Florida coach Billy Napier on borrowed time after latest loss to Miami
There was no thunder in the Swamp Saturday night—just the steady, unrelenting echo of a program in crisis.
As Florida trudged off the field after falling short to Miami by a score of 26-7, the chorus of discontent around head coach Billy Napier reached a fever pitch, with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum declaring the Gators’ coaching experiment all but finished.
“Billy Napier, because he is the offensive coordinator, diminishes his opportunity to be a very good, if not great, head coach. He’s not — he’s a mediocre head coach,” Finebaum said. “His record is what? 20-22? The fact that we’re still discussing this as a possibility that he survives (from being fired) is a testament to what I’m not really sure, but the end is very near.
“However (AD) Scott Stricklin decides to do it and what matter, I really don’t know. And quite frankly, I don’t really care because he is not coming back as Florida’s head coach.”
For a school that measures its football in championships and rivalry victories, the numbers tell a story of mounting disappointment.
Napier, in his fourth season, holds a 20-22 record at Florida which is a mark far from the standard set by former coaches Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
Against the Gators’ five traditional rivals such as Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, and Tennessee, Napier is 3-12, including 0-2 this year with the other three looming on the horizon.
The Gators also suffered a loss to South Florida in Week Two that signaled trouble in paradise remained.
“That’s intolerable and unacceptable, and Billy Napier here has nowhere to go,” Finebaum said. “I mean, he can keep talking about how much his team is gutting it out, but they’re still losing. There’s always something that goes haywire.”
This is a far cry from when Florida seemed to have recovered late in the 2024 season, going 8-5 after after winning six of its last eight games. Much of that has been the offense was credited to the rise of then true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway.
Napier’s defenders point to the Gators’ 2025 schedule, arguably the most brutal in the nation. Florida has already faced two top-10 teams in LSU and Miami, and the road ahead offers little respite: after a bye, they’ll face No. 10 Texas, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 5 Georgia, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 15 Tennessee, and No. 8 Florida State.
Napier’s underwhelming .476 winning percentage is the lowest for a Florida coach since the 1970s as the Gators have not finished above .500 in SEC play since his arrival.
The program’s national profile has become questionable, last being relevant on the national scene under Dan Mullen in 2020.
While there has been momentum on the recruiting front along with a stellar transfer portal class, things still haven’t changed and don’t appear to be improving anytime soon.
Athletic Director Scott Stricklin hired Napier on a seven-year, $51.8 million contract that runs through 2028, but faces the inevitable decision of firing him along with starting over.
Firing Napier would trigger a multi-million dollar buyout at approximately $21.7 million if he is let go before the end of the 2025 season.
Napier has remained stoic in public despite the never ending speculation of his job.
“We’re building something here,” Napier said after the Miami loss. “It doesn’t happen overnight. We’re going to keep fighting.”