The ESPN College GameDay crew was breaking down what in the world has gone wrong in Gainesville and the Florida Gators football program.
Is it head coaching? Is it a lack of cohesion? Is it a lack of talent?
The head coach of all head coaches Nick Saban doesn’t think it has anything to do with Billy Napier or even the players. He actually believes that it’s an institutional problem at Florida.
“They should’ve taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there,” Saban said. “What’s their collective been like? How have they adapted to this new model of college football? So it’s not just the coaches. When you’ve been through four coaches that haven’t had success, there’s something else that people should be looking at.”
Florida has fallen behind the likes of Miami, Florida State, and other in-state programs in regard to NIL deals, facility upgrades, and the like.
But this is Florida, right? The Gators should have the best of the best in almost every category. They have three national titles! They have three Heisman winners! Heck, they have eight SEC championships!
However, even Kirk Herbstreit shared his surprise about learning that Florida had only finished a few upgrades to the football facilities just a couple of years ago.
Since Napier took over the program, the Gators have gone 12-16 but Saban doesn’t think the head coach is the issue.
Saban’s biggest gripe with the UF program is the team’s slothfulness about building a top-tier NIL collective, to upgrading their facilities, and to adapting to the newest ways of college football.
Sure, Napier may get the brunt of the blame and may lose his job, but if Florida is taking notes (which they should when Nick Saban is handing out advice), the Gators may look elsewhere to make improvements.
