Goodbye, Billy Napier; Texas A&M deals fatal blow to Florida Gators coach.

Billy Napier won the first game he ever coached for the Florida Gators, and things seemed like they’d be heading up for the program in the wake of Dan Mullen’s firing.

From that point on, pretty much everything that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong. And now, barely two years to the day following the euphoria of that win over Utah, Napier’s tenure has crashed to its demise almost as quick as it lifted off the ground.

If it wasn’t two guys with the same jersey number taking the field at the same time, it was giving up 702 yards of offense to a rival.

If it wasn’t letting a 2-6 team win its first game ever in the Swamp with a wide receivers coach calling the plays for the first time in his life, it was losing to a Vanderbilt team that doesn’t recruit from the same pool of talent.

If the offensive and defensive lines aren’t getting bullied in the trenches, it’s the wrong personnel taking the field under Napier’s direction.

Texas A&M delivered what should be the coup de grace today. It was 20-0 at halftime, and it was 33-7 midway through the third quarter. It mattered not the least that Florida made the feeblest grasp at a fourth quarter comeback, because by then, it was a mere formality.

What should be done eventually must be done immediately. Florida has to fire Billy Napier. Not Monday morning, not after breakfast tomorrow, not after Scott Stricklin attends his niece’s ballet recital. Now. Immediately.

I feel like I’ve been a pretty rational person throughout the time Billy Napier has spent in Gainesville. As he bumbled and stumbled his way to a 7-16 record against Power Five opponents and four straight losses to FBS opponents in the Swamp which by the way is twice as many losses as Urban Meyer had at home in half a decade I’ve calmly sat back and pointed out the issues from a football standpoint.

I pointed out that the inability to launch deep balls puts obvious handcuffs on the offense, that running 40 seconds off the play clock down multiple scores in the fourth quarter is the same as surrendering the game, and that the myriad of issues on special teams against South Carolina should have been cause to do something different.

There, I said it. He has to know I mean he HAS to know that he simply isn’t cut out for this job. He also knows that he’s owed $25.6 million to not do that job if he’s fired.

So, Billy Napier. I’ve spent time exhaustively defending your character as a man, and now it’s time for you to do something for me. Just step down.

Yes, I’m asking you to save face and just quit (which you’ve arguably already done in an unofficial capacity). Negotiate a reduced buyout for yourself, and step down with the grain-of-sand-sized shred of grace that you still have left. Don’t force the boosters to pony up every penny of that ridiculous buyout that Florida AD Scott Stricklin was dumb enough to agree to.

You know you’ve done a historically bad job here, and the only way you can depart with even the most microscopic remnants of dignity is to volunteer to surrender your title as the Gators’ head coach, and just take a portion of that obscene $25.6 million buyout that saves the administration from the uncomfortable position of having to fire what they and I, too deem to be a good guy.

If you can’t live on $10 million to sit on your couch and not do anything, then you’re even more greedy than I thought. I don’t want to remember you that way. I spent a lot of time defending you as a good man who just didn’t have it between the ears, but if you can’t meet the Florida brass halfway here, that’s going out the window as well.

In any case, I feel pretty confident in saying that, one way or another, this is done. It’s a matter of mere semantics now.

The search for a new coach has to start immediately, and I’d imagine it will. The name most people seem to keep bringing up is Lane Kiffin. That’s the way-too-early lowdown on where things stand. A lot of details need to be worked out, such as his buyout from Ole Miss, and the fine print of his contract will have to include incentives, but that’s just a basic starting point of where we are.

And of course, the first step that precedes any of that is an official word that Billy Napier has been fired.

But it’s not a matter of if that’s going to happen anymore. It’s a matter of when.