Paul Finebaum addresses if Florida's win in Week 4 changed anything for Billy Napier's future
Florida picked itself up off the mat and secured a road win at Mississippi State over the weekend, at least temporarily taking some of the heat off embattled coach Billy Napier.
But has the situation overall changed?
“Ultimately, though, I don’t think Florida’s situation has changed at all,” said ESPN personality Paul Finebaum on the Matt Barrie Show on Sunday.
Napier remains under the gun in his third season, now sporting a 13-16 overall record with a 7-11 mark in SEC play. That’s not good enough to cut it long term at Florida, so a major turnaround is needed if Napier hopes to salvage his job.
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For Finebaum, a win over Mississippi State simply didn’t prove much for Billy Napier.
“They’ve lost to the (Arizona State) Sun Devils, they’ve lost to Toledo and now this game,” Finebaum said. “And Texas gets them in a couple weeks. So you know Mississippi State’s really traveling well.”
Point being there wasn’t a whole lot of credit earned for beating the Bulldogs this weekend. Sure, it was a must-have game for the Gators, but it does little to change the overall outlook for the season.
The team still has major question marks defensively, particularly against the run. And there are some tough games coming up, including one against the nation’s top rushing team: UCF.
For those reasons, Finebaum doesn’t think much has changed yet when it come to Billy Napier.
“Yeah, Napier, I don’t think that changed his status at all,” Finebaum said. “There are a lot of reports out there in terms of what’s next. I don’t think anybody wants to fire him yet. I think that’s really — they prefer to fire him later than earlier. So that was a big win. It also just showed you how dysfunctional that Mississippi State program is.”
A handful of insiders have suggested that Florida might have a hard time finding a capable interim on staff, one of the reasons making a change might be more difficult than at first glance. Napier is also the offensive play-caller, further exacerbating that challenge.
You can view the latest on Billy Napier’s status at Florida with our comprehensive Billy Napier blog here.