A football team firing its head coach during the season is the ultimate sign that, frankly, it’s over.
It’s a white flag of sorts, a way of saying, “We just want this season to be done with so we can act like it never happened." The rest of the season is no more than an obligation as the program begins its search for a new regime, one they hope won’t have to be ousted right in the middle of when they’re supposed to be winning games.
That’s what the Florida Gators did a couple weeks ago when they fired head coach Billy Napier after three and a half seasons. The Gators then promoted wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales to be their interim head coach for the rest of the season.
While a midseason coaching change is ultimately an admission of failure by the athletic department and never means anything good for the team’s situation, it can also be somewhat of a rebirth.
That pressure to win games and keep your job is gone. Teams have nothing to lose or prove under an interim head coach, and that’s already shown itself to be true so far this season.
Firing a head coach can lead to more wins
UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper replaced DeShaun Foster in mid-September and led the then-winless Bruins to a shocking upset win over then-No. 7 Penn State in his first game. UAB fired head coach Trent Dilfer and installed offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen as interim head coach, and the Blazers promptly upset Memphis in his first game.
It doesn’t always lead to wins (see: Arkansas), but there’s a real sense of freedom that comes with playing under an interim head coach. There are zero expectations or outside noise about being a contender, which can help players play more free and loose.
Couple that with the fact that Florida has a completely unknown playcaller in the recently promoted Ryan O’Hara, and the newness of it all becomes a bit intriguing.
“There’s probably challenges, there’s probably advantages,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said via 247sports.com about playing a team with an interim coach. “There’s a new voice. Sometimes new energy, sometimes change brings about a spark. I’m sure they’ll change some things up and– not any disrespect in any way to what Billy did— sometimes when you bring somebody in, there’s new juice there.”
As tough of a season as it’s been for Florida, the opportunity to play their biggest rival with nothing to lose could definitely light a fire under the Gators. Though there isn’t time to completely overhaul the offense, Gonzales and O’Hara will certainly make an effort to put their own stamp on it and could bust out some surprises if they want to seize early momentum.
“There’s definitely ways to change it up, in terms of going faster, tempoing, allowing guys to make plays and go with tempo,” Smart said. “They’ve used tempo quite a bit this year, and I’d expect them to continue to do that, to be in attack mode and try to take advantage of some of the things they’ve seen on tape versus us.”
Georgia must overcome key Florida advantage
Georgia has owned this rivalry lately and is the better team on paper, but they can’t allow Florida to catch them in a trap. The Gators nearly upset the Bulldogs last year before an injury to quarterback DJ Lagway. This time they aren’t entering this game with a “boom or bust” mentality, that ship sailed when they lost to USF.
Maybe Florida has already mentally checked out of a turbulent season that has no doubt been frustrating for its players, coaches and fans. But it’s far more likely that something closer to the opposite will happen. This is a team playing with no pressure against a hated rival it hasn’t beaten in a long time.
If they catch Georgia and its up-and-down defense on the right day, that might mean something. Fans could be in for a good one in Jacksonville on Saturday.