Billy Napier is expected to be fired as the head coach at the University of Florida before the conclusion of the 2024 college football season. If he does manage to survive all 12 games, it is improbable that he will return for a fourth year without a miraculous turnaround down the stretch.
The Gators are likely going to be searching for their next coach on or before the first of December.
This is where things could get tricky in terms of timing. Many of the top candidates for the job may still be playing competitive football with their current programs when the athletic department in Gainsville needs to make a hire.
Rece Davis, Pete Thamel and Ryan McGee discussed the expected ouster and Napier’s potential successors on the most recent episode of the College Gameday Podcast. The lower third graphic indicated that ‘Florida Coach Search Likely To Center On Lane Kiffin.’
Other names included in ESPN’s hypothetical conversation included James Franklin, Eli Drinkwitz, Matt Campbell, Matt Rhule, Mike Gundy and even Ed Orgeron. Many of those names would pose a unique problem if current College Football Playoff projections hold.
As of this current moment, Ole Miss, Penn State, and Missouri are ranked inside the Top 12. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 15 as the potential Big 12 champion. Iowa State and Nebraska are not out of the mix either, though their CFP hopes are not quite as high.
How can Florida hire a College Football Playoff coach?
Let’s go ahead and imagine a situation where the Rebels, Nittany Lions, Tigers and Pokes all get in to the 12-team Playoff while the Gators target Kiffin, Franklin, Drinkwitz and Gundy.
The first round of the College Football Playoff is scheduled to begin on Dec. 20-21. College football’s early signing period will run from Dec. 4 through Dec. 6 and the transfer portal will open on Dec. 9.
That puts Florida in a sticky spot.
If the program does not fire Napier before Dec. 4, it will have to recruit with a lame duck head coach. If it fires Napier before Dec. 4 but does not hire his replacement, it will have to recruit without a head coach.
The same logic applies to the transfer portal. Who is going to transfer to a new program without knowing who their coach will be? Nobody.
On the other side of that conversation, none of the aforementioned coaches are going to leave their current programs to take a new job while their team is preparing for the Playoff or during the regular season. That would be preposterous.
The Gators would then be left with a difficult decision:
Do they go through the two most important periods of the college football offseason without a coach in hopes of landing a big fish after the Playoff?
OR…
Do they hire one of their lesser choices to ensure that they don’t lose their entire roster and their entire recruiting class during the first two weeks of December?
Florida might want James Franklin, Eli Drinkwitz, Matt Campbell, Matt Rhule or Mike Gundy. Its best hope of landing one of those five coaches to replace Billy Napier is a catastrophic failure by Penn State, Missouri, Iowa State, Nebraska and/or Oklahoma State.
And at that point, would the coach in charge of the program that collapsed even be of interest?