Senior Bowl director warns LSU about Florida potentially hiring Billy Napier

The coaching carousel has been spinning almost non-stop this season. It claimed its latest victim on Sunday with the firing of Dan Mullen as Florida head coach.

One of the names that has popped up as a potential candidate for a Power 5 job is Billy Napier, who has worked wonders with Louisiana ever since taking the reins of the Ragin’ Cajuns in 2018. Louisiana is 10-1 and 7-0 in the Sun Belt’s West division this year. Naturally, with Baton Rouge a quick drive from Lafayette, Napier is a prime target for the LSU job and is reportedly among its 3 finalists.

With the firing of Dan Mullen on Sunday, though, Florida could make a strong play for the services of Napier. According to FOX Sports and The Athletic college football insider Bruce Feldman, the Gators have “genuine interest”, along with Virginia Tech, who fired Justin Fuente on Nov. 16.

Have heard Florida has genuine interest in Billy Napier and knows that Va. Tech does too. Interesting dynamic on the carousel right now: https://t.co/lkU572ig4V

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 23, 2021

Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy feels that the Tigers should proceed with caution, or they’ll let a perfectly good candidate that already is in heavy contact with high school coaches within the state head off to Gainesville instead:

If LSU lets Florida come into Louisiana and grab Billy Napier without making a serious push for him it could be end up being a serious miscalculation. Napier is ready for a big job and he already has great relationships with HS coaches in the state.

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) November 23, 2021

We’ll see how things shake out, but it’s set to be an extremely wild next few weeks.

Sydney Hunte

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.