Ahead of Week 4 of the college football season, ESPN’s “College GameDay” has revealed why the Florida Gators have yet to fire head coach Billy Napier.
Napier is in his third year with the Gators, and they’ve already started the 2024 college football season with two losses in three games.
The losses weren’t just losses. They were in blowout fashion to in-state rival Miami and to SEC rival Texas A&M.
In Napier’s first two seasons, he failed to achieve a record above .500, and certainly looks like he’s on pace for another. The Gators also ride a seven-game losing streak to FBS opponents.
On Saturday’s latest edition of “College GameDay,” college football analyst Pete Thamel revealed the expectation is Napier won’t return for a fourth season.
“That seven-game FBS losing streak and two home blowout losses to start the season, the overwhelming expectation remains, Billy Napier won’t return next year,” he said.
Thamel then shared why Florida hasn’t made the move yet. The simple reason is that there’s nobody to replace him.
“The question remains the timing of that potential exit,” Thamel added. “If you’re going to fire a coach this early in the season, you have to have a clear path to get better, and Florida does not appear to have that.”
Napier is the Gators’ head coach and offensive play-caller. Thamel explained that firing him this early on is not as easy as it seems.
“There’s no obvious interim on the staff that could spark this program,” he stated. “There’s also, Napier’s the primary play-caller. So, you really have to change out two coaches, which is difficult on the fly.”
The Gators will be in Starkville, Mississippi on Saturday to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Many fans believe this is the game where Napier’s Gators finally end their seven-game losing streak to FBS opponents. Mississippi State is coming off a 41-17 loss to the Toledo Rockets, a game in which it was a 10.5-point favorite.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET on ESPN.
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