Even after Florida’s late-season surge in 2024, Billy Napier wanted a powerful encore, whereas navigating one other brutal schedule, to safe his long-term future as Gators coach.
After one other sluggish begin this season that featured losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, Napier couldn’t dig himself out of the canyon this time. He was fired Sunday with a ultimate report of 22-23 in Gainesville.
For the fifth time since City Meyer retired in December 2010, Florida is in search of a brand new head soccer coach. The job has its clear upsides — proximity to recruits, fan and monetary assist in addition to the flexibility to compete for nationwide championships — however the teaching churn in Gainesville is simple. Meyer received huge there however just for a comparatively brief interval. Florida had three straight AP top-6 finishes beneath Charley Pell and Galen Corridor within the mid-Eighties. In any other case, Steve Spurrier is the one coach to construct a sustainable winner with the Gators.
Florida gave Napier the mandatory assist to raise this system, and made clear beneficial properties in recruiting. Coaches who’ve confronted the Gators the previous two seasons repeatedly praised the expertise on the roster. However issues by no means got here collectively for lengthy stretches beneath Napier, as Florida didn’t make the 12-team School Soccer Playoff final season and wasn’t going to this season.
Athletic director Scott Stricklin obtained a contract extension this summer season and can be deciding on his third soccer coach. How a lot energy he really has within the rent is a query looming over this search. Florida has but to make the CFP, and actually must get this one proper. There can be no scarcity of curiosity for one of many prime jobs available on the market.
Candidates | Transfers | Recruits
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin: He’s the closest factor to Spurrier — with out all of the championships, in fact — in at this time’s school soccer: A brash, supremely assured coach whose presents for playcalling and quarterback improvement are simple. Kiffin, 50, has began to win extra notable video games within the SEC, taking down Georgia, South Carolina and others final season. He’s 27-6 for the reason that begin of the 2023 season. Whereas his greatest accomplishments have come as an assistant coach (he received nationwide titles as a coordinator at USC and Alabama), he led Florida Atlantic to Convention USA titles in 2017 and 2019, and is aware of the state and the league properly. Kiffin has indicated he may keep at Ole Miss for the lengthy haul — or no less than the marginally longer haul — however Florida can be foolish to not critically gauge his curiosity degree.
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz: Kiffin must be Florida’s prime goal inside the SEC, however Drinkwitz additionally deserves shut consideration. Like Spurrier, he’s an offensive-minded coach who delivers the products when behind a microphone and can carry a assured type of play to Gainesville. After a sluggish begin in Columbia, Drinkwitz, 42, guided Missouri to a Cotton Bowl title and a No. 8 end in 2023 and in addition has a 27-6 report for the reason that begin of the 2023 season. The Arkansas native might have Missouri positioned for its third straight profitable season in SEC play. Drinkwitz likes Missouri, which has proven him a stronger dedication over time, but when he needs to win a nationwide championship, he might search a transfer to a program like Florida.
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee: After guiding the Mustangs to the CFP of their first season as an ACC member, Lashlee is likely one of the prime teaching candidates on the market. His subsequent cease probably would carry him to the SEC, the place he twice coached with Auburn alongside Gus Malzahn and served because the Tigers’ offensive coordinator from 2013 to 2016. Lashlee, 42, additionally would carry expertise from inside the state of Florida, as he served as Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He has received 11 video games in every of the previous two seasons at SMU.
Washington coach Jedd Fisch: Few coaches have hopscotched across the school and NFL map fairly like Fisch, who at 49 has labored for seven NFL groups and 6 school squads for the reason that 2002 season. He views Washington as extra of a long-term play after reviving Arizona’s program with a 10-win season in 2023, but when there was a vacation spot job that existed for Fisch, it could be Florida, his alma mater. He frolicked as a scholar assistant and a graduate assistant with Spurrier and has labored within the state as an offensive coordinator for Miami and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Washington definitely doesn’t need to lose one other gifted coach so quickly, but when Fisch has a giant season, Florida might come calling. Fisch is 11-8 at Washington.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman: Each teaching search, particularly one for a coveted job like Florida’s, wants a shoot-your-shot candidate or two. Freeman appears very completely satisfied at Notre Dame, which has rewarded him financially and sure will proceed to take action this offseason, particularly if he returns to the CFP. Notre Dame definitely doesn’t need to lose a second consecutive coach to an SEC workforce, however Freeman, 39, is likely one of the hottest coaches available on the market and would energize Florida along with his on-field monitor report and his recruiting strategy. The Dayton, Ohio, native has spent his whole taking part in and training profession in two states — Ohio and Indiana — and must alter to life within the SEC. However he has recruited nationally and proven he can win persistently, particularly throughout final yr’s playoff run. Florida can be silly to not no less than gauge his curiosity. — Adam Rittenberg
QB DJ Lagway: Can the following head coach hold Lagway in Gainesville? The sophomore QB has been extraordinarily loyal to Napier and invested in increase this program with him. The retention of Lagway will probably be a significant precedence for whomever takes this job. Lagway has struggled this season, rating final amongst SEC starters in QBR (56.7) and fifteenth in yards per try (6.82), and has handled accidents all through his two seasons at Florida. He’ll nonetheless probably have a possibility to be one of many highest-paid QBs within the nation subsequent yr, no matter how his sophomore season performs out.
If the Texas native needs to play nearer to house, he’ll have choices. Texas A&M tried laborious to flip Lagway’s recruitment on the final minute after Mike Elko took over in December 2023. His father, Derek Lagway, performed at Baylor within the late Nineties. Lagway can be getting into his junior season and draft-eligible subsequent yr, so placing himself in the perfect place for his improvement and the NFL — whether or not that’s with a brand new regime at Florida or elsewhere — will undoubtedly affect this choice.
RB Jadan Baugh: As a freshman, Baugh emerged because the Gators’ main rusher with 916 dashing yards and eight TDs on 5.4 yards per carry. Getting into Week 8, Baugh ranked third amongst all FBS backs in pressured missed tackles (47), in response to ESPN Analysis, and greater than 750 of his 1,284 profession dashing yards have come after first contact. On Saturday, he rushed for a career-best 150 yards to assist energy the Gators’ win over Mississippi State. Baugh can have two extra seasons of eligibility and is predicted to obtain vital SEC and nationwide curiosity.
LB Myles Graham: Graham has moved into the beginning lineup as a sophomore and leads Florida with 40 tackles, 3.5 TFLs and three go breakups. The son of former Gators and NFL operating again Earnest Graham got here in because the fourth-ranked outdoors linebacker within the 2024 ESPN 300 and proved he was able to play with a productive season in a reserve position, incomes SEC All-Freshman recognition. It’ll most likely be powerful to tug him away from Gainesville given his household ties, however he’s a gifted playmaker.
WR Vernell Brown III: The true freshman wideout, ESPN’s No. 41 total recruit for 2025, earned a beginning position instantly and has a team-high 32 catches for 463 yards by seven video games. He’s the son and grandson of former Gators, so there’s plenty of loyalty there, however Brown will command main curiosity. You can put a number of extra Gators extensive receivers on this checklist, too, between Dallas Wilson, Eugene Wilson III and Aidan Mizell. All 4 can be critically coveted in the event that they discover transfers.
DT Caleb Banks: Banks turning down the NFL for yet another season with the Gators was an enormous deal for Napier and his workers. He’s one in all ESPN’s prime three defensive deal with prospects for the 2026 draft and can virtually definitely go professional after this season, however Banks might return for one additional season if he wants a medical redshirt. The 6-foot-5, 330-pound senior missed the primary two video games due to a foot damage, reinjured it towards LSU and is now anticipated to be out indefinitely. — Max Olson
DE JaReylan McCoy, No. 9 within the ESPN 300: McCoy dedicated to the Gators over LSU and Texas in June, and the five-star edge rusher stays the top-ranked member of Florida’s 2026 class. McCoy and his household have spoken usually about his consolation with the Gators, emphasizing that his pledge is tied as a lot, if no more, to this system as it’s to Napier and his workers. Florida’s in-season choice to maneuver on from Napier will certainly take a look at that resolve. McCoy spent a month dedicated to LSU earlier this yr, and the Tigers have continued their efforts with him this fall, as have Ole Miss and Texas, amongst others.
QB Will Griffin, No. 69 within the ESPN 300: A Gainesville native whose household went to UF, Griffin has been dedicated to the Gators since June 2024, and his recruitment has been successfully shut down for greater than a yr. As issues stand, there’s nothing to recommend Griffin can be on the transfer quickly. However Napier’s departure no less than cracks the door for any QB-needy program to examine in on ESPN’s No. 6 pocket passer. If different elite commits start spilling out of Florida’s class, determining hold Griffin within the fold can be crucial for the Gators.
RB Davian Groce, No. 36 total: An August commit, Groce would symbolize the Gators’ highest-ranked operating again signee since Kelvin Taylor within the 2013 cycle. Florida emerged late in Groce’s recruiting course of to beat finalists Baylor, Houston and Oklahoma to ESPN’s No. 4 operating again prospect. These colleges will probably circle again with Groce, whose Gators pledge looms particularly massive if fellow Florida operating again Carsyn Baker — an early fall flip goal of Auburn, Florida State and South Carolina — reopens his recruitment and heads elsewhere. — Eli Lederman