Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier facing criticism: Updated reports, insights, and information

Florida coach Billy Napier has turn into embattled after a 1-2 begin to the season, with this system trending towards a 3rd dropping season underneath his route.

As the discuss heats up about Napier’s job standing, On3 supplies the newest developments so that you can maintain monitor of proper right here. You can even discover the newest information at GatorsOn-line, a web site curated by our large workers of news-breaking journalists.

Nick Saban says the issue isn’t the coaches

Sept. 21, 2024
A handful of individuals have made the argument that Florida’s points are greater than simply coaches, implicating the administration for being a bit behind the occasions. Nick Saban took an identical line on ESPN’s College GameDay.

“Well, I think maybe the problem isn’t the coaches,” Saban stated. “You know, they’ve been by 4 coaches since Spurrier and Urban Meyer, who each created an incredible tradition of profitable there. And typically the fanbase can simply suppose ‘Well we can show up and expect to win.’ And not make the dedication to this system that you'll want to make to have the ability to proceed to make the adjustments and investments you'll want to make to maintain up with altering occasions.

“Things change. … They should’ve taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there. What’s their collective been like? How have they adapted to this new model of college football? So it’s not just the coaches. When you’ve been through four coaches that haven’t had success, there’s something else that people should be looking at.”

Pete Thamel doubles down on troublesome timing

Sept. 21, 2024
A couple of analysts have famous the timing for Florida to make a change at head coach isn’t nice, from having an interim college president to needing to seek out an enough interim coach. ESPN’s Pete Thamel doubled down on the latter on Saturday on ESPN’s College GameDay.

“With that seven game FBS losing streak and two home blowout losses to start the season, the overwhelming expectation remains, Billy Napier won’t return next year,” Thamel stated on College GameDay. “The query stays, the timing of that potential exit. If you’re going to fireside a coach this early within the season, Rece, it's a must to have a transparent path to get higher. And Florida doesn't seem to have that.

“There’s no obvious interim on the staff that could spark this program. There’s also (this): Napier’s the primary play caller, so you really have to change out two coaches, which is difficult on the fly.”

Will that cease Florida from making a transfer till later within the season?

Rece Davis, Pete Thamel: Billy Napier firing ‘inevitable’

Sept. 20, 2024
During the ‘College GameDay Podcast,’ Rece Davis and Pete Thamel had been in settlement that the tip of Napier’s tenure is extra of a when. With that stated, in addition they agreed that Florida will win this weekend in Starkville to push the give attention to it off for at the very least yet another week.

“I think it was 2022, we had five power conference coaches fired by October 2nd,” Thamel stated. “So look, the Napier thing is inevitable. The whens and the hows? (The Mississippi State game) could extend it and give them some hope and life and give them a chance to get that program with some traction.”

“Pete, I agree,” Davis stated. “I’ve been on record, while it appears that this is not going to work and that the change is inevitable, I remain steadfast. And I think Billy Napier is a solid football coach. It just hasn’t worked, happens sometimes. But I think it will work in Starkville this week”

Scott Stricklin will lead Florida teaching search

Sept. 20, 2024
Questions have been requested about who will make the alternatives on this means of firing and hiring a brand new coach with an absence of religion in AD Scott Stricklin. Still, per reporting by Brandon Marcello and Richard Johnson of CBS Sports, he could be persevering with on as athletic director and making the choices concerning the head teaching job at Florida.

“Behind the scenes, the gears are already in motion for a potential change, and there is more alignment among administrators than message board rumors tend to say. Stricklin, who is facing criticism of his own after decisions to hire Dan Mullen and then Napier, has been informed the decision whether to fire Napier is his to make,” CBS Sports added. “In that situation, Stricklin may even be tasked with trying to find a brand new coach, sources accustomed to the discussions at Florida instructed CBS Sports this week.

“… Rumors of wholesale changes in the athletics department appear premature, sources tell CBS Sports, with communication between the president’s office and Stricklin remaining open and positive. Napier, however, is the lone party on an island, fighting for survival.”

Dan Mullen instructed Florida to rent Lane Kiffin

Sept. 19, 2024
Lane Kiffin is a reputation that has been developing early on in conversations a couple of potential teaching seek for Florida. However, it additionally apparently got here up the final time that their place got here open. That’s as a result of Dan Mullen stated on Thursday that he recommended to the Gators that they rent Kiffin as his successor in The Swamp.

“You know what’s pretty funny? When I got let go at Florida a couple years ago, they asked me, and I said, ‘Hey, I’d go hire Lane Kiffin right now,’” Mullen said. “I stated, ‘If you’re gonna eliminate me, I’d go rent Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss proper now’…I believe he would have been an ideal match proper off the bat, however that was a number of years in the past.

“Now he’s gotten Ole Miss to being in playoff contention, so I don’t know if that’s something that would interest him or not,” Mullen stated. “You never know in the coaching profession why maybe someone’s making a decision. They’re going to have their personal or whatever reason to do it. But, I think a couple years ago, he probably would’ve taken the job if they offered it to him.”

Leading candidate for interim coach emerges

Sept. 17, 2024, 08:00 PM ET
In the occasion Florida does make a transfer to fireside Billy Napier earlier than the season ends, the Gators will want somebody to take over the crew. And it may very well be for an prolonged stretch, given how a lot of the season stays.

The probably selection? Analyst Dan Enos, a former SEC offensive coordinator.

On3’s Zach Abolverdi stories that “it seems like Enos is already a forgone conclusion” to function interim coach, primarily based on what he has heard from sources. In the previous few years Odom has labored at Arkansas, Maryland, Cincinnati, Miami, Alabama and Michigan in quite a lot of roles, from offensive coordinator, to quarterbacks coach, to working backs coach, to analyst.

UF administration at totally different urgency stage

Sept. 17, 2024, 07:00 AM ET
ESPN’s Pete Thamel recommended that Florida’s administration isn’t fairly as superior down the highway towards firing Billy Napier because the followers are.

“I had a big story on ESPN.com today looking at what’s next for Florida, and there’s an aura of inevitability that Billy Napier will get fired at some point this season,” Thamel stated on College Football Live. “From calling round and speaking to totally different folks, there doesn't seem like the identical urgency at Florida that there's possibly within the fan base proper now to fireside Napier. Part of that's Napier has the locker room. This isn’t a totally undisciplined crew or a crew that’s tuned him out.

“And the other part is if you’re going to make a change in your coach this early in the season, you’d better have some sort of obvious upgrade or a capable coach on the staff. There’s nobody on the Florida staff right now that would be an obvious target to be an interim coach. So look for the season to continue to play out. They obviously go to Mississippi State this weekend, and then there’s a bye after that.”

Steve Spurrier presses pause

Sept. 17, 2024
While most have already basically fired Billy Napier of their minds, former Florida coach Steve Spurrier is taking a extra affected person strategy. As this system’s ambassador, he carries some sway, too.

“Give him a chance,” Steve Spurrier stated on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “Everybody is underneath contract. Let them earn their pay. And maintain ’em all right here and let’s go. See if they'll flip it round. … I believe we simply want to point out somewhat persistence and see what can occur from this yr. I imply, all of the coaches are going to be there even when the head coach isn’t so I don’t see the way it’s going to make an enormous distinction in the event that they take away the head coach. You would possibly as effectively let the workers keep in place for awhile and see what occurs.

“It’s a crucial game this week, crucial game maybe for the direction of the season. I still think you give Napier — they gave him what, a seven-year contract? Might as well give him three. If you can. But there’s going to have to be some decisions on how we finish record wise.”

Who serves as UF’s interim coach?

Sept. 17, 2024
A not-insignificant query ought to Florida can Billy Napier is who picks up as interim coach for the remainder of the season. Because Napier is the offensive playcaller, it’s somewhat tougher.

ESPN’s Rece Davis had a considerably off-the-wall suggestion for Florida: former LSU coach Ed Orgeron. Orgeron reportedly lives within the Destin space and has earlier expertise main a crew, although he’s received comparatively little familiarity with Florida itself.

Food for thought, possibly.

Lane Kiffin the main candidate?

Sept. 17, 2024
ESPN’s Ryan McGee means that not solely is the Ole Miss head coach the main candidate, he’s all the checklist at Florida proper now.

“I was in a couple of different situations and rooms and locations with people who have legitimate power in these things. Lane Kiffin is the list,” McGee said. “Anyone else, they feel like they’re settling. And I’m not just talking about the fan base. I’m talking about the checkbooks.”

McGee went on to additional clarify that Kiffin’s character is precisely what suits the Florida mould.

New playoff complicates timing

Sept. 17, 2024
ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke down why hiring a coach in 2024 will probably be totally different than it’s ever been, given the timing of the College Football Playoff and all of the transferring items round that a part of the calendar. He explains:

“Say you want to put a coach in place on November 15th, right?” Thamel stated. “If you’re going to fire a coach early, you want to get going. Obviously, you’ve got the portal and the signing day are now in early December – in that last week of November, first week of early December period. You’ve got to get everything together,” Thamel defined. “There’s a really good chance that – I think a lot of casual fans probably don’t know the College Football Playoff title game is January 20th. So, even say you want Georgia DC Glenn Schumann, right and that’s the guy you want and you can go hire him on November 15th? He may not actually come to campus to be your coach for seven weeks. That’s wild.”

“There’s going to be an interesting dance here,” Thamel continued. “You almost now, if you’re a Florida fan and you want Lane Kiffin to be your coach? You’ve got to wake up every day and root for the Rebels to lose, right? That’s really the most realistic scenario.”

Deeper house-cleaning required at UF?

Sept. 17, 2024
On3 nationwide skilled Jesse Simonton chimes in on the Florida scenario, saying a Billy Napier firing is likely to be sophisticated by the goings-on above him. Florida has an interim president, whereas most of the high-level administrative staffers have been round for a number of teaching failures now.

Simonton suggests maybe a deeper cleansing of this system’s University Athletic Association (UAA) is likely to be so as.

“The Gators will have a new football coach in 2025. But Lane Kiffin, Eli Drinkwitz or Jedd Fisch won’t suddenly fix what Napier could not. A total reckoning within the UAA is long overdue.”

Answering timing questions

Sept. 16, 2024
On3’s Andy Staples made a prolonged publish on the GatorsOn-line message boards addressing the potential timing round any transfer. It takes into consideration some key components that high decision-makers will probably be weighing.

The On3 nationwide skilled breaks down how the calendar may have an effect on when Florida makes strikes, with issues just like the switch portal window and the postseason calendar coming into play.

Be positive to take a look at Staples’ publish addressing timing issues right here.

Napier addresses the warmth

Sept. 16, 2024
Billy Napier addresses native reporters at his weekly press convention and addresses whether or not he ought to get a fourth season answerable for this system, given how issues are going.

He stands behind his program.

“These are all hypothetical scenarios,” Napier stated. “I believe for me, I’m gonna attempt to mannequin what I might anticipate from our gamers and a few of these issues I simply talked about, I believe that’s the entire secret is that as a complete workers and all through the group, we've got to mannequin what we'd anticipate from the gamers and need from the gamers. And that, for me, is complete give attention to the subsequent alternative to enhance.

“We’re gonna put the game to bed today from Saturday. And then, it’s about doing my absolute best to prepare the team to play next Saturday.”

Florida Coaching Hot Board

Sept. 16, 2024
USA Today releases an inventory of teaching replacements for Billy Napier. The checklist is as follows:

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri
Jedd Fisch, Washington
Alex Golesh, South Florida
Lance Leipold, Kansas
Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State
Jamey Chadwell, Liberty

Billy Napier’s Buyout

Sept. 16, 2024
On3’s Pete Nakos supplies the contract buyout particulars for Billy Napier. The Florida coach would get roughly $27.7 million if he’s fired on the finish of the month. If Florida waited till the tip of the season, they'd be taking a look at a $25.7 million buyout.

Here is a breakdown of the remaining years on Napier’s contract:

+2024 Contract Year – $7,300,000 (Feb. 1, 2024 — Jan. 31, 2025)
+2025 Contract Year – $7,400,000 (Feb. 1, 2025 — Jan. 31, 2026)
+2026 Contract Year – $7,500,000 (Feb. 1, 2026 — Jan. 31, 2027)
+2027 Contract Year – $7,600,000 (Feb. 1, 2027 — Jan. 31, 2028)
+2028 Contract Year – $7,700,000 (Feb. 1, 2028 — Jan. 31, 2029)

The Florida head coach could be paid $13.8 million inside 30 days of the termination. He would obtain $3.2 million each July fifteenth over the subsequent 4 years.

The boosters have mobilized

Sept. 14, 2024
Like Andy Staples, Matt Hayes of USA TODAY pens a column indicating that Billy Napier is completed at Florida. Moreover, he consists of some very pertinent details about a potential buyout:

“A group of Florida boosters have pulled together money to cover the expense of firing coach Billy Napier, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.”

That is very large information, with the buyout for Napier starting from $26 million to $27 million relying on the timing. Florida seems severe about making a transfer.

“It has to be over” for Billy Napier at Florida

Sept. 14, 2024
Following a 33-20 loss to Texas A&M, Billy Napier has dropped to 1-2 on the season, on monitor for a 3rd straight dropping season underneath his route. And for On3 nationwide skilled Andy Staples: “It has to be over.”

Staples hit exhausting on the concept donations are going to dry up actual quickly for Florida. And whereas athletics director Scott Stricklin needed to be affected person with Napier, Staples stated he dangers turning “The Swamp into a morgue” if he's.

“Whether the official end comes later Saturday, Sunday or some day in the next two months, it doesn’t matter. The Florida football program has to be under new leadership next season if the people in charge of it want anyone to donate a penny or to buy a ticket,” Staples concludes.