Billy Napier and the Florida Gators have a challenging season ahead, and the start was far from ideal. As a matter of fact, their season opener couldn’t have gone any worse.
In what was built as a clean-slate year, the Gators opened their season at home against their long-time rivals, the Miami Hurricanes.
The energy and anticipation in Gainesville was through the roof. The majority of Florida’s fan base wanted to trust that Napier would be able to turn things around and get the Gators back to the elite class of college football.
However, we all know how things turned out against the Canes…
The 41-17 defeat opened back up the wound that Napier had tried so desperately to keep closed.
Napier then made the single-worst mistake any player or coach could ever make: He attacked his own fans…
“We got to go to work on the football part, you know,” Napier said, reflecting on the blowout loss. “And I think we got to get more – we got to become a more consistent team, and we have to execute better.
“And if we can focus on those things, and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in, you know, rural, Central Florida on social media. Then we got a chance to get better.”
First of all, most people in Florida don’t even have basements. So, in a way, Napier is as good of an insulter as he is a football coach.
He is clearly frustrated. No one is doubting his effort level. It would be foolish to think that he doesn’t spend every waking second trying to figure out how to turn things around and get the program back on track.
Having said that, insulting your loyal, die-hard fans is literally the worst tactic any coach could ever take.
Facing arguably the toughest schedule in the entire country, only time will tell if Napier is able to dig himself out of the deep hole he finds himself firmly trapped in.
The university has $26 million reasons why they wouldn’t want to fire him. But despite their patience, the fan base has grown sick and tired of the continued disappointment and fear the 2024 season will turn into an epic disaster.
Of course, we’re only one week into the season. But hey, that’s the beauty of college football.
Florida is set to host Samford this weekend in what has all the makings of a “get-right” game. (However, Boston College was supposed to be Florida State’s “get-right” game last night and we all know how that turned out.)
Regardless, the road will only get tougher as the season progresses for the Gators. Opponents include Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Florida State.
Will Napier be able to turn things around and save his job? … Or are his days in Gainesville quickly coming to an end???