Florida fires head coach Billy Napier, per report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida has fired Billy Napier in his fourth season as head coach of the Gators. The news came Sunday via multiple outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel’s Edgar Thompson.
UF’s decision follows a Gator victory on Saturday. Florida defeated Mississippi State 23-21, bringing its season record to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in SEC play. Napier’s record as program head coach was 22-23 overall with a 12-16 mark in conference contests.
Florida only posted 1 winning season during Napier’s tenure. In Napier’s first season, 2022, a bowl game loss dropped UF to below .500 (6-7). The 2023 team did not go to a bowl game after a 5-7 regular-season record.
Napier’s best season came in 2024 when the Gators finished strong to post an 8-5 record. Napier was the subject of hot seat chatter in Year 3, but UF athletic director Scott Stricklin publicly pledged to retain Napier midseason. After Stricklin’s announcement, Florida won 4 of its final 5 games, including the Gasparilla Bowl.
The strong finish to 2024 led to some hype for the 2025 campaign. After a season-opening win over LIU, the Gators dropped 3 in a row to USF, LSU and Miami. Florida knocked off then-No. 9 Texas at home but fell to a top-5 Texas A&M team on the road the following week. Napier was 0-14 against ranked teams on the road in his UF tenure.
Napier arrived at Florida after going 40-12 in 4 seasons at Louisiana. As an assistant, Napier served under Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban.
Florida hired Napier following the dismissal of Dan Mullen during the 2021 season. Napier is the 4th Florida coach to be fired following Urban Meyer’s 2010 retirement.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
