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MARLER: Florida fires Billy Napier, now comes the hard part

Oct 20, 2025 | 10:30 AM

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

It was inevitable. Whether that’s seen as good, bad, fair, or something in between, one thing’s for sure, it had been building for a long time.

Billy Napier’s firing on Sunday ended one of college football’s worst-kept secrets, a move many saw coming well before it became official. The 46-year-old former Louisiana head coach finished his tenure in Gainesville at 22-23 and coming off of a win over Mississippi State. That outcome didn’t really matter, word had already spread throughout the program last week that he’d be fired regardless of what happened on Saturday.

Napier had been on the hot seat almost since the moment he stepped foot on campus. His debut season ended 6-7 with an embarrassing Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State, punctuated by a late field goal down 30-3, a move made solely to preserve the program’s 468-game scoring streak. 

The murmurs started when people realized the schedule that Florida would be facing over the next two seasons with him at the helm. Eleven Power four opponents, including Miami and Florida State in the next two seasons didn’t seem survivable. 

And, it wasn’t. 

Now the fallout begins. There’s the $21 million buyout, half of which must be paid within 30 days. Then comes the challenge of retaining talent, preventing a mass exodus to the portal, and convincing players not to opt out to preserve eligibility for next season. Florida may be 3-4 with a loss to South Florida, but according to 247Sports they have the No. 12 ranked roster in the team talent composite, with 52 blue chip players on it. 

Then there’s the most important part – the new hire. Florida can’t afford to miss on this hire, something it hasn’t managed to get right since Urban Meyer’s departure 15 years ago. 

This hire will somehow be entrusted to athletic director Scott Stricklin. Since arriving in Gainesville, Stricklin has made eight head coaching hires. Entering last season, only two, men’s tennis coach Adam Steinberg and men’s basketball coach Todd Golden, had winning SEC records. He’s also seen as many coaches fired for mistreating athletes as those who’ve achieved success in conference play.

To put it mildly, that’s insane. 

So where do they go from here? The popular answer is Lane Kiffin and Marcus Freeman. I have a very hard time believing that either of those coaches would leave their current jobs for instability in Gainesville. The instability in Gainesville runs so deep that Florida couldn’t even move forward with its original interim plan. Associate head coach Jabbar Juluke was expected to take over but was suspended for three games after slapping an LSU player, costing him the opportunity.

Regardless of what I or any reasonable person might think, reports have surfaced suggesting that Florida’s administration has engaged in back-channel conversations with both Marcus Freeman and Lane Kiffin. I wrote last week that James Franklin would be a perfect fit, as well. 

The Gators find themselves in an interesting position because this particular 2025 coaching carousel will be one of the most competitive and busy ones we’ve seen. We’re barely to the halfway point of the season and there are already coaching searches underway at several big power four programs, including Penn State, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Virginia Tech. There will certainly be more. 

The good news for Florida is that it remains the premier job among programs currently searching for a head coach, at worst, neck and neck with Penn State. The challenge now is the one that has consistently proven tougher than the Gators’ schedule: getting the hire right.

Chris Marler

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