College Football HQ

Florida's 'patience' with Billy Napier will be rewarded: Gators AD

Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin struck a note of optimism when discussing football coach Billy Napier, who enters 2024 on the proverbial hot seat. Or does he?
James Parks|
Florida Gators football coach Billy Napier gets a vote of confidence of a kind from his athletic director.
Florida Gators football coach Billy Napier gets a vote of confidence of a kind from his athletic director. | Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Florida Gators

"Hot seat" isn't an idea that Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin pays any attention to, but that hasn't kept analysts from putting football coach Billy Napier on it entering the 2024 season.

Stricklin remains confident in Napier, noting that the school has been patient with his building the football program, and that he believes that patience will be rewarded on the field.

"Billy is a man of substance. He's a leader of substance," Stricklin told Paul Finebaum.

"He is very methodical, which probably, long term, is going to be really good for Florida and for our football program because he's not gonna cut a corner, he's not gonna take a shortcut.

"He's gonna build a really, really solid foundation. And he's gonna get this thing going to be at the level that all Gators want it to be at, which is competing for championships, playing in meaningful postseason games. Once he gets it to that point, it's gonna stay at that point."

So far, Napier is not at that point. In two years, the Gators are 11-14, yet to complete a season over the .500 mark, and going 6-10 against SEC opposition.

Before landing at Florida, he went 40-12 in four years at Louisiana and worked as a wide receivers coach and analyst under Nick Saban at Alabama.

"I see the steps he's taken, the caliber of young people he's brought in," Stricklin said of Napier.

"He's improved the roster, he's improved the overall structure of the team. I think we have been patient as a university. That patience is gonna be rewarded. I really believe Billy Napier's gonna be the head coach at Florida for a long, long time."

The next stage of that time begins on Saturday in The Swamp against No. 19 Miami.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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