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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Trevor Etienne Piles on Florida Gators Losing Program as Billy Napier Prepares for Last Stand

As Trevor Etienne and Steve Spurrier add fuel to flames, Billy Napier faces a do-or-die 2024 season.

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Sep 24
Sep 24

By Rock Westfall

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier faces a do-or-die 2024 season. While Napier struggles to crack the code, he is under siege in a multi-front battle for survival. Former Gator Trevor Etienne’s latest comments did not help, but Florida’s internal problems are numerous and span decades.

Trevor Etienne Piles on After Leaving Florida to Become Top Dawg

Last year, RB Trevor Etienne was Florida’s 2-back and gained 753 yards, 5.7 yards per carry, with a team-high eight TDs. But, wanting to be the Top Dawg, Etienne transferred to the Georgia Bulldogs. Subsequently, Etienne had some choice comments this week about not wanting to be a 2-back on a losing team when he could be a 1-back on a potential national champion at Georgia.

Etienne is hardly alone in criticizing the Florida program. His comments were emblematic of Florida’s current status. Billy Napier is fighting to survive while being engulfed in a circle of negativity. But this is nothing new in Gainesville. Negativity is the one constant of the Florida program.

Indeed, Florida’s biggest problem is unreasonably demanding fans, donors, and social media. And the roots of its crisis began decades ago.

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Sweeping Change for Napier’s Last Stand 

After records of 6-7 in 2022 and 5-7 in 2023, Billy Napier faces a must-win-big season in 2024. In preparation for his last stand, Napier has initiated sweeping changes on his coaching staff.

The revolving door began immediately after the lost 2023 season. Secondary coach Corey Raymond and defensive line coach Sean Spencer were fired. Will Harris from the LA Chargers replaced Raymond, and Tulsa’s Gerald Chatman took over for Spencer. But there was much more to follow following Early National Signing Day.

Linebackers coach Jay Bateman left for Texas A&M to become defensive coordinator. Strength coach Mark Hocke was reassigned to player development as former New York Giants strength coach Craig Fitzgerald took over Hocke’s role. Additionally, Jake Sankel was brought in to serve as co-strength coach and director of nutrition. Sankel has NFL experience as a member of the Washington Commanders strength staff. Yet that was not all.

Former Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts is now on Napier’s staff as a linebackers coach, co-defensive coordinator, and executive defensive head coach. Special teams analyst Chris Couch was joined by Joe Houston, who was named a senior special teams analyst. And then Mark Robinson arrives from Texas A&M to serve as an associate athletic director for football.

Finally, Russ Callaway was promoted from tight ends coach to co-offensive coordinator, joining offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Rob Sale. 

Napier Staffs Up and Increases the SEC Arms Race 

The staff changes are indicative of the Billy Napier era. When Napier was hired, Florida was undeniably behind its SEC counterparts in facilities and staffing. Napier was given an unlimited budget in the winter of 2022 and immediately exceeded it. From that point forward, Florida has had more staff and fancy titles than many governments. Yet, it has not translated into wins.

If Napier left Florida today, his legacy would indeed be massive investments in infrastructure with no significant increase in winning. Certainly, Florida is catching up to the competition. But they have a bigger problem than the outside powers of the SEC. 

Steve Superior Culture and Critique of Napier

From 1960 through 1989, the Florida Gators finished in the AP Top 25 only five times. During that period, head coaches Charlie Pell and Galen Hall produced three Top 6 finishes from 1983 through 1985. However, Hall could not sustain success because the bag was not legal in those days. 

Ironically, Hall replaced Pell, who was guilty of doling out the bag himself, and Hall maintained Pell’s culture. Florida was slapped with a two-year probation for numerous NCAA rules violations. Thus, in more ways than one, Charlie Pell and Galen Hall were men ahead of their time.

Still, Pell and Hall gave Florida fans a taste of the Big Time. Gator fans wanted more of it and got it when Favorite Son, former QB, and 1966 Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier became head coach in 1990.

Spurrier went 10-2 in his first season with a final AP ranking of 13th. It was Florida’s worst final ranking under Spurrier. From there, a decade of dominance followed. Spurrier won eight SEC East Division, six SEC, and one national championship at Florida with a final record of 122-27-1. Only twice in 12 years did Spurrier fail to crack the Top 10.

In the end, Spurrier admitted he created a monster (fans) with an insatiable appetite for winning. Worn down from the pressure cooker that he created, Spurrier shockingly left for the NFL Washington Redskins after the 2001 season.

Spurrier himself took shots at Napier this week in frustration with the direction of the program. Spurrier’s critique is far more devastating than Etienne’s in that the Florida GOAT has maximum credibility with all concerned.  

https://twitter.com/blueorangeUF/status/1763638752587526264

Urban Renewal of Superior Culture Served to Increase Demands 

Ron Zook followed Spurrier and was a recruiting machine who could not develop his 5-star roster into champions. Urban Meyer replaced Zook in 2005 and won two national championships before burning out and departing after the 2010 season. Meyer mentally cracked trying to appease the unreasonable demands of Gator fans.

Meyer left behind a scandal-ridden program that Will Muschamp helped clean up. But Muschamp failed to win enough while doing so and was fired after four seasons. Jim McElwain won division titles in his first two seasons as Muschamp’s replacement but ended up with frayed nerves, publicly stating that he was getting death threats. McElwain departed after a 3-4 start in 2017, with Dan Mullen taking over.

Florida was Mullen a Seemingly Perfect Fit 

Dan Mullen was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Florida and seemed like a perfect fit after leaving Mississippi State as its head coach. Mullen produced three Top 10 finishes in his first three years at Florida and nearly upset Alabama twice. But his 2021 comments about recruiting came off as unenthusiastic, and he was fired after a 5-6 start.

The common denominator through this coaching history is a fan base that can’t get out of its own way. Pell and Hall planted the seeds of what could be, with Spurrier and Meyer fulfilling it. But that success triggered perpetual and incessant diktats by fans and donors ever since.

In particular, the fans, donors, and Florida social media deserve blame for running off Mullen, who should have been given a mulligan for his one bad year that followed three strong campaigns.

Imagine what Dan Mullen could have done with the full support of the panicked athletic director Scott Stricklin. But Stricklin lacked the intestinal fortitude and commitment to give Mullen the resources and infrastructure that Napier attained in corrective action.

Consider that Dan Mullen’s recruiting classes ranked 17th, 11th, 8th, and 13th during his tenure. In comparison, Billy Napier’s classes ranked 20th, 13th, and 10th. If Mullen was such a horrible and uncommitted recruiter, what is Napier?

Billy Napier’s Last Stand and Florida’s Just Desserts 

Many of us remain Billy Napier Agnostics. But Florida fans and social media wasted no time fanning the flames of his seat now engulfed in flames. By the middle of his second season, the “hot seat” bomb was dropped on Napier.

Indeed, Napier fulfilled the vision of investment and infrastructure. But recruiting, while good, is not better than what it was under Dan Mullen or Jim McElwain, who together produced three SEC championship game appearances.

At some point, the ultimate question must be addressed. Has Florida’s problem been its head coaches or its fans, donors, and social media that have driven them all away with a lack of patience and absurd demands that are not reality-based for 2024 and beyond?

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