Florida football’s Billy Napier a top-50 head coach, per CBS Sports
The Florida football program has been in the doldrums for the better part of the decade stringing together three-straight losing seasons for the first time since the 1940s. Things began to fall apart in Dan Mullen’s final season at the helm and have continued into Billy Napier’s tenure.
The latter has been tasked with the monumental assignment of getting the Gators back to respectability. Between the bar cupboard left behind by the previous staff as well as their inability to capitalize on the immense amount of talent available locally, it has been something of a Sisyphean task for Napier and Co.
CBS Sports writer Tom Fornelli recently published his college football head coach rankings from No. 68 to No. 26 and ranked the Orange and Blue’s skipper at No. 47.
“The head man in Gainesville enters 2024 on a scorching hot seat, but his standing in these rankings didn’t suffer too badly following a 5-7 season,” Fornelli begins.
“The Gators haven’t finished higher than fourth in the SEC East in either of Napier’s two seasons, and he’s only 6-10 overall in conference play. There’s a good chance he won’t get a fourth season without serious improvement this year, but if you look at Florida’s schedule, it’s hard to see from where that improvement will come.”
Previously, Napier was at No. 43 in the 2023 rankings, a fall of four spots from last season’s standings.
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