Sports

Florida Gator Fans Are Unhappy With Decision To Retain Billy Napier

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Heading into the 2024 season, it was close to consensus that Florida Gators Head Coach Billy Napier was a dead man walking. He had been at the helm of two mediocre seasons in Gainesville, and was facing one of the toughest schedules in recent memory this season.

But, The Florida Gators have hung in there this year. They’re 4-4 against that brutal schedule and that means that they’ve played pretty well, all things considered.

Wednesday, Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin released a statement saying that Billy Napier will be retained as the team’s head football coach.

One of the big reasons why Billy Napier is being retained is due to the encouraging play of freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. Lagway, a five-star recruit out of Texas, has been impressive this year. While he still has a ways to go developmentally, Lagway has shown flashes of brilliance. And, his team has made it clear that he wants to be coached by Billy Napier.

Florida finishes the year with three ranked teams in Texas, Ole Miss, and LSU before playing struggling rival Florida State. So, if they’re going to keep Billy Napier, now was the time to announce the move. It’s possible the team could play well and lose its next three games, and fan support would’ve eroded even more than it has.

Still, Florida fans are not happy about the move to retain Billy Napier. Yes, he didn’t inherit the best situation, and the schedule this year was brutal. But, he’s under .500 at 15-18 with the Gators in three seasons. That’s usually not good enough in Gainesville. A lot of Florida fans are upset.

Garrett Carr BroBible avatar
Garrett Carr is an editor at BroBible with an expertise in NFL and other major professional sports. He is a graduate of Penn State University and resides in Pennsylvania. Garrett is a diehard Penn State, New York Mets, and New York Knicks fan.