Another major reason factored into Florida keeping Billy Napier for 2025

The more layers that get peeled back in the aftermath of Florida's announcement that it was retaining Billy Napier for the 2025 season, the more it seems like the Gators felt they were in an unwinnable situation. 

First, it was speculated that the fear of losing a promising young core of talent wasn’t worth letting Napier go after a less than satisfying season. His large buyout was another argument in support of keeping him around, and now there’s a third reason that ultimately Florida might have felt handcuffed to Napier: According to an article on CBS Sports, it essentially said the timing of firing Napier would have set the program back.

And it makes sense. The moment Florida decided to part ways with Napier, players could instantly hit the transfer portal, wreaking immediate havoc on the roster in the middle of the season. On top of that, the Gators most likely wouldn’t have a new coach in house before the end of the season. That means the upcoming transfer portal window in December would have been a waste as uncertainty with the head coaching position would also affect Florida’s opportunity to rebuild. 

Ultimately, the timing would have done more harm than good for the Gators, so it makes sense they hold off on letting him go for now given the strides DJ Lagway and Co. have made in recent weeks.

Keeping Billy Napier sounds good for now, but might not be good for the long term

For the short term, keeping Napier in Gainesville makes sense. The Florida football team isn’t in a great position, but signs of optimism have begun to peak through, and there's something to be said for stability: If the Gators parted ways with Napier, they’d be on their fourth coach in 10 years, and that has to take its toll on a program eventually. That instability would further separate the Gators from the rest of the college football heavyweights.

That said, deciding to keep Napier means that Florida also believes he's the best coach to build this young core up. But what if it doesn’t work? What if Florida never reaches their potential with the freshmen and sophomores that have gobs of NIL money tied to them? It wouldn’t have been worth keeping Napier around. There’s a chance losing Napier sets the team back, but there’s also a chance the new coach could instill belief that he can get the job done too. 

The fan base has already lost faith in Napier. Florida is running the risk of looking even more foolish keeping Napier and not getting any better results.