Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier immediately entered hot seat rumors after an ugly Week 1 loss to Miami (FL) in Gainesville. Then, Florida defeated Samford and lost to Texas A&M, also in Gainesville. As such, hot seat rumblings were at an all-time high for the Gators head coach. Going into Week 8, Florida is 3-3 with a pair of victories in the last three games and a close 23-17 loss on the road against Tennessee. Whether Napier is doing enough to save his job remains to be seen, but Florida has yet to decide on the head coach.
On Wednesday, Napier was asked again about the buzz surrounding his job security, and he had a firm response, per John Brice of Football Scoop. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t have any control over that,” Napier said. “So, I think one of the most important things that we can do when put in these positions and having these great opportunities is focus on doing the best job you can do for your players and your staff.” Napier has gone just 14-17 since coming to Florida, so there are a lot of questions about his immediate future with the program.
In Week 8, Florida faces Kentucky at home before a Week 9 bye. However, the other side of the bye week is brutal. Florida faces Georgia and Texas on the road followed by home games against LSU and Ole Miss before ending the year in Tallahassee against Florida State. In total, that is four top-25 teams and three top-10 teams Florida will face over the next month. As far as Week 8 goes, Napier is “excited” about the game despite losing to Kentucky in each of the past two seasons.
“I’m excited about our opportunity that we’ve got Saturday night,” Napier said. The Gators officially turned to freshman quarterback DJ Lagway after veteran Graham Mertz suffered a torn ACL, which is another adjustment the program is trying to deal with. All in all, Napier’s name will be worth monitoring over the next few weeks.
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