Steve Spurrier says Billy Napier has done a pretty good job at Florida
There are very few people who know how to win at Florida better than Steve Spurrier. For current head coach Billy Napier, the standards are high in large part because of the success Spurrier had in his own time there.
While making an appearance on Inside the Gators, gave Napier a vote of approval for the direction he has the program moving.
“I think he’s done a pretty good job,” Steve Spurrier said. “Obviously, 6-7 is not what we’re looking for. You know, if we’re heading in the right direction and recruiting seemed to be going very well, hopefully, if all the players that are committed sign.”
According to the On3 Industry Rankings, Billy Napier has put together the third-ranked class overall to this point in the 2024 cycle. That includes two five-star recruits and 14 four-star recruits. This comes after recruiting at Florida under Dan Mullen was widely criticized.
“Obviously, that’s a sign of where your football program is, is the recruiting staying at a high level, and so forth.”
A lot of attention has been put on the quarterback situation in Gainesville. However, Steve Spurrier did emphasize that he feels the team is larger than one position, pointing toward the defense that he thinks needs to improve.
“So, we’ll see. I think he’s got better coaches this year. Sometimes, as fans, we always look at who’s the quarterback. Hey, we had a quarterback who was the fourth pick in the first round of the NFL. So, we had a top notch quarterback last year and still had a losing record. So, there’s more to a football team than the quarterback, and hopefully this year our new defensive coordinator, Austin Armstrong, will get these guys playing with more accountability. Know your assignment and play full speed.”
Steve Spurrier on recent disruptions in the Florida program
One thing that Steve Spurrier has noticed in recent years is that the Florida program has gone through several disruptions as otherwise successful head coaches have been fired quickly once they’ve run into struggles at Florida.
“Yeah, I guess that did happen pretty quickly,” Steve Spurrier said of the end of the Dan Mullen era. “Then, of course, before him, Coach [Jim] McElwain won the division two out of three years, and then the fourth year I guess some things happened and he was gone before the season was over.”
For Spurrier, it’s hard to find a reason for those changes other than the people in charge wanted to make a change.
“So, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s causing all the disruptions because their record on some of these guys is not all that bad, really. You have up and down years a bit. But it seems like the management or the athletic director or the president, whoever’s in charge, thinks it’s time for a change,” Spurrier said.
“So, that’s what’s happened every four years now, since Urban Meyer left. He was here only six. I guess I did 12, longest of anybody. Went by like that, but if you last over five, six years as a coach in the SEC, you’ve done pretty well.”