Within a matter of minutes, it was announced that UCLA was parting ways with DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech was parting ways with Brent Pry after each coach was winless to start the 2025 season and had no hope of turning things around. Don’t be surprised if Billy Napier is the next coach in college football that gets fired midseason; that’s how bad Florida’s season is going. To make it even worse, they were a preseason top 15 team and they probably won't see the rankings again this year.
Napier’s job was tied to DJ Lagway and the youthful roster the Florida Gators had last year and dubbed down on this year. Well after Lagway tossed five interceptions and proved he’s not the answer the Gators need, should Florida really be married to Napier as the coach any longer? His days are numbered and it’s not a matter of if he’ll get fired, but when.
I don’t think it will be before the Gators’ next game, but after the Gators play in-state rival Miami, a lot will come to the forefront for Napier, Lagway and this underperforming Florida football team. Here’s when I think Billy Napier will get fired and why.
The boosters already have Billy Napier’s buyout collected, they’re just waiting on the green light
You could argue the boosters had Napier’s buyout money, which is around $20 million, on standby for the last year and they’ve simply been waiting for Napier’s liaison, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, to pull the trigger. Well, they may finally get their wish because I don’t see how Napier makes it past this weekend.
The Miami game last year set the tone for a disappointing season and the Miami game this year will trigger a coaching change. If Miami looked like it did against South Florida against the Gators, they don’t stand a chance in a second-straight road game against a ranked opponent.
If Napier goes 0-2 against in-state opponents four games into the season and falls to 1-3 on the year with no wins over an FBS opponent in 2025, I don’t see how he can survive that. If Florida cares about turning things around, they’ll know it won’t happen with Napier. At this point, the only thing Napier can do is buy himself time.
The truth is, he won’t be the coach on the sideline next season, even if he has a miraculous turnaround like last year. Florida can’t be taken seriously if they continue to put false hope into the fan base with Napier as the coach. If Florida can’t win in Miami, there’s absolutely no way Napier can return the next week.
Why Billy Napier can’t survive a loss to Miami this week
Not only would it be the team’s third-straight loss and proof this team is far from being a serious contender, it would mark one of the most embarrassing stretches for an SEC coach and Napier doesn’t deserve to run this team further into the ground. This team is largely the product of Napier’s recruiting efforts, but for as good of a recruiter as he is, he is a terrible play caller, game manager and locker room manager.
This team needs a coach that can actually get the most out of them and not fail to improve this team. Florida has invested a large chunk of its NIL fund to the freshman and sophomores on this team and they can’t afford to either lose those players to the portal or ruin their potential. Just take Lagway for example, he’s much better than what he’s looked like this season.
Napier’s play calling is not helping him at all or this offense for that matter. If you just look at the passes he made against LSU, none of the receivers were schemed open. He was blindly throwing into double coverage. That’s not a productive offense and continuing to allow Napier to kill Lagway’s potential is only making this team worse.
Florida is in a terrible position and considering they have the hardest schedule in the country, letting Napier run this team into the ground helps nobody. Truthfully, he should be fired after the LSU game but his relationship with Stricklin is giving him an unusually long leash. That will get cut after this week.
The only way Florida will get better is if Napier is off the team. They need a real play caller and a real head coach that knows to to handle the SEC while dealing with some of the best athletes in college football. Napier fooled the Florida administration into thinking he was the guy and now they need to rectify that.