He was fired as the head coach by the Florida Gators.
Billy Napier, the football coach at Florida, has come under tremendous scrutiny for his work performance after just 18 games into his career, with a 9-9 record.
It intensifies even more in contests like Saturday’s 33-14 loss against Kentucky.
In his four years at the school, the Gators’ second-year coach took Louisiana from a 5-7 record the year before his arrival to a 33-5 record in the final three years. Since then, the team has had sporadic success at Florida, most notably a 29-16 victory against then-No. 9 Tennessee on September 16 of this year and a season-opening victory against a top-10 Utah team in 2022.
The Gators’ failings under Napier, though, have been far more noticeable.
Florida lost its game against Vanderbilt last season, which was only the second time since 1988 that the team had lost to the historically bottom-of-the-SEC team. It had not lost to the Commodores since 2013. The Gators’.500 SEC record was ruined by that defeat.
Florida was defeated 30-3 by Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl of the previous season. With 37 seconds left in the game, the Gators made a field goal to continue their NCAA-record streak of winning games without being shut out.
With a 9-9 record in his first 18 games, Napier has had the poorest start as a Florida coach since Charley Pell in 1979–1980.
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Some in the fan base are questioning if the Gators would cut Napier so short of his time in Gainesville and, if they did, what they would owe him contractually in light of his struggles at a historically decorated program with great expectations.
When Florida hired Napier in November 2021, it was one of six prominent programs with coaching openings (Southern Cal, Notre Dame, LSU, and Oklahoma were among the others).
He received a large contract from the university that more than tripled his pay at Louisiana. According to USA Today’s coaching compensation database, he was paid $7.27 million in 2022, which placed him fifth among SEC coaches and eleventh among FBS coaches in the previous season.
If Billy Napier is dismissed, what is his buyout?
Florida will owe Napier 85% of his whole remaining yearly compensation during the otherwise unexpired term if it chooses to fire him without cause.
