Scott Stricklin failed to negotiate ‘duty-to-mitigate’ clause in Billy Napier’s buyout, per report
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
The Billy Napier era is over at Florida as the head coach has officially been fired as of Sunday afternoon. The buyout terms have since been reported as well, with the amount set at more than $21 million.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel is sharing a new nugget on the buyout, which is that Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin failed to negotiate a duty-to-mitigate clause for Napier. This means that Napier will be due the entirety of the buyout even if he gets a new head coaching job.
The duty-to-mitigate clause has often been included in buyout terms for other head coaches. Most recently, it was reported that James Franklin’s contract at Penn State includes a duty-to-mitigate clause.
The 46-year-old Napier finished with a 22-23 record in his time as Florida’s head coach. The Gators are 3-4 this season and coming off a 23-21 victory vs. visiting Mississippi State. Napier’s only winning season with the Gators was an 8-5 campaign in 2024, capped off with a victory vs. Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Napier couldn’t reach the same level of success at Florida as at his first head coaching stop. As the head coach at Louisiana from 2018-21, Napier had a 40-12 overall record while going 27-5 in the Sun Belt Conference with 2 conference titles.
Wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales will serve as Florida’s interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Florida has a bye this week and will return to action for the rivalry game vs. No. 5 Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov. 1 (3:30 p.m. ET/ABC).
