By Rock Westfall
As this is being written on Sunday morning, Billy Napier is still the head coach of the Florida Gators, but that status could change at a moment’s notice. Meanwhile, misery is the state of affairs for Luke Fickell of the Wisconsin Badgers, who is contractually locked in for seven more years. This is a scary thought for Wisconsin fans who can see the future and that it doesn’t work. Fickell is proven to be a fish out of water.
In an era when patience is an antiquated word and approach, Napier, Fickell, and their athletic director bosses, Scott Strickland of Florida and Chris MacIntosh of Wisconsin, are not meeting the demands of fans and donors. More to the point, each man deserves the heat he is taking.
Billy Napier Has Become Indefensible
When Billy Napier was hired, he was immediately granted massive upgrades in staff and facilities. Florida had fallen behind in the SEC arms race, and Napier was seen as the man who would fortify the program and boost recruiting after his predecessor Dan Mullen came off as lukewarm to chasing down 5-star talent. Napier’s recruiting has been marginally better than Mullen’s but not significantly so. And after hiring a staff that is larger than the governments of some nations, Florida is more unprepared and befuddled than ever.