By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Billy Napier’s third season at Florida didn’t start well. We’ll wait to see whether he finishes it or not.

It would take the second-biggest buyout of a coach in college football history ($26 million) but Florida’s administration has to ask themselves hard questions after in-state rival Miami thumped them on Saturday in front of 90,000 fans in The Swamp.

Florida hasn’t been patient in the past. Since Urban Meyer resigned at the end of the 2010 season, the Gators have cycled through Will Muschamp (28-21 from 2011-14), Jim McElwain (22-12 from 2015-17) and Napier’s predecessor-Dan Mullen, without blinking.

It’s hard to tell where the Gators have improved since athletic director Scott Stricklin pulled the plug on Mullen with one game to go in 2021. Mullen went 34-15 in his four total seasons coaching the Gators, including 11-2 in 2019. Stricklin told Paul Finebaum this week that he expects Napier to “be at Florida for a long time.”

That could mean several seasons or just one.

The University of Florida has an interim president in charge. Once a new president is hired (which could be a long way off), Stricklin and Napier will very likely be looking for work.

Here’s what we know: The Gators haven’t gotten any better since Napier was hired. They’ve actually gotten worse on defense. Florida is giving up more points than they did under Dan Mullen. Looking back, defense was why Dan Mullen was fired in the first place.

How about the offense? It’s more conservative than Mullen’s, and it also doesn’t score nearly as much. Is there any reason for the program to keep him?

Napier is 11-15 in Gainesville. He has lost six games in a row. Florida has endured three consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the 1940s. On Saturday, it was obvious that the coach developed Miami into a better team in the same time frame that Billy Napier had with the Florida Gators.

“Miami outplayed us. They outcoached us,” Napier said. His team was out-gained 268 yards by the 19th-ranked Hurricanes.

Is it fair to point out that Napier has plenty more resources than his predecessors?

Mullen fought for a new $85 million standalone football facility, and it opened doors when Napier took over. Florida’s support staff under Napier grew by 17 staff members to 62 in total and the assistant coach salary pool has doubled compared to 2021. Not to mention Florida’s NIL efforts have been buttoned up.

So why haven’t the Gators improved? Maybe it’s the way Napier has tried to rebuild his roster over time.

Maybe Napier is a poor game day coach and his offense is lethargic and predictable.

Billie didn’t help himself on Monday, with this quote:

“I think we’ve got to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better. If we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in the basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media, then we got a chance to get better, right? I think that’s the key.”

The Gators play Samford next week before facing Texas A&M.

Odds are pretty good quarterback DJ Lagway will be starting for Graham Mertz next week. He left Saturday’s loss with a concussion.

Lagway could be a special player for the Gators, but the Gators’ issues run much deeper than who is playing quarterback.

I don’t think Napier will change who he is, and he shouldn’t. Off the field he’s thoughtful and intelligent and stoic. He intends to address the media with quotes they want to hear.

I believe Napier has lost support from the masses and Florida fans are turning on him.

Who do you think will be the new president, AD and coach for the 2025 season?