Billy Napier Fired – University of Florida Gators – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Gregory Reed
When Florida dismissed Billy Napier on Sunday, nobody was shocked. Last year, he managed to coach himself out of the hot seat, but he was doomed in Gainesville after another poor start. Despite Saturday’s victory over Mississippi State, Napier’s Gators finished 22-23 in four seasons. Before playing Georgia, the Gators, who are 3–4, are taking a week off.
Depending on who you ask, the Florida position may or may not be superior to the Penn State position. The path to the College Football Playoff appears to be more difficult in the SEC, which merely has more good teams than the Big Ten, even if the Gators have won three national titles since the last time the Nittany Lions did and Florida has more deeper state and regional recruiting pools.
Starting with two offensive-minded coaches with close ties to the area, the Gators have excellent choices within the FBS head coaching ranks.
With his brazen demeanor, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin will bring back memories of Florida great Steve Spurrier. Unlike Kiffin, who seemed to be most effective on social media, Spurrier had his comments come straight out of his mouth. However, since coaching at FAU, where he won two conference titles, Kiffin has done a fantastic job of redefining himself. The 50-year-old and his extended family have made Oxford their home. In three of the last four seasons, his Rebels have placed in the top 11. They have a good chance of making the playoffs because they are 6-1 this year, which might throw off the timetable if he is interested in the position.
Jedd Fisch, the head coach at Washington, is a Florida graduate who began his coaching career as Spurrier’s student assistant. Fisch, 49, has deep ties to Florida and is well-known to those close to him. Additionally, he was an in-state coach at Miami before joining the Jacksonville Jaguars. In his third and last season there, in 2023, Fisch transformed Arizona from a terrible team to 10-3, and the Wildcats finished No. 11. In fewer than two years on the job, he has gained traction at Washington. Behind sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr., a rising star, he has the Huskies at 5-2.
Eli Drinkwitz, the head coach at Missouri, has been excellent during his six years there, despite having less ties to UF. This season, Drinkwitz, 42, has a 27-6 record. Given the Gators’ history of winning national titles and Missouri’s Tigers’ four top-15 finishes in nearly 50 years, would he be inclined to jump?
Jeff Brohm, the head coach of Louisville, is one of the best play callers in college football. After defeating undefeated Miami, he is now 4-4 versus top-5 opponents, which is an incredible record, particularly for someone who hasn’t coached at prestigious schools. 54-year-old Brohm is 24-9 at his alma institution. Would he leave home, where his route to the CFP is easier to manage? I’m not entirely sure. However, I do wonder what he could accomplish if he had more talent.
James Franklin, the former head coach of Penn State, wants to coach again a week after being dismissed. Franklin has a strong track record as a head coach in the SEC. In just three years, he led Vanderbilt, an SEC program that hadn’t placed in the AP Top 25 for almost 60 years, to two Top 25 seasons. His record at State College was 104-45. He peaked at Penn State, but when he took over, he stabilized a program reeling from NCAA penalties and guided it to five top-10 finishes in ten years. It’s not normal for large programs to hire a coach who recently lost their position, but Franklin’s circumstance is unique and he might start working sooner than others.
Last year, SMU’s Mustangs qualified for the CFP under head coach Rhett Lashlee. Arkansas, his home state, offers an SEC position that I believe could interest him, but Florida offers greater resources and a bigger ceiling. Is this a better opportunity than coaching at his alma university for the 42-year-old former Miami offensive coordinator? We shall see. He wouldn’t necessarily abandon what he has in Dallas, in my opinion.
Earlier this year, Alex Golesh, the head coach of USF, defeated the Gators. The 41-year-old called plays for head coach Josh Heupel while coaching in the SEC at Tennessee. At a program that was terrible — 4-29 in three years — before to his arrival, Golesh is 20-13 in his three seasons in Tampa and 6-1 this year. Although he is another excellent offensive coach, will the Gators be reluctant to appoint a mid-major head coach following Napier’s failure?
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
