LSU has 3 recruits in the top 10 already committed.
Kelly has won more and recruited better than Napier.
Kelly has won more and recruited better than Napier.
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I wish we could have got Kelly
- Thread starter 1BigG8RinDade
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I know I should ignore this post, but ....
LSU fans can celebrate commits in February, but there is a long time to go until the first signing period.
If I recall, Dylan Raiola was rated very high last year, and committed to Georgia for the longest time.
He signed with Nebraska.
Yes Kelly has won more, I'll give you that, but he was hired by a program that had competitive (with other SEC schools) facilities, and a recent "national championship".
The program was in much better shape, so attracting recruits and winning should have been expected.
Napier inherited a broken program (since Urban Meyer) and a complete lack of facilities.
It's also debatable who has recruited better.
Based on On3 average ratings of all recruits that signed, in 2023, UF - 91.34, LSU - 91.20 ... for 2024, UF - 91.39, LSU - 90.63.
LSU fans can celebrate commits in February, but there is a long time to go until the first signing period.
If I recall, Dylan Raiola was rated very high last year, and committed to Georgia for the longest time.
He signed with Nebraska.
Yes Kelly has won more, I'll give you that, but he was hired by a program that had competitive (with other SEC schools) facilities, and a recent "national championship".
The program was in much better shape, so attracting recruits and winning should have been expected.
Napier inherited a broken program (since Urban Meyer) and a complete lack of facilities.
It's also debatable who has recruited better.
Based on On3 average ratings of all recruits that signed, in 2023, UF - 91.34, LSU - 91.20 ... for 2024, UF - 91.39, LSU - 90.63.
I'm not a Napier hater by any stretch. I think the negative bs from Gator "fans" is selfish and counter productive. The guy has had some tough breaks and he's on the steep part of the learning curve as HC of a major college football program.
However, there is no way to argue he is even in the same stratosphere as Brian Kelly as an HC in college football. Napier might one day become as good a coach as Brian Kelly is now but he's got a long way to go to be even close to that caliber of coach. Same could be said of all but maybe a small handful of coaches in the entire country. Kelly is top 5 at a minimum and a lock for the College Football HOF.
LSU crushed us in this hire. No doubt about it.
The disappointing part is I'm sure we could have had Kelly if we wanted him. We hired first. If Stricklin said no to Brian Kelly, he deserves all the blame on this front.
The only box Napier checks above Kelly is age. If all goes well Napier could be here for a long, long time. Kelly's runway is much shorter.
However, there is no way to argue he is even in the same stratosphere as Brian Kelly as an HC in college football. Napier might one day become as good a coach as Brian Kelly is now but he's got a long way to go to be even close to that caliber of coach. Same could be said of all but maybe a small handful of coaches in the entire country. Kelly is top 5 at a minimum and a lock for the College Football HOF.
LSU crushed us in this hire. No doubt about it.
The disappointing part is I'm sure we could have had Kelly if we wanted him. We hired first. If Stricklin said no to Brian Kelly, he deserves all the blame on this front.
The only box Napier checks above Kelly is age. If all goes well Napier could be here for a long, long time. Kelly's runway is much shorter.
I agree with what you are implying here, which I interpret to mean that Kelly has experienced previous success and has accomplished much more than Napier at the Division I level.
And I agree that the book on Napier is yet to be written, although he did experience success at Louisiana.
What is not clear to me is that had Kelly been hired at Florida, that he would have "succeeded" in the same manner that he has at LSU.
The two programs three years ago were on opposite ends of the spectrum - LSU had facilities and a recent "national championship".
Florida had outdated facilities and a broken culture within the program that had not experienced success on the same level.
Had Kelly been hired at Florida, I am not sure he would have done any better up to this point in fixing the program.
His selling point is he's winning.
The sad thing is even if it's just one game more than he loses that still makes him better than Napier.
Good point. I think Kelly would have had a better record than Napier at this point and probably have a better coaching staff, S&C staff, etc. He also doesn't call plays which gives him another advantage beyond experience.
I'm good with Napier though. I really hope he makes it work and retires from UF as a legend!
I want to see Napier work out too but we haven't seen him do anything to prove himself.
In your eyes when can we expect Napier to get UF where LSU is right now under Kelly?
2 years is all anyone should get to rebuild in this age of almost instant roster rebuild due to NIL and transfers. If Billy does not go 8-4 this year, he has to be fired. NO MORE EXCUSES ABOUT SCHEDULE AND DAN MULLEN!
I saw a tweet out there that he is ranked in the top 25 by that Athletic but he only has a 2-5 record against the top 25 in his two years at LSU.
I'm not a prophet, so I don't know when to expect it, or if we can even expect Napier or anyone else to bring UF up to the level where LSU is at the moment.
I am neither for or against Napier, because I think we simply do not have enough information of whether he can bring the program up to a championship level program.
I think that no matter who the coach is, it would simply take some time - two-three years is an unrealistic expectation of seeing results.
It seems many of the "fans" who want Napier fired are ignoring how far the program has fallen since Urban Meyer broke the culture of the program.
Yes, this is a brilliant strategy.
Cycle through coaches every two years, and pay off their $50,000,000+ buyout.
You point out NIL, which boosters pay into.
I wonder how much NIL money will accumulate after paying out all the buyout money you propose?
Let's see what kind of coaches you can attract with your strategy?
We haven't been in the game against them the last two years. They treated us like we were Central Michigan.
I'm not saying Napier is better than Kelly. I would take Kelly right now and send Napier packing. But we were in the game with them last year. They only led us by 3 points in the 4th quarter.