Despite Saturday’s victory, University of Florida fires Napier in fourth season

Florida fired coach Billy Napier on Sunday, the school announced.

Despite what felt like an empty victory against Mississippi State, which was decided by a game-sealing interception on Saturday, the Gators were 3-4 in Napier’s fourth season — the program’s worst record through seven games since 1979. Napier compiled a 22-23 record, the worst of any Florida coach to reach a fourth year. His firing makes him the fourth consecutive coach since Urban Meyer who did not reach a fifth season.

Speculation about Napier’s job security resurfaced earlier in the week, after USA Today reported that Florida boosters met with athletic director Scott Stricklin and tied their financial support to the university making a coaching change. The ultimatum followed Florida’s 34-17 loss to No. 5 Texas A&M the previous weekend, a defeat that dropped Napier to 0-10 against ranked opponents on the road. The loss accelerated concerns as the team approached its third losing season under Napier.

Napier’s fourth campaign featured the same self-inflicted mistakes and inexplicable playcalling decisions that placed him near the boiling point last year. But a vote of confidence from Stricklin saved him, and the Gators entered the year ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll. As it became clear Napier’s ways hadn’t adjusted, though, Florida rapidly collapsed with a home loss to University of South Florida and a pair of defeats by LSU and Miami.

“As Coach Napier has often said, this is a results-driven business, and while his influence was positive, it ultimately did not translate into the level of success we expect on the field,” Stricklin said in a statement. “The standards and expectations for Gators football are to win championships — not simply to compete. We exist to win, and will not settle for less.”

With the Gators idle, the decision will leave interim coach Billy Gonzales, formerly Florida’s wide receiver coach, two weeks to prepare for a final stretch that features three top-20 opponents. He’s in his 12th season at Florida (in three stints) and has no head coaching experience.

He inherits a talented roster that is struggling with a slew of injuries to its secondary and defensive line. As NCAA legislation was finalized Oct. 8, players won’t be allowed to transfer until five days after a new coach is hired or announced, intentionally leaving the coach an opportunity to rerecruit the Gators’ roster.

“Making this decision during the open date provides our team valuable time to regroup, refocus and prepare for the challenges ahead,” Stricklin said. “The timing also allows us to conduct a thoughtful, thorough and well-informed search for our next head coach.”

But the transition won’t be cheap. Since Napier’s termination occurred prior to Jan. 31, Florida owes him 85% of his remaining contract. He was earning $7.4 million this season, with an increase of $100,000 each year through Jan. 31, 2029. The Gators will sink around $21.2 million into his buyout. In comparison, half of the SEC’s coaches have buyouts of more than $35 million, and Penn State swallowed roughly $50 million to rid itself of James Franklin last week.

Stricklin selected Napier in November 2021 after a run with Dan Mullen that featured three New Year’s Six bowl appearances, but soured after the coach said he’d “do recruiting after the season.” The athletic director wanted someone who would lean into the cultural and managerial side of running a modern college football team. Stricklin deemed Napier that man after he guided Louisiana to three consecutive double-digit win seasons, and he emphasized the same pillars upon arrival.

“We’ll be disciplined. And we will eliminate careless play — turnovers, penalties, mental errors. We’re going to be sound, and we’re going to attack in all three phases,” Napier said in his opening news conference. “We’re going to start with the things that we totally control.”

Yet the controllables often were the Gators’ greatest struggle under Napier.

Mental errors consistently plagued his teams. In a season-opening loss to Utah in 2023, two players wore the same uniform, which resulted in a free first down and a Utes score. Against Arkansas the same year, Napier’s staff struggled to get the right players on the field, resulting in a missed field goal. And this season, Florida’s first two losses to USF and LSU were marred by three negated touchdowns due to penalties.

Against Mississippi State, Florida held its way out of another 60-yard rushing score by Jadan Baugh, earned a delay-of-game penalty on a field goal attempt and had 12 players line up for what could have been a two-point conversion to go up 21-7. The latter has been such a consistent issue under Napier that the Gators got a basic chart where players would each stand on one of 11 dots before trotting onto the field. Even then, Florida has been penalized at least five times since 2023 for having too many men on the field.

Napier’s playcalling also became a hot-topic issue, with his offense sinking as low as No. 100 in scoring this season. Florida never averaged more than 27 points per game during his tenure, and as the Gators sputtered last year, he was encouraged to hire an offensive coordinator and delegate. After upsetting No. 22 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss (with an average of 25.5 points, one might add), though, he decided to hold onto duties entering this year.

“I think it helped us get here,” Napier said in September. “I think that you’re always just evaluating what’s best for this team. That’s ultimately what drives every decision.”

On the recruiting trail, Napier’s expertise never bore any significant fruit. His highest-ranked class came in 2024, No. 7 per 247Sports, which was equal to his predecessor Mullen’s best work in 2020. But, more critically, his staff struggled to develop talent.

Quarterback DJ Lagway was the crown jewel of his 2024 group, and he led Florida to four consecutive wins. Those victories — pairing with the unbridled optimism that accompanies a youthful signal caller — set Gainesville ablaze entering 2025.

But Lagway, who was third in the country with a 95.8 passing grade on deep balls his freshman year, hasn’t significantly improved as a sophomore. Lagway has looked uncomfortable all seven weeks, headlined by his five-interception performance against LSU. Saturday was no different, though, as he threw a pair of questionable picks.

“It’s just about trying to get better each and every day and learning from the mistakes and not making the same mistake twice,” Lagway said after the game. “I’m still a young player, still growing each and every day.”

It’s worth noting, Napier had a cat-like tendency. He beat a top-11 team in each season to fend off his ousting, most recently toppling No. 9 Texas Oct. 4. He never lost the locker room.

In turn, a coaching search will get underway. Banners wave from fraternities in Gainesville requesting Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, and Franklin could be another option. If the Gators follow the same philosophy they did with Napier’s selection, peeling through the Group of 5 ranks, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and USF’s Alex Golesh, who kicked off this entire saga, could be potential choices. Florida’s decision likely won’t come until the season’s end.

“We remain fully committed to utilizing every resource available to identify the right leader to guide Gators Football into the future,” Stricklin said. “[And] we will continue to provide all of the necessary resources for that coach, his staff and the players to be successful.”

“People look at losses as a cause to get rid of a coach,” Stricklin said when he fired Mullen in 2021. “But a lot of times the losses or things that don’t go right on the field, those are symptoms of other issues.”

For Napier, the other issues became too obvious.

This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 2:50 PM.