Five candidates to replace Billy Napier as Florida’s next HC

The Florida Gators beat Mississippi State by two points at the Swamp on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent head coach Billy Napier from being let go on Sunday.

According to multiple reports, Napier is out in Gainesville after there was hot-seat talk about him for much of the 2025 campaign. He only had one winning season at Florida, and Napier was just 22-23 overall, including 3-4 this season. His buyout is around $20M. In no particular order, here are five head coaches who should get a call from Gators brass to potentially replace Napier.

James Franklin, former Penn State HC

The Nittany Lions boss was abruptly fired a week ago amid a recent slide by the Big Ten Conference member. However, Franklin went 104-45 overall at Penn State, guiding the Nittany Lions to the semifinals of last season’s College Football Playoff. He said this weekend that he can’t wait to get back into coaching.

Kiffin has deep ties to the loaded Southeastern Conference, having previously served as Tennessee’s head coach and the offensive coordinator at Alabama. He’s in his sixth season at the helm of the Rebels, with a 50-19 overall record with that program. Ole Miss fell to Georgia in Week 8, but the Rebels are 6-1 overall and No. 8 in the major top-25 polls.

Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri HC

Another logical candidate for Florida, given that Drinkwitz is the boss of another SEC team. Missouri isn’t a perennial power in football, yet Drinkwitz has a 44-25 record there. He won at least 10 games in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. In the current campaign, the Tigers are 6-1 overall and ranked No. 15 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Key has the Yellow Jackets rolling these days. In Week 8, Georgia Tech bested Duke on the road. At 7-0 overall, the Yellow Jackets are the only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference that has yet to lose a game in 2025. On Sunday, Georgia Tech jumped to No. 7 in the AP and Coaches Top 25 polls. Key also has some SEC connections, having served as Alabama’s offensive line coach from 2016-18.

It’s probably a long shot that Florida could land Freeman, since he has a great thing going with the Fighting Irish. Still, the Gators should give him a call. After losing to top-10 teams Miami and Texas A&M at the beginning of the 2025 season, Notre Dame has rattled off five straight wins and is up to No. 12 in the AP Top 25 poll after conquering Southern California on Saturday. Freeman is 38-12 overall at Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish went to last season’s CFP championship game.