Billy Napier’s Top 5 Replacements as Florida Football Coach

The Florida Gators are looking for a new coach. Florida fired head coach Billy Napier. After weeks of speculation and reports that boosters met with Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin, the team made a move ahead of opening week. Here are the best options for replacing Napier in Florida.

Lane Kiffin has been linked to multiple head coaching jobs, even as he leads Ole Miss to another successful season. There are reports that the rebel coach and the school is working on a potential expansion. Kiffin is known as a quality recruiter and someone who has excelled on the transfer portal. Both are questions the Gators have had in recent years. He also turned the Ole Miss program around.

The program struggled after Hugh Freeze was fired for recruiting violations. After three straight seasons without a winning record under Matt Luke, the school hired Kiffin. He has won ten games three times and is well on his way to doing so for a fourth. The Rebels are already 6-1 on the year, but they are after losing to Georgia. Regardless, the team is still ranked eighth in the AP poll, and a win will likely clinch the team a playoff berth.

If Kiffin and Ole Miss don’t agree to an extension, Kiffin could be on the market. Considering he’s 50-19 with the team, it’s likely Ole Miss won’t let him move on to a new job without a fight.

Alex Goles – South Florida head coach

Alex Goles will be a hot commodity in the next coaching cycle. He has experience at both Florida State and the SEC. After beginning his college coaching career at Ohio State, he spent time at Toledo, Illinois and Iowa State. Goles was the offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at UCF in the 2020 season, leading the Knights to the nation’s second-leading rushing offense and eighth-leading scoring offense.

The coach would then follow Heupel to Tennessee for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. And he made an immediate impact there, improving Tennessee from 108th in rushing offense to seventh. His success there landed him a job in South Florida. In his first two years, USF went 7-6 each year, winning bowl games both seasons.

His Bulls are having an incredible season. The team started with an upset over Boise State and then in The Swamp against Florida. After falling to Miami, South Florida has won four straight. The offense scored 48 or more points in all four games, while winning all four by 25 or more points. South Florida is currently the top-ranked five-team group in the AP poll, which could earn the team a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Glen Shuman – Georgia defensive coordinator

If the Gators want a quality coordinator to take over the team, Glen Shuman would be a top choice. Shuman does not have much experience and no coaching experience. However, the experience he has is wonderful. From 2008 to 2014, he was a student and graduate assistant for Alabama under Nick Saban. He then spent two years as director of football operations for the Crimson Tide until 2015. During that time, he was part of four national championship teams.

Shuman then joined Kirby Smart’s coaching staff at Georgia for the 2016 season. He spent three seasons as the inside linebackers coach before becoming the defensive coordinator in 2019 with current Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. When Lanning left for Oregon, he became a solo defensive coordinator. Since then, he has won two more national championships at Georgia and appeared in the second, losing to Alabama.

Shuman has coached multiple quality defenses and been a part of championship programs. Although he has no work experience at the head, the student of both Saban and Smart is a quality candidate.

James Franklin– Former Penn State head coach

James Franklin was recently fired by Penn State. On Saturday, he appeared on ESPN’s College GameDay, discussing his decommitment from Penn State. Franklin made it clear that his goal is still to win the title. Now they will look for a new home to win the title, and Florida has an attractive opening.

Franklin has turned programs around in the past. From 1983 to 2010, Vanderbilt won more than five games just once and played in just one bowl game. In three seasons at Vandy, Franklin won six games in all three, including two nine-win seasons. He also appeared in three bowl games. Franklin also twice placed Vanderbilt in the Top 25 at the end of the season, something the team had not done since 1948.

The coach then moved on to Penn State, a program that had just lost Bill O’Brien after two seasons and was still reeling from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Franklin won the Big Ten once, was named All-FBS Coach of the Year, and consistently had winning programs. The team also went to the CFP semifinals in 2024. After a poor start in 2025, Penn State fired Franklin.

While he never won a big game at Penn State, he’s still a quality head coach, and this would be a solid job for the Gators.

Urban Meier– Former coach of Utah, Florida and Ohio

Since 2011, Florida has appeared in four SEC title games but has not won a conference title. They have also had four different coaches, and have only won four times in ten games. From 2005 to 2010, the team won ten or more games three times, won the SEC title twice and played for a third conference title. They also won the BHS state championship twice. The coach at that time was Urban Meyer.

Meyer was an outstanding coach in college. He was 17-6 in two years at Bowling Green. He then went 22-2 at Utah before going to Florida. At Florida, he was 65-15 and won two titles. He then went 83-9 at Ohio State, with three Big Ten titles and another national title.

Meyer was recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was also clear, he will not return to coaching. He made the remark after the 2024 season. Meyer has been known to change his mind in the past. He did so in 2009 at Florida when he initially said he would resign, but then only took a leave of absence and coached through the 2010 season. He also said he was done after his time at Ohio State, but ended up coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars. While bringing back Meyer would be very difficult, the Gators could ask if he’s interested.