I wasn’t happy with the hire, at first, but he grew on me during the offseason. Then Utah happened and I felt like we were going to exceed everyone’s expectations. How could we not? We had the second coming of Tebow wearing the 15, right? We just beat a top 10 team in his first game, at home, in exciting fashion. Recruiting, process, PT was a defensive savant, etc.I don't completely disagree with anything here, you could be right. I just think it's too early to know. And some of the criticism is certainly justified, I've shook my head at plenty. However, my point is that there's a group that because they were unhappy with the hire, they aren't going to cut the guy a single break and take into account what he inherited. Napier isn't an unlikeable lazy prick like Mullen, he represents the school great and I think deserves just a little bit of patience.
Also, Napier lives and breaths recruiting, possibly more than he lives and breaths winning. Freeze isn't going to show up and just outrecruit him. I think the 2022 class, as solid as I think it is, is going to be the WORST class Napier has at UF. It's going to get better over the next couple of years and I think he's a top-5-every-year guy once everything is rolling.
However, at some point he has to win or he won't be around to recruit - but the cupboard will be full.
Mark Richt 2.0So we're comparing Napier to what HOF legendary coaches would have done with this team? "By God, Knute Rockne would have had us 10 wins!"
Seems like a waste of time. How many Spurrier, Meyer, or Saban's do you think there are? If you have to compare Napier to anyone, compare him to Kirby Smart and the way his career played out at Georgia. We were thrilled that Smart was hired, we laughed at him, and his mediocre start at UGA wasn't anything we worried about. Their fans wanted him fired, too.
Spurrier would have sat AR.
Instead of continuing to poke the bear, maybe you should be grateful I ended your well-deserved vacation early.
So we're comparing Napier to what HOF legendary coaches would have done with this team? "By God, Knute Rockne would have had us 10 wins!"
Seems like a waste of time. How many Spurrier, Meyer, or Saban's do you think there are? If you have to compare Napier to anyone, compare him to Kirby Smart and the way his career played out at Georgia. We were thrilled that Smart was hired, we laughed at him, and his mediocre start at UGA wasn't anything we worried about. Their fans wanted him fired, too.
The SEC Championship against Bama was actually the next game.That statement requires clarification. SOS had been under criticism for some time for stubbornly refusing to go to the gun. It reached a cruscendo after the loss in Tallahassee in which Wuerffel took a beating. But, yes, the Sugar Bowl was the next game.
I think this is where I am at also. Except I was sort of meh about the hire, especially with Stricklin saying he had no other candidates in an offseason where Riley and Kelly jumped ship. I was at the Utah game and was suddenly sold on him, even though I knew that win was down to total luck.I wasn’t happy with the hire, at first, but he grew on me during the offseason. Then Utah happened and I felt like we were going to exceed everyone’s expectations. How could we not? We had the second coming of Tebow wearing the 15, right? We just beat a top 10 team in his first game, at home, in exciting fashion. Recruiting, process, PT was a defensive savant, etc.
It’s been downhill since. That’s not to say that there haven’t been bright spots. The recruiting is still good, not great. The fight the team has is a bright spot, but they wouldn’t have to display that fight if the defense didn’t shyt the bed in nearly every game and AR wasn’t a basket case mentally. It’s not on Napier that AR is mentally fragile. It is, however, on him for being unwilling to sit him when the wheels come off the wagon. The clock management is absolutely atrocious. We’ve played 12 games, and at least once or twice in every game, there have been ridiculous moments of timeout management, “scared money” late in the half, and so on. Those are the things that are alarming to me and everyone else that’s watched this circus. Could he still be the guy? Maybe. Time will tell but it’s obvious that changes need to be made. Hopefully he makes them.
He’s certainly a more likeable guy than Butters or Cousin Eddie, and I hope he succeeds here:
Let me see if I can help here since your synapses obviously have quite a struggle to try to get past those pesky amyloid plaques.
Riley and Napier were both new hires this season at their new jobs at destination schools with multiple previous national championships. Both schools were coming off bad seasons having just fired a failed coach. Both just finished their first regular season this weekend.
See how you can’t get more apples to apples and bringing up Saban in this conversation is completely unrelated and asinine?
No, I’m addressing the other posters that compared Billy to SOS & Urban, one who went so far as saying SOS wouldn’t have been able to pull off a winning record with AR as the QB. I’m just setting the record straight on that nonsensical thinking.
AR wouldn't have survived the self-congratulatory sideline celebration during the Utah game. SOS would have told him he might as well get comfortable standing on the bench because he wasn't leaving there anytime soon. Kitna would be a far better fit for Spurrier's offense.
How many have faced top 20 teams in half their games?
SOS is part of those stats.How many have faced top 20 teams in half their games?