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Billy Napier acknowledges some critiques of Florida Football were perfectly fair

Some of the losses Florida had piled up were not due to talent alone

By Benjamin Henderson

Nov 16, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier high fives Florida Gators punter Jeremy Crawshaw (26) against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier high fives Florida Gators punter Jeremy Crawshaw (26) against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
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We here at Hail Florida Hail have driven a narrative all season long that Florida Football would be better off without Billy Napier. At the core of our criticism has been Florida making game-costing mistakes that had nothing to do with talents. Time and time again in the Billy Napier Era the Gators have been on the doorstep of pulling off a big win, only for some form of coaching malpractice to take hold to prevent the win (see Arkansas, FSU, and Tennessee as recent examples).

So it was refreshing for Napier to finally acknowledge that not every critique lobbed his way was some conspiracy from a fan in a basement and that some of the complaints were completely warranted.

Florida Football: Glass house

Often, during his tenure, when asked tough questions about why things went wrong, Napier would try to deflect. This all culminated back in September when he made his infamous quip about fans living in rural central Florida living in a basement.

We said at the time:

"Napier believes one of their flaws is not being consistent, which is among the things that people on social media have said for three years under his regime (see beating Utah and Tennessee but losing to Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas), but he doesn't think they know what they are talking about, even though he has no excuses as to why the Gators are inconsistent and it's something that needs to be fixed."

Appearing on SEC Network, Napier's tone and mood was just a wee bit different now that his seat is safe for one more season, and he can formally make plans for the 2025 season.

"I would say I would be wrong to say we did not deserve some of that criticism. We failed to control a lot of the things we can control, and we could do better, and that was the frustrating part."

- Billy Napier

If Florida can get a couple of key pickups in the transfer portal, notably at wide receiver, the Gators are going to have a roster talented enough to make the playoffs in 2025.

The question mark for Napier heading into this offseason is whether those things will be fixed for good or if they were just suppressed for two games.

If they are, Napier will enjoy a long tenure in Gainesville.

If they are not, we will be right back in the same spot this time next year.

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