Midway through his fourth season, Billy Napier was relieved of his duties as Florida’s head coach on Oct. 19. The Gators started the season 3-4 and barely beat Mississippi State on Oct. 18.
As the Gators begin the look for their next head ball coach, wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales will serve as the interim coach for the final five games of the season.
"I have named Billy Gonzales as the interim head coach," UF athletic director Scott Stricklin said in an official statement. "Coach Gonzales has been a valued member of our program for many years, including being a part of multiple championship teams. He is a Gator through and through. His deep understanding of our culture, our student-athletes, and what it means to represent the University of Florida makes him well-suited to lead our team.
Gonzales has established himself as one of the more seasoned coaches in the country, serving as a wide receivers coach for nine different collegiate programs.
After playing wide receiver at Colorado State from 1989-93, Gonzales began his coaching career as the wide receivers coach at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
He then served in the same position at both Kent State and Bowling Green. During his time at Bowling Green, he coached under former Florida head coach Urban Meyer and alongside former Florida head coach Dan Mullen and former Florida run game coordinator John Hevesy.
Gonzales followed Meyer to Utah in 2003 and later to Florida in 2005, when Meyer was hired as head coach. After three years serving as UF’s wide receivers coach, he was promoted to recruiting coordinator in 2008.
He departed Florida in 2010, joining Louisiana State as its wide receivers coach until 2012, when he became co-offensive coordinator at Illinois. He then returned to the SEC in 2013, becoming co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach under Mullen at Mississippi State.
When Mullen was poached by Florida in 2018, Gonzales joined the staff alongside him as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. However, when Mullen was later dismissed in late 2021, Gonzales left UF to serve as Florida Atlantic wide receivers coach in 2022. He then returned to Florida in 2023 to serve under Napier.
Gonzales has coached 30 NFL draft selections during his collegiate career. That list includes multiple standouts, including former LSU wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, former Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott.
Most recently, Gonzales has led a talented Florida wide receiver room in 2025 that features two of the top freshmen in the country, Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown III.
"Billy G has been an absolute professional since the day he arrived,” Napier said in 2023. “He's a good man. He's got character, I think he cares about the players, and he's certainly an expert at what he does."
His first game as interim coach will be against No. 9 Georgia on Nov. 1.
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).
