Don't smile because it's over, cry because the Billy Napier era happened

It's over, Florida Gator fans.

It's finally over.

No more "Scared money don't make money," no more 10 players on the field, no more double-number three penalties, no more "Spot the ball," and no more cuts to the sideline to a coach who never seemed to care the ship was sinking.

After three-and-a-half seasons, the Billy Napier era in Gainesville has finally come to an end after the university announced he was being fired on Sunday afternoon.

Football Scoop was the first to report that Napier was let go by Florida after a 22-23 tenure at UF.

The On3 trio of Pete Nakos, Chris Low and Brett McMurphy would confirm the report of his dismissal.

In times like these, Gator fans hold onto the hope of a better tomorrow, but it's a hope that is needed only because of the tears shed in the past.

Billy Napier fired As Florida's head coach after a 3-4 start to the season

Napier goes down as the only coach Florida has had since 1950 to coach at least 10 games and leave Gainesville with a losing record. The last coach at Florida to coach at least 40 games and not have a winning record was Tom Lieb from 1940 to 1945.

Lieb had the backdrop of World War II to deal with.

Napier had DJ Lagway.

There is a vast array of errors to highlight from the Billy Napier era, each of which was met with excuse after excuse after excuse that Gator fans were gaslit to believe was no big deal. If one dared to question Napier, they were labeled a "bad fan" who was toxic and didn't know ball.

Turns out the "bad fans" were right all along.

Beyond the JV level of playcalling, the Eeyore demeanor on the sidelines, or the simple lack of detail that plagued Florida year-after-year, the Billy Napier Era can be summed up as follows:

A complete misallocation of resources from a coach who was either too stubborn or too clueless to realize the issue.

Florida had two offensive line coaches, only to continue to recruit "diamond in the rough" three-star prospects who all looked like three-star prospects once on the field.

Napier continued to remain the offensive coordinator, even after mounds of data that indicated he wasn't good at it.

Napier had 100-plus staff members, but none who could be in charge of time management at the end of a half, or at the end of games.

When Florida needed a new defensive coordinator in 2023, Napier hired his friend in Austin Armstrong, rather than finding someone proven. When Armstrong didn't pan out, Napier kept him on staff for one more year after he brought in another friend in Ron Roberts.

When Florida needed a new special teams coordinator, Napier kept Chris Couch on staff for one more year.

When Florida needed a new strength coach, Napier kept Mark Hocke on board for one more year.

Throw in promotions that never made sense, such as Russ Calloway having subpar tight ends, but still getting the title of "offensive coordinator," and his staff management was never great.

Talent was there, but it never manifested to anything under Billy Napier

Yet, despite the waste of resources, Napier had assembled a roster coming into 2025 that should have been competitive. Even the most skeptical of Gator fans thought Florida had enough talent to go 7-5 at the worst, with a berth in the playoff as a real possibility.

But then the ball was spotted, and we remembered, "Oh right, this is Billy Napier after all."

Opposing defensive coordinators had a field day scheming against Napier's offenses that seemed to only get worse and worse as time went by.

Against Texas A&M, for example, Napier had a five-star QB, two five-star wide receivers, a future NFL running back, a veteran offensive line led by an All-American center, and he managed three points after the first quarter.

Against Mississippi State, Napier had admitted earlier in the week that Lagway was limited in his running ability. And yet on third-and-7, he dialed up a QB draw.

In many ways, it was emblematic of an offense that thinks it's playing chess, but was playing Monopoly Jr. at best.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

Billy Napier failed at Florida because either he was too naive or too narcissistic to realize he himself wasn't the answer to maximize the talent he really did assemble.

When his GM Jacob LaFrance tweeted out "Sun Belt Billy and the boys..." following the win over Texas, it summed up the attitude of a staff that wanted its flowers the instant anything went correctly.

It was a sign of a squad that never did understand the week-to-week consistency needed to survive in the SEC.

Wanna play a game?

This is going to be an obscure reference, but it also best explains the fallout that is going to remain from the Billy Napier era.

In the movie Saw 3D, one of the main characters is a gentleman by the name of Bobby Dagen. He is essentially a con artist who claimed to have survived a trap set by Jigsaw and made a substantial amount of money from selling a book based on his "experience."

Degen is eventually kidnapped by Jigsaw and forced to play a series of "games," where one by one his colleagues, let's just say, don't have a good time.

Dagen, however, gets to walk away from the experience in one piece.

So what does Saw 3D and Bobby Dagen have to do with Billy Napier?

Well, Gator fans are left with the collateral damage of multiple losses to Tennessee, Kentucky, LSU, FSU, Georgia, and Miami, as well as embarrassing losses to Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and USF.

Billy Napier gets to walk away with a golden parachute of a $20-plus million buyout after three and a half seasons of selling a vision that never existed in the first place.

This is why, even though it was a necessary move, Gator fans aren't smiling because it's over.

Gator fans are crying because the Billy Napier era happened in the first place.