‘Don’t See How He Can Survive’ – Billy Napier Receives Gators Role Ultimatum From Paul Finebaum

The Florida Gators are swimming in shallow waters, as the king of all critics, Paul Finebaum, lays out a hopeless path for the team. As of now, the Gators have lost one of their two games already, which isn’t a great sign for the same team that’s up against the Texas A&M Aggies in their next.

Billy Napier has been walking on wafer-thin ice ever since this season began and if he loses any more games, the HC could be out of a job. So far, his records have been just 6-7 and 5-7. His current record of 12-15 is the worst win percentage by a Florida coach since Raymond Wolf who coached the team last in 1949. Even the fans aren’t expecting Napier to return for the next season and thus, Finebaum let loose his flaming arrows for the HC and if he can redeem himself this season.

On the 11th September episode of ‘Always College Football with Greg McElroy, the famed Paul Finebaum came on to the show to talk about all the big games coming up. They spent some time chatting about the Texas vs. Florida game and what it would mean for Florida’s coach, Billy Napier if he could pull off a win against Texas.

Finebaum was questioned whether Florida’s “must-win” situation would help Napier’s situation and the ESPN analyst had a clear-cut answer. He said, “I think must-win is really an understatement. Should Billy Napier fail to win this game and Florida lose again, I don’t see how he can survive. All the goodwill Billy Napier found in the off season and he found a lot, went out the window. There’s virtually no confidence in this program without a win and by the way, that win over Texas A&M doesn’t really guarantee anything except it just stops the hemorrhaging and that’s exactly what it is.”

Well, Finebaum and the rest of the college football community seem to believe that this is a do-or-die situation for Napier. But if Napier were to be released this season, the Gators would owe him a massive payout, which doesn’t seem rational for the organization.

Could Billy Napier stay for one more season?

After the loss at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes in their season opener, it marked Billy Napier’s 7th consecutive loss following through from the 2023 season. In fact, his 17-41 loss to Miami was so bad, it made him the first Gators head coach since 1989 to lose a home opener. It’s quite evident that the coach hasn’t been performing well with the team and it looks like the Gators releasing Napier seems to be the best option for the further development of the program. And yet, cutting Napier off would require a really expensive knife, one that costs almost a whopping $26.7 million.

The total amount for Napier’s buyout for the 2024 season would come out to be a total of $26.7 million since his contract is worth over $51.8 million for 7 years with the program. Plus, the Gators have had no president since Ben Sasse resigned this year, and thus, spending $26 million along with an empty presidential chair would mean chaos for the organization. As such, to reduce the cost of the buyout or to take some time to bring in a new president, the Gators could very well see Napier return for the 2025 season as well.