It’s been a tough season for the Florida Gators and head coach Billy Napier, and it sounds like Paul Finebaum thinks he will soon be fired.
During a recent appearance on The Matt Barrie Show, Paul Finebaum made it pretty clear that he thinks Billy Napier could soon be looking for a new job, especially after he failed to lead Florida to victory against the Georgia Bulldogs – a game the Gators actually led into the second half.
“The other side of that game yesterday, I mean, Billy Napier just will not go away, although I think he’s close to now going away, because the numbers game for him is insurmountable,” Finebaum said on the show according to On3. “That was a game he had to win, and obviously he didn’t. He’s got to find a win somewhere, against either Texas, LSU or Ole Miss.”
Finebaum can see a possibility that Napier could still return, but based on what he has “heard,” it sounds like he still expects him to be fired.
“I think it’s easier to make a compelling argument for him, based on what almost happened this year. But spending the weekend with a lot of Florida fans, I’m just gonna give you my impressions from talking to them, they’re ready to move on, and really the only thing that’s keeping them with Billy Napier is D.J. Lagway, and now that Lagway is done, probably for the season, and I don’t know if there’s a guarantee that he comes back,” Finebaum stated. “I know that that’s kind of baked into the cake, but I’m not positive about that. So, I mean, it may be a split decision, which favors Billy Napier, because the only way I would agree with you to fire him is if you have somebody that is rock solid. You can get away with it. I mean, he’s done enough this year to show that he’s capable.
“The problem that he ended up with — we all focused on those ending games, the stretch he’s in right now. FSU exited. We didn’t factor the fact that Texas A&M early on and Miami were on the same level. So, I mean, his schedule has just been — I mean, you can put Clemson out with the same schedule, or somebody else, even in the SEC — Georgia with the same schedule, and they’re going to have problems. It’s that challenging, right now for him. But I mean, it doesn’t matter to me. I mean, I’m not advocating that he gets fired. I’m just simply saying, based on what I heard, he may be out of time.”
We’ll have to see whether or not Finebaum’s prediction comes true.
