WHAT Will/Needs TO HAPPEN IN YEAR THREE!

Refresh my memory on when our team or coach prepared with hate in their hearts. I mean at least we don't have people throwing shoes but they all seem like the MTV generation, they feel neither highs nor lows.

 

Let’s go ahead and assume that “hate in our hearts” was a metaphor. If you prefer the term with “superb dedication and motivation,” then that’s fine with me. I’m thinking specifically about the training regimen that Urban Meyer had in place in 2008, constantly reminding the team about the humiliation and disrespect from Georgia in 2007. If Napier is really cut out for this, he will design the entire offseason around preparing for Miami. Because while I don’t know the season will be a success if we beat Miami, I do know it will be a failure if we don’t.

 

Did you see Kirby’s halftime speech vs us? That’s what we need

 

I wonder if Tyson had that speech before he bit Holyfield

 

That’s so much better than the sand in my panties chaffing me.

 

Agree with all except for “the end of” Season 3. If it becomes painfully obvious that a change is needed halfway or two-thirds into the season, then there is no reason not to make that change and maximize the time we have to look for a new head coach in places such as — gosh, I don’t know — Oxford, Mississippi. If we have an AD worth the Gainesville oxygen he steals, then he’s already emphasized the importance of this off-season to Napier’s future. Our Gators can’t come into the first game bumbling and sloppy like they did against Utah last year. And that’s on Napier 100%.

 

The first 7 games will be the true barometer. Anything less than 6-1 and Napier is done.

 

Wholly agreed. And I think 6-1 is damn-near impossible without beating Miami out of the gate. Therefore, much turns on that game. While winning does not guarantee a successful season, losing almost certainly portends a third failing season.

 

Well then, he and his staff better make relocation plans now. I haven't seen anything to suggest we are better than at least five of those first seven opponents...

 

Of course, you haven’t. That’s why the doubts linger so large. That’s why the AD had to publicly confirm that Napier is on the hot seat by assuring us that Napier is not on the hot seat. Either this process Napier swears by will make some serious, observable gains during the off-season, or it won’t. If it doesn’t, and we see the same clown show against Miami that we saw against Utah last year, then at least we’ll know that Napier is not the guy. And we won’t have to keep arguing about whether he should get five seasons no matter what.

 

Outside of some egregious transgression, no coach, even those named McElwain or Mullen, should be fired midway through a season. It never leaves a school looking good and rarely helps in finding a new coach. Evaluate someone on their whole body of work. If you have the stomach to fire someone mid-season, then you should be able to have it at the end of a season even if the team wins a game or two at the end of the year.

 

That may be your opinion, but that is no longer the standard practice. Personally, I believe a fired coach should be able finish the season with the team and, therefore, be able to make their best case for why someone else should hire them. That includes a bowl game, if there is one. But that is no longer the standard practice either. I hope Napier absolutely crushes it this season and erases all doubts, but if we get to the point where a winning season is no longer mathematically possible, then the AD needs to fire him summarily.

 

Standard practice doesn't make it morally correct, and its way past time that Colleges and Universities get back to doing the right thing rather than the convenient one.

 

Don’t disagree there. But that’s not how it will play out if things go south this season. Hopefully, we won’t find out.

 

UF will be an underdog in the last 5 games. So going 0-5 in those would not be surprising. We sure as hell don’t want to and have a decent chance to win 1 or 2 of those, but will need to do so as underdogs.

Assuming all holds as Vegas predicts, we need to go 6-1 in the first seven to end up at 6-6. That will at least show progress.

5-7 is a scenario that will be extremely hard for Napier, Stricklin, and Sasse. Record is same however we “may” be improved. What to do then?

4-8 shows a clear backwards trend over 3 seasons. At that point $32.5 million plus interst from a loan to pay it, is a morsel compared to the damage the program will suffer from ticket sale losses, donation losses, fan apathy, etc. It would take a decade to recover from that if they keep Napier for 2025.

So it’s actually pretty straightforward from Napier’s standpoint:

4-8: fired immediately
5-7: really don’t want to find yourself here so please try your best to be at…
6-6: I believe you are safe
7-5: No worries mate

 

Sums it up fairly concisely. The only question mark is if Napier ends up with five or fewer wins is…. Which one of you guys is stroking the check.

 

In a just world it would come out of SS's pay. But, it wouldn't be America without golden parachutes for the already wealthy so that won't happen.

 

Like I said, even if you have to take out a loan and pay that plus interest, it will pale in comparison to having 3 consecutive losing seasons with worsening records each year and keeping Napier for a 4th year. Insisting on keeping Napier for a 4th year for the sake of “not firing after 3” would have way worse financial repercussions. Way, way worse.

 

In that scenario none of us wants, I imagine it will be the same kinds of people who ponied up for Jimbo’s buyout. I guess if those people can tolerate a third failing season with no end in sight, then we all will have to tolerate it. But if that scenario comes to pass, I could see a real drop off in ticket and merchandise sales coming.

 

It’s no secret, the Miami @ Florida game is HUGE, an absolute must win / can’t lose game for Billy.