Ex-UF coach Ron Zook: Gators must “have patience” with Billy Napier | Commentary

Running off at the typewriter …

University of Florida president Ben Sasse and athletic director Scott Stricklin aren’t asking my opinion, but if they did, I would tell them to ignore the noise in the system and give Billy Napier two more years to turn the Gators football program into an SEC contender.

And I believe they will for one obvious reason: When Napier was hired, Stricklin gave him a 7-year contract instead of the standard 5-year deal most new head coaches get. Why? Because Stricklin knew Napier was taking over a mess and wanted to give him ample time to build the program the right way. You don’t hire a coach and give him a 7-year contract and then cut him loose after two or three seasons.

“I think we anticipated this [rebuilding] being a challenge,” Napier said after Saturday’s season-ending loss to Florida State. “I think that we felt like it was going to be a challenge going in, and then when we got here, we realized we were in for a battle. We’re in the middle of the process of rebuilding the roster. We’re in the process of learning how to make it work at the University of Florida. We were brought here for a reason.”

The bad news: The Gators lost five straight games to close the season to finish with a 5-7 record, and Napier became the first UF coach since 1946-47 to start his tenure with back-to-back losing seasons.

The good news: The Gators are one of the nation’s youngest teams, played more true freshmen than just about any team in the country and led in the second half of their final three games against nationally ranked opponents LSU, Missouri and FSU.

Napier already has begun the process of overhauling his staff by firing two defensive assistants and is said to be considering giving up play-calling duties and hiring an offensive coordinator so he can focus on cleaning up some of UF’s in-game operational blunders — particularly on special teams.

None other than former UF coach Ron Zook, who was fired after only 2½ seasons (but not before recruiting 21 of the 22 starters on successor Urban Meyer’s first national championship team in Gainesville), had a message for Gator Nation when I talked to him on Wednesday.

“If you want the program built the right way, you’ve got to give the guy [Napier] some time,” Zook said. “I know Gator fans don’t want to hear it, but you’ve got to have some patience.”

The bottom line is this: Unless the Gators finish with, say, an abysmal 3-9 record and the bottom completely falls out of the program in Napier’s third year next season, I believe Stricklin will give him four full years.

Stricklin, although he hasn’t spoken publicly in recent weeks about the progress of the program under Napier, hinted during the summer that he expected this would be a trying season.

“I don’t see any way that Billy won’t be successful,” Stricklin said then. “It just may take a little longer than some people want it to take.” …

Short stuff: Did you see where Sports Illustrated, which gave us such sports writing legends such as Dan Jenkins, Rick Reilly, Frank DeFord and Gary Smith, just got busted for clandestinely using artificial intelligence to write some of its articles? Sadly, as elite rock ‘n’ roll deejay Taco Bob of WJRR told me earlier this week, “SI has become AI.” Isn’t it only a matter time now before robots are running the world? … There’s a narrative out there that the SEC might get two teams in the College Football Playoff if No. 8 Alabama upsets No. 1-ranked Georgia on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game. That’s nonsense! If the Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs, I think the SEC will get NO teams in the playoff for the first time in history. If all else goes according to plan, you have to figure Michigan and FSU would be in if they stay unbeaten and win their conference-title games. The Pac-12 champion — either No. 3 Washington or No. 5 Oregon — would be in. And if No. 7 Texas beats Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game, wouldn’t they move into the No. 4 spot? Seriously, how could you jump one-loss Alabama over one-loss Texas when the Longhorns beat the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa earlier this season? … By the way, if Oklahoma State happens to beat Texas for the Big 12 title, some entrepreneurial UCF fan ought to have some bumper stickers made: “UCF 45, Big 12 Champs 3.” …

Mikey likes: FSU over Louisville by 6, Alabama over Georgia by 2 in Upset Special, Texas over Oklahoma State by 10, Oregon over Washington by 12, Michigan over Iowa by 30, Dolphins over Commanders by 14, Bucs over Panthers by 7, Jaguars over Bengals by 12, Dolly Parton over the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders by 50 years and 100 Botox injections. … All the Chicago Bulls had to do was stay within 21 points of the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night and the Magic would have won the tiebreaker and advanced in the NBA In-Season Tournament. Instead, the Bulls lost by 27. Moral of the story: Billy Donovan screwed Orlando again. … And speaking of the in-season tournament, I love that the Celtics had all of their starters in the game and were playing hard in the fourth quarter because they knew they needed to blow out the Bulls to advance. They were even fouling Bulls center Andre Drummond, a terrible free-throw shooter, when they were up by 32 points in the fourth quarter. Afterward, the narrative was that the Celtics were disrespecting the game by blowing out the Bulls. Baloney. You know what’s disrespecting the game — Drummond’s stroke from the free throw line! …

Can you believe Bobby Petrino is returning to Arkansas as the offensive coordinator? Just for kicks, I think he should ride into Fayetteville on his motorcycle with a blonde on the back. Memo to the Razorbacks: Have you no shame? … My top three charitable organizations this holiday season: (3) Salvation Army. (2) Toys for Tots. (1) Auburn’s 4th-and-31 defense. … Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes lost eight of their last nine games and finished the season 1-8 in the Pac-12. Just goes to show that, despite all of his charisma and braggadocio, Deion is just another college football coach trying to rebuild a moribund program. Just like everybody else, Coach Prime needs time. …

Wow, did you see where Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, when asked recently to explain why police stopped him for DUI in 2014, replied quite seriously: “I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire.” Sound the alarm! It’s time to defund the police because of the inequitable treatment or rich white billionaires! Move over, NAACP, and make room for the NAAPB — National Association for the Advancement of Persecuted Billionaires. … So Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher and paid him $77 million in buyout money so they could hire — wait for it! — Duke coach Mike Elko, whose team lost four of its last six games and finished 7-5? With all due respect, that’s like going car shopping and spending $250,000 on a beige Toyota Camry. …

Last word: “Don’t run too fast through life. You only have one.” — Bo Jackson, who turns 61 on Thursday