What LSU's Brian Kelly Said About Florida Gators Billy Napier Hot Seat Discussion

BATON ROUGE, La.-- LSU head coach Brian Kelly did not mince words when asked about Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier's hot seat.

"Craziness. It's crazy," he said on Monday.

Napier, who fell to 20-20 as Florida's head coach after a shocking loss to USF last Saturday, will travel to LSU on Saturday for his fourth head-to-head matchup with Kelly, who was hired as LSU's head coach ahead of the 2022 season, the same as Napier.

While both entered roughly similar circumstances, Kelly has had quick success with an SEC Championship Game appearance, a Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Jayden Daniels and a 31-11 overall record.

Meanwhile, Napier has had only one winning season in last year's 8-5 finish, which included four-straight wins to end the season and a win over Kelly's Tigers.

"He's a really good football coach," Kelly said. "He knows his team. He knows what their strengths and weaknesses are. You can see it on film. He's building a culture that is fit to his eye in terms of what he wants to do. He's doing it his way, and that's awesome."

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier fell to 20-20 with the program after a loss to USF. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

Kelly, while having faster success, emphasized the need for programs that bring in new coaches to give the new coach time to make changes. He looked back to his hiring when he took over for Ed Orgeron, who won a national championship in 2019.

"(Orgeron) won a national championship, but he did it his way," Kelly said. "It was his way. And that's fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. They wanted to make a change. I do it my way. It takes time to put in your philosophy and the way you like to do things. I do them a lot differently than Ed does, but he still won. They asked for a change; I came. It takes time to make that change. And it's the same with Billy.

"Billy's come in after two or three other head coaches that changed the way the other coaches did it. And now he's starting to stabilize that program. So people talk about whatever they want. It's crazy. It takes you what it takes, and he'll get that thing where he wants it. I think he's got it right now. They beat us last year."

Now less than a calendar year since Napier saved his job with his first win over LSU, which sparked a five-game win streak including this year's season opener against Long Island, he finds himself back on an outside hot seat with national noise surrounding the program.

Billy Napier led the Florida Gators to an upset of Brian Kelly and LSU in 2024. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Not only will he, once again, have to manage the calls for his job, he'll have to do it while facing arguably the toughest stretch of games in the country with No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Miami and No. 7 Texas being the Gators' next three matchups."

“Look, this thing, we have work to do in front of us. We have a lot of football ahead," he said on Monday. "I would expect nothing less, right? It comes with the territory, OK? There’s no scenario where you’re not going to be criticized when you lose like that. We understand that. I think it’s part of it. I think the key is that we take ownership. We don’t make excuses. We’re solution-oriented. We stick together, and we work on our plan to improve and get better in some of those areas. We’re gonna find out. That’s what I would say.”

Kickoff in Death Valley is at 7:30 p.m. ET with television coverage on ABC.

More From Florida Gators on SI