The Florida football program has been deep in the doldrums over the past three years, doomed to defeat now having put together three straight losing seasons bridging across two separate head coaches. Will the misery ever end?
ESPN’s college football staff recently took a look at players and coaches who have the most to prove during the upcoming 2024 campaign, including Gators skipper Billy Napier. After two losing seasons of his own, plus missing out on a bowl invitation this winter along with a complete collapse on signing day, his seat has to be as hot as the surface of the sun at this point.
“In two years with the Gators, Napier is 11-14 and has not come close to beating rival Georgia, which means Florida hasn’t come close to challenging for the SEC East title,” writer Andrea Adelson begins.
“How much longer can that go on? Napier enters a crucial Year 3 with perhaps the most difficult schedule in the country, opening against rival Miami while also having to play Tennessee, Georgia, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas in the SEC. He has to prove the program is headed in the right direction to have any shot at convincing the fan base he’s the right coach for the job.”
It seems like a Sisyphean task ahead of Napier and Co. but this is what they get paid the big bucks to do. The projections so far have been pretty bearish, which suggests that the current head coach might not be long for Gainesville, but he will at least get a chance to redeem himself before getting his pink slip out of town.
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