Billy Napier Facing Intense Backlash After Calling Out His Own Fans

Billy Napier is the least popular man in Florida after his latest comment about Gator fans.

UF took a beating from rival Miami on Saturday, 41-17, as the Gators looked lost in their season-opener for year three of the Billy Napier era. Based on the current situation, there's unlikely to be a fourth.

Napier didn't help matters at his Monday press conference when he called out critical fans with a mean-spirited comment, especially for a college head coach.

"If we can focus — and not necessarily on what some guy in his basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media — then we got a chance to get better," said Napier.

Coaches often urge their teams not to pay attention to the internet, but this call-out was personal, a shot at social-media-obsessed fans in basements that likely don't even exist in rural Florida. You can bet Gator fans let him have it after that comment.

"He’s too stupid to realize that most Floridians don’t have basements lol," one X user named Cameron McBridge responded. "He really thought he cooked with that jab though."

"I got to hand it to Billy," said another user, named Alostar. "He is incapable of reading a room. When was the last time you saw a basement in Florida?"

"I’ve seen this movie before," commented gatormitch. "He’s done."

"We don’t have basements in Florida," said Blaise Ingoglia. "Stop criticizing the fans and do your job. If you did, you wouldn’t be criticized."

"We’ve lost 6 in a row and 8 of 13," another fan, robsham, pointed out. "The fans aren’t the problem…had 93, 000 there again (Saturday) on a 5-game losing streak. No, we been consistently out coached and out manned for 2+ years…that’s the problem."

The lack of awareness shown by the basement comment plus his general attitude toward fans is not a good combination for Billy Napier just days after an embarrassing loss.

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