Brian Kelly says it’s ‘crazy’ that Billy Napier is facing hot seat chatter
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
The hot seat is blazing right now for Billy Napier after Florida‘s home loss to South Florida. However, the head coach of their Week 3 opponent is still advocating for him.
During the lead up to Florida’s road game at No. 3 LSU on Saturday night, Brian Kelly compared Napier to his own circumstances when leaving Notre Dame to take over at LSU.
“Crazy. It’s craziness,” Kelly said in his Monday media opportunity. “He’s a really good football coach. He knows what their strengths and weaknesses are. You can see it on film. He’s building a culture that is fit to his eye. He’s doing it his way. And that’s awesome.”
Despite already having a full 3 seasons at the helm and now dropping from the rankings in 2025, Kelly believes Napier is still establishing his culture in Gainesville.
“Look, I came in here, and Ed (Orgeron) won a national championship. But he did it his way, and that’s fine. Now they (LSU) wanted to make a change,” Kelly said. “I do it my way. It takes time to put in your philosophy and the way you like to do things.”
Kelly doesn’t think it’s justified for Gator fans to panic or overreact, even though Florida has yet to even post a double-digit victory season under Napier.
“It takes time to make that change. It’s the same way with Billy. Now he’s starting to stabilize that program. It’s crazy,” Kelly said.”He’ll get that thing where he wants it. I think he’s got it right now. He beat us last year. So we need to worry about ourselves.”
Florida leads the all-time series 34-32-3 and won last season’s matchup 27-16 in Gainesville to snap a 5-game skid vs. LSU. Florida at LSU is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.
