Steve Spurrier encourages Billy Napier to 'hang in there' amid Florida's struggles, hot seat talk

It’s been nearly a decade since Steve Spurrier last roamed an SEC sideline in the midst of his 11th and final season at South Carolina, which was cut short when he resigned in mid-October 2015. It’s been even longer since the Head Ball Coach built his reputation in Gainesville during his 12 seasons (1990-2001) as the Florida head coach.

Despite all that time away, Spurrier knows as well as anybody the pitfalls that come with being an SEC head coach, especially when wins are hard to come by. It’s through that experience that he’s able to provide sage words of advice to Florida’s current head coach, Billy Napier, who is facing serious hot seat pressure amid a 1-3 start to the 2025 season.

“Oh, hang in there. ‘Hang in there’ is about what we’re all saying right now,” Spurrier said when asked what advice he’d give Napier by ESPN‘s Marty Smith during a Friday afternoon hit on SportsCenter. “I think the local papers and national media have sort of hinted that our Gator offense has been like a D, and our defense has been like a B. So one’s got to get better and the other stay there or get better also. But, yeah, we’ve got to play better and coach better.

“And our schedule’s been tough, we all know that, it was the No. 1 toughest schedule going in (to the season). If we had Texas’ schedule, not to say anything bad, but we’d be 3-1 also. But we’re 1-3 because we played some really good teams. I think we’ve got a good chance tomorrow, if we play up to our potential.”

Spurrier joined fellow Gators quarterback alum Danny Wuerffel in a Friday sitdown with Smith ahead of Saturday’s much-anticipated SEC showdown between Florida (1-3, 0-1 SEC) and No. 9 Texas (3-1, 0-0 SEC).

ESPN’s Heather Dinich puts Texas, Arch Manning on upset alert vs. Florida, DJ Lagway

Texas entered the 2025 college football season with plenty of unearned hype, much of which centered around the offseason promotion of former No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning to the Longhorns’ starting quarterback. But that all came crashing down in Week 1 when Manning and visiting Texas struggled through a 14-7 loss to then-No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus.

Since then, the ninth-ranked Longhorns (3-1, 0-0 SEC) have won in convincing fashion against its remaining non-conference schedule before opening SEC play on the road Saturday in Gainesville. And while visiting Texas is currently a seven-point road favorite against the unranked Gators (1-3, 0-1 SEC), clearly, Vegas oddsmakers aren’t quite sold on the ‘Horns leaving The Swamp with a lopsided victory.

And neither is ESPN insider Heather Dinich, who put Texas on upset alert Saturday during an appearance on Tuesday afternoon’s SportsCenter.

“I’m going with Texas at Florida, because I’m just not sold on the Longhorns right now,” Dinich said Tuesday afternoon. “And look, that atmosphere in The Swamp is still a tricky place to play, even when the Gators are down. So, can Arch Manning lift up this (Texas) offense against what they believe in Gainesville to be a very talented team? Can DJ Lagway provide the spark that Billy Napier has been looking for from these guys, like he did in the second half of last season? If they can, Texas can be in trouble because they have yet to get a win against a Power opponent.”