- Aug 24, 2019
- 91
- 251
I'm cautiously optimistic on the Billy Napier hire. It's hard to be 100% on board when we've been burned before and I think it'll be a longer rebuild than we'd like when all is said and done, but so far so good.
Pros:
- He seems to have a commitment to winning and a drive to succeed that we've been missing. He's definitely not lazy.
- He seems like a program builder, which is something we need. Even if he doesn't work out, he'll probably leave it better than he found it.
- I think he's gotten the admin buy-in that none of our previous coaches was able to get. That's huge.
- I like the assistant coaches so far. He seems to have the wherewithal to assemble an all star cast, and if he succeeds in that it'll drive us forward.
The biggest con and the reason I'm not all in yet is intangible. He doesn't "feel" like a Florida coach, he feels like an Alabama coach/Sabanite. Here's what I mean:
- Spurrier and Meyer were each offensive innovators who weren't afraid to talk sh*t about our rivals. The kind of guys who could back up the talk and bulldoze their opponents year after year, driving them nuts in the process. I'm younger than a lot of guys on the board, but that's the image of a successful head football coach at UF that was imprinted in my mind as I grew up a fan of the team.
- Napier doesn't feel like that, he feels more like a Saban or Smart. Someone who is relatively restrained with the media and focused on process. Someone who plays sound fundamentals without pushing the envelope and bullies other teams with sheer raw talent which is competently but unexceptionally deployed.
- In his introductory presser, the overwhelming feeling he gave off to me at least was a guy who has a process that works and just wants somewhere that'll give him the resources to test it out on a grand scale. He didn't seem to care about the specifics or history of UF, just the resources we could bring to bear. It felt like broadly the same conference he'd have given if he'd gotten the LSU, USC, or Oklahoma job instead of ours.
- I want to win and the programs where a process like he's building has been implemented win a ton of games, I just worry about becoming just like everywhere else. We're not Alabama or Georgia, we're Florida, and I feel like we lose something intangible by following their model in lockstep. It feels like being assimilated into The Process.
I think Napier might very well win us a lot of games, and I'm excited for that. Maybe it's an acclamation process and I just need to get used to the new way of things here, to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. He's probably the best hire we could've made this cycle, and there aren't any obvious Spurrier or Meyers out there.
TL;DR: We'll see, and I'm hopeful that the results live up to the potential.
EDIT TO ADD: Kinda focused the above on the hire because I think that's the crux of the state of UF Football, which drives the state of the board. I think GC is at its healthiest when there's room for disagreement and people can fight for their side.
After the LSU game last year, it pivoted extremely negative very quickly (wth good reason) from the relatively mixed perspective that existed before. The mixed perspective generated more interesting discussion, at least for me. I think trying intensely to pivot it to universal positivity is a mistake, it would be better to let the discussion proceed and see what comes of it organically.
Pros:
- He seems to have a commitment to winning and a drive to succeed that we've been missing. He's definitely not lazy.
- He seems like a program builder, which is something we need. Even if he doesn't work out, he'll probably leave it better than he found it.
- I think he's gotten the admin buy-in that none of our previous coaches was able to get. That's huge.
- I like the assistant coaches so far. He seems to have the wherewithal to assemble an all star cast, and if he succeeds in that it'll drive us forward.
The biggest con and the reason I'm not all in yet is intangible. He doesn't "feel" like a Florida coach, he feels like an Alabama coach/Sabanite. Here's what I mean:
- Spurrier and Meyer were each offensive innovators who weren't afraid to talk sh*t about our rivals. The kind of guys who could back up the talk and bulldoze their opponents year after year, driving them nuts in the process. I'm younger than a lot of guys on the board, but that's the image of a successful head football coach at UF that was imprinted in my mind as I grew up a fan of the team.
- Napier doesn't feel like that, he feels more like a Saban or Smart. Someone who is relatively restrained with the media and focused on process. Someone who plays sound fundamentals without pushing the envelope and bullies other teams with sheer raw talent which is competently but unexceptionally deployed.
- In his introductory presser, the overwhelming feeling he gave off to me at least was a guy who has a process that works and just wants somewhere that'll give him the resources to test it out on a grand scale. He didn't seem to care about the specifics or history of UF, just the resources we could bring to bear. It felt like broadly the same conference he'd have given if he'd gotten the LSU, USC, or Oklahoma job instead of ours.
- I want to win and the programs where a process like he's building has been implemented win a ton of games, I just worry about becoming just like everywhere else. We're not Alabama or Georgia, we're Florida, and I feel like we lose something intangible by following their model in lockstep. It feels like being assimilated into The Process.
I think Napier might very well win us a lot of games, and I'm excited for that. Maybe it's an acclamation process and I just need to get used to the new way of things here, to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb. He's probably the best hire we could've made this cycle, and there aren't any obvious Spurrier or Meyers out there.
TL;DR: We'll see, and I'm hopeful that the results live up to the potential.
EDIT TO ADD: Kinda focused the above on the hire because I think that's the crux of the state of UF Football, which drives the state of the board. I think GC is at its healthiest when there's room for disagreement and people can fight for their side.
After the LSU game last year, it pivoted extremely negative very quickly (wth good reason) from the relatively mixed perspective that existed before. The mixed perspective generated more interesting discussion, at least for me. I think trying intensely to pivot it to universal positivity is a mistake, it would be better to let the discussion proceed and see what comes of it organically.
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realizes he cannot stay away so like the coach in Hoosiers he tells the ref to throw him out of the game. This way he can finally do his important stuff and recharge his mad hatter, crazy uncle batteries. 
