Billy Napier was tasked to turn around the Florida football program four years ago, but things have gotten worse, not better. And the 46-year-old paid for it on Sunday, when he was fired by the school just halfway through his seven-year contract.
Napier finished his Florida career with a 22-23 record, the first full-time Gators coach to post a losing record in nearly 80 years. Here's the story on Napier's firing and how it all went wrong from Gators Roundtable publisher Kevin McGeever.
Coaching legends Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer had great success in Gainesville, with both winning national championships. But since Meyer left in 2010, it's been all downhill for the Gators. Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and now Napier have failed to win at the national level. None of the four won the SEC or a national title, and the Gators haven't won more than eight games in a season since 2019.
The high-profile opening is sure to attract a lot of quality candidates. Here's a quick list of 10 potential candidates from Gators Roundtable reporter Bob Carskadon.
College football coaches fired in 2025 (so far)
- Billy Napier, Florida
- James Franklin, Penn State
- Trent Bray, Oregon State
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
- DeShaun Foster, UCLA
- Sam Pittman, Arkansas
- Trent Dilfer, UAB
- Brent Pry,: Virginia Tech
- Troy Taylor, Stanford
- Jay Norvell, Colorado State
- Kenni Burns, Kent State
Tom Brew is the National Editor-in-Chief at Roundtable Sports. You can follow him in Twitter (X) @tombrewsports
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