It has been just two weeks into the college football season yet there are a handful of coaches around the country who may not make it to the end of the season.
Mike Gundy's Oklahoma State program is coming off an embarrassing 69-3 loss to No. 6 Oregon, which saw a better fight from Montana State in Week 1. However, while the Cowboys' winningest coach in program history seems to be due to be relieved of his duties, there isn't a coach in college football facing more backlash than Florida's Billy Napier.
The No. 13 Gators hosted a frisky USF Bulls team on Saturday, and ended up losing 18-16 in a game that showed Florida's ineffectiveness on offense with Napier calling plays, the team's overall lack of preparation and a lack of discipline as a Florida defensive lineman spat on a USF player on the final drive of the game to help the Bulls move down the field to set up their game-winning field goal.
While some around the sport are waiting to see if Napier can turn things around, ESPN's Paul Finebaum made it clear on "McElroy and Cubelic."
“He completely blew it,” Finebaum said. "This is the same problems we’ve been seeing from Napier in terms of game management from beginning, and at this point, there’s no reason for optimism. I’m sorry, we went through that last year. It was a roller coaster, terrible at the first, great at the end. And you just can’t keep playing with fans’ emotions. You have to take control of your program. And he clearly has not. So I think the end is near for Billy Napier.”
According to CBS Sports, if Florida were to fire Napier, it'd owe him over $19 million, with $9.7 million of that amount being owed within 30 days of his firing.
Florida still has 10 games left on its schedule for Napier to dig himself out of this hole, just as he did last season. However, it is worth noting that Florida plays five ranked teams in its next six games. Needless to say, the next few weeks may decide his fate in Gainesville.
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