Patience was a virtue for FSU and Missouri. Will it work for Florida football?
As the coaching corpses began piling up this week, Billy Napier was asked what it’s like to run a college football program.
Especially when a program is, to borrow a phrase, “stuck in neutral.”
“You don’t just flip a coin and decide to be the head coach at the Florida Gators,” Napier said. “For me, you go into it with a strategy and a plan. You adapt. You evolve. You adjust.
“We’re in the middle of that process.”
Translation: These things take time, patience and perspective, none of which are commonly found among fans at places like Florida.
For people who think Napier deserves more of those considerations, a couple of names tend to come up — Eli Drinkwitz and Mike Norvell.
Not long ago, fans thought those coaches were more suited for selling insurance. For all his shortcomings, Napier has never lost to Jacksonville State at home. But look where FSU is now.
The Seminoles are 10-0 and envisioning a College Football Playoff run. Missouri is by far the best team in the SEC East (non-Georgia division) and Drinkwitz’s team might make a New Year’s Six bowl.
As fate would have it, the Gators stand in the way of both teams. They close their season against Mizzou and FSU, which probably means two more losses for Napier. But those games will also be an object lesson for fans:
Give Napier time, he’ll do at UF what Drinkwitz is doing at Missouri and Norvell is doing at FSU.
It’s a comforting thought for Florida fans. But it’s based more in wishful thinking than logic.
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Remember Karl Dorrell at Colorado? Probably not, which is the point. He’s just another coach who didn’t pan out.
Remember Jimbo Fisher? Probably so.
The Aggies believed in Fisher’s grand plan enough to give him a $95 million contract. They showed six years of patience. Athletic Director Ross Bjork finally concluded the program was hopelessly stuck in neutral, and Jimbo was put out to pasture Sunday.
There are plenty more cases where people thought or hoped all the coach needed was more time and forbearance. Brett Bielema at Arkansas. Sam Pittman (pending) at Arkansas.
Will Muschamp at Florida. Will Muschamp at South Carolina. Scott Frost at Nebraska. Fans and schools wanted to believe, but all they ended up with was a huge invoice to make the coach go away.
The fact is every coaching situation is unique. For every Norvell, there are two or three Charlie Strongs. Texas could have shown the patience of Job with him, and it wouldn’t have helped. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned here.
Like Napier, Drinkwitz went from a Group of Five school (Appalachian State) to the SEC when he was hired in 2019. His calling card was offense, but the Tigers’ scoring average got worse every season.
He recruited well, but Missouri couldn’t get out of neutral. The Powers That Be still saw something in Drinkwitz. He was 15-17 at Mizzou when they extended his contract midway through last season.
“I really feel like we’ve improved in a lot of ways,” Drinkwitz said, “and the results will come.”
Young recruits matured. An offensive line came together. As much as Drinkwitz liked calling play, he realized there were too many other duties today’s CEO coaches must tend to.
He hired an offensive coordinator, and Kirby Moore has schemed up an offense only Georgia has been able to slow down.
Napier is 11-12 at Florida. A contract extension is out, but the Powers That Be still firmly believe in him.
They see recruits maturing and the culture improving. It would help if Napier hired an offensive coordinator in the offseason, though that won’t guarantee anything.
As Napier said, you have to adapt, evolve and adjust. Florida fans are about to see two coaches who’ve done that.
They just need to remember, just because it happened there doesn’t mean it will happen here.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football coach Billy Napier tries to replicate Mike Norvell
