Billy Napier is going to return as the head football coach at the University of Florida in 2025. Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin made an announcement about the future of the college football program on Thursday prior a Week 11 matchup against fifth-ranked Texas.
This decision frees up a lot of money that was, essentially, already spent.
Napier was considered a virtual lock to be fired during or after the 2024 regular season as recently as mid-September. Nobody expected him to save his job. He is 15-18 in three seasons at Florida. The Gators have yet to break the .500 mark during his tenure.
However, a team that appeared to be dead in the water has shown signs of life over the last month with wins over UCF and Kentucky, a close 14-point loss to Georgia, and an overtime loss at Tennessee. Five-star freshman quarterback D.J. Lagway also appears to be as good as was promised.
With all of this in mind, in addition to some uncertainty surrounding the men’s basketball program, Stricklin (and his advisors) decided it is in the best interest of the university to retain Billy Napier into next season regardless of any upcoming wins and/or losses over the next few weeks.
A message from Scott Stricklin pic.twitter.com/NpLD6ktrHj
— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) November 7, 2024
But here’s the thing. Boosters at Florida already raised the necessary funds to fire the third-year head football coach. He was going to be owed a buyout of approximately $26.5 million and about half would be due right away.
The big money players in Gainesville rallied together to prepare a ~$13 million payment whenever it was time.
According to Neil Blackmon of Saturday Down South, that money can now be spent elsewhere. Instead of paying Napier $13 million not to coach and undergoing a complete program overhaul that would likely include a mass exodus of players, $13 million can instead go toward NIL.
Florida is drastically improved on the line of scrimmage, which is eye-opening/ With one of the best young players in the country in DJ Lagway and a defense making strides, we feel more NIL investment in players, especially in the portal, could make the Gators a great team in 2025. If we can do that without a coaching change, it creates even more room for NIL investment.
— A source close to the program told SDS
Hypothetically speaking, even $10 million would purchase at least three Power Four starters from the transfer portal. It could even be dispersed in a more wide-ranging manner to acquire a wealth of middle-to-upper tier talent around Lagway. The options are endless. That’s a lot of money to get back!