“What should be done eventually must be done immediately.”
It has been reported by many local and national writers alike that, win or lose, Billy Napier will have coached his last game in Gainesville on Saturday night.
When news of this spread throughout the college football world earlier this week, many fans on both sides of the aisle had their takes.
First and foremost, the man should have been fired a year ago, so he’s lucky he is even around to coach this weekend as it is.
But more to the point, he’s been given plenty of opportunities to show he’s the man for the job and hasn’t gotten it done.
The result of this weekend’s game against Mississippi State is irrelevant; he isn’t winning anything of value at Florida whether he wins or loses by 50 tomorrow.
The strategic play would be to send him packing Saturday night as the clocks hit triple zero, and give the interim coach and new (real) offensive coordinator the bye week to prepare for Georgia.
The Bulldogs showed everyone in their game against Auburn that they are very beatable, and the Gators’ main issue has been their offensive output.
Why not get rid of the problem (Billy Napier is Florida’s playcaller) and give someone else a crack at improving a talented roster?
It worked for UCLA. Why can’t the same thing be true for Florida?
Additionally, firing an underperforming coach after a win isn’t exactly unprecedented.
As OutKick’s Trey Wallace mentioned, Texas A&M fired its former head coach, Jimbo Fisher, after a blowout win over those very same Mississippi State Bulldogs, and his Aggies were actually bowl eligible that season.
Do you think the powers that be in College Station are having “firers’ remorse” after cutting ties with Fisher and fielding a top-five unit in year two under new head coach Mike Elko?
Texas A&M offered the blueprint, and now the Gators have a chance to make a similar move and rewrite the narrative about their program.
A wise man once said, “What should be done eventually must be done immediately.”
Florida didn’t exactly “do it” immediately, but there is still time to right the wrongs and rip the band-aid off.
Firing a coach after a win: fair or unfair? Email me and let me know what you think at austin.perry@outkick.com
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