Florida Gives Billy Napier Vote of Confidence

Nobody had a hotter seat in all of college football than Billy Napier. With four games left on the schedule, the University of Florida announced that it is sticking with its head football coach for the 2025 season.

Athletics director Scott Stricklin, another figure who has been widely criticized by Florida football fans, gave Napier a complete vote of confidence just two days before the Gators travel to Austin to take on fifth-ranked Texas.

“I am confident that Billy will meet the challenges and opportunities ahead,” he said in a statement. “We will work alongside him to support any changes needed to elevate Gator football.”

Napier is 15-18 in three years at Florida. However, as Stricklin notes, the Gators have shown some life over the last few weeks, despite difficult circumstances.

Graham Mertz suffered a season-ending knee injury in an overtime loss at Tennessee. The following week, freshmen DJ Lagway and Jadan Baugh tore up the Kentucky defense. They were going toe-to-toe with Georgia a week ago when Lagway was sidelined by an injury, ultimately resulting in a loss.

Florida must win two of its final four games to become bowl eligible, an impressive feat considering the schedule they faced this fall. The players rallied around Napier and it was enough for Stricklin to give him another year to let these talented freshmen grow with the head coach.

It also helps Napier’s cause that the Florida administration is a mess. The Florida president stepped down unexpectedly earlier this year. If Napier was going to get fired, Stricklin probably would too, but they’re not going to leave those decisions up to an interim president.

Napier and Sam Pittman were considered the two most likely SEC coaches to get canned following the 2024 season. Now the Arkansas head coach is a win away from the postseason and most believe he will be able to stick around for another year in Fayetteville.

Today’s news means that we’ll see Napier next fall in Lexington. He lost his first three meetings against the Wildcats, but the Gators took care of Kentucky with a 48-20 victory in Gainesville last month.

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