Florida Football: 3 reasons Billy Napier is the right coach for the Gators

3. The Gators need sustainability

One of the issues with the Gators football program under former head coach Dan Mullen was sustainability. There are two aspects of a program that keep it sustainable. First is recruiting, and second is culture; two things Mullen was criticized for not doing well.

Consider Alabama and Clemson. Both schools recruit well and have strong cultures. Clemson’s culture is why coordinators are not in a hurry to leave and why they offer players the way they offer. Alabama is all about process and recruiting. Those factors are why Nick Saban and the Tide have won the way they have won.

Jim McElwain, the Florida coach before Mullen, did not have the results fans wanted in Gainesville but recruited reasonably well. Many of the players Mullen had success with were recruited by McElwain. Mullen has not recruited at a high enough level to sustain his early success.

Mullen had success with Feliepe Franks, Kyle Trask, Kadarious Toney, and Vann Jefferson, all players recruited by McElwain.

Billy Napier led the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns to its best run in school history. Group of Five schools, especially those in lower-tiered conferences like the Sun Belt, have a high win-loss variance. Napier has been able to sustain success at a place where it is difficult to maintain success.

Napier has proven the ability to recruit to Lafayette, La., and to build a consistent program. The question is whether or not he can take those tenets and do it in the shark tank that is the SEC.