GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Billy Napier was supposed to have answers. Or at least some new ideas.
Napier was hired in Gainesville in 2021 partly because he had a detailed plan for the Gators to close the gap on Alabama and Georgia in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference and become a legit national championship contender after being mostly an afterthought over the previous decade.
Napier’s proposal included bringing in more people, spending more money and getting more time than usual to pull it all together.
It’s a generally worthless project now, the latest and least effective rebuild in program history.
Napier is on the verge of being fired for the first time since Clemson’s Dabo Swinney sent him packing in 2010. It’s not a matter of if; it’s when.
The Gators (1-2, 0-1 SEC) play at Mississippi State (1-2) on Saturday, one of the few soft spots remaining on what many consider the toughest schedule in the country. With a bye week ahead, a loss to the struggling Bulldogs could mean the end of Napier’s tenure after 29 games.