Andy Staples adds key details on Scott Stricklin backing Billy Napier to retain job

On Nov. 7, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin released a statement that confirmed the school will return head football coach Billy Napier “next season and beyond.” During an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, On3’s Andy Staples explained why Stricklin is sticking by Napier’s side amid a rocky 2024 campaign.

“I saw a lot of people say, ‘Oh, he never mentioned 2025.’ It says next season and beyond in the last sentence of the first paragraph. That is Scott Stricklin saying he expects Billy Napier to be Florida’s coach next year,” Staples said. “Now, why do this now?

“My guess is you don’t think you’re going to get the guy that would make everybody happy, which would be Lane Kiffin, and you don’t want to spend all that money to, one, fire Billy Napier and, two, hire somebody else who might not make anybody happy either.”

Earlier this season, reports surfaced claiming that Florida was extremely interested in hiring Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin if the school parted ways with Napier. However, due to financial barriers and Kiffin’s success with the Rebels, it doesn’t appear that Florida will be acquiring their dream coach anytime soon.

Florida is 4-5 this season but has played one of the toughest schedules in the nation. At the end of the day, Staples believes it may not be in Stricklin’s best self-interest to fire Napier.

“The other thing about Scott Stricklin is, remember, his path to longevity in this job is Billy Napier ultimately succeeds,” Staples said. “There’s an interim president of Florida. There’s no appetite for making huge changes right now.

“There’s a bunch of open jobs on the academic leadership side. They would like to get a president in place before they do any big-picture stuff. So, for Scott Stricklin, he can kick this can down the road.”

While Stricklin may be able to temporarily delay the process of making a weighty decision, he can’t avoid it forever. Staples knows Napier must succeed next season if he wants to maintain his position at the helm of Florida football.

“Maybe they do put a ton of money into NIL, get a great portal class, he hires some good coordinators to replace himself and the DC they have — and all of a sudden, it works and Scott Stricklin gets to stay, and everything’s hunky dory, Staples said.

“You will know by the end of December whether they’re actually serious about this, whether they’re going to do what they need to do to make this work. Because if they actually want this to work, they have to do what Ole Miss did this offseason. They have do what Ohio State did this offseason, and that will be done in the portal in December. If they don’t do that, they’re not serious, and it won’t work, and they’ll be back here again.”