Florida coach Billy Napier enters his third season on one of the hottest seats in the land. But Miami’s struggling third-year head coach Mario Cristobal’s seat is relatively cool. Additionally, Mack Brown is not feeling the College Football Betting heat at North Carolina despite diminishing returns. Mack Brown is coaching the North Carolina Tar Heels for the second time in his career. In his first tour of duty, Brown came through with a record of 69-46-1. Including three 10-win seasons, six consecutive bowl games, a Top 5 finish, a Top 10 finish, and two Top 20 finishes.
Brown Takes Advantage of UNC Basketball Emphasis
Cause of Brown’s previous success, North Carolina called him back to save the program a second time. Brown has gone 7-6, 8-4, 6-7, 9-5, and 8-5 in his second era. He has one Top 20 finish (18th) in that span. While Brown has been a steading influence, his defenses have been atrocious, thus wasting the talents of recent star quarterbacks Sam Howell and Drake Maye.
But because North Carolina is a basketball school that lacks the resources of big-time power football programs and because Brown made the program respectable out of the ashes, he gets a pass. In this, North Carolina is undeniably settling.
It’s All About the U
Mario Cristobal is the epitome of a Miami Man. Indeed, nobody has the DNA of The U and the City of Miami more than Cristobal. He was born and raised in Miami and attended The U, where he played offensive tackle. Subsequently, he was later a graduate assistant and then a paid assistant for the Hurricanes. In his coaching career, Cristobal developed the reputation of a recruiting machine.
Cristobal arrived in Miami after an impressive offshore betting run as HC at Oregon. Consider he went 35-13 and won a Rose Bowl with a final ranking of 5th in 2019. But when Miami called him home in 2022, he couldn’t resist. So far, Cristobal has gone 5-7 and 7-6 in his first two years, with 3-5 marks in the ACC in both campaigns. Yet, there is not much of a call for Cristobal to be fired.
Cristobal’s cool seat is easy to explain. First, he “is one of theirs.” Miami is going to give Mario more rope as a favorite son. Second, he remains one of the best recruiters in the game, both traditional and in the transfer portal. Maimi finished with the 8th-best recruiting class in 2023 and was 5th in 2024.
The Outsider Lost in a Dark, Deadly Swamp
Billy Napier enters his third season at Florida after going 6-7 and 5-7 in his first two years. His recruiting has been no better than Dan Mullen, who was fired for his perceived lack of passion for the task.
Napier did achieve a massive College Football Betting investment from donors in getting Florida’s facilities and staffing on par with the SEC elite. Napier’s record of 11-14 is comparable to Cristobal’s mark of 12-13. Napier is 6-10 in the much more difficult SEC. In comparison, Cristobal has a 6-10 mark against the “lesser” ACC. So why is Napier on a much hotter seat?
Billy Napier has no connections to Florida. Additionally, the massive investment made by Florida at Napier’s request is being used against him. He is not winning despite getting everything he wants. Finally, Florida fans may be the most irrationally impatient and unreasonable in college football.