"This is the perfect answer": Josh Pate hails Billy Napier's reply to dealing with criticism from Florida Gators' fanbase

Billy Napier is taking accountability for the mistakes he has made during hie time in charge of the Florida Gators. On today's episode of SEC This Morning, the coach gave a lenghty statement regarding the state of the Gators and his part in it.

Here's what he said:

"I would be wrong to not say that we didn't deserve some of the criticism. I think we failed to control a lot of things that we can control and we could do better. I thought that was the frustrating thing to me. Look, they pay you to do a job and leadership is very hard. What I'm very thankful for is the courage that the players on our team showed. I am a grown man, I can kind of control my environment, social media, and normal digital media. Young people, they can't. They live in that world and I think that's what I respect the most about our teams. Look, we live in a very competitive arena here and it's not for the faint of heart."

"We came here to rebuild this place and get us back to being a consistent championship contender. We're right in the middle. By that, no means we are finished. The exciting thing to me is I see our players believe in that I can do it. Some of these things that we've been teaching over time are starting to stick and that's exciting for me. So there's no resentment here. We deserve every bit of it and the key is that you remain objective when you try to make the best decisions you can for the entire organization," he added.

The coach has been commended for his accountability, with the world of college football reacting fairly positively to his comments. One of those who acknowledged Napier was pundit Josh Pate, who retweeted the interview.

"This is the perfect answer from Billy Napier," wrote Pate.

All of this comes after Florida achieved a huge win over the then No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, 24-17. They will almost certainly achieve bowl eligibility and finish with an overall record of 7-5, as their final game is against a Florida State team that imploded long ago.

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Billy Napier's record as the head coach of the Florida Gators

In three years with the Florida Gators, Napier has yet to achieve a winning season for the Gainesville school. Overall, he has a record of 17-19, with his best regular-season performance being a 6-6 finish in 2022. This was enough to earn them an invitation to the Las Vegas Bowl, where they lost 30-3 to Oregon State.

2023 brought an overall record of 5-7 in the regular season which wasn't enough to get them into the bowl season. The victory against Ole Miss seems to be breathing new air into a program that hasn't had a winning year since 2020. It might also have saved Billy Napier's job for now.