As the sun rose on a cool October morning in Gainesville, 2025’s homecoming looked like all others on paper for Florida football.
The food trucks were lined up on University Ave. Emerson Alumni Hall prepared for its biggest tailgate of the season.
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Something felt different, though. A feeling of resignation from the Gator nation.
Open grass laid all over Plaza of the Americas about four hours to kickoff. Most years, it wasn’t that way for Alex Clement. The Gainesville resident tailgates with friends at Plaza, and usually needs to arrive around 5-6 a.m. to secure a good spot. That wasn’t necessary Saturday.
“We’d be bouncing around from spot to spot, just because there was so much enthusiasm,” Clement said. “They were rowdy, they were having fun. I’m just not seeing the same enthusiasm this year. It isn’t prime Florida.”
Matthew Platick is a sophomore at UF. He hung out with two friends, one of whom is a Mississippi State fan, at Plaza. He said he’s grateful for the basketball team’s national title since his run as a student so far would be disappointing.
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“If both teams were really bad right now, it would feel like a wasted moment athletically,” Platick said. “At least it has a lot more people looking forward to basketball season.”
Platick said he was surprised at the lack of fan excitement since Mississippi State is a game Florida should win. One of the few in fans eyes.
The discontent around campus begins with Billy Napier. The beleaguered coach is, record wise, UF’s worst coach since the 1940s. To many fans, it’s a matter of “when, not if” when it comes to his firing. Or at least that’s what they want. Platick yearns to see him gone before the season’s end.
“That’s settling for mediocrity. We’ve consistently done that, so why are we doing that to ourselves again,” Platick said. “As a Florida Gator, are we seriously going to go from ‘we might make the playoffs’ to ‘we’re fighting for a bowl game.”’
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The MSU fan next to Platick joked that he’d love to be in that spot, and for many Florida fans, that’s the problem. They don’t want to be lumped in with teams like MSU and Kentucky.
Fans cheer on the panel of SEC Nation as they do their show from Plaza of the Americas in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, October 4, 2025. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]
A small bit of hope came back for Platick after the Texas game, but the combination of Texas’ mediocrity and Napier’s track record at home caused it to dissipate.
“He gets a great home win every year, and he also has a really good record when his job is on the line,” Platick said. “He always does the bare minimum and puts a little bit of hope only to screw it up a week later.”
Not every Gator fan shared such a negative outlook. Clement roots for Florida every week except for the Tennessee game. He’s a Volunteer fan first and foremost, and he said Napier scares him.
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“He can turn it on any given week. I think he has a lot of potential as a strong, competent coach,” Clement said. “It’s just the consistency he lacks as a coach.”
Still Clement believes the Vols will lose once again to UF in the Swamp. As for the road struggles, he sums that up to the difficulty of the SEC. Napier is 0-3 on the road this season and has just four road wins since he was hired in 2022.
Oct 11, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier walks off the field after the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
“There’re no free wins in the SEC this year. It’s more competitive than it’s been in recent memory,” Clement said. “No matter where you go in the SEC, their fans are loud and passionate.”
Clement thinks Napier should earn some slack for dealing with one of the nation’s hardest schedules.
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“If you drop 3-4 SEC road games a year, you can still be an 8-9 win team,” Clement said. “I don’t think that’s enough to let him go, especially with the brutal road schedule.”
Still, Napier already lost one of his winnable home games to USF and now needs to win out to reach eight wins.
Clement expressed worry that Florida might fire Napier and replace him with a less-than-worthy coach, similar to what happened four years ago.
“If they’re going back to hiring some other Sun Belt guy when it’s his first job, I don’t think a lot of Florida fans will be happy with that,” Clement said. “You need to hire an established guy.”
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Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football fans want Billy Napier fired and the excitement back
