@Escambia94,
@Leakfan12, and ALL GATORS:
WELL, it's all a moot point for the moment now (that is sort of a general "AMERICAN THEME" at the moment, wouldn't y'all say?):
BILLY NAPIER WILL BE BACK FOR A 4TH SEASON.
Scott Strickland JUST announced it about an hour ago. For the exact wording and details I commend you to just about ANY Gator-centric OR SEC-focused site.
I have little more to say about it right this moment--that is why my noting the announcement is HERE, rather than in a posted thread of its OWN...It probably deserves one, but aside from the fact of the announcement itself I have little to add yet.
Fans won't be happy, but we don't know the background "contributing factors". Is there someone we wanted that we had learned we cannot get (at least "not YET"--for example, what if they learned that Lane Kiffen won't be moving after this season, no matter how the Rebels' season ultimately turns out?).
What about recruiting? Maybe now we keep more of the very real "young talent" (many currently out with injuries) that we already have, and this DOES allow Billy and his coaches to talk more authoritatively about "the future" when out there talking to prospective recruits. Perhaps they can raise the quality of the 2025 class after all.
It's admittedly a stretch, ALL of it. I cannot deny that. But what else can we do but HOPE from here? The die is cast, at least for the immediate future. It's not as if the alternatives weren't filled with at LEAST as many questions and dangers.
OK. Good or bad, right or wrong, a choice is made and we go from here. Questions WILL be answered. This much is clear:
We WIN, or the change WILL be made by the end of 2025. How MANY "wins"? Well, THAT will be the potential "sticking point"--in my view, we need a clear WINNING record, and look good DOING it!
But first things first: How do we finish THIS season? Does this battered team continue to play hard from here, regardless--especially in hearing that its Coach ISN'T going anywhere? DOES recruiting pick up, however chaotically last-moment the nature of it's scrambling execution?
I have been told by someone long close to the team and program that there ARE a number of "leans our way" who were concerned that this staff was on its way out...between these, AND a renewed lease on those same coaches' positive outlook and enthusiasm regarding their ongoing efforts, maybe we can at least "fill some holes", gather a little more depth after all in the relatively little time left to them in THIS cycle.
I'm admittedly TRYING to put the best focus possible on what is for us here at FLORIDA a somewhat unusual situation: We have come to be seen as no longer "predator" but rather "prey"!
The young up'n'coming athletes of today only have parents, older siblings and the CFB media to recall for them our once-vaunted position of perennial contenders.
We damn well better begin redrawing that image and reputation SOON, lest we be more permanently consigned to the lower reaches of SEC also-rans!