Post by tapsgator on Nov 29, 2023 13:41:46 GMT -5
Taking out the pressers/interviews which are fun to mock and get more incoherent every day here's what I think is happening.
1) Napier isn't full of shit, unlike his predecessors who alternately lied, revised history, or just did weird stuff like costumed press conferences and making up death threats and whatnot, he is being honest even when he doesn't make a bit of sense and there's no logical train of thought. Points for that I guess.
2) He's over his head. It unfolded like this: Napier gets fired by Dabo and goes to the Bama machine when Saban was at the height of his powers and Smart was on the way up. He makes a damn good cup of coffee and/or is smarter/more likable than the other analysts and gets in tight with McGoober who takes him to Colorado State and promotes him to a position coach. He has a good year of doing basically nothing since McGoober is a QB coach by trade but again RDB is likable so gets an offer to be TE coach and recruiting coordinator for Jimbo. With the ink barely dry on that contract he gets an offer from Saban to come back to Tuscaloosa as a WR coach (technically a demotion since he's not recruiting coordinator) and he smartly takes it. Circumstances come together whereby he's able to parlay one decent year as an OC into the Louisiana job, guy must be a helluva interview or at least was back in the day. He gets there and basically does his best Nick Saban imitation with a twist or two but mostly just changing the buzz words. It works in the Sunbelt because he's able to assemble a roster considerably better than all the teams he plays. He comes to UF confident that it HAS to work in the SEC because he's seen it work in the SEC. In his mind it's not broken so why would he fix it? Year 1 he goes 6-7. You know who else went 6-6 in their first regular season at Bama (we'll ignore the whole 27 years of head coaching experience)? Nick fucking Saban. Kirby Smart was 7-5 and he got left more talent. Saban has a process, Smart has a culture, Napier has an infrastructure. They're basically the same guy in his mind. So as we continue down the path and it appears that RDB is confounded by the results, it's not an act, he's legitimately confused as to why we didn't win big this year. I guarantee you on top of his list for 24 is getting Graham Mertz and Montrell Johnson to return so we can run it back with this offense minus Pearsall. Both had nice years, probably as good as they are capable of, we were 5-7 against a much easier schedule than we have next year.
3) He can't/won't change. 1 is refreshing, 2 isn't fatal and can even be pretty damn amusing at times, but this will be the death knell of Napier's Florida career. He is the most perplexing combination of misguided confidence and neurotic insecurity I think I've ever seen in a head coach. On the field he will call a double reverse flea flicker on one drive and then 8 minutes later run up the middle 3 straight times to set up for a long FG. He asked for and received one of the biggest staffing budgets in the country but doesn't have a special teams coach, QB coach, or offensive coordinator. He refuses to hire anybody who would pose any threat to the head job (in his mind) or give up play calling. He took a 29 year old who was taking the expected demotion in job title to go to an SEC school and get in line for the DC job and doubled the offer and gave him a job he wasn't remotely qualified for. When that proved to be a bad decision the solution was to fire position coaches and probably the two most respected coaches on your staff with the best resumes. He hired Billy G instead of Ike Hilliard and then lauded Billy G's UF and Florida ties. There's a lot to unpack behind what drives that psychology but it doesn't matter because the outcome is the definition of insanity (repeating the same process and expecting different results).
Anyways, I'm going to go back to hoping the class doesn't fall apart and dreaming of Brian Johnson running the offense next season. Wake me up when it's all over.
1) Napier isn't full of shit, unlike his predecessors who alternately lied, revised history, or just did weird stuff like costumed press conferences and making up death threats and whatnot, he is being honest even when he doesn't make a bit of sense and there's no logical train of thought. Points for that I guess.
2) He's over his head. It unfolded like this: Napier gets fired by Dabo and goes to the Bama machine when Saban was at the height of his powers and Smart was on the way up. He makes a damn good cup of coffee and/or is smarter/more likable than the other analysts and gets in tight with McGoober who takes him to Colorado State and promotes him to a position coach. He has a good year of doing basically nothing since McGoober is a QB coach by trade but again RDB is likable so gets an offer to be TE coach and recruiting coordinator for Jimbo. With the ink barely dry on that contract he gets an offer from Saban to come back to Tuscaloosa as a WR coach (technically a demotion since he's not recruiting coordinator) and he smartly takes it. Circumstances come together whereby he's able to parlay one decent year as an OC into the Louisiana job, guy must be a helluva interview or at least was back in the day. He gets there and basically does his best Nick Saban imitation with a twist or two but mostly just changing the buzz words. It works in the Sunbelt because he's able to assemble a roster considerably better than all the teams he plays. He comes to UF confident that it HAS to work in the SEC because he's seen it work in the SEC. In his mind it's not broken so why would he fix it? Year 1 he goes 6-7. You know who else went 6-6 in their first regular season at Bama (we'll ignore the whole 27 years of head coaching experience)? Nick fucking Saban. Kirby Smart was 7-5 and he got left more talent. Saban has a process, Smart has a culture, Napier has an infrastructure. They're basically the same guy in his mind. So as we continue down the path and it appears that RDB is confounded by the results, it's not an act, he's legitimately confused as to why we didn't win big this year. I guarantee you on top of his list for 24 is getting Graham Mertz and Montrell Johnson to return so we can run it back with this offense minus Pearsall. Both had nice years, probably as good as they are capable of, we were 5-7 against a much easier schedule than we have next year.
3) He can't/won't change. 1 is refreshing, 2 isn't fatal and can even be pretty damn amusing at times, but this will be the death knell of Napier's Florida career. He is the most perplexing combination of misguided confidence and neurotic insecurity I think I've ever seen in a head coach. On the field he will call a double reverse flea flicker on one drive and then 8 minutes later run up the middle 3 straight times to set up for a long FG. He asked for and received one of the biggest staffing budgets in the country but doesn't have a special teams coach, QB coach, or offensive coordinator. He refuses to hire anybody who would pose any threat to the head job (in his mind) or give up play calling. He took a 29 year old who was taking the expected demotion in job title to go to an SEC school and get in line for the DC job and doubled the offer and gave him a job he wasn't remotely qualified for. When that proved to be a bad decision the solution was to fire position coaches and probably the two most respected coaches on your staff with the best resumes. He hired Billy G instead of Ike Hilliard and then lauded Billy G's UF and Florida ties. There's a lot to unpack behind what drives that psychology but it doesn't matter because the outcome is the definition of insanity (repeating the same process and expecting different results).
Anyways, I'm going to go back to hoping the class doesn't fall apart and dreaming of Brian Johnson running the offense next season. Wake me up when it's all over.
