Greg McElroy 'concerned' about Florida due to fanbase's lack of patience
Greg McElroy sees Florida improving in Year 2 under Billy Napier, but he’s concerned about the Gators due to what he sees as a lack of patience in the Gator fanbase.
“The team that I’m most concerned about, right now, in the SEC, are the Florida Gators,” McElroy said in a Monday video post. “I think they’re going to be better this upcoming year than they were this past year. The problem is, a lot of their fanbase thinks it’s the Spurrier era, and if they’re not going out winning 10 games and winning every game by 40, then Billy Napier is doing a piss-poor job.”
In the post-Spurrier era, the Florida fanbase has come to expect a drastic improvement in the first 2 seasons. After Ron Zook’s third-year mid-season firing, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen all led notable turnarounds in their first 2 seasons coaching Gators.
McElroy expects Napier’s post-Mullen rebuild to “take a little bit of time.” The college football broadcaster thinks highly of Napier as a process-oriented coach with good relationships for high school recruiting. McElroy warned Gator fans to not expect double-digit wins in Year 2 like they saw under Meyer, Muschamp and Mullen.
“I think you’re looking at another 7- or 8-win season, tops,” McElroy said, addressing Florida fans. “But I bet you you’re going to be better. I really do. I bet you you’re going to be better this upcoming year than you were last year with those wicked and wild inconsistencies that you experienced.”
Concerns in the Swamp?
Year two with Billy Napier will be better than year one, but the Gator faithful must be patient.#AlwaysCFB | #Gators pic.twitter.com/8Q8iiy47hG
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) January 16, 2023
Patience is a virtue
I so much agree.
We haven’t won the SEC in 14 years. We’ve fired 3 coaches in the last 10 years. Is going 6-7 two years in a row while seeing your rival cruise to titles in each of those years fun? No. But some of our fans need to stop acting like we’re one splash hire away from being like the Florida of old. It’s going to take time to rebuild the right way or we will never get out of the rut the program has been in since Urban Meyer left.
I don’t know whether Billy Napier is the hire we need or is another flop hire any better than any other fan does. But if there’s anything we should know it’s that year 1 clearly hasn’t been indicative of long term success as of late. Napier preached patience when he arrived so I will give it to him.
The bottom line is Mac and Mullen don’t recruit as good as Zook did. We are not one quick hire away from being good. We are 2 – 3 more recruiting cycles away. Plus we need to get all the players out of town who don’t want to play. CBN looks to have done that. Gator fans that get mad when we don’t win are living in the past.
Nah man. Portal! NIL! Anybody who can’t go all the way year one just can’t cut it.
/end sarcasm
It’s not just about getting better players. Got to change the culture. That takes time to get the right guys in and the wrong guys out.
Rational explanations like that one don’t belong on the SDS comment board Wadeless. Take it from Lakelife, turning Mullen’s dysfunctional losers into SEC champs could be done in one season by the right coach. And Sunbelt Billy is not the right coach.
Good points here, I agree. I also think that there are more patient Gator fans than it appears, it’s just that the unrealistic ones are louder and sometimes more obnoxious.
Lesson learned is takes many years to build a culture only a couple to destroy one.
Very true USMC.
USMC, obviously you have experience both on teams and building teams….the Corps, like the Army, didn’t just happen – they’re both made up of small units from squad to section to platoon to company. My last assignment was at Corps level, but the CG always started, every time he addressed a group of soldiers, with the word, TEAMATES. That was no accident or buzz word.
The ‘climate’ begins at the top and can change on a dime, but it’s harder to regain than it is to lose it.
He said patience
But he wrote an excuse letter
Isn’t it time for mommy to put you back in your crib with a pacifier for a little nappy-poo?
Yep….the nerve of actually doing 2 things.
Smitty, to the rational person it would have been appreciated as an explanation. To the person encumbered with a disordered personality, it would be seen only as an excuse.
Auburn fans – Hold my beer.
You and Billy etc. may as well pull up a chair until King Kirby is done – which will be a long time. Not hating but that’s the hard truth.
Maybe. Life changes fast.
You bet it does, Wadeless …. often before you even realize it. All props to Kirby Smart and Georgia – what they’ve accomplished is truly remarkable – but if we know anything about college football, it’s that it’s cyclical.
Are you saying the sun don’t always shine on the same Dawgs butt?
Roger that.
The NIL and portal have changed the way college football will be recruited and how high school players will make their decisions. How Napier chooses to emphasize either of these will determine our return to playing for titles. After 2023 we should know his direction and his timetable. I donated more to the collective and purchased more season tickets. I respect CBN in that he’s doing this his way and not giving in to some of the blowhards in the boosters.
I do too, Marsh, but I’d wager whatever is going on in the NIL collective has him waking up screaming every morning.
I found out this morning that Rashada is still carried on the Florida scholarship roster, so I imagine this thing is still under resolution efforts.
Exactly, it’s a new day with NIL and portal – patience nonsense is just an excuse. Napier’s salary is $7.2M – he’s not being paid $7.2M+ for patience especially with NIL and the portal
McElroy was also the clown who told us that McElwain was a great hire
In my opinion, social media fans are not representative of the overall fan base. I don’t know too many fans that express the same concerns and impatience in person but there are squeaky wheels online that make it seem like there is a larger amount of discontent than reality.
But it’s good to know that former Alabama quarterback Greg McIlroy is concerned about our fan base.
Go Gators
If whomever the Gators have in at QB can hit a crossing route for 5 yds. or hit the RB out of the backfield a little better than throwing it into the ground, I’ll say we have accomplished improvement.
I will second that.
Comment was meant for Longtime
Agreed Longtime, all the Gator fans I know realize it’s going to take time, but it seems like the unrealistic (or fake) fans are often louder and more obnoxious.
It’s easy to be loud and obnoxious as long as that is part of your personality. I know. I tried it for a while as a sociological experiment until it started to hurt
“ The problem is, a lot of their fanbase thinks it’s the Spurrier era, and if they’re not going out winning 10 games and winning every game by 40, then Billy Napier is doing a piss-poor job.”
Ummmm excuse me but losing to every single rival and Vanderbilt and getting your britches pulled down and your fanny waxed in a bowl game is a PP Job !
So after this past season and the excuses for it we’re heading into another Excuse Season??
Greg is wrong about the length of time to rebuild this program. You watch the fans stay home after the first few billy ball games and no revenue coming in billy will be gone 3 years from now.
Then just maybe Florida will hire a “No Excuses” coach
I guess mommy decided to send you out to the street to play with razor blades instead of taking a nap.
I’m starting to think that gagator is a fan of a ULL rival that CBN beat, and thus his animosity towards him.
Could be. I’m starting to think that he’s moderately to severely depressed, since the hallmark of a child’s manifestation of that condition is anger.
I agree with LongtimeGator77 that a small number of fans that make a lot of noise do not represent the Gator fan base.
Most Gators were very disappointed in the rapid decline of our teams’ performance under Dan Mullen. But the lack of discipline and commitment during Mullens last season and a half spoke volumes about the toxicity that festered during his tenure. It infected the entire team and Napier had to gut the roster to get rid of the poison. He inherited a very tough situation and most Gators know this.
I may be wrong, but I think he is the right coach to bring us back to relevance. And I also believe he is still evolving as a coach but he has an enormous upside. Better days are ahead but, at the risk of overdoing a redundant theme: it’s going to take patience.
That’s the long and short of it, Gatorkat45. Nailed it in that post.
You’re making too much common sense GatorKat45.
Great points, I agree.
McElroy doesn’t have a clue. The changes in transfer portal and NIL money has changed football period. My patience with Napier and his staff is not about patience. It’s worrisome when you can’t see one player who showed solid development throughout the season. The coaching staff also showed no improvement. It’s more of a lack of confidence. We had the best graded OL in the SEC and within a few days of season ending, we only retained 1. Billy needs to be working extremely hard! Another loss to a Vandy team with a second string QB will not weather well.
There were several improved players in every position, and the defensive coaching improved as the season continued. However, when there are a good amount of players from the previous coaching regime that aren’t willing to put forth the effort it makes it harder to see the individual improvements.
About the O-line, 2 graduated, and 2 starters decided to chase after more money, the others who left were 3rd string. The Gators O-line staff got the 2nd highest graded guard this past season from the transfer portal and 2 other o-linemen with experience on good teams, as well as 3 o-line recruits.
GatorFanAlways, you don’t have to acknowledge facts to these part-time fans. They should know what was in the locker when Billy arrived, and they should know the best players were brought in by Billy. Mullen left the locker room the same way his mentor left the locker room back in 2010, toxic.
Not according to 24/7 comp…5th most talented team in the SEC and 14th in the nation in 2022 with a 43-36 blue chip ratio…
Leghumper, I didn’t know that they included toxicity in those rankings now…
They weren’t considered toxic when they were playing in NY6 games, interesting Yes?
Hey Legs…I will bite.
You are a smart guy and seemingly knows football. Did you see that on the field? Did you see any entitled elements?
Did you see a guy (who I like btw) who threw a shoe start the next week in the SEC title game?
How did that factor in 24/7 rankings?
Leghumper, back then they had the Kyles, some great wide receivers like Toney and Van, Elam, Pierce, and several other players who were not toxic and actually wanted to play for the team. Once they graduated or went to the NFL, with more of Mullen’s recruits, things started going south.
Smitty, What we saw on the field was a very talented team being led astray by a RB pretending to be a QB and an experienced G5 and 1st year SEC coach who tried to appease the fan base by sticking with (entitling) said RB pretending to be QB instead of developing the talent he was left with, then blaming the previous coaching regime and it’s players when his plan didn’t work imho. Hopefully for y’all he will quit with the excuses and turn things around since he has gotten rid of everyone he used as his first year excuse…like I said before, I expect CBN to have built UF into a team as strong as any under Will Muschamp if given 4 years
I hear what you’re saying GFA but I don’t buy that everyone Mullet left was toxic. I do buy that very few of those ex-Mullets bought into what CBN was selling. His constant Selling of how bad the culture was had to play a huge part in their failure to buy in. Would your children buy into your parenting skills if you were constantly heard criticizing what a poor culture they have? Excuses are for losers, that being said , I don’t think CBN iS a loser but I didn Expect him to not take ownership for many of his self inflicted poor decisions
From how I saw it, it was a toxic culture before CBN even got there with too many entitled and lazy players who expected to be handed starting positions due to their star rating. I don’t remember hearing CBN blaming only culture, he definitely took responsibility for bad game time decisions and for not getting the kids ready enough. In my opinion, he took too much responsibility for players’ mistakes and lack of effort, shielding them. Now the media definitely played up the toxic culture card. Either way, with a lot of those players gone, we can see if there’s a difference in culture next season.
That’s a fair assessment GFa..we’ll see how things shake out this upcoming season, everything will be much clearer for sure..
SIGH!
Ed, do you live in Kentucky by any chance?
The only difference between Florida fans and fans at, say, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina is higher expectations because of past program success, superior resources and superior structural advantages.
There is a key aspect about that gets overlooked when the media discuss the alleged “impatience” of Florida fans with Muschamp, McElwain and Mullen: They didn’t get better over time. They got worse. Really worse.
None of those three were fired by the fans. They were fired by athletic directors who recognized uncorrectable flaws in game philosophy and hiring skill (Muschamp), large program management capability (McElwain), and personality (Mullen).
Napier is doing it the right way.
The whole waiting or being patient thing sux. It really does! Especially when you were a part of those big years and how competitve the Gators were. As one comment read, it doesn’t take but 1 year to ruin what you had and that is exactly what happened. It actually became the norm. Now, I like Napier. I like what he stands for and I like his position. I do hope he gives up play calling next year. I think he is great at leading the ship but he doesn’t need to drive. He has to figure out the QB he needs to run whatever offense they are going to run. Right now it looks like we are just gasping for air. Find what fits and roll with it!
Agree. I think Napier’s style fits the CEO role, with whom the buck always stops, but is calling direction from the macro level instead of play by play.
Gatorfan4life….what you should have realized in the Oregon St fiasco is how truly bad the QB room was. Unfortunately, he was forced to do some things that after hindsight became crystal clear, in terms of how AR was used.
GaLake argued more Kitna looks. I can agree with that, but after Kitna’s deal..we saw what we were left with.
So we are Post Vegas fiasco, so i think Mertz was a good find in terms of some stability…and Rashada is all an NIL thing that has zero to do with CBN.
We have to acknowledge these factors when assessing him.
Fair points though as it is not fun, and we all feel that we should be here, but reality also shows that CBN took over a somewhat broken program that finished 6-7.
Kirby is a MAJOR problem to have as he is their “Steve Spurrier”
***shouldn’t be here
Greg obviously thinks the people on Twitter represent GatorNation and the 90k people in The Swamp on Saturdays don’t.
That’s the grand paradox – loyal but impatient!
the 90k people in The Swamp on Saturdays are a very small percentage, don’t you think?
Not really. The 90k every Saturday are real people. The internets are populated with a bunch of fake accounts. Loud and obnoxious dunces with multiple accounts that make it seem they are the majority when in truth they are but a few.
A few loud idiots
So…when you have away games, there are no G8rN8n fans then?
It was estimated that nationwide there are Eleven Million fans of UGa football, I bet you didn’t know that. Dmmm shame y’all only have 90k…
Y h
I think you are confusing CFP semi-final TV viewership with the Georgia fan base.
I counted the Gators fans and there are 19,960,608.
I only counted 9 but that includes gag8rlakelifeisaUFfanwithrealitybasis
Legs….you lost me in this round of shyt talk. AND I have no problem with Galake-is-not-realistic. I have several in my family also saying 2+2=5.
It’s okay to advise them that it’s 4.
Humper bro you are easily confused, don’t know if it’s age or mentally related, in your case probably both.
Ugagatorunderthelake has as much reality basis as Negan.
BTW, part of your problem is that you only have 9 fingers
lol cojones :)
Leghumper, I wouldn’t think you’d be promoting gagator after the things he said about the 2 who died in the car accident. He was inappropriate and callous in his comments.
Once again palley, cute comment but exhibits your difficulty when it come to thinking…don’t know about you but I only have 8 fingers, one of those other two is a thumb as well…