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Post by tapsgator on Dec 27, 2022 13:16:43 GMT -5
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Post by g8rfan on Dec 27, 2022 14:33:58 GMT -5
That 2nd article basically expresses everything I feel about the program and Napier right now. Show me, don't tell me. It's anothr frustrating year of rebuilding while other teams with new coaches make immediate gains. Like our inability to develop a QB in less than 5 years which has been driving ne nuts since Muschamp. These guys make too much damned much money to be let off the hook that easily. What makes you worth 50 million dollars? Winning the SunBelt? You have one job at the end of the day: win games. Whether he does that trough the portal or traditional recruiting I care not. But I agree with the writer, I dodn't see much difference, if any, with this year's team compared to last year's. I'm not calling for his head yet but I saw nothing, not a single flash of brilliance this season, that made me believe he is up for this job. |
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Post by gatorgibson on Dec 27, 2022 14:48:09 GMT -5
Was a fair grade imo. We will all know much more by game 5 or 6 of next year. If we really come out of the gate sucking it up don't waste time. We should be better across the board, if not he is not the answer. I would accept a few good losses meaning it was close and we looked good on the field.Any bad losses next year will not go over too good. We had many of those in 2022.
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Post by Mojave Gator on Dec 27, 2022 17:05:58 GMT -5
For all of the talk about culture, I saw the coaching staff repeatedly run Watson out grossly overweight on the defensive line, and there is a clip from the bowl game on an Oregon State pass play, when a Florida edge rusher takes a couple of steps toward the line and barely touches the offensive lineman. No effort whatsoever.
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Post by tapsgator on Dec 28, 2022 0:24:32 GMT -5
For all of the talk about culture, I saw the coaching staff repeatedly run Watson out grossly overweight on the defensive line, and there is a clip from the bowl game on an Oregon State pass play, when a Florida edge rusher takes a couple of steps toward the line and barely touches the offensive lineman. No effort whatsoever. Jinx, I just posted the same thing in the portal thread. |
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Post by tapsgator on Dec 28, 2022 12:29:39 GMT -5
Yeah, I think the grade is spot on. I'm still a ways away from saying he's not the guy, but certainly starting to ask "is he the guy?" We need to see signs of progress beyond a new facility and spending 6 million dollars on administrative staff. Beyond saying "I'm seeing some good things, it's really turning around" in perpetuity every time you're in front of a hot mic.
My concerns in some semblance of order:
1) Why is there no movement or even hint of movement on the coaching staff? We're getting beat on the field and off, our defense was historically bad, and 40 guys have left since the start of the season while 22 have come in. At the end of the year we were an undisciplined and not very talented team. I've lost track of how many fireable offenses Toney committed, but there were a lot. Trey Dean played himself back into a day 2-3 pick, Dexter is still going in the first in most mocks I've seen, Burney day 2-3, Torrence same, Miller will probably get drafted. That tells me that the NFL does not think that talent was the problem. That only leaves scheme and development. Which brings me to:
2) What does Billy want to be? He kind of seems stuck in the middle of a coach who holds the card and calls plays (these guys are dinosaurs and not very successful ones at this point but guys like Jimbo, McGoober and Malzahn) and the CEO type that he trained under (Saban, Smart, Dabo). Our play calling was not good. At all. Moreover the game management was pure dogshit. I can't think of one game where we didn't mismanage the clock. How does that happen when you have as much staff as we've got? We can't find one guy to count to three on timeouts? It felt very jack of all trades master of none.
3) It bears mentioning that as an OC he was good in year 1 at Clemson, fired after year 2, off field analyst at Bama, followed McGoober to Colorado State after a year stint as an analyst, then went to FSU before going back to Saban as a position coach, and was then mediocre at Arizona State, so he isn't exactly Joe Brady.
4) It's probably not fair, but Napier is the Quarterbacks coach. That's supposed to be his wheelhouse. Anthony Richardson is a generational physical talent. He's super raw, and I think Mullen was criminal in how he handled him in his most formative year when Johnson was gone, but AR was unequivocally the worst coached player on our team. Probably in the country. His mechanics were a mess, he was tentative, and his decision making was questionable. He was more accurate at 40+ yards (where he didn't overthink and just cut it loose) than he was at 10. When he just played he showed flashes of being the 1/1 pick. Most Gator fans will think that's a gross overstatement, but a smaller, slower, weaker armed guy is going top 10 (Levis) based on physical tools. Maybe Richardson isn't coachable, if NFL guys think that was the problem then he'll go undrafted unless he switches positions (he could play anywhere on the field other than the line of scrimmage). If they think coaching was the issue he'll go in the first or second round. I know where the smart money is. I'm struggling to think of a successful head coach whose position group hasn't been consistently one of the best coached, well developed, and best recruited on the team. Harbaugh at Michigan maybe? Slight difference between winning the Sun Belt and taking a team to the Super Bowl though.
4) The recruiting, portal included, it's a long way from where it needs to be at this point, and seems to be going the wrong way. He needs to pull of a miraculous turnaround in the portal to have any semblance of a competitive team next year.
End of the day, we've either got a McGoober or a Smart on our hands (if he gets out of his own way and starts managing the game like a CEO). We will know a lot more next year. And I think it will be revealed pretty quick. When it is I hope that we have an AD in place who will act, but somehow we've got Dumb and Dumber running the $$$$$$ sports into the ground while surviving multiple sexual harassment type lawsuits in the women's sports. Strange times my friends. I never thought that making a 12 team play-off in 2024 would feel so far away.
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Post by Mojave Gator on Dec 28, 2022 16:18:31 GMT -5
Beyond saying "I'm seeing some good things, it's really turning around" in perpetuity every time you're in front of a hot mic. It makes me uneasy that I am having flashbacks to the failed coaches of the past whenever I listen to Napier. From Zook's "We're getting better and better" to Muschamp's "We have to get that fixed", none of it backed up by any meaningful action or results on the field. It's one thing to say what you need to do, quite another to actually do it. |
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Post by wahhappen on Dec 29, 2022 20:30:22 GMT -5
This is off topic a bit, but a question I have had all season. Can some explain to me what is that lame ass stupid zooking baton thing our players pimp around with on the sidelines whenever they make a play? Can we fire that?
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Post by gatorgibson on Dec 30, 2022 7:04:27 GMT -5
We are in a world of "LOOK AT ME"!I agree, it is very lame!
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Post by Mojave Gator on Dec 30, 2022 23:12:38 GMT -5
This is off topic a bit, but a question I have had all season. Can some explain to me what is that lame ass stupid zooking baton thing our players pimp around with on the sidelines whenever they make a play? Can we fire that? It's called a mace. It's the baton that marching band drum majors use. |
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Post by Rock Gator on Jan 2, 2023 8:33:52 GMT -5
The mace is corny but the kids seem to like it. I hate all those gimmicks myself.
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