They could’ve avoided all this drama. Could’ve hired Lane Kiffin last year, and been a year ahead of the rebuild.
Maybe even where Ole Miss is right now.
If what should have been done last year at Florida was done immediately — Billy Napier fired, Kiffin hired — none of the crazy suffocating college football is playing out day after day.
The beauty of the College Football Playoff demolition derby is in full bloom, and the Heisman Trophy race — can you remember one with less juice? — would be at front of mind.
Instead of where Kiffin, who has never won a Power conference championship, will coach in 2026 and be paid at the top of his profession.
Instead of Florida and LSU throwing around Monopoly money, desperately trying to recapture the magic of lost glory.
Instead of Florida, for the second time in four years, kicking a field goal in the second half of a blowout loss to extend its NCAA-record streak of avoiding a shutout. It was Tennessee last night, and Oregon State in Napier’s first season, and the record is now at 472 and counting.
But that Florida had to do it twice within the four-year Napier framework tells you all you need to know about the spectacular fail of a hire.
Yet Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin doubled down last season after the Gators got hot and beat, ironically, LSU and Ole Miss. He ignored the obvious signs of ineptitude — too many to even explain now after the fact — and threw more good money after bad.
If Stricklin makes the tough decision last fall, 2024 would’ve been the second-half collapse with an interim coach, and 2025 would’ve been Year 1 under Kiffin.
Think about the talented Florida roster with a coaching staff that includes Kiffin, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Charlie Weis Jr. (who Napier tried to hire after the 2023 season), and former Florida coach Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator (he was interested in the DC job this season).
It’s not a stretch to think Florida could be the team in the CFP hunt, not Ole Miss. Florida could be the team, organically built through high school recruiting and supplementing from the portal (the one thing Napier crushed), as the team no one wants to play in December.
Instead Florida sustained its first home loss to Tennessee since 2003, and worst loss to Tennessee since Steve Spurrier’s first season at Florida in 1990. And we’ll go through the next seven days — Rivalry Week, no less — debating what Kiffin will do and how it will impact three programs.
Ohio State vs. Michigan. Texas vs. Texas A&M. Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. Alabama vs. Auburn. Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt.
Significant games, with significant CFP impact. All overshadowed by the Kiffin decision.
If only what should’ve been done eventually was done immediately.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.