Napier has enough success between now and then to get that far.

 

I think the point that some are missing is that it doesn't matter whose players you are using they ought to be maturing game wise and show it on the field. That said, the Gators are not lacking in talent. Young talented players are on the field most of the game and that should be good for recruiting, but they are not playing sound fundamental football and they should be by now. Case and point: arky should not have been able to run 2 long plays to the UF 4 and then score. The defense is missing lanes constantly. That is something the coaches should have addressed by now. I say lets watch coach work the off season and make the changes next season. If he can't do it then lets talk coaching changes.

 

I guess I will pile on assuming everyone read the article. It does not matter if Napier goes 5-7 next year. UF cannot afford the buyout. He is not getting fired in 2023 or 2024. We can debate about whether Napier has done anything to deserve to be coach after losing to a 2-win team at home, but it does not matter because Jimmy Sexton drafted best contract for Napier—one that makes it unaffected to fire Napier in 2023, 2024, and maybe 2025.

 

If Lagway and Co don’t tip the scales of success in due time, then I’ll reassess my patience. Until then, I’m solid as a rock.

 

He is likely to have 0-8 record going into the offseason the last two years which wont be doing him any favors in the "wait game". Read that one again 0-8. You just cant do that under any circumstance. I still think FSU may go down to us but the officials will never allow it.

 

To even think about firing right now is ludicrous. The defense has improved (giving up fewer opportunities per game compared to 2022: 5.92 vs 5.11 & fewer Points per Opportunity: 4.4 vs 3.9), the offense has improved (getting more opportunities compared to 2022: 5.46 vs 5.78 & more PPO: 3.6 vs 4.7), the Team is resilient & high character (no off-field troubles), recruiting is becoming elite. Everything is being put in place for championship seasons.

 

I definitely don’t think he should be fired.

But he needs to show consistent improvement over the next year. Another losing season without improvement and I think he is gone. I would be really happy for him to win at least one of the last three and prove me wrong.

 

Agree the easiest way forward is BN gets things going, but I have serious questions on how a coach with a grand total of 4 years of HC experience, all at Louisiana, was given the contract terms he received. I would be much more inclined to discuss the job status of the AD.

 

Which UF coach wasn't given enough time to get his system/culture/players in place?

 

They've lost to every team they've faced with a winning record except to Arizona and they only won that by 2 points. They've beat Colorado, Stanford, Arizona State, and Cal.... most by one score. They are far from their conferences elite right now. So while holding the best player(heisman) and the biggest recruiting advantage in the conference.

And they've got only got 2 more W's than us

 

As everybody knows next year schedule is brutal. I want to see BN go into the portal and completely replace most of our offensive line. That’s where I’m getting our butts kicked. Defense hopefully will grow into their positions because they’re young.
These next three games and next year are gonna be one hell of a negative ride for us fans. I think we have to be patient however. It’s gonna be hard.

 

Here’s a better question: when was the last time a UF coach was able to build a roster with purely his own players?