The coaching carousel of college football has officially begun. This season it started early and with a massive shock factor.
Several blue blood programs let go of their long-time coaches to pursue greater options. Among those teams are the Florida Gators. The Gators decided to part ways with Billy Napier right before their matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs. With so many prestigious programs without a coach and few coaches in the market for a new job, Florida must find a way to stand out amongst the crowd. However, Georgia could heavily devalue their job opening on Saturday.
Georgia's Rivalry Dominance could Devalue Florida Opening
Penn State was one win away from a National Championship appearance last season. LSU made it to the SEC Championship in Brian Kelly's first year and even found a way to beat Alabama. So, what about Florida? The Gators situation looks to be a lot worse than the other jobs out there. Florida has had a losing season three out of the last four years, and barring some upset victories will have another losing season this year. Not only that, but they have also not beat one of their biggest rivals since 2020 in Georgia.
Florida has been outscored in their last five meetings against Georgia by an embarrassing score of 197-95. Winning may be important at jobs like Florida, but winning rivalry games are massive in fan culture. Florida has not done that against Georgia. In fact, Florida has lost seven of their last 10 meetings against the Bulldogs. If the same story happens again this weekend, it will be a very bad look for the Gators' open job.
At the moment, LSU and Penn State stand out far above Florida as appealing jobs. With the way things have gone for the Gators, some could even say Arkansas and UCLA look like more appealing jobs. The odds are heavily against Florida to scrap out some hope for the remainder of the season with a daunting SEC schedule. With all these jobs becoming open at the same time, the eye test is being done on every team. If Florida is dominated by their rival Georgia once again, that job could look way worse to coaching candidates than it already does.
Fans want rivalry wins, and rivalry wins equals job security. Georgia's dominance against the Gators does not provide much job security for the future.