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Posted on 8/31/24 at 5:49 pm to GaryGator
quote:
If anyone still has faith in Napier to fix this, they're delusional. Do what needs to be done immediately
Stricklin couldn’t hire a decent football coach if his life depended on it.
Posted on 8/31/24 at 6:51 pm to bigDgator
The school doesn’t care about football anymore. They care more about being a “public Ivy” more than anything. The next AD will be a shite hire and the next football coach will be a shite hire.
Posted on 8/31/24 at 7:01 pm to olemc999
Disappointed to say the least.
Posted on 8/31/24 at 7:36 pm to UFMatt
quote:
Disappointed to say the least.
We all are Matt. It sucks.
Posted on 8/31/24 at 7:46 pm to olemc999
The "public ivy" stuff is a false dichotomy, not to mention that Florida was considered one prior to my getting there, I think getting ranked as such by Greene's Guides back in 2001. So that's not a new thing.
College rankings in general are a lot of smoke and mirrors and marketing that publications use to sell subscriptions and universities use to market to prospective students. And the criteria are all over the place. For instance, in U.S. News, the number of donors regardless of amount is a huge part of the metric. That's part of the reason UF drives Gator Giving (or whatever we call that drive every year) so hard - some of it is to raise money, but some of it is just to get as many people to contribute anything as possible to game that aspect of the rankings metric some publications use.
Pretty much any flagship university in a relatively wealthy state will provide a solid undergraduate education in general on par with any of the other ones, and it's not like undergraduates see a ton of that high powered research faculty at these universities anyway. Most of that is reserved for the graduate programs, which is why, if you went to one for undergrad, you had so many graduate instructors rather than PhDs for instructors, with the possible exception of PhDs who chose instructional rather than tenure-line positions.
At no point does a school like Texas, Florida, or Georgia ever say, "Well, we could hire this Nobel Laureate for the history department, but that is going to mean we have to pay a coach less or can't afford that facilities upgrade." That's not how any of this works.
And that is why, despite being well regarded public institutions (Texas and Michigan have been considered "Public Ivies" since the 1980s), there are plenty of "Public Ivies" and AAU institutions who have great if not top tier programs. Go look at their acceptance rates, entrance requirements for athletes, and so on. They aren't suffering multiple losing seasons in a row as a result, and Texas and Michigan have had no issues opening up the checkbook either.
So this isn't an either or decision. The issues we are having are the product of the coaches we hire and the AD and UAA's philosophy in regard to those hires, and it seems to me that Florida's parsimony and good ole boy culture in the UAA has been there long before all this #1 ranking and Public Ivy hype started.
When you have Florida's resources, there's no reason you can't have it all unless you have management that can't figure it out. And there are external reasons to figure it out. SEC universities are doing very well in a time where enrollment is starting to decline. Some of that is affordability, but a lot of it is the environment at these schools, to which athletics is a major contributor.
College rankings in general are a lot of smoke and mirrors and marketing that publications use to sell subscriptions and universities use to market to prospective students. And the criteria are all over the place. For instance, in U.S. News, the number of donors regardless of amount is a huge part of the metric. That's part of the reason UF drives Gator Giving (or whatever we call that drive every year) so hard - some of it is to raise money, but some of it is just to get as many people to contribute anything as possible to game that aspect of the rankings metric some publications use.
Pretty much any flagship university in a relatively wealthy state will provide a solid undergraduate education in general on par with any of the other ones, and it's not like undergraduates see a ton of that high powered research faculty at these universities anyway. Most of that is reserved for the graduate programs, which is why, if you went to one for undergrad, you had so many graduate instructors rather than PhDs for instructors, with the possible exception of PhDs who chose instructional rather than tenure-line positions.
At no point does a school like Texas, Florida, or Georgia ever say, "Well, we could hire this Nobel Laureate for the history department, but that is going to mean we have to pay a coach less or can't afford that facilities upgrade." That's not how any of this works.
And that is why, despite being well regarded public institutions (Texas and Michigan have been considered "Public Ivies" since the 1980s), there are plenty of "Public Ivies" and AAU institutions who have great if not top tier programs. Go look at their acceptance rates, entrance requirements for athletes, and so on. They aren't suffering multiple losing seasons in a row as a result, and Texas and Michigan have had no issues opening up the checkbook either.
So this isn't an either or decision. The issues we are having are the product of the coaches we hire and the AD and UAA's philosophy in regard to those hires, and it seems to me that Florida's parsimony and good ole boy culture in the UAA has been there long before all this #1 ranking and Public Ivy hype started.
When you have Florida's resources, there's no reason you can't have it all unless you have management that can't figure it out. And there are external reasons to figure it out. SEC universities are doing very well in a time where enrollment is starting to decline. Some of that is affordability, but a lot of it is the environment at these schools, to which athletics is a major contributor.
This post was edited on 8/31/24 at 7:49 pm
Posted on 9/1/24 at 6:10 am to LuciusSulla
When you hire a nerd like we have for our athletics director, don’t expect him to make any decent coaching hires unless he just gets lucky. He is not a sports guy, more of a polished broadcasting type guy. We may as well have hired Paul Finebaum to run athletics.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:06 am to bigDgator
quote:
We all are Matt. It sucks.
This is just an observation but it is a modern trend in AD's I have been noticing. In the early days the coaches had sway over conferences (like Dodds at Georgia Tech). It seems like in the 80's the trend moved to college presidents having more sway and AD's with advanced degrees (some JD's) that are more focused on money in the short term than long term strategic success. Think if modern presidents or AD's would have hired Pell, Hall, or Spurrier.
TL : DR Modern leaders have less grunt experience.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:35 am to Cheese Grits
quote:True and that's why there's more dysfunction across the board in many areas.
TL : DR Modern leaders have less grunt experience.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:36 am to Cheese Grits
Sadly, this is what I expected. There are no positives to hang your hat on. Napier just can't do the job. 26M buyout. Difficult schedule--this year and next. A administration that doesn't care and a fanbase that is growing apathetic. 8 months of hope snuffed out in a half. Just going to laugh the rest of the season. What else can you do?
This post was edited on 9/1/24 at 10:37 am
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:46 am to LuciusSulla
I have heard some of our real big boosters don't have the football drive the ones had some years back here and that like 8 other teams in the SEC have now since TX and OK have joined. More like Stanford big boosters than GA or Bama ones.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:51 am to Gator Fever
quote:Maybe we should join Stanford in the ACC then. We can't compete in the SEC with this garbage staff and product.
More like Stanford big boosters than GA or Bama ones.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:52 am to Partha
quote:
True and that's why there's more dysfunction across the board in many areas.
If you look at it in the macro view it is what is really at the root of modern America
Big Church
Big Corporation
Big Government
The bigger (and fewer) the competition, the more mired in folks with massive control but no actual skin in the game.
When a college sports program "downsized" a facility it is not done for the "average" fan but to have fewer seats that cost more. Happened in the fall of Rome when the uber powerful wound up with the seats in the Coliseum.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 10:53 am to Jorts R Us
quote:There was no 8 months of hope for me. I knew we were cooked when Napier kept Sale and Co, and refused to hire an OC.
8 months of hope snuffed out in a half.
Posted on 9/1/24 at 12:12 pm to Gator Fever
quote:
I have heard some of our real big boosters don't have the football drive the ones had some years back here and that like 8 other teams in the SEC have now since TX and OK have joined. More like Stanford big boosters than GA or Bama ones.
I don't know any boosters, so I won't speak to that. My experience is that the donor class is a black box for we plebs on which it is very easy to project or worse fears. That could be true, might also just be frustration and looking for someone to blame coupled with a bunch of anonymous folks online always talking about who they know.
No clue on all of that. I'm only saying that framing this as athletics or academics is a false choice. You can have both, and there are universities that do. To the extent we don't have a good team, that is either a decision to not pursue it or an inability to figure out how to pursue it. It isn't because academics made it impossible.
Now Stricklin I do know a bit about, and I'm pretty surprised how much he sucks at this. He had a reputation prior to coming to UF as being a visionary on how to market a program and got a lot of credit for Mississippi State's use of social media to elevate that program's presence. Obviously, that has not been enough for an athletics program the size of Florida's, but that was the buzz around him back around the time he was hired.
After he left State, some of the folks I knew who worked with him also said he was a bit of an a-hole and pointed out that he didn't actually hire Mullen and that most of the people he did hire were massive busts. I didn't know to what degree that was true and to what degree it was nursing a grudge over his leaving.
Guess I know now.
This post was edited on 9/1/24 at 12:17 pm
Posted on 9/1/24 at 1:03 pm to LuciusSulla
I think it's easy to know what is up with the biggest boosters. Look at portal moves and high school recruiting. If you are a known football program that is likely to tell you what is going on there. It looks like we are spending but not quite at the level the top places are (most are in the SEC with OSU and a few others). Most of that NIL is coming from the biggest boosters from what I understand. I am sure we payed a lot for Lagway this year but it wouldn't surprise me if A&M comes after him if their QB doesn't turn it around and we keep struggling.
Posted on 9/2/24 at 6:48 pm to Partha
quote:
There was no 8 months of hope for me.
This. I didnt even watch this shitshow...
Posted on 9/2/24 at 7:09 pm to dbuchanon
Napier has the same problem Mullen had
He won't fire his friends,
Sale and Stapleton have both failed in coaching the O-line and recruiting on the O-line.
This O-line is weak and soft and they quit on plays when they get beat.
Bring in a real OC & 1 real true O-line coach and his one and only duty is coaching the O-line and re recruiting O-line man.
And if the defense doesn't improve then get rid or Robert's and Armstrong.
Look at A&M that defense played with heart and was flying to the ball. Yes they lost but those guys were playing hard on defense scooby Williams looked like a completely different player over there then he looked here last year.
I just want to see a team that plays their butt's off and goes out there and give it there all.
He won't fire his friends,
Sale and Stapleton have both failed in coaching the O-line and recruiting on the O-line.
This O-line is weak and soft and they quit on plays when they get beat.
Bring in a real OC & 1 real true O-line coach and his one and only duty is coaching the O-line and re recruiting O-line man.
And if the defense doesn't improve then get rid or Robert's and Armstrong.
Look at A&M that defense played with heart and was flying to the ball. Yes they lost but those guys were playing hard on defense scooby Williams looked like a completely different player over there then he looked here last year.
I just want to see a team that plays their butt's off and goes out there and give it there all.
This post was edited on 9/2/24 at 8:46 pm
Posted on 9/2/24 at 7:28 pm to AlbinoGator
Well, on the upside, not having to pay for streaming TV opened the door to by a sweet new guitar amplifier.
So thanks for that, Billy, I guess.
So thanks for that, Billy, I guess.
Posted on 9/3/24 at 7:08 am to LuciusSulla
I have a reputation as the biggest Gator homer on this board so what I am about to say is hard. What I saw Saturday was unacceptable. Any chance that Napier survives the season comes down to the next 4 games. Samford must be a blowout, if it is even close, he is done. Texas A&M must be a well-played close game even if it is a loss, or he is done. Miss State, lose and Napier should be fired on the runway when he returns to Gainesville. UCF, lose this game and he should be fired in the locker room post-game.
All I asked for was improvement this season, the team I saw on Saturday was no better than the team that went 5-7 last season, maybe worse. There is no effort or emotion by the team or the coaches. There are no adjustments being made during the game, we just keep on doing the same shite over and over and expecting a different result.
Post game, a coach that is being paid millions of dollars can only say that he was embarrassed and that they would try harder. Then he has the audacity to criticize Gator fans that are expressing their concerns about the team.
I always try to support the team, there are probably only 10-15% of Gator fans like me, when we finally admit that changes have to be made, it is serious and most of the time the end is near. If heads start to roll, the first to hit the chopping block should be the man that hired the failure. He should not be around to hire another one.
All I asked for was improvement this season, the team I saw on Saturday was no better than the team that went 5-7 last season, maybe worse. There is no effort or emotion by the team or the coaches. There are no adjustments being made during the game, we just keep on doing the same shite over and over and expecting a different result.
Post game, a coach that is being paid millions of dollars can only say that he was embarrassed and that they would try harder. Then he has the audacity to criticize Gator fans that are expressing their concerns about the team.
I always try to support the team, there are probably only 10-15% of Gator fans like me, when we finally admit that changes have to be made, it is serious and most of the time the end is near. If heads start to roll, the first to hit the chopping block should be the man that hired the failure. He should not be around to hire another one.
This post was edited on 9/3/24 at 7:19 am
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