It is no secret that we here at Hail Florida Hail didn't have the nicest of things to say about Billy Napier and his efforts as the head coach of the Florida Gators last year. If we are being honest, we still have our doubts, but at least Florida's four-game winning streak to close out 2024 has given a glimmer of hope the Gators can be a playoff team in 2025.
At the center of the Napier firestorm last year was Florida AD Scott Stricklin, who stood by Napier as the losses mounted, and in an interview with Paul Finebaum, he explained why.
Florida Gators AD Scott Sticklin addressed the critics
Appearing at the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Stricklin was interviewed by Finebaum and was asked why he gave Napier a midseason vote of confidence. Keep in mind Florida had just lost to Georgia to fall to 4-4 on the season, and the week after Stricklin gave the vote of confidence, the Gators were blasted by Texas.
But Stricklin claims he always had confidence things would turn around:
"It was a challenging football season, and it was incredibly rewarding the way they finished. I give Billy Napier a lot of credit. You know, Billy, he's as solid an individual as you will find in this profession. Character-wise, toughness, his ability to relate with people on a very personable level, but be humble and kind of be true to who he is. His faith is very important to him.
He called on every single one of those traits and qualities going through the first half of that football season last year, and I think the way the team played toward the end is a reflection of his stability, his determination, his toughness, his just overall leadership. So I'm really proud of him for kind of weathering that storm, if you will."
No choice but to keep Napier
Back on November 10, after the blowout loss to Texas, we wrote a piece called "Florida Football fans are being gaslit to think this is normal." As we noted at the time, the reality is that Stricklin had no choice but to keep Napier:
"One of the justifications for keeping into the 2025 campaign is that Florida intends to spend the money that would have been used on a buyout and will instead get used on the transfer portal once schools can directly pay players rather than relying on a NIL collective.
It sounds great until one realizes that every other school in the country that isn't spending buyout money will also be able to match whatever the Gators want to spend.
It also hints that the sole reason Napier isn't getting fired is because of his buyout. Stricklin can try to sell a narrative of how the Gators are playing hard and the team hasn't quit, but the truth is he negotiated a contract with no safeguards to it if things went south."
Hey, wouldn't you know that Florida basically did next to nothing in the transfer portal?
Stricklin did highlight to Finebaum this roster and how it is a strong one, and we would mostly agree with that, though there are some notable gaps (defensive tackle depth chief among them).
But in typical Stricklin fashion, he had to insert one little nugget that was worthy of a "Huh?"
"You and I both know when we kick off the season on August 30, there's going to be another firestorm. We're going to have to weather it."
Why would there be another firestorm you have to weather? The entire point of bringing Napier back was that he is supposed to have everything in place to turn the ship around so there would be no firestorm in 2025.
If he goes 10-2 and makes the playoffs, there is no firestorm.
If he goes 9-3 and misses the playoffs, we won't be happy here at Hail Florida Hail, but the fanbase as a whole isn't going to create a firestorm.
If he goes 8-4 or worse in year four as head coach of the Florida Gators, there is nothing to weather.
You fire Napier, and you move on.
We will find out, indeed, starting August 30, whether Stricklin's instincts were right to keep Napier.