Pete Thamel Names SEC Head Coach Facing The Most Pressure Entering 2024

There's no shortage of pressure for college football head coaches. From the top of the sport, all the way down to the Group of Five, expectations for wins on Saturdays never cease.

With less than a month until the beginning of the 2024 season, a handful of "hot seat" coaches are facing a pivotal season in terms of job security.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, one coach, however, may hold the most pressure to perform. That's Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier, who is entering his third season at the helm in Gainesville.

“I think there's more pressure on Billy Napier than any SEC football coach and likely any college coach in the country,” Thamel said on a recent episode of 'College Football Live'.

“You need to win at Florida. it is not a patient fan base, and it's not a place accustomed to back-to-back losing seasons," Thamel added.

Napier hit the ground running at Louisiana in hist first stint as a head coach from 2018-21, winning the Sun Belt twice and securing four-straight Sun Belt West titles.

Napier's hire at UF ahead of the 2022 season was considered a no-brainer following the four-year tenure of Dan Mullen.

Napier's experience under Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban added to the winning expectations, but the Gators have only underwhelmed to this point. Florida went 6-7 in his first season before missing a bowl bid and finishing 5-7 in 2023. The Gators face arguably the toughest schedule in the country in 2024.

On the recruiting trail, Florida brought in the No. 13 ranked class in both the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles.

Considering the rocky start for Napier and the history of winning at UF, the university won't go along with losing seasons for long. Napier signed a seven-year, $51.8 million deal in 2021 and is owed $26 million on Dec. 1 if fired.

According to Thamel, the change of leadership at Florida adds to the situation, as Kent Fuchs has taken over as interim president in place of Ben Sasse.

“It's always hard to project what's going to happen at a school when you don't know who's going to be making the decision," Thamel said.

Napier and the Gators can squash the hot-seat talk on the field, starting with a test against in-state rival Miami at home on Aug. 31.

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