Unlike the case with several of his predecessors, I don’t dislike Billy Napier. But I do wonder if he’s in a little over his head down there in Gainesville.
This year’s Gator squad isn’t talentless, but, then again, neither was last year’s 6-7 team and look where that got them. Billy’s got a plan for Year Two, though. Sort of, anyway.
“I think we execute better. We’re in year two. We are going to do everything systematically. We’re going to be a lot better in every part of what we do,” Napier said. “We’re going to communicate better. And we’re going to be aligned properly more often, play with less mental errors. Less loafs. We’re going to have less fundamental and technique flaws. I think that we’ll be a lot better coordinated and execute better in those critical moments.”
If that’s all he’s got, makes you wonder if there will be a year three.
Get The Picture 
“Less loafs.” I guess that’s why he got rid of Brendan Cox. He automatically gets that.
Compare the end of Kirby’s year 1 with Sun Belt Billy’s. The Dawgs (most of whom he didn’t recruit) played hard at the end of the year and won a bowl game, and key pieces decided to return. SBB’s team laid down in their bowl game to end the season on a 3 game losing streak, and their supposedly 1st round QB ran for the swamps.
Good times indeed.
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Saw the loaf comment and came to the comments to find Brandon Cox and you did not disappoint. Thank you.
FTMF
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Shit. Brenton Cox. Brandon Cox was the Aubie QB during the blackout.
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“I don’t dislike Billy Napier.”
Give it a little more time, senator. There’s not a coach they could hire that doesn’t earn our hatred eventually.
Fuck that trailer trash cajun son of a bitch! #FTFM
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Fwiw, that “cajun sob” went to high school in the same town in North Georgia as Ladd McConkey.
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Never let facts ruin the narrative, Derek.
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I know the man. My son played for his dad, we went to church together, and there was in general a relationship. Billy is focused, driven, and balanced individual. He’s put things in order down there I believe and he’s prioritized not just football operations, but he’s getting his team to buy in to being balanced in life as well. I will admit that I am a fan of Billy the person as well as a coach; as much as I hate Flarduh. If the bull gators leave him alone, he will tune the FU program back up to game speed. I don’t see Flarduh getting to a title game anytime soon, or even a SECCG, but I do see them being competitive and in the 10-2 maybe 9-3 range within the 2-3 years. They’ll get back to consistently beating the Kentuckys, Vandys, USCJR’s and at least giving a game to upper tier teams. The key is for the Bull Gata alumnus not getting impatient and going the route of Volnation post Fulmer or the Barners method of coaching hires; if the boosters go that route, then Flarduh becomes the new Vandy.
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They ran the prior guy off for that kind of performance (9-3, 10-2).
I’ve never met him and I’ve read your thoughts on him personally. He seems like a good guy. I hope he fails miserably in Hogtown just as I hope every coach down there falls flat on his face. I hope he then goes somewhere else and is successful.
😉
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Somewhere like Wyoming. Or Chatsworth.
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I don’t know what his best can be at Flarduh.He is a good coach, but Gainesville is toxic. I believe that Flarduh has regressed to the mean since CUM torched the program. I don’t see a total recovery down there for some time.
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What ee said!^^
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Year three is that magical time when they know it’s over, you know it’s over, hc knows it’s over and does everything not to screw up the buyout clause…FU 2023 secret sauce is gonna be matching wrist bands, socks and shoes, should the FU hc get the pink slip after year 3, say good bye to FU in college football, it’ll take 10 years of survival mode, life jackets and prayers, that still won’t save the hogtown faithful…#FTMF
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He had a ton of defections. How many were asked to leave or left on there on being a good thing for the Gators – who knows. But he lost all but one off his starting O-Line. One going to the pros. He is starting over at QB. Issues on the defense. Sometimes you step back to step forward; but my guess is that Billy stepped a little further back than he anticipated. He does have a solid signing class and that’s where you start and build.
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5th in the SEC is decent. I believe last time I looked he signed all of 1 top 20 player in the state.
Given how FSU seems to be back on an upswing on the field and Miami has their NIL act together, that really makes them have a huge challenge among the programs they measure themselves against.
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Throw Texas and Oklahoma in the mix, and the Handbags slide to 7th in the league.
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I think UCF might be their measuring stick right now.
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I wonder how many people are thinking Gus may have a path to the CFP through the Big 12. That would make the Barners crazy.
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‘…and we are going to make less grammatical errors.’
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“..less loafs..” What the hell? 🙂
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Not concerned with Florida.
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I live in Ponte Vedra Beach. The bull gators are anything but patient. There’s already rumblings of cutting him loose if he goes 6 and 6 again, which is a real possibility.
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You’re probably right. If they do that, then Flarduh will be as relevant for the next ten years as the Barn has been the last 5 and the Vawls the last 15 years. That would make Gainesville poison to a coach. And I could live with Flarduh being that stupid.
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Looking at their excuse for a roster I have a tough time believing they’ll improve in Napier year 2.
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Agree. Coaching is just that, coaching. The old sage rings true; Jimmies and Joes, not X’s and O’s. I hate that for Billy, but thats typical of an irrational fanbase like flarduh/auburn/tennessee.
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Sounds like something from 1995 Ray Golf
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Yup. Gators gotta get buttah.
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I get a combination Ray Goff/Derek Dooley vibe from him (minus the tutorial on shower habits).
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Billy: “Okay team, bring it in. Play Better on Three!” Team: “PLAY BETTER!!!”
#FTMF
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I don’t know if Florida will be better in ’23, but not dealing with Brenton Cox will certainly improve their culture. Unless Son of Brenton Cox is lurking in the locker room.
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“Less loafs.”
Not quite the angle of the old proverb “a half a loaf is better than no loaf at all”, but if we can still get half loafs out of the Turds, I’m all for it.
Kirby understands this, that’s why we enjoy no loafs at all.
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I don’t see how he makes it to year 3. They are are underdogs in over half their games. Maybe they steal a couple of those. But maybe they get boat raced at Utah and the wheels fall off early and they don’t even go to a bowl. For a program that has always followed a “recruit by winning on the field” approach, I don’t see how their roster improves.
More than likely, they’ll follow an Auburn or Tennessee trajectory and just keep rotating in new staff.
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Possibly if not probably, they will give him a few years. If they win the games they’re supposed to win this year, and are competitive when they’re the underdog, it will be seen as a positive sign.
If he’s fired in the next two years it may be bad news for O’Miss because they’ll be the ones looking for a new coach. (If LK is even still in Oxford two years from now). You know the guy made some connections when he was at FAU.
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Good old fashioned Memphis garage rock.
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Dammit wrong post
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When your practice time is spent cleaning that stuff up, you’re a long way from being elite.
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I know results are what they are, but their admin should at minimum give him 3 years. All the comments above are valid, and the way they ended his first year compared to how Kirby’s first year ended is a good point.
But……..the situations are apples and oranges. Recruiting prior to Kirby arriving was MUCH better than what Napier walked into. The standards the players had been held to were MUCH higher prior to Kirby than what Napier walked into. The culture Kirby walked into was miles different than the culture under Mullen. Kirby walked into a program that already had 85% of what he needed, he just had to add that last 15% – which is the hardest 15%, and Kirby deserves all the credit for that. Napier walked into a toxic roster that needed to rebuilt from the bottom up.
If they’ll give him at least 3 years, worst case scenario he can be their Mike Shula. Most Bama fans will tell you that while Shula didn’t know how to maximize his talent, he was the one that restabilized the program after all the crap that happened the few years prior. So when Saban walked in, again he just had to bring that extra 15-20% to get the program where he wanted it. Napier can at least be the guy to stabilize the program and get a re-established talent base on the roster, so maybe the situation is much more attractive to a home run hire after Napier. But if they don’t let Napier at least get things re-established, they’re gonna be right back in the same situation, no big names are gonna walk into a half built roster.
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Sounds like he will fit right in nicely in Kirby’s analyst room next season. I look forward to it.
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These are the sounds of another armed robbery of the FU athletic association funds.
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He’s recruiting better. It isn’t noticeable at first because of the ranking and Rashida, but his player average in this last class and for the next is improvement.
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