Florida's Billy Napier could save his job after embracing player-led change

Earlier this month, a handful of players showed up at Billy Napier’s office and told the Florida coach that something needed to change.

The losses were piling up, the coach was heading for unemployment and the players wanted a change.

They told Napier that the defense needed to be simplified if the team had any hope of continued success, according to two people close to the trial who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The defense has been historically poor over the last two seasons under Napier and found itself at that depth again after the first month of this season. Misfits in run defense, a constant loss of gap control, too many combination coverages in the secondary – and all of this led to several failed assignments and blowout plays.

To his credit, Napier bought into what his players were selling.

Now here we are, three games later, and the change was remarkable as we took on bitter rival and No. 2 Georgia at the world’s largest cocktail party on Saturday in Jacksonville. And maybe, just maybe, it was the first big step toward saving Napier’s job.

“When” Napier will be fired has quietly become “if” given the recent wave of better football.

“We have to continue to be very proud of how we compete,” Napier said during his weekly press conference earlier this week. And then, almost as if on cue, he pointed out the change in the last three weeks.

“Spend our time and energy on the things that can actually produce results, and don’t waste time on something that doesn’t produce results.”

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In the three games since players asked to transfer, the defense has given up a combined 56 points to Central Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky (18.6 points per game) and averaged 298 yards per game.

Before the changes, Florida gave up an average of 34 points and 500 yards per game in three Power Four games against Miami, Texas A&M and Mississippi State.

Had Florida (4-3) not had another special teams operational mess against Tennessee that negated a field goal at the end of the first half (that’s coaching, all together), the Gators would have three wins since the move subsequently moved in for defense.

This is the setting for a rivalry game that Florida hasn’t won since 2020, a game that, season after season, has clearly shown how far the Gators have fallen behind Georgia and the rest of college football’s elite.

But there is hope in the field, even if the future is still murky, with a group of deep-pocketed backers wanting to press on and a government preaching patience. At least for this season.

That small October bounce gives Florida hope for more in the final month of the regular season, despite a series of difficult games that could also lead to Napier’s downfall.

How many wins will save his job? A supporter who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic said six wins isn’t enough – but seven is. Because if for no other reason, seven wins means Florida wins three games in a brutal stretch game: No. 2 Georgia against No. 6 Texas, No. 16 LSU and No. 18 Ole Miss against Florida State.

Winning three of the last five games would mean winning at least twice as an underdog (Florida will likely be the underdog in every game except Florida State) and give the program momentum heading into the 2025 offseason.

But getting there will first require preventing Georgia, which has won its last three games by a combined score of 119-47, from falling out again. That’s unacceptable for a program that has everything it takes to make big wins, from a hugely beneficial recruiting presence to financial backing from the best in the game.

Florida backers have already pooled together the money needed to pay for Napier’s $26 million takeover. But Florida Interim President Kent Fuchs, who hired Napier three years ago before he retired, is weighing in, demanding more time to finish the season.

He didn’t return to right the university ship through another presidential search (after former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse retired) just to be the guy to fire Napier. In fact, he has publicly supported Napier, stopping him on the pitch after every home game – win or loss – and giving him words of encouragement.

But all of that may mean nothing if the Gators can’t get seven wins.

“I think the mindset has changed a little bit,” Napier said. “There is a noticeable difference in the effort, the intensity and the execution of the football.”

In a few months’ time, we may see the players’ meeting with Napier as the turning point of a season and a coaching career. Unless, of course, Georgia does what it did to Florida the last three seasons.

Then “if” quickly becomes “when.”

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Florida’s Billy Napier could save his job after embracing player-led change

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