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Greg McElroy ‘concerned’ about Florida due to fanbase’s lack of patience
By Andrew Olson
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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
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
