Billy Napier survived a near-firing last year, but after several struggles, it wasn’t to be this time around. With the Florida Gators sitting at 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference, athletic director Scott Stricklin pulled the trigger Sunday, ending a tenure that promised much but ultimately delivered little. With Napier gone, who could replace the fired Gators head coach?
Who Could Florida Hire to Replace Billy Napier?
Following blowout losses at home to Miami and Texas A&M last year, particularly coming off two mediocre-at-best seasons, it seemed the writing was on the wall for Napier. In fact, USA Today reported that a group of boosters was ready to pay Napier’s $28 million buyout.
That didn’t happen, with Stricklin coming in and putting a stop to the movement and backing Napier as the leader the program needs. It initially worked out, with the Gators going on to defeat LSU and Ole Miss, building confidence to end the year. But that didn’t carry over to 2025.
NEW: Florida fans chant “Fire Billy”😬
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— On3 (@On3sports) October 18, 2025
Following three embarrassing losses, including a Week 2 humbling at the hands of the South Florida Bulls, Napier was on the hot seat throughout the 2025 college football season, and even with a win against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Week 8, the writing had been on the wall for a long time.
Napier’s buyout is approximately $21 million, which means Florida absorbs a massive financial hit for firing the much-maligned head coach. However, as we’ve seen at multiple programs so far this season, the short-term financial loss can be overlooked for the long-term forecast of the football team.
Lane Kiffin, HC, Ole Miss
No. 1 on the Gators’ call sheet should be Lane Kiffin. Poaching the SEC offensive guru may not take much convincing for several reasons:
1) He married and had three children with a Florida alum (Layla Reaves), and 2) He wants to be former Gators legend Steve Spurrior, saying, “When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.”
Kiffin has gone 50-19 at Ole Miss since 2020, making him the third-winningest coach in school history, delivering back-to-back 10-win campaigns for the first time since 1960 for Ole Miss.
Of course, Kiffin has a reputation as a flight risk, bolting from Tennessee after one year for USC, leaving FAU after three years for Ole Miss, and has been linked to every major job opening over the past few years, raising questions about whether he’d actually stay in Gainesville long-term. Some even view him as more style than substance, and his Twitter trolling doesn’t help shake that image.
But if Florida wants someone who can immediately energize the fanbase, modernize the offense, recruit at an elite level, and bring genuine swagger back to the program, Kiffin is their man.
Marcus Freeman, HC, Notre Dame
Marcus Freeman just signed a four-year extension last December that locks him in at Notre Dame through 2030 with a bump from $7 million to $9 million annually. That puts his total deal somewhere around $54 million, which would make him extremely expensive to pry away from South Bend, but not impossible for a Florida program desperate to make a splash.
Freeman is the kind of young, energetic recruiter who could inject life into a Gators fanbase that’s been dying for new life, and his defensive pedigree would immediately address one of Florida’s biggest weaknesses. Would he want to leave the Fighting Irish? Probably not, but it never hurts to test the waters.
Will Stein, OC, Oregon
One of the hottest names in college football, Will Stein is expected to receive many phone calls for open head coach positions next offseason.
The 36-year-old has turned Oregon into an offensive juggernaut over three years and has proven he’s a certified QB whisperer who turned Bo Nix into a first-round pick, Dillon Gabriel into a third-rounder, and is developing Dante Moore into a potential star. Now, Stein has zero head coaching experience, which isn’t ideal for navigating the SEC’s week-to-week gauntlet.
Nonetheless, if Florida wants an offensive-minded leader who can modernize the attack, develop DJ Lagway, and bring genuine excitement back to The Swamp, Stein is the kind of home-run swing that could define the next several years.
Alex Golesh, HC, USF
Next off the Group of Five train is likely Alex Golesh, who has USF on a 5-1 run and actually knocked off the Gators earlier this year. The offensive savant took over a dumpster fire in Tampa, as USF went 1-11 in 2022 under Jeff Scott. He immediately flipped the program to bowl eligibility in Year 1 (7-6), then followed it up with another 7-6 campaign in 2024 before this breakout season.
Golesh cut his teeth under Josh Heupel at UCF and Tennessee, where he orchestrated one of the most explosive offenses in college football history in 2022 (538.1 yards per game, 74 touchdowns), helping the Vols shatter eight single-season records.
Golesh has shown he can recruit the state while running an up-tempo, explosive offensive system that would be a breath of fresh air for a fanbase that’s watched Napier’s plodding attack suffocate for four years.
James Franklin, Ex-HC, Penn State
James Franklin is freshly on the board after Penn State pulled the plug, and the Nittany Lions are on the hook for a staggering $48.6 million buyout, the second-largest in college football history behind only Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher disaster.
The good news for Penn State? That buyout has offset language, meaning whatever Franklin gets paid at his next stop reduces what they owe him, so expect Happy Valley to be rooting for the Gators to back up the Brink’s truck.
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Franklin already has SEC ties from his Vanderbilt days, where he went 24-15 across three seasons with back-to-back nine-win campaigns.
If the Gators want a proven Power Four coach with SEC experience who can recruit at an elite level, Franklin checks every box, even if his Penn State ending leaves some skepticism about whether he can actually finish the job.
