Homage of the Week: The Florida Gator Debacle
Another way of conveying an honorable mention is an homage. In this weekly article we will be paying homage to the weirdest or funniest moment in college sports from the weekend, aside from the obviously stupid things sports fans do. Those moments speak for themselves. These are the moments that really stand out as head scratchers.
This week we put the homage spotlight on Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. Going into the season everyone knew Florida was playing statistically one of the most difficult schedules ever assembled. Add to that the rumors of significant internal issues at the University of Florida and public issues with their NIL collective and you have a recipe for disaster. Enter Billy Napier.
Coach Napier now has a record at Florida of 12-16, with an SEC record of 6-11. To put that in context, they fired Dan Mullen with a record of 34-15 (21-14 SEC). Florida is on a downward spiral, and they could legitimately go 2-10 this season. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the rest of their schedule and find another sure win outside of Mississippi State. The outlook is not good.
Here's where it gets interesting. The current buyout to remove Coach Napier is almost $28 Million. Early this week multiple national media members reported that donors at Florida have raised the buyout. There are a few issues with removing Coach Napier now.
The interim president is Kent Fuchs. The athletic director is Scott Stricklin. Both men were responsible for the hiring of Billy Napier, and to this point they have put out a united front publicly. Fuchs went so far as to shake Napier’s hand on the field after the Miami loss. If the Board of Trustees wants to make a change, it may have to include changes at president and athletic director. That is always a very messy process.
In the new landscape of college athletics, a termination of a coach this early in the season could create havoc among the players and destroy roster composition for several reasons. First, if the NCAA successfully eliminates the spring transfer window, the winter window becomes even more important. The timing of this firing to that window being open for the Florida athletes, who will get an extra 30 days if their coach is fired, could decimate this roster and make it very unappealing for the next potential coach. There is also a terrible trend in college football of players privately quitting on their teams before they get to the 4th game of the season. They go to coaches behind closed doors and say they aren’t going to play any more. It’s happening everywhere. They want to maintain their redshirt because they have already decided they are entering the transfer portal. Redshirts are eliminated once a player plays in 5 games. If Florida is smart, they will keep Billy Napier until at least week 6 to guarantee players don’t quit early to preserve their redshirts. If they make a move now, the decimation of their roster could take place well before the transfer portal window opens with players making business decisions to quit on the team to maintain their redshirt.
If the rumors are true, and the internal issues with the University of Florida administration exist, finding a quality head coach could be harder than people think. It is public knowledge that the Florida NIL collective is a mess. Most high-level coaches understand that unity among administrative leadership is crucial for success. Roster composition and the ability to have success in the transfer portal has become key to winning in today’s college football. Currently none of these three key areas are going in a positive direction at Florida. Lane Kiffin’s name has been floated around a lot. Why would Lane want this job? He has all the key areas listed above in a good place currently at Ole Miss. In its current condition Florida is, at best, a lateral move for Kiffin. I would argue this will be the sentiment among many coaches and Florida fans may find out the hard way their job isn’t nearly as attractive as they think it is.
Take heart Gator fans. If all else fails, Mike Norvell may be available by the end of the year.