The Gator Nation is overreacting to last weekend’s loss to Georgia. Remember that two things are going on here: Georgia has replaced Alabama as the dominant team in the country and Florida is still recovering from 12+ years of bad coaching, recruiting, and program management.
Let’s start with coaching stability. Gator fans are all over social media clamoring to fire Napier this year or next if he does not win an arbitrary number of games. Newsflash: whether a team wins 6 or 7 or 8 games, they are still a mediocre team. Firing coaches every four years does not help the situation. The Florida administration built in a long runway for Napier. They cannot afford to fire him until 2026 at the earliest. Get used to it, Gator Nation—Napier will be the coach until 2026 even if the Gators win 6 games each year. Read that again and take a sip of whiskey if that hurts your head.
To be the best, Florida has to beat Georgia instead of Alabama—and the teams play each other every year. They also recruit the same talent every year. Georgia has been stacking up blue chip players while Florida is playing with lesser talent. Florida stole a few victories with great offensive coaching, but has not been able to have a good offense and defense simultaneously. Georgia recruited well and coaches well on both sides of the ball and has stability in its program, unlike Florida.
Let’s start with coaching stability. Gator fans are all over social media clamoring to fire Napier this year or next if he does not win an arbitrary number of games. Newsflash: whether a team wins 6 or 7 or 8 games, they are still a mediocre team. Firing coaches every four years does not help the situation. The Florida administration built in a long runway for Napier. They cannot afford to fire him until 2026 at the earliest. Get used to it, Gator Nation—Napier will be the coach until 2026 even if the Gators win 6 games each year. Read that again and take a sip of whiskey if that hurts your head.
To be the best, Florida has to beat Georgia instead of Alabama—and the teams play each other every year. They also recruit the same talent every year. Georgia has been stacking up blue chip players while Florida is playing with lesser talent. Florida stole a few victories with great offensive coaching, but has not been able to have a good offense and defense simultaneously. Georgia recruited well and coaches well on both sides of the ball and has stability in its program, unlike Florida.
UF | UGA | |
---|---|---|
2013 | 3 | 12 |
2014 | 9 | 8 |
2015 | 21 (McElwain) | 6 |
2016 | 12 | 8 (Smart) |
2017 | 9 | 3 |
2018 | 14 (Mullen) | 1 |
2019 | 9 | 2 |
2020 | 7 | 1 |
2021 | 12 (NCAA sanction) | 3 |
2022 | 17 (Napier) | 3 |
2023 | 12 | 2 |