To the surprise of no one, former Florida coach Urban Meyer has been named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Meyer won two national titles with the Gators before stepping down. He re-emerged with Ohio State and won another national title. His one-year stint in the NFL didn't go so great, and he has since been content to be an analyst for Fox Sports.
Hindsight is 20-20, but Meyer's arrival at Florida had uncertainty and doubt attached to it as he had never played or coached in the SEC prior to showing up in Gainesville.
His success, though, is a reminder that at the University of Florida, you are always one coach away from greatness.
Florida Football: Urban Legend
The Ron Zook Era has always been one of the more complicated eras in Florida's history. Zook had a string of close losses, with questionable game management contributing to some of the losses. His recruiting was solid, but it was clear by year three he wasn't the guy to get Florida over the hump.
Pulling the plug on Zook wasn't because then AD Jeremy Foley knew Meyer would go on to win two national titles within four seasons. Foley did it because he understood that once a coach has established that he is not the guy to win a national title, you try again. It only takes one coach to change the narrative at a place like Florida.
Over the past decade since Meyer left, that mentality has been the mantra at Florida. Will Muschamp got four years, Jim McElwain got less than three, and Dan Mullen got four years. All three of those coaches had moments of success, but as all three demonstrated in their time since leaving Gainesville, none of them were the guys who could get Florida back to the top.
This brings us to why Billy Napier is on the hot seat even with his four-game winning streak to end the season. Napier has seven losses by at least 17-points during his time with Florida. Zook only had five such losses.
Since 1990, Steve Spurrier and Meyer have been the only coaches to make it past four years in Gainesville. If you think the approach of constantly firing coaches has harmed Florida in the long run, take a glance over at Texas. They, too, went through a stretch of quick hooks since their national title game appearance in 2009. It has paid off with back-to-back national semifinal appearances with Steve Sarkisian.
Alabama went through a similar stretch in the 90s and 2000s before landing on Nick Saban. Ohio State gave Luke Fickell one year before pulling the plug for Meyer.
Maybe Napier is the guy, and he will prove it in 2025.
But if he doesn't prove it, Meyer is a reminder that the Gators just need one hire to go correct to return to the mountaintop.