Billy Napier has about $21 million and a lot of options.
The Gators bought the former Florida football head coach out of his contract Oct. 19 after 45 games at the helm. He is one of nine FBS coaches who have been dismissed in the 2025 college football season. Seven of those vacancies are among Power Four programs.
With plenty of jobs open and more guaranteed to come following the regular season’s conclusion in late November, Napier might land another head coaching gig in the near future.
“He’s leaving this place in a much better position than when he found it,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said Oct. 20. “He's got a lot of good days ahead of him, I'm convinced of that.”
A former member of Nick Saban’s coaching tree, Napier coached at Alabama alongside Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal. Those connections could foreshadow a potential landing spot for the 46-year-old.
He could also be a candidate for a lower-profile head coaching position at a Group of Five school, like UAB or Colorado State, both of which fired their head coaches in October.
Or, Napier could return to where he had the most success: Louisiana.
Michael Desormeaux has served as the head coach of the Ragin’ Cajuns since Napier left for Gainesville, but has had mixed results, holding a 25-24 record during his tenure and a 2-6 record this year.
If Louisiana were to let go of Desormeaux, Napier would be an obvious choice to fill the vacancy at the school he led to unprecedented success.
“Coach Napier was an incredible man, incredible leader,” said UF interim head coach Billy Gonzales Oct. 20. “I look around and what he's done for this program, it's always hard.”
A number of other jobs around the country are expected to open as the coaching cycle continues. Michigan State (3-5), Wisconsin (2-6), Kentucky (2-5) and South Carolina (3-5) have coaches on the hot seat and consider Napier as a candidate for an open job.
Napier likely wouldn’t be eligible for jobs at Penn State or LSU due to his lack of success at Florida and each program’s hiring standard.
More likely, however, would be for Napier to follow in the footsteps of the three Florida coaches dismissed before him and take a bridge job elsewhere before stepping back into a head coaching position.
Napier’s predecessor, Dan Mullen, took a more unconventional path following his firing on Nov. 21, 2021. Mullen landed at Lake Oconee Academy, a K-12 charter school in Greensboro, Georgia, where he joined as a “contributing resource” in May 2022.
He then joined ESPN as a college football analyst that August, where he remained until 2024. He was hired as UNLV head coach last December. This year, his Rebels have a 6-1 record.
Jim McElwain, who was UF’s head coach before Mullen, was dismissed from UF on Oct. 29, 2017. He was named the wide receivers coach at Michigan on Feb. 20, 2018, a position he held throughout the season.
Then, on Dec. 2, 2018, Central Michigan hired McElwain as head coach. He served as the Chippewas’ head coach for six seasons, holding a 33-36 record before he retired from coaching. He currently serves as a special assistant to the athletic director at Central Michigan.
Similar to McElwain, former UF head coach Will Muschamp served as an assistant coach for a prestigious program for one season before taking another head coaching position.
After UF fired him on Nov. 16, 2014, Muschamp agreed to become Auburn’s defensive coordinator a month later.
After one year with the Tigers, he was named South Carolina head coach on Dec. 6, 2015, a position he held until 2020. He then joined Georgia’s coaching staff, where he currently serves as a defensive analyst.
If Napier were to follow a similar path, he could join a staff as a quarterback coach or an offensive analyst, two positions he’s previously held.
Cushioning the blow for Napier is his buyout, which Stricklin said the school will honor. That gives him time to figure out his next steps.
Meanwhile, the Gators will continue their season under interim head coach Billy Gonzales as they look for their long-term answer for head ball coach.
“[We] have one goal: to move forward and continue to do our job,” Gonzales said. “Everything we do is put on film. Everything we do is going to be out there. Make sure you — every rep you take as a player, it's your resumé. And for us, as a coaching staff, we've got to go do the same thing.”
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his sixth semester at The Alligator and now serves as The Alligator's Football Reporter and is a junior sports journalism student. He previously served as The Alligator's Sports Editor, and served as reporter for women's tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. He wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and also loves niche professional athletes (shoutout Tomas Fleischmann).
