GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There is no escaping it.

If you post a comment from head coach Billy Napier‘s press conference on social media, the snark flies. Turn on local sports radio? Yup, you know what they’re talking about. As the Gators prepare to play at No. 4 Miami – a week after losing at No. 3 LSU – they take a turn on the national stage with ESPN’s “College GameDay” set to broadcast from Miami Gardens on Saturday.

Coming off back-to-back losses that dropped them from 13th in the AP Top 25 to unranked, this is where the Gators are three games into what started as a promising season that included College Football Playoff talk. Instead of a top-10 matchup with the Hurricanes, they are lucky to have those Beats by Dre headphones secured through quarterback DJ Lagway’s NIL deal.

But they can’t wear them all the time.

“Outside noise is outside noise,” offensive lineman Austin Barber said Monday. “Everything that matters is in this building and with our staff and our team.”

We often see it in sports. Team opens season with high expectations, reality overtakes hope, and suddenly it’s doom and gloom. That’s where Napier and Co. find themselves in the public arena.

In his fourth season, Napier attempted to contextualize where the Gators are in his view during his regularly scheduled Monday press conference, less than 48 hours after Florida’s 20-10 loss at LSU dropped them to 1-2, and Napier to 20-21.

“We’re close to being pretty dangerous,” he said. “We could easily be 3-0. Probably a dozen plays away from being 3-0. We have enough talent in that locker room that our best is good enough. I still believe that; we’re going to keep pursuing that.”

Regardless of what Napier said, his words would be scrutinized. They were, by fans and media.

The turn of events is worth a trip into the past.

My favorite winning-losing quote from a football coach has become part of the game’s lore. When Bill Parcells, who turned 84 last month, was a rookie NFL head coach of the New York Giants in 1983, he went 3-12-1 in his first season.

The story goes that one morning early the following year, Parcells got a phone call from Giants general manager George Young, who reportedly was interested in University of Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger. Young and Schnellenberger had worked together in Baltimore, and Schnellenberger led the Hurricanes to the 1983 national championship while Parcells’ team looked lost in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Parcells faced the facts in what surely was an uncomfortable conversation and impressed Young in doing so.

“What can I say?” Parcells said. “You are what your record says you are.”

Parcells kept his job, and more than 40 years later, is considered one of the great coaches in NFL history.

Another coach’s quote I recently discovered is from Jim Crowley, one of Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen, made famous by legendary sports writer Grantland Rice in 1924 following a Fighting Irish win over Army at the Polo Grounds.

Crowley, a star running back in college, later became head coach at Fordham University and tutored a young offensive lineman named Vince Lombardi, a member of Fordham’s famed “Seven Blocks of Granite” line. At a celebratory banquet in honor of Lombardi after he led Green Bay to the 1961 NFL Championship, author David Maraniss reports in his compelling biography of Lombardi, called “When Pride Still Mattered,” that Crowley told the crowd the requirements to remain employed for any extended period as a head coach.

“When you are coaching football, there are only two ways to keep your job,” Crowley said. “The first is to win games. But if you can’t do that, you must become a character builder.”

And here we are, back to Napier’s dilemma in September 2025, and a long way from the night of April 30, 1962, at the Elks Lodge No. 259 in Green Bay, where Crowley spoke those words.

Parcells would say the Gators are 1-2, nothing more, nothing less. Crowley would credit Napier’s ability to build a strong culture and lead young men, but he would say that he must win more games to keep his job.

Napier was asked directly on Monday if he feels like he is coaching for his job at this point.

“I think I’m trying to solve problems,” he responded. “You are trying to find the right combination of things to help. We’re a handful of plays away from winning that game Saturday.

“I do think, in my opinion, a man is not defeated until he blames someone else.”

Napier won’t go there, but he has been under intense scrutiny in many ways since last season’s opener against the Hurricanes, a 41-17 loss at The Swamp that instantly put former UM quarterback Cam Ward into the Heisman Trophy conversation. The Hurricanes look as good, if not better, in 2025 with quarterback Carson Beck, running back Mark Fletcher Jr, and defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. playing at a high level.

The Gators are underdogs like they were a week ago in Baton Rouge, when Lagway tossed five interceptions and the defense limited LSU to 316 yards and 10 first downs to keep the game close.

As the noise builds outside the Heavener Football Training Center, Napier stands firmly behind his team and its mission.

“If I didn’t feel good about the intangibles of the team, that’s probably when I would be worried,” he said. “This group showed up and competed their tail off Saturday. They’re a group that knows how they’re that close.”

Florida hasn’t started a season with three losses in its first four games since 1986, an era during which NCAA sanctions hampered the program. Those days seem like forever ago, considering the program’s success since then.

Still, facts are facts. A loss Saturday only amplifies the uproar.

Napier isn’t backing down. Standing firm is what got him the UF job, and if the Gators turn it around like late last season, it could keep him here.

“If we were able to kind of get back in our rhythm offensively and generate points and yards, we could be tough to deal with,” he said. “We moved the ball [at LSU]. Obviously, not enough points, and I think the penalties were a factor, and in general, the takeaways were the difference in the game. I think we’re really, really close, just looking at the tape.”

It would be interesting to know what Parcells and Crowley would say if they were to review the same tape. One fact is certain: both can relate to what Napier is going through.

There is no escaping it. Not when losses outweigh wins at a place like Florida.