Paul Finebaum slams Scott Stricklin, not ready to kick dirt on 'Lane Kiffin to Florida' grave

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a release Thursday that Billy Napier would return as the head football coach next season. That seemed to put an end to the rumors that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin might be a candidate to replace him after what’s trending toward another disappointing season.

However, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum believes Stricklin’s job could be in question with the recent allegations against men’s basketball coach Todd Golden. Golden is accused of stalking and sexual harassment against multiple women but the school released a statement saying he remains the head coach.

With that being the case, he isn’t ready to completely close the door on Kiffin to Gainesville.

“It was one of the strangest releases I’ve ever seen,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “What was even stranger than the release was the coalescing around it by pundits and commentators on our network and others. It was like, ‘What a great decision. How brilliant.’ Give Scott Stricklin credit for awarding a guy who comes close. He was only down by, what, 42 points yesterday and they were able to cut it to 32 or whatever the final score was? All to keep DJ Lagway. Are you telling me that DJ Lagway wouldn’t have played for Lane Kiffin at Florida?

“So I think it’s over. I don’t know because within 24 hours of that announcement another scandal broke down. It’s some pretty nasty allegations against the basketball coach, who’s also hired by Scott Stricklin. There’s a drumbeat right now for his head. I just can’t tell you what’s going to happen in leadership at UF because they have an interim president. But there was a lot in that statement about Billy Napier that left to be desired. It was not very explicit. It looked like it was rushed out. Then, of course, what does Billy Napier do? He lays another egg again. They really had no chance with a walk-on quarterback, but it’s still an ugly loss and this season has spiraled out of control.”

Florida suffered a 49-17 blowout loss against Texas this past weekend with Aidan Warner getting the start at quarterback in place of an injured Lagway. Napier failed to direct the Gators to a winning record in his first two seasons and is off to a 4-5 start in his third with three games left.

LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State remain on the schedule as Florida needs to win two out of those three to become bowl eligible. However, Finebaum believes there’s more pressure on Stricklin right now.

He has been the athletic director since 2016, but has already made two hires at football coach and the first one didn’t work out as he later fired Dan Mullen in 2021.

“The biggest misnomer in the story, or at least I heard from a pundit, is the fact that this is going to ignite recruiting,” Finebaum said. “It’s not going to change recruiting. How many high school recruits are gonna say, ‘I gotta go play for Florida now for Billy Napier’ when he clearly starts next season on the hot seat just like he started this season on the hot seat? If it turns out that he has a good season next year and they were right, it’d be a story much like the one with Mark Stoops (at Kentucky) eight or nine years ago when he had a couple of 10 win seasons.

“But the questions are really now more directed toward the athletic director at Florida than the head football coach. Will he survive?”

Obviously the ongoing investigation as to what happened with Golden remains the most pressing issue at the moment. The Florida basketball coach has since denied the allegations, calling them “defamation claims.”

Golden is entering his third season at the helm in Gainesville. He has directed the Gators to a 42-29 overall record in that span, including an NCAA Tournament appearance this past season.

Still, Finebaum believes there was a connection between the timing of the announcement from Scott Stricklin about Napier coming right before the news on Golden broke.

“The first allegation against Todd Golden was filed in late September,” he said. “Golden came out and denied it and said his has an attorney and all that and good for him. The point being, I firmly believe that that announcement was put out to get ahead of the basketball story.

“I believe I had the last interview with Scott Stricklin on the first Friday of the football season when he sat there with me in Gainesville and said, ‘We’re in it for the long haul with Billy Napier.’ He hasn’t said a word since then.”