re: Melt MegaThread

Napier is done, it’s over. I have been one of his biggest supporters, however, the game last Saturday was disgusting. We still have the same issues from years past, bad penalties, odd personnel rotations - starting guys at beginning of drives that aren’t the best players at their position, and our OL is still a major weak spot (because Napier has kept Sale and the dude can’t recruit top end talent).

I think you'd have to have your head buried in the sand to not be in agreement with most of what every Gator is thinking right now.

frick Billy Napier

Here is my take and opinion on what needs to happen. We have 3 games before an open date before the UCF game. If after those games, we still don't believe that Napier is the answer, he should be fired.
Samford - should be a 50+ point victory
Texas A & M - should be a close well-played game, win or lose.
Miss State - should be a win.
If those aren't the results, IMO a change needs to be made.
Next step, after firing Napier UF needs to beg Spurrier to serve as interim
for the rest of the season. Just having him in that role will change everything.
Although he couldn't completely change the offense, he could call the right plays at the right time and tweak it a lot. He would get the most out of the players, coaches and fans for the rest of the season just with him being the HBC. Then at the endo of the season UF could hire a big-time coach to lead this program going forward. A committee needs to make this hire, not Stricklin alone. No more coordinators from other schools or coaches from none power 4 conferences. This has to be a big-time hire, Kiffin level type hire, although I don't believe it will be Kiffin. I like Jedd Fisch as one potential front runner. But having said that, I also believe the Kerwin Bell would be a great candidate. We need a Gator to be the HBC! Someone who knows that there are no basements in central Florida and bleeds orange and blue.
No matter what happens, I will be cheering on the team on Saturday. Nothing will change that fact. Go Gators!

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Kiffin will not take the job if offered. Ole Miss is the perfect fit for him.

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It's definitely going to be a lot harder than people think. His mother and brother live here. His father passed away in Oxford over the summer after being a fixture around the practice building and was honored at the game Saturday by the team. The community really poured out for him too while that was going on over the summer.

I posted somewhere around here that his son is moving to play at Oxford High next fall.

The guy is quite dug in around here and credits Ole Miss and Oxford with helping him quit drinking, getting his head together, and getting back into a shape other than a potato.

He hasn't had a Tuscaloosa tornado experience like Saban had that pretty much locked him into the community, but he's been on some kind of road to Damascus since getting here.

People on Florida football boards are such chauvinists for the State of Florida that I don't think they really think this stuff through. It's all just, "Florida is fricking awesome man! Anyone we want would come here!"

I've lived a lot of places. Florida is one of them. I've never been a multimillionaire anywhere, so I'm pretty sure everywhere I've lived is a lot different when you have that kind of money.

Ole Miss also has, at this time, a far, far better NIL operation than UF has. That's just objective fact. Too many of our fans think of those national championships and that era of football and go no further in considering where Florida is at the moment vs. other traditionally less important programs. There is also a lack of understanding just how much talent there is in Mississippi and how much easier it is for an athlete to get eligible at Ole Miss versus UF. Mississippi is ahead of Florida in number of NFL players per capita. Admittedly, that is a very simplistic way to look at those numbers, but if you can keep the in-state talent, expand to more regional recruiting into LA, TN, AR, and AL, and work the portal well, you can field a good team in Oxford. It's hard but doable with the right coach.

Is Florida overall more ripe for recruiting? Yes, this is a case where raw number matter more than weighing. Could Florida have a better NIL program? Probably. The raw materials are there, but at the moment it does not. The University has likewise so far not shown that it really knows how to put all of the pieces together.

I've also noticed fans are quick to spend other people's money. I'm sure Lane has a price. We all do. It's the old Winston Churchill joke about the lady, the punchline being, "We know what you are. Now we're just haggling over the price."

There is a figure that would get Lane to come to UF. I think my real difference of opinion, living in Oxford, working at Ole Miss, and being more familiar with the situation here, is that I think it is likely higher than a lot of the face painters think it is.

Florida has money, but they don't have Texas A&M money, nor are our boosters the same level of blowhards that Aggie boosters are. I'd guess the low side of getting Kiffin is, all told when considering all the buyouts for coaching staff, Kiffin, and paying for the staff Kiffin will want in Gainesville, $50 million, and could end up closer to $60 or $70.

I guess all of this is to say that there is a path to hiring Kiffin, but iI don't believe it's the layup a lot of folks think it is. He's got good reasons to stay, and buying out Napier and staff means the boosters at UF would have to step up in a way financially that they never really have. I think A&M is the only school that has gone this far to dump a coach. Our folks probably could, but I think it's reasonable to ask if they would.

My guess is Kiffin is going to want a jimbo / Kelly type contract 10 years 120 mil guaranteed!!!!!

Not sure if UF will be willing to do that type of deal!!! Not with Stricklin as AD anyway

I think Kiffin would need another GA beatdown to even consider coming here now. If he is competitive with them or in the playoff he likely stays imo.

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. I like Jedd Fisch as one potential front runner. But having said that, I also believe the Kerwin Bell would be a great candidate.

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If neither of those guys went to nor played for UF, would you consider them given their resume and background?

Nope well maybe Kerwin