Next Florida Gators Football Coach: Who Replaces Billy Napier in Gainesville?
The hammer finally fell for fourth year Florida head coach Billy Napier, who went 22-23 for his career in Gainesville over the weekend after the Gators barely beat Mississippi State at home.
The win, which came as a heavy point favorite over the Bulldogs at college football betting sites, was the breaking point for UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin to move on from his embattled football coach.
All season, the team at Bookies.com has been hard at work coming up with an odds board of candidates to replace Napier at UF, with the man who beat them earlier in the season still sitting in the top spot right now.
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Who Replaces Billy Napier At Florida? A Look At The Candidates
| Coach | Current Position | Percentage Chance | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss Head Coach | 36.4% | +175 |
| Eli Drinkwitz | Missouri Head Coach | 23.5% | +325 |
| Jedd Fisch | Washington Head Coach | 7.4% | +1250 |
| James Franklin | Former Penn State Head Coach | 7.4% | +1250 |
| Alex Golesh | USF Head Coach | 6.3% | +1500 |
| Jon Sumrall | Tulane Head Coach | 3.8% | +2500 |
| Jeff Brohm | Louisville Head Coach | 2.8% | +3500 |
| Brent Key | Georgia Tech Head Coach | 2.0% | +5000 |
| Clark Lea | Vanderbilt Head Coach | 2.0% | +5000 |
| Rhett Lashlee | SMU Head Coach | 1.4% | +7000 |
| Brian Hartline | Ohio State Offensive Coordinator | 1.4% | +7000 |
| Jon Gruden | Former Raiders Head Coach | 1.2% | +8000 |
| The Field | — | 4.8% | +2000 |
Related: 2025 Next College Football Coach Fired Odds
Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss head coach): +175
One of college football’s greatest source of energy has been the 50-year-old lifer who made waves by jumping between jobs at the NCAA and NFL ranks, going from the Oakland Raiders to the Tennessee Volunteers and back to the USC Trojans between 2007 and 2013.
Lately, it seems like Lane’s figured things out, off and on the field, with the enigmatic sideline figure sitting still at Ole Miss from 2020 onward, going 50-19 in Oxford with a 3-2 record in bowl games during that stretch.
Still, it’s hard to see Kiffin turning down a shot at one of the crown jewels in the CFB coaching circuit, which is why we’ve included him on this list, as the allure of posting three 10-win seasons in four years is strong, though the pull of coaching in ‘The Swamp’ might, in fact, be stronger.
Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri head coach): +325
If Stricklin is looking for an unsexy but solid hire, then the sixth year head coach of the Missouri Tigers might be another intra-SEC candidate to consider. Drinkwitz, who looks more the part of an accountant than a major level football coach, has elevated UM’s program from the doldrums of .500 level play to consecutive double-digit win seasons, going 11-2 with a win in the Cotton Bowl in 2023 before finishing at 10-3 and 5-3 in SEC play last fall.
The 42-year-old Oklahoma native has no coaching experience in the Sunshine State, with NCAA stops at Auburn, Arkansas State, Boise State, NC State and Appalachian State, but there’s no denying that Drinkwitz has proven himself to be an excellent program builder during his time in Columbia.
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James Franklin, (Former Penn State Head Coach): +1250
James Franklin was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2014 to 2025, but was fired this season as the team got off to a slow start. With Franklin now free to pursue other opportunities, it makes sense for the Gators to reach out.
Plus, if anyone saw Franklin on GameDay last week, the former Nittany Lion seems plenty eager to prove he can win elsewhere.
Jedd Fisch (Washington head coach): +1250
Fisch is a man well-traveled, and with that comes connections all across the football coaching carousel. Should Kiffin and Drinkwitz resist the temptation to move within the SEC, Fisch may become a bigger fish here than most think.
At just 49 years of age, he led an impressive turnaround at Arizona and looks ready to do the same at Washington after a lean Year 1.
Fisch has coached under Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Sean McVay, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Shanahan.
Alex Golesh (USF head coach): +1500
Golesh has to be one of the most interesting men in college football. Hailing from Moscow, the 41-year-old has bounced around as an assistant, with stops at Ohio State, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma State, Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State, UCF and Tennessee.
The final two stops put him in the orbit of former UCF and current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, who has gone 39-15 in Knoxville since arriving in 2021, resuscitating a down-and-out Volunteers program.
While we’re not expecting Heupel himself to jump ship to one of UT’s biggest rivals, we are riding high on his former offensive coordinator to do just that, as Golesh has a real shot at parlaying a hot start into a bigger job in 2025.
On the heels of consecutive 7-6 seasons that saw the Bulls pick up wins in the Boca Raton and Hawaii bowls, Golesh might achieve newfound heights this fall, with USF sitting at No. 18 in the latest AP poll and their only loss coming against fifth ranked Miami on the road.
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