New Florida head coach Billy Napier was a hot name in college football coaching ranks when several jobs across the country, particularly in the SEC, all became available.

He talked about the numerous coaching offers he received on “The Paul Finebaum Show” Friday afternoon.

“A lot of prayer goes into these decisions. They don’t just affect me and my family, but they affect hundreds of people. Certainly affect the current team, they affect the future team, they affect the staff and their families,” he said. “So really diligent about having conversations with people I trust, some of my mentors in the profession and certainly a lot of prayer.”

Napier also explained why he stayed.

“I think I had a really good job, I worked for a great administration, Dr. Savoie and Dr. Maggard were outstanding,” he said. “Really enjoyed the community there in Lafayette. The people there, the culture there, and I felt like there’s so many individual stories in those locker rooms.”

“I think the job wasn’t complete, not with the people and the job wasn’t complete on the field. We worked hard there, we were chasing down Appalachian State there and certainly to kind of culminate that 4 years of work with a 12th win, 12 in a row, was a special moment there to host the conference championship game, and really a really a special moment for that group of people that had worked so hard.”

Napier was named Gators head coach on Nov. 28.