Five red flags Florida Football should have seen before hiring Billy Napier

It feels like just a matter of time before Florida Football pulls the plug on Billy Napier. He is 12-16 as head coach of the Gators and reports are starting to indicate the buyout money has been rounded up to send Napier on his way.

As we wrote about last night, we admittedly were on board with the hire when he was first introduced. He had built Louisiana into a top Group of Five team and had plenty of previous Power Five experience as a coordinator and position coach, including at Alabama.

But we also are not paid millions of dollars to do deep dives into coaching candidates. It's with that in mind that these are five red flags the University of Florida missed when hiring Billy Napier.

He Threw A Game Losing Pick-Two Against App State

Napier is noted for his time as a QB at Furman, where he led the school to the national title game in 2001 before falling short. It was the following season he had a moment that we are suprised hasn't been brought up more during his tenure.

On the road against App State, Napier threw a go-ahead touchdown to put Furman up 15-14 with seven seconds left in the game. For reasons that looked terrible in real time, Furman opted to go for two.

Furman ran what has been a staple in Napier's offense as a coach, a hitch route, except App State read the play, intercepted the pass, and ran it all the way back for two points to win the game 16-15.

The play is dubbed The Miracle on the Mountain, and it has felt like Napier has been trying to prove that it can work ever since.

His Playcalling At Clemson Was Too Conservative

Before Clemson became a national powerhouse in the mid 2010's, Dabo Swinney had to make some key changes to his coaching staff. One of them was giving Napier the axe as offensive coordinator of the Tigers.

Napier was let go by Swinney after two seasons as the offensive coordinator. In 2010, Clemson was 95th in points scored per game. In 2011, Clemson was 22nd.

An article from Bleacher Report in 2011 noted: "His lack of success in 2010 was due to his predictability on offense. The play calling was conservative, and his offenses failed to develop any kind of identity at any point during the season, even when Andre Ellington was healthy. His tendencies were easy to read, as noted in the Boston College game, the players and personnel knew if the play was under center, it was a run; if it was in the shotgun, it was a pass."

Gator fans are nodding along right now, going, "Yep, that's our offensive."

His Wide Receivers At Alabama Barely Got Drafted

Napier was the wide receiver coach at Alabama from 2013 through 2016. Let's take a look at what wide receivers were drafted in the subsequent drafts:

2014 Draft - Kevin Norwood (4th round)

2015 Draft - Amari Cooper (1st round)

2016 Draft - None

2017 Draft - ArDarius Stewart (3rd Round)

Now, one may point to Cooper as a sign Napier is a great coach, but he was already on the roster and had set an Alabama freshman record in 2012 before Napier took over the group. Stewart in the third round is solid, but he was also the 6th member of the Crimson Tide drafted that year.

He Almost Blew It Against App State, Again

Perhaps determined to recreate Miracle on the Mountain, Napier tried his best to blow the game against App State in 2020. Up by five with 1:51 left in the game, Louisiana had the ball on their 35-yard line. It was fourth down, but the long snapper for Louisiana had already sailed three snaps on the night.

So rather than try a pooch punt with their QB, Napier took an intentional safety to pull the score within three. App State wound up getting the ball back on their 45-yard line with 1:33 left, and got in position for a game tying field goal that wound up going wide.

Louisiana won the game 24-21, sparing Napier from being a viral sensation once again.

Louisiana Was Fortunate In 2021

There is a phrase the good teams win, but great teams cover. In other words, if you are favored by double digits by Vegas, you should win by double digits rather than have to sweat out the end results.

During his 2021 campaign with Louisiana, Napier's squad was 5-8 against the spread. Here is just a sampling of games they failed to cover:

• Nicholls: Favored by 26, won by 3
• South Alabama: Favored by 12, won by 2
• Arkansas State: Favored by 18, won by 1
• Georgia State: Favored by 13, won by 4
• Louisiana–Monroe: Favored by 21, won by 5