Nick Saban blasts Florida administration, calls out Florida State's "microwave" approach

Nick Saban knows former disciple Billy Napier is on quicksand-ground, at best, right now atop the University of Florida program.

Saban is saying -- nee, passionately elevating -- the conversation about Florida's dysfunction should focus higher up on the administrative ladder. Without naming names, Saban's pointing toward current Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin and his predecessor, Jeremy Foley, for their collective failures. 

"Well, I think maybe the problem isn't the coaches," Saban said Saturday on ESPN GameDay. "They've been through four coaches since (Steve) Spurrier and Urban Meyer, who both created a tremendous culture of winning there. 

"And sometimes the fan base can just think oh we can show up and expect to win. And not make the commitment to the program that you need to make to be able to continue to make the changes and investments that you need to make to keep up with changing times. And things change. They should have taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there."

Indeed, Florida just opened its indoor practice facility in fall 2022. Saban likewise wondered how the Gators have adapted to the current college football environment.

"Now, what's their collective been like?," Saban asked. "How have they adapted to this, you know, new model of college football?

"So, it's not just the coaches. When you've been through four coaches and haven't had the success, there's something else that people should be looking at."

Saban then directed his analysis at Mike Norvell's scuffling Florida State program -- and its patchwork approach specifically via the NCAA Transfer Portal. 

"Now, when it comes to Florida State, they've always taken the microwave fix, I call it," Saban said. "To take a lot of guys from the Portal. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't. Especially when things go bad, you know, those guys were all in the Portal for a reason.

"So now you take these guys out of the Portal, things don't go the way they thought they were going to go, and maybe you don't have the kind of culture and leadership on your team and the people buying into the leadership that you need to be able to be successful. So, this is a real challenge for Mike."

The Gators need a win Saturday on the road at Mississippi State to climb to 2-2 while the Seminoles host new ACC member California seeking their first win of the season.