Put Billy Napier all the way back on the hot seat.
A year after hot seat talk loomed over everything Florida did before the school gave Napier a public display of confidence, get ready for it to crank up in a way it hasn’t before.
It is deserved after Napier’s pitiful end-of-game coaching display in a 18-16 loss to South Florida. From surrendering the ball in only 27 seconds after calling two pass plays when No. 13 Florida needed to burn the clock late in the fourth quarter, to an unfortunate spitting incident that set the Bulls in motion for a game-winning field goal, Napier committed coaching malpractice down the stretch.
Taking nothing away from an upstart South Florida team that will have a shot to make the playoff, Florida blew this one as bad as you can. It’s the most embarrassing display inside Ben-Hill Stadium since Marco Wilson threw a shoe back in 2020. Florida was an 18.5-point favorite and yet couldn’t even manage that many points behind what was supposed to be one of the country’s top quarterbacks in DJ Lagway.
Napier’s back is against the wall yet again. He found a way off it a year ago but the circumstances have changed and the path is now even more treacherous.
“We created it,” Napier said after the game. “We deserve it. If you play football like that, you’re going to be criticized. It comes with the territory, right? Only thing you can do is go get it fixed, and that’s what we’ll start working on tomorrow.”
Before the game a high-level industry source brought up an interesting aspect that makes this year different: Florida AD Scott Stricklin this week received a five-year contract extension that runs through 2030.
Stricklin repeatedly defended Napier a year ago, in part because there was a belief their futures could be tied together. Stricklin told people privately he had the power to keep or fire Napier, but after already firing two previous hires in Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen, there were industry questions on how that would play out in reality. Ultimately, Florida made the call to keep Napier and it paid off with a strong finish with wins over Ole Miss and LSU that made the Gators a trendy playoff pick this preseason.
Now, as one source told CBS Sports earlier this week, Stricklin doesn’t have to be as loyal to Napier. He hired a men’s basketball national championship winner in Todd Golden, an important bullet point on Stricklin’s resume. A year ago Stricklin was nervous about the situation; now he has the confidence to do what is needed. The money was there a year ago to fire Napier, according to sources, and will be there again if needed.
“Scott was hoping it’d work out for his own sake a bit,” said a source familiar with the situation. “Scott wanted to preach patience last year. Now that he’s got a new five-year deal and some security if Billy goes 6-6, is he going to do it?”
After a loss to South Florida, a 6-6 record starts looking more and more possible. Especially when you look at the Gators’ next four games: at No. 3 LSU, at No. 5 Miami, No. 7 Texas and at No. 19 Texas A&M. Oh, and by the way, even if Florida somehow goes 2-2 through that gauntlet, it’ll still have games against No. 4 Georgia, No. 14 Florida State, No. 20 Ole Miss and No. 22 Tennessee.
If Florida dumps Napier, it will owe him $19.38 million with 50% of it due within 30 days of the decision. That is a lot of money, especially in the rev-share era, but the cost of doing nothing could be even greater. There was hope that Florida could be nationally competitive this season, in spite of its challenging schedule, with Lagway leading the way. This was the Florida team that needed to take the leap, to have a real chance of making the playoff when the calendar turned to December.
Florida didn’t look anywhere close to that caliber team against South Florida.
Napier has a chance to earn back a lot of goodwill if he can beat LSU next weekend in Baton Rouge. The anger in losing at home to South Florida won’t soon subside, but a win over a top-5 opponent would show it was more aberration than what’s to come this season. Another loss and the pressure just ratchets up that much more on Stricklin to cut Napier loose.
Napier handled the hot seat talk well a year ago and kept a steady hand in the face of considerable criticism. He survived in spite of many all but writing him off at the beginning of the season.
Now, we’ll see if he can do it all over again. The detractors are out with pitchforks once more, and the escape route looks more unlikely than ever.
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