It’s getting late early for Billy Napier in Florida.
After committing a “cardinal sin” in insulting his fanbase, the embattled Florida Gators head coach faces his next challenge — avoiding getting fired by season’s end. After a loss at home to Texas A&M and the boo birds raining from the heavens down in The Swamp, it’s hard to see how Napier survives.
That’s exactly how ESPN’s Paul Finebaum feels, as the veteran college football analyst told Matt Barrie on The Matt Barrie Show that Napier’s time would be over sooner or later.
Barrie expanded on this notion by suggesting a unique approach: if Florida dismisses Napier, they might consider bringing Urban Meyer in as a temporary head coach. He compared this potential move to Bob Stoops’ interim role at Oklahoma after Lincoln Riley’s departure to USC, proposing that Meyer could help stabilize the program for the rest of the season before stepping down.
“Let me throw something completely asinine at you… because you’re right if and when you get rid of Napier because you realized it probably wasn’t the best hire, why don’t you call your old buddy Urban Meyer, who’s doing TV and say, ‘Hey, for this season, we need you to come in and act as an emeritus head coach to stabilize the program, get us through the season, lead the team. Nothing’s expected after the final game of the year against Florida State, and thank you for your service,’ a la, Bob Stoops, what he had to do at Oklahoma when Lincoln Riley bailed,” said Barrie.
Finebaum admitted that Meyer’s departure from Florida had left some bad blood, but he believed the wounds had likely healed enough for a potential return.
Although Meyer had repeatedly said he wasn’t interested in coaching again, the allure of returning to his former school might be too much to resist, especially if Florida was in a desperate situation. If Napier got fired, the Gators might have trouble attracting top-tier coaches like Lane Kiffin, especially if the football program is in such disarray.
“Urban Meyer’s not going to be Florida’s head coach,” Barrie said. “What Urban Meyer could be for Florida is an advisory head coach. Because if you get rid of Napier right now, which they probably will, Paul, the amount of poaching that’s going to go on for (DJ) Lagway and some of the good recruits that Napier (was able to bring in)…you need an alpha; you need a dog in there to get everybody into coalesce and say, ‘Hey..f*ck everyone else that’s out there. Let’s come together and make this thing work.’
“In my mind, there’s only one guy that can do that — and it’s Urban Meyer.”
“It’s a novel theory,” replied Finebaum. “I think somehow he could pull himself away from hanging out with the crew on Saturday morning; I mean, I think he could. And others will suggest if you’re going to go plucking off of Saturday morning television shows…what about Nick Saban?”
Saban and Meyer could be co-head coaches as they do a Bar Rescue-like operation for failing college football programs? We’ll just need to figure out which one will scream at the top of their lungs like Jon Taffer at the Florida support staff.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.