The Florida Gators are already facing criticism from their fans after parting company with head coach Billy Napier after just one game in 2024.
The college football season has begun, and a few coaches have already been placed on the hot seat due to a poor or below-average season, which means this will be their final season at their respective schools.
Each coach’s scenario is substantially different.
Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes have performed admirably by most teams’ standards since he took coach during the shorter season in 2020, when they finished 7-1. Ohio State has finished with an amazing (11-2) record in the last three seasons, but have lost to their fiercest rivals from Michigan each time. ‘Even though Day has an amazing 56-8 record as head coach at Ohio State, including a trip to the College Football Playoff, the Buckeyes’ three consecutive losses to Michigan and failure to find a way to win college football’s greatest prize have supporters antsy.
However, the scenario is radically different for the Florida Gators.
Day also came into 2024 with one of the most talented lineups in recent college football history. So, if Ohio State does not make the new 12-team playoff and wins at least one game, the Buckeyes’ brass will be under pressure to make a move.
There are names like Dabo Swinney, who is a Clemson legend but refuses to adjust to the modern reality where the transfer portal is critical, leaving fans and donors angry. Still, it’s hard to imagine Clemson ever pushing Swinney out; he’d have to make the decision himself.
Again, the Florida Gators are not in the same scenario as Clemson, but their opponents may have a problem on their hands.
Mike Norvell has suddenly become a name to watch at Florida State, with the Seminoles losing their first two games despite being widely favoured — and a club many thought was on its way to national title contention — obviously headed in the wrong direction.
But no coach started 2024 with more pressure to win than Billy Napier, who has guided the Florida Gators to consecutive seven-win seasons since taking over in 2022. The former Louisiana head coach was hired to rebuild a program that has failed to regain the significance that Urban Meyer built at Florida between 2005 and 2010, when the Gators won five straight seasons and two national championships.
Instead, Napier has an 11-15 record since arriving in Gainesville, and what’s more concerning is that Florida hasn’t even been competitive in games against top-tier talent. In Saturday’s home opener against Miami, the Hurricanes dominated in every aspect of the game, handing Napier and the Gators a demoralizing 41-17 defeat in front of their home crowd.
Die-Hard Florida Gators fans set up a GoFundMe to have Billy Napier fired.
During Florida’s blowout home opener, both die-hard supporters and casual admirers of the sport took to social media to demand Napier’s removal.
In a press conference earlier this week, Florida’s head coach specifically addressed his supporters’ complaints.
When asked how his team could improve for the rest of the season, the Florida Gators coach chose to take a direct shot at his fans for criticizing him and his squad.
“We got to go to work on the football part, we have to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better,” Napier informed the crowd. “If we can focus on those things and not necessarily on what some guy in his basement in rural Central Florida is saying on social media, then we got a chance to get better.”
According to the @gatorsszn account on X, supporters have set up a $26 million GoFundMe page to buy Napier out of his contract and send him packing.
It’s unlikely they’ll be able to motivate college football fans to raise that much money, but it’s worth watching whether it has any impact.
Billy Napier
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