Swampcast discusses Florida football SEC opening dud vs TAMU
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and David Whitley wrap up Florida football’s 33-20 loss to TAMU at The Swamp
The seat continues to be warm for Billy Napier in Gainesville as Florida football prepares for its Week 4 road game against Mississippi State at 1-2 on the season.
On top of “boos” being heard inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the underwhelming start for the Gators has led to the creation of a “top potential candidates” list by fans. It’s a list that includes former Florida coach Urban Meyer among others.
However, the former Gators coach is not interested in a return to Gainesville, should the position open.
REQUIRED READING: Steve Spurrier: Florida football should ‘show a little patience’ with Billy Napier
“That ship has sailed,” Meyer said on his “The Triple Option” podcast Wednesday alongside Rob Stone and Mark Ingram.
“I want that program to do well, so bad. I know so many people there and we gave a big part of our life to that program. But that ship has sailed.”
REQUIRED READING: Why Florida football coach Billy Napier has struggled to build a consistent offensive line
Meyer, who currently serves as an analyst of Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” crew, also spoke about the current state of the Florida program, something he said he spoke to former Florida coach Steve Spurrier about last night.
Florida has lost seven of its last eight games under Napier, including last weekend’s SEC opener vs. a Texas A&M squad that was without its starting quarterback in Conner Weigman. The Gators’ defense, which is ranked 94th in scoring defense through three games, gave up 488 total yards of offense last week to the Aggies.
“I said something, ‘Were you at the game?’ and he said he left to beat the traffic. But he said it was bad. Momentum is such a fragile thing because people want to win and win now and would do anything. You see these buyouts. … where they just keep firing people because you start to lose momentum. You lose momentum, you lose recruiting then fans and NIL.
“I’m getting a bit stressed out just thinking about what is happening there because the momentum is gone. It’s been gone for a while there and that’s hard to imagine.”
As previously reported by USA TODAY, Florida would be on hold for 85% of Napier’s remaining salary from his seven-year/$51.8 million contract should he be fired without cause. That buyout number was roughly $28 million earlier this week, as reported by The Gainesville Sun.
Meyer has been out of coaching since 2022 when he was fired from the Jacksonville Jaguars after the 2021 NFL season. The 60-year-old coach won two national championships during his six-year stint with Florida. He’s just one of two coaches to lead the Gators to a national championship win, the other being Spurrier.
Urban Meyer Florida recordOverall record: 65-15Bowl record: 5-1
Meyer finished with a 65-15 overall in his six years at Florida. The Gators were 5-1 in bowl games under Meyer, notably highlighted by the two BCS Championships that Florida won.
Here’s a year-by-year breakdown of how the Gators fared under Meyer:
2005: 9-32006: 13-12007: 9-42008: 13-12009: 13-12010: 8-5
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Publish date : 2024-09-18 09:53:00
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