Ad Disclosure
Paul Finebaum says Florida fans ‘ready to move on’ from Billy Napier despite solid October
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Paul Finebaum was on site during Florida’s 34-20 loss to Georgia in Jacksonville on Saturday as the Gators fell to 4-4 on the season.
The Gators started October with a 24-13 win over UCF before a close 23-17 loss to Tennessee the following week, then defeated Kentucky 48-20 on Oct. 19 for their highest point total of the year. After a bye week, they hung with the Bulldogs before eventually going down in defeat.
“Spending the weekend with a lot of Florida fans, I’m just going to give you my impressions from talking to them. They’re ready to move on,” Finebaum said.
Finebaum mentioned that Florida fans have felt that Napier’s fate has been tied to that of DJ Lagway, who was carted off the field after suffering a hamstring injury in the second quarter.
The case for keeping Napier, he added, is the possibility that Florida won’t be able to find a can’t-miss candidate for the job.
“I don’t know if there’s a guarantee that he comes back, and I know that’s kind of baked into the cake, but I’m not positive of that,” he said. “It may be a split decision, which favors Billy Napier, because the only way I would agree with you to fire him is if you have somebody that is lock solid.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
