Florida to hire Auburn DC Ron Roberts as executive head coach for defense
Florida is staying within the SEC to make a key defensive hire. The Gators are hiring Ron Roberts away from Auburn as executive head coach for defense, according to On3’s Zach Abolverdi.
Abolverdi noted that Roberts will also be the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Billy Napier‘s Gators.
On3’s Justin Hokanson told Auburn Live subscribers earlier Monday that Roberts would likely coach elsewhere for the 2024 season and mentioned Florida as a potential landing spot.
Ron Roberts was on staff with Florida head coach Billy Napier together at Louisiana, serving as his defensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019. He then spent time at Baylor, before being hired by Hugh Freeze as the Auburn defensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season.
The Auburn defense finished the 2023 season ranked No. 43 nationally in scoring defense at 22.6 points per game and No. 47 nationally in total defense at 357.2 yards per game.
Ron Roberts played linebacker in college at UT Martin, before beginning his coaching career in 1990.
He is joining a Florida defense that struggled in Year 2 under Napier. The Gators allowed 27.6 points per game — good for 78 nationally, and 382.3 yards per game, which ranked No. 71 nationally.
Why Billy Napier should ignore PR, focus on results in 2024
Ron Roberts has the task of trying to help Billy Napier get the Gators back on track in 2024.
The Gators went 6-7 in 2022 and 5-7 in 2023, and that adds to the amount of pressure Napier is facing as he gets ready for Year 3 at the helm.
With the offseason underway, Napier is into the part of the calendar where he talks about the state of the program to certain groups. During this time, coaches talk about why fans should be optimistic about what lies ahead.
However, according to On3’s Andy Staples, Napier shouldn’t concern himself too much with the PR side of the conversation. The focus should be on winning games — and that’ll be tough considering the strength of schedule in 2024.
“You’re gonna have to say, ‘Look, the young guys were some of the best guys at the end of the season last year, and those guys will be better this year.’ And I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what you’ve got to promise them because this is a fan base that assumes that Billy Napier won’t be back if this year’s bad,” Staples said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “So if I’m Billy Napier, I don’t worry too much about the PR game. I just try to win football games because right now, that’s the only thing you can do.
“Because if you go 5-7 again — and actually, against that schedule, it might be hard to go 5-7. If you do that again, they’re gonna go find somebody else. So I don’t think he needs to worry about the PR aspect of it at all because there’s nothing he can say that will do or change anything. The only thing he can do is win football games.”