Pete Thamel addresses 'complications' of Florida football hiring Billy Napier replacement

09/17/2024 05:45 PM

The Florida football team has gotten off to a dreadful 1-2 start this season, and there are a lot of Gators fans that wanted head Billy Napier fired. There’s no doubt about it, Napier is on the hot seat, and he needs to do something to figure things out if he wants to keep his job.

Florida football suffered a disastrous home loss to rival Miami to start the season, and then last week they fell at home to Texas A&M. Florida football fans are about done, but ESPN’s Pete Thamel has a good point when discussing the potential coaching change. It’s going to be complicated for the Gators to fire Billy Napier so early in the season.

“The complications of hiring a coach in 2024 haven’t really been fully articulated,” Pete Thamel said in a video post. “Let’s just say you get a Florida fan wish list, right? You start with Lane Kiffin. Let’s bring Lane Kiffin in. Other names if you’re going big game hunting here. Wish List, fever dream, message board list, right? Kiffin, James Franklin, Eliah Drinkwitz, Matt Campbell, Matt Rhule, Mike Gundy, all those guys right now are in playoff contention. Say you want to put a coach in place, November 15th, right? If you’re going to fire your coach early, you want to get going. Obviously you got to have the portal. And the Signing Day are now early December in that last week of November,  first week of December, early December period, you got to get everything together. I think a lot of casual fans probably don’t know that the college football playoff title game is January 20th. So even say you want Georgia DC Glenn Schuman, right? And that’s the guy you want. And you’re gonna go hire him November 15th. He may not actually come to campus to be your coach for seven weeks.”

Florida football has a lot on their plate

Clearly, if the Florida football team does move on from Billy Napier, it’s not going to be an easy process because of everything that Thamel laid out. Gators fans want this done soon, but it’s easier said than done.

Right now, Napier and Florida are focusing on getting a win against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs just got blown out at home by Toledo, so if the Gators can’t win this one, an early firing could happen.

The Bulldogs and Gators will kick off from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi on noon ET on Saturday. The game will be airing on ESPN, and Florida is currently favored by 5.5 points.

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