It doesn’t take much for the tides to turn in football. Last year, Billy Napier led the Florida Gators to a strong finish. At the time, it seemed like he had won over the fans and was on track to be in the head coaching position for a while.
This year, the Gators opened the season with a blowout 55-0 win over the LIU Sharks. The following game was against the South Florida Bulls. And that’s where things took a turn for the worse, which has led to demands for firing Napier.
The Gators lost a close contest 16-18, which was a result of unsportsmanlike conduct by Brendan Bett that gave the Bulls an upper hand toward the end. Despite that, fans want to show Napier the door. Standing by his side is LSU’s Brian Kelly.
“Crazy,” Kelly told reporters on Monday. “Craziness. He’s a really good football coach. 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.” (42:05)
Kelly outlined how Napier has the ability to win National Championships, but he should be allowed the freedom to do things his way. The strategies often take some time to settle within an organization, and once they’re done, the results can be witnessed by everyone.
“Billy’s come in after two or three other head coaches that changed the way the other coaches did it,” Kelly added. “And now he’s starting to stabilize that program. So people talk about whatever they want. It’s crazy.”
One loss shouldn’t be the deciding factor, but for now, the fans have good reasons to put pressure on the program. It’s highly unlikely that the outrage would amount to anything.
Billy Napier Bluntly Addressed Brendan Bett’s Spitting Incident
The loss against the USF that has made the fans outraged and ask for Napier to get fired is a result of what Brendan Bett did in the last game. In the fourth quarter, when the Gators had a 16-15 lead, Bett got into South Florida’s Cole Skinner’s face.
That scuffle ended with him spitting on Skinner’s mask. Bett was ejected for his unsportsmanlike act. But that set the stage for the FSU to stage their comeback, and they did that with a decisive field goal.
“So, there’ll be some internal discipline. Obviously, he was suspended (against South Florida),” Napier told the media on Monday. “And, you know, he’ll have an opportunity today to apologize to the team, and he’s going to apologize publicly. We’re even having him reach out to the young man on the other team.”
Napier stated that Bett’s action wasn’t the true representation of what the Gators and the University stand for. He also revealed that the defensive tackle regrets his action and has acknowledged that what he did was unforgivable.
Read More:
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in football, basketball, and more!
