Napier's plan to fix Florida has now collapsed, but the Gators aren't ready to fire him yet

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida coach Billy Napier should have answers. Or at least some new ideas.

Napier was hired in Gainesville in 2021 in part because he had a detailed plan for the Gators to close the gap on Alabama and Georgia in the powerful Southeastern Conference and become a serious national championship contender after playing mostly supporting roles over the past decade.

Napier's proposal was to hire more people, spend more money and allow more time than usual to get everything done.

It is now a completely worthless project, the most recent and least effective restructuring in the history of the program.

Napier is about to be fired for the first time since Clemson's Dabo Swinney kicked him out in 2010. The question is not if, but when.

The Gators (1-2, 0-1 SEC) play at Mississippi State (1-2) on Saturday, one of the few remaining weak spots in what many consider the toughest schedule in the country. With a week off looming, a loss to the struggling Bulldogs could spell the end of Napier's tenure after 29 games.

However, Florida does not seem to be in a hurry to part ways with its fourth head coach since two-time national champion Urban Meyer resigned at the end of the 2010 season.

The Gators have never fired a football coach before October and have good reasons to keep Napier despite embarrassing home losses to Miami (41-17) and Texas A&M (33-20), which extended the team's losing streak against power conference opponents to seven.

Some considerations in deciding Napier’s fate:

— Ten assistants and more than 50 support staff would immediately begin looking for new jobs.

– Every player on Florida’s roster would have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal, creating the possibility of a mass exodus.

– Dozens of other teams could (and would) try to make backdoor contact with players who do not enter the portal immediately.

– Anyone who did not play in more than four games could opt to redshirt and retain a year of eligibility, which presents another roster management problem.

– And does Florida even have a suitable candidate to promote to interim coach, someone who can carry the torch for perhaps several months and hold a team, a staff and a recruiting class together?

Therefore, it makes sense to keep Napier in office as long as possible, even knowing that he is no longer a long-term solution in Gainesville and will be booed endlessly at upcoming home games against UCF and Kentucky.

It helps that Napier remained calm and professional despite the many questions about his job security.

“Responsibility and accountability are the only option here,” Napier said. “The most important thing is that they stick together, and that's what I told the players after the game on Saturday. … We can't control what's said or done outside. We can control what's said inside the walls.”

Firing Napier would certainly appease a large portion of Florida fans and provide some brief relief after three years of frustration. And the move could help the program's third-party collective continue to raise money and avoid missing monthly payments to players.

But the negative aspects of the program's collapse in September appear to outweigh the positive ones.

“We all know there's going to be a lot of noise, and it's up to us as players what we pay attention to,” said Florida quarterback Graham Mertz, who was part of a 2021 Wisconsin team that started 1-3 before winning seven straight games and making it to the Las Vegas Bowl. “Is it us or is it what's going on externally? Are we doing our job or is it something else?”

Napier insists there's still time to turn things around, but no one who has seen the Gators play this season could honestly say they're anywhere near one of the worst teams in the league.

There is a clear lack of talent, especially on both lines of scrimmage. And Napier continues to miss defenders in the transfer portal. Add to that the fact that he lost his two best players to SEC opponents – edge rusher Princely Umanmielen to Mississippi and running back Trevor Etienne to Georgia – and had to replace eight of his original 11 contributors, and Napier's once-promising plan is now a bust.

“We can't live in the 'would have, could have, would have, if, then'” Napier said. “I think ultimately we have an obligation to the players and our university administration to do our best to play well this week.”

“That's all we can control. Anything else is a waste of time. … It's crucial that we don't point fingers, but take responsibility and point out where accountability is needed. That's key, especially with young people in the world they're currently living in.”