The clock’s ticking on Billy Napier at Florida: Embarrassing loss to Miami puts Gators coach in even more trouble
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said Friday that he believes Billy Napier “will be Florida’s head coach for a long time.”
Would a wait until November be considered too long, Scott?
It is difficult for Napier to survive beyond this, even if Purchases over $25.5 millionIf Saturday’s embarrassing performance is a preview of what’s to come the rest of this season, it’s a good idea. After a challenging offseason that included being sued over the failed Jaden Rashada NIL deal, Napier desperately needed to give Gators fans a reason to invest in the 2024 season, which features one of the toughest schedules in the country.
Let’s say the mission failed miserably.
No. 19 Miami Demolished the Gators in every way The most points allowed in a season opener in Florida program history in a 41-17 rout inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The blowout loss snapped a 34-game home-opener winning streak dating back to 1990. The Napier era in Gainesville continues to hit new levels of humiliation.
“It’s embarrassing, to be honest,” Napier said later. “I feel the same way; our kids feel the same way. We have to make a decision. There’s no excuse. Shut up, go to work and we have to do better.”
Can Florida really do better? Especially against a schedule that includes games against No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 10 Florida State and No. 15 Tennessee still to come? Florida didn’t show anything on Saturday — or really during any of Napier’s time in Gainesville — that would give you reason to believe so. The most disappointing news for Gators fans is that a 24-point loss to an in-state rival won’t be too much of a letdown. It almost certainly will be. worse From here.
Oh!
Florida’s defense was no match for Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who lit up the Gators with 385 yards passing and three touchdowns in a performance that instantly made the Hurricanes the ACC favorites. Miami looks set to take a big leap forward in Mario Cristobal’s third year, while Florida has regressed even worse defensively in Napier’s third season after a disappointing 5-7 2023 campaign.
In his appearance on the “Paul Finebaum Show” Friday, Stricklin promised that Florida fans will be rewarded for the patience they have shown with Napier despite the disappointing results. Stricklin is very close to Napier and needs his football coach to succeed because the veteran athletic director surely knows that A.D.s usually don’t hire a third football coach after failing with the first two.
“He’ll take this game to the level that all Gators want to be at, like competing for championships, playing meaningful postseason games,” Stricklin said. “Once he gets it to that point, it’ll stay at that point.”
Less than 24 hours later, Florida suffered its worst loss to Miami since 2002. It looks like Florida will stay in that spot. He Scoring points, suddenly rising up the SEC and competing for championships wasn’t what it was like under Napier. The loss drops Napier’s record at Florida to 11-15, and there’s a chance that number could worsen to 13-24 by season’s end. This happened at a school that fired Napier’s predecessor, Dan Mullen, after a 34-15 record and three New Year’s Six bowl appearances in four seasons.
If there was a small ray of hope for Napier amid the demolition, it was the play of true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, who came in to replace injured starter Graham Mertz after he suffered a concussion. Lagway, who was ranked as 247Sports’ No. 1 QB recruit in the class of 2024, looked like the real deal and led Florida’s best offensive drive in the fourth quarter. The future could be bright under Lagway, even if Napier is unlikely to be around to see it come to fruition.
It’s not guaranteed that Napier will be out of a job at the end of the season, with the massive buyout and the ups and downs in school administration after school president Ben Sasse stepped down in July. Kent Fuchs, who originally hired Stricklin, is now interim president, and the lack of a permanent leader could, in theory, give Napier more time. Fuchs and Napier shared an awkward handshake and brief conversation as the Florida head coach left the field.
But fan apathy is a powerful thing. When disgust, which was evident in the hooting and chanting during games, turns into fans refusing to bother coming to games or, even more importantly in this current era, refusing to contribute money to the program’s NIL fund, the people making decisions pay attention. Paying $76 million to fire Jimbo Fisher by Texas A&M seemed impossible until Aggies officials realized they could lose more money in the long run if they didn’t do it. In the football-crazy SEC, no buy-in is really worth much if the pain of losing becomes too great to bear.
Losing at home to your in-state rival? That’s heartbreaking and there’s no solution to it.
