Greg McElroy: Billy Napier's chances at a national championship at Florida are 'incredibly small'

Patience is not something that many of much of down in The Swamp in regards to Billy Napier. That’s why Greg McElroy isn’t confident that he’ll even get the opportunity to accomplish what he potentially could at Florida.

McElroy assessed Napier’s chances of winning a national title, along with several other coaches, in a recent episode of ‘Always College Football’. With your conditions being key to whether he thinks you can win one or not, McElroy doesn’t believe that it’ll happen for Napier in Gainesville. That’s because the Gators have made a habit over the last decade of moving on from coaches quickly, whether justifiable or not.

“I think a big part of this one – like I said, it’s a lot about the place. Can Florida win a national championship? Absolutely. Has Florida displayed any semblance of patience whatsoever when it comes to their coaches over the last 10 years? The answer is absolutely not,” McElroy said. “Since Urban Meyer left, they have been running through coaches, running through coaches. The first sign that a coach is maybe not on the upward trajectory, not immediately competing for championships? Like, they’re looking for something better. It’s almost to the point when they were winning, even with Jim McElwain? They weren’t thrilled because they weren’t scoring enough points. It wasn’t sexy enough.”

“I think the place has become more challenging because the expectations are outrageously high,” said McElroy. “I’m not saying they should settle. Florida should never settle. You are the Florida Gators. But, at this point, are they going to be patient enough with Billy Napier to build the roster the way he needs to build it to contend for a championship? As of right now, I don’t think they’re going to be patient enough. I already see people saying, ‘Oh, Billy is going to be out of there by the end of September.'”

The hot seat is right where Napier appears to find himself heading into this fall. After going 11-14 in his first two seasons, Florida will be expecting better, even against as challenging of a schedule as you’ll see.

Those circumstances only further complicates that question for the Gators in 2024, even if McElroy thinks they can be decent considering all things.

“I think Florida is going to be dangerous this year,” said McElroy. “Now, will they be a factor in the SEC? Probably not. Will they win enough games for him to be retained? I don’t know.”

Not all coaches win national titles or are capable of doing so and there’s no shame in that. Napier may very well just be one of those people.

However, we may never know the verdict of if Napier truly is or isn’t as Florida might hand down the sentence while the jury is still out. That’s why McElroy gives him little to no chance of ever winning one with the Gators, even though he hopes that the two last a little longer together to see if he can.

“I do know this – I know that the likelihood of him winning a national championship is incredibly small at Florida right now because I just don’t think they’re going to give him enough time,” said McElroy. “Not saying they should, not saying they will, not saying what the amount of time is that is appropriate.”

“I’ll put the percentage chance that he’ll win a national championship at Florida at 2% right now,” McElroy said. “I just hope that Florida is patient enough and I hope to be able to revisit this discussion next year after he maybe breaks through and has a surprisingly good season. I really want that for Billy Napier and I really want that for the University of Florida.”