Generally viewed as one of the very best football programs in the country, the Florida Gators have fallen on hard times in recent years, and while their slide hasn’t entirely coincided with the arrival of head coach Billy Napier, Napier certainly hasn’t helped.
Between 2021 and 2023, Florida logged three straight losing seasons for the first time since 1947, and Napier was responsible for the last two of them. Yes, he guided the Gators to an 8-5 record and a bowl win last year, but let’s face it: Florida isn’t accustomed to contending for scraps.
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Sure, the Gators have not won a national championship since January 2009, but they had at least remained one of the top teams in the nation since. Well, up until the past several years, that is.
Florida’s discouraging slide has many wondering if Napier is coaching for his job in 2025, and Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon certainly seems to think he is, naming Napier among seven coaches on the hot seat this fall.
“He’s safe today, yet that doesn’t mean his seat is significantly cooled,” Kenyon wrote. “If the Gators lose to LSU and Miami in September, for example, the questions will immediately return. Texas and Texas A&M await in October, with Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee all looming in November. Napier probably won’t return in 2026 if the losses stack up again.”
Florida is ranked 15th in the country going into the new campaign, so there are definitely expectations in Gainesville right now. Here’s the problem, though: after matchups with Long Island and South Florida to begin their season, the Gators will face four straight ranked opponents. Three of them — LSU, Miami and Texas — are all ranked ahead of Florida.
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The Gators then have three more games against ranked teams remaining on their schedule after that murderer’s row between September and October.
Napier will certainly have his work cut out for him, but at this point, he likely won’t have the excuse of a difficult schedule to save his job.
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