So are you saying that if the team goes 6-7 again next year and looks so inept on Defense again Napier’s job isn’t on the line?
Funny how after USCe some guys were talking about winning out the season and how great a job Napier had done. Sadly it wasn’t true.
Overall you're not wrong and it's just astounding, for a guy who had to live on evaluations at Miss St Mullen's were just terrible. He really thought he was smarter than everyone else. Obviously every coach has a massive ego but like the bust rate of those classes are just nuts.
AND, he needs to get 4 or 5 top recruiting classes. It's been our undoing (Mcelwain & Mullen) here the last several years. Muschamp had good recruiting classes (mostly defensive players) but couldn't coach a lick in the other side of the ball.
What makes you think Napier is any different? Admittedly, its a small sample size to compare....but both sides of the ball have been absolute debacles this season. Even in the game today, we saw little to no adjustments coming out in the 3rd quarter. I know a lot of us had high hopes this bowl game would give us a little glimpse into the possibilities of next year, instead we are left with more questions and unknowns. Am I calling for him to be fired? Of course not. Have I seen anything so far that makes me believe next season is shaping up to be any better? Not really.
Well obviously coaches get fired for a reason, and presumably at least something that could be called a mess. It’s just that usually that’s been limited to one side of the ball. Muschamp was a mess on offense but he left a stacked defense, McElwain was able to win with that defense immediately, albeit he “won ugly”. McElwain never got the offense going but left behind an ok roster, a roster that peaked in Mullen’s 2nd and 3rd year. Mullen was a bizarre turn. He got the offense really rolling, he was just such a horrid recruiter he left NOTHING on defense and even a shaky offense. So he really did leave things in far worse of a mess than anything post Spurrier.
If we go 6-7 in 2023, Napier enters 2024 sitting on the most themonuclear scorching sizzling hot coaching seat in the country, with the Bull gators breathing down his neck. As I have said a dozen times, we fired Zook for less.
If that scenario occurs, a lot will depend on what other options are out there. Meyer's availability hurt Zook the most. He was sitting up there in Utah just waiting for the phone to ring from Notre Dame and UF. In order to get him to answer, we had to cut bait with Zook. If he wasn't there, I'm not so sure that Zook would have been canned when he did. The next 2-3 years will be interesting in the UAA. Will President Sasse be disengaged with athletics as our 2 former Presidents were? Will he start putting pressure on Stricklin to get our athletic program up to snuff? Does he have another AD prospect out there that he would like to replace Stricklin with?
I really don't remember who pushed back and who didn't, but I remember that quite a few did. I think too many people are in denial about what a mess our program has been. Maybe it will start to sink in.
Agree with you. At the start of 2003, Urban wasn’t on the major programs’ radars. Fast forward to October 2004 when we canned Zook after the loss in Starkeville, and all signs pointed at Urban. Notice my post didn’t say if Napier goes 6-7 in ‘23 he is fired. I say he enters 2024 on the hottest seat imaginable. That gives him the possibility of cooling that seat with a great season, but it can also take him the way of Ron Zook.
I agree and I think the only way that scenario occurs is if he fails on the trail. He was hired to win there, more so than anything else.
