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Post by bimigator on May 15, 2023 14:46:24 GMT -5
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Post by tapsgator on May 16, 2023 11:51:02 GMT -5
This is a really good question but I don't like what I think is the accurate answer: we can't. No need to rehash the myriad in great detail the reasons why he should have come in with a real OC primarily based on his history of 1 good year and 2 bad years as an OC outside the Sunbelt complete with getting fired by his mentor, but what's very odd to me is these Saban/Smart acolytes who refuse to emulate their approach to coordinators. Saban figured out that he needed to let go of the wheel on offense when Kiffin came in and gave Blake Sims the job. Kirby ran through coordinators until he found one that was good enough to stop wasting historically good Defenses. Both refuse to hire guys to any staff position if they can't recruit, and they damn sure aren't going to keep them there. Saban has even started doing it on the Defensive side of the ball as he's gotten older, but he evolved long ago when it came to OC.
Napier is the exception not the rule on that, guys from the Saban tree tend to have their hand selected coordinators who usually amount to little more than yes men and wind up sucking. The difference now is even the biggest ego-maniacal donkey of the bunch (Jimbo) went and got THE hot coordinator.
Frost would kill it at UF and might just save Napier's job. His offenses recruit themselves when he's not working at a serious geographic disadvantage, and the athletes that fit his system are all within driving distance of UF. You would think the fact that he eschewed the UF opportunity to try to be a hometown hero would work to both humble him and placate some of Napier's insecurity about hiring his eventual replacement. All that said I don't believe there's a snowball's chance in Hell he does it. He's given no indication that he recognizes some pretty glaring issues within the program beyond stammering some incoherent and non-cohesive cliches that the local honks are nice enough to quote verbatim, so at least there's some comedic relief.
Call me crazy, but losing your last 3 games in embarrassing fashion, having a guy who a significant portion of the fanbase wanted benched go 4th overall in the draft, having no QB in your first full recruiting class (and a low 3 star as the only one in your transition class) as two Big 10 washouts battle it out to the tune of a 10-7 Spring game because you struck out in the portal as well, and having a 5.5 win total at UF which has to be the lowest pre-season total since the 70s would call for some big changes. Nope, because unwavering confidence and believe in the process and attention to detail and discipline and scared money don't make money and significant effect to that 2nd year bump that's coming soon to be effectively effective.
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Post by Rock Gator on May 17, 2023 13:37:04 GMT -5
I like it. One thing I learned in my engineering management career is that you need to hire people who, at a base level, will fill in your weaknesses. At a higher level, they are better than you in almost every way. If you don't make these hires, you become more and more ineffective, and have no chance to actually get better yourself. Like taps though, I don't see it happening.
RG
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Post by tapsgator on May 25, 2023 12:39:04 GMT -5
It really just struck me that Jimbo Fischer hired Bobby Petrino in the ultimate acceptance of his own limitations, but that Napier still insists on running the show. Jimbo served as the true OC and called plays from 2000-2022 and won 2 national championships along the way. He was the OC and play caller under 2 certified legends and Miles who has a couple national titles. I don't care for him, but there's no reason to doubt his qualifications as an OC. Even that guy, who you could argue has the best possible case for not "needing" a real OC has accepted the evolution of big-time CFB to where you almost have to have a real OC and dedicated play caller. Why a guy with less than 5% of the track record and/or qualifications is unwilling to set his ego aside and do the same is beyond me.
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Post by Rock Gator on May 25, 2023 15:45:16 GMT -5
We can only hope he figures it out. It took Jimbo till his 6th year and a declining record to get there. I don't see CBN getting six years of this song and dance.
RG
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Post by wahhappen on May 25, 2023 21:51:13 GMT -5
I’m sure he will make the hire as soon as a qualified candidate emerges from the Sunbelt conference. If Butch Jones can get to four wins in 2023, he might be the guy.
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Post by tapsgator on May 26, 2023 10:08:41 GMT -5
We can only hope he figures it out. It took Jimbo till his 6th year and a declining record to get there. I don't see CBN getting six years of this song and dance. RG I think Jimbo is a bad coach, was a terrible hire, and the contract is the worst of the three. That said, he had shown the ability to succeed as an OC and play caller against non-Sunbelt competition before eschewing the idea of a real OC. Napier better not get more than half 6 years or UF football will likely fade into obscurity. He gets 3 years, last year being year 1 (year 0 because I inherited a team that had the #4 pick, 6 guys drafted, and 5 more that signed as UDFAs shut up). Forget getting back to the top of the mountain, nobody is going to care as we sink from the new Tennessee to the new Kentucky to the new Vanderbilt. Inpatient fan base is a lot better than apathetic, and the younger fans don't really seem to care about UF football. They're just kinda there to party and listen to Tom Petty. The Bull Gators won't fund NIL at a competitive level because we aren't winning and we aren't going to win without recruiting and we aren't going to recruit running behind constantly, first on facilities and now on NIL. I think the boosters understandably do not like Stricklin (the whole embarrassment to the brand thing) and are being to asked to catch up in the arms race because Foley sat on his hands when he wasn't patting himself on the back as our facilities became outdated. This program has been decimated, and fewer and fewer people care. I’m sure he will make the hire as soon as a qualified candidate emerges from the Sunbelt conference. If Butch Jones can get to four wins in 2023, he might be the guy. We'll be the defending champions of life. That's a deal right there. It's a thing we do when we're doing the things and making the process work because we're a process doer not a process booer and a grower not a shower and we just can't when we get the things going we will so you know.....................Right? |
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Post by g8rfan on May 26, 2023 15:16:50 GMT -5
Taps your Napier impressions are top notch.
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Post by Mojave Gator on May 30, 2023 23:35:47 GMT -5
Taps your Napier impressions are top notch. I believe that he should do a parody post-game press conference for YouTube. It would be epic. |
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Post by tapsgator on Jun 6, 2023 10:00:41 GMT -5
A study of Scott Frost's hair indicates that while the style has not changed much and meets the steady standard his hair has gotten noticeably darker (we're talking 3-4 shades here people) and that is pretty far from steady. Also real-deal Scott doesn't roll off the tongue as magnificently as real-deal Billy. Since we're all about details and meticulousness and whatnot I just don't think there's a fit. He also isn't morbidly obese and I could find very few connections to the Sunbelt. 3 strikes and you're out, unless you're down 11 in the third quarter which case you go for 2.
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Post by Mojave Gator on Jun 16, 2023 23:16:47 GMT -5
Inpatient fan base is a lot better than apathetic, and the younger fans don't really seem to care about UF football. They're just kinda there to party and listen to Tom Petty. That was one thing that struck me going to homecoming last season, my first trip back for a game in 48 years. My time at UF predated Spurrier and expected success. Even so, back then there were people who bled orange and blue, from the student body down to the people tailgating next to their RVs two days before kickoff. The students who I saw at the game in 2022 seemed more preoccupied with their cell phones and with what other people were wearing than anything to do with the game. I didn't see the rabid support for the team that I saw years before Florida became a nationally prominent program. |
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Post by Rock Gator on Jun 19, 2023 8:23:15 GMT -5
I went to the FSU game in '21 and it was a great atmosphere. People were decked out in their Gator gear and were really into the game right to the end. But that was FSU, not Missouri. I do remember the meathead Zook years though, when I almost couldn't watch his coaching, or his babbling in the news conferences. And then the no offense era of Muschamp and McElwain. Somewhere in there was peak apathy for me.
RG
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Post by Mojave Gator on Jun 21, 2023 23:20:44 GMT -5
I went to the FSU game in '21 and it was a great atmosphere. People were decked out in their Gator gear and were really into the game right to the end. But that was FSU, not Missouri. I do remember the meathead Zook years though, when I almost couldn't watch his coaching, or his babbling in the news conferences. And then the no offense era of Muschamp and McElwain. Somewhere in there was peak apathy for me. RG The first year of our Gator Club was Zook's last year as head coach. It's hard enough developing a following when you are unknown (UFAA did us no favors by refusing to list us on the website until we were chartered, which they didn't get around to doing until October of that year). Try doing it against the backdrop of a team nobody wanted to watch, because of their tendency to blow games by trying to sit on leads for an entire half. |
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