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Nick Saban weighs in on culture issue at Florida in Billy Napier’s 3rd season
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Nick Saban sees a culture issue down at Florida.
During a College GameDay segment on prominent programs that have stumbled out of the gate, Saban shared his thoughts on Florida, the team coached by former Alabama assistant Billy Napier.
“I think he’s got to change the culture,” Saban said. “I mean, the culture there is not what it needs to be in terms of the intangible things you play with. The toughness, the discipline to control the line of scrimmage. They’re not just doing those types of things. I know he took over a tough situation, but hopefully you can establish that culture in Year 3.”
Florida was blown out by Miami 41-17 at home to open the 2024 season. The Gators were dominated on both sides of the ball, failing to get a push up front or establish sustained drives on offense. Napier’s squad also committed costly penalties, leading many fans to voice frustration with a continued lack of discipline.
Napier is part of the Saban coaching tree. In 2011, Napier joined Saban’s Alabama staff as an analyst after his time at Clemson as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Napier would follow Jim McElwain to Colorado State before returning to Alabama, coaching Crimson Tide receivers from 2013-16.
Louisiana was Napier’s first head coaching job, a position he held from 2018-21. Napier was 40-12 in 4 seasons with the Ragin’ Cajuns. He is 11-15 in 2-plus seasons at Florida and is considered to be on the hot seat as the Gators have not finished with a winning record since 2020.
Napier’s Gators are at home in Week 2, hosting Samford on Saturday evening (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+/SEC Network+). DJ Lagway, the top recruit of Napier’s tenure, is set to make his first career start with Graham Mertz in concussion protocol.
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.
