GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin enters his third football coaching search with something he didn\u2019t have in the last one.<\/p>\n
Time.<\/p>\n
By firing Billy Napier on Sunday<\/a> after a 3-4 start, though less than 24 hours after a win over Mississippi State<\/a>, Stricklin has a longer runway to vet candidates and identify who the Gators will hire as their fifth full-time head coach since Urban Meyer left in 2010.<\/p>\n \u201cTime is an asset,\u201d Stricklin said Monday. \u201cThe more time you have, the easier it is.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a marked change from 2021 when Stricklin fired another coach he hired, Dan Mullen, with one game left in the regular season. With the recruiting early signing period looming, Stricklin quickly zeroed in on Napier, who went 40-12 at Louisiana and was on his way to a Sun Belt championship.<\/p>\n The move did not work. Napier\u2019s 22-23 record is the worst by a full-time Gators coach in 65 years.<\/p>\n Stricklin declined to pinpoint why Napier struggled but acknowledged that some of the problems came back to an offense that\u2019s second-to-last in the SEC in scoring (22.4 points per game). Napier, a former offensive coordinator at Clemson and Arizona State, never hired a primary play caller despite external pressure to do so. Stricklin said he told Napier the coach\u2019s strengths \u201cmay be in leading the program and overseeing the bigger picture,\u201d but he did not meddle with individual staffing decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably part of the reason we\u2019re here today,\u201d Stricklin said.<\/p>\n With Napier gone, quarterbacks coach Ryan O\u2019Hara will call the plays under interim coach Billy Gonzales.<\/p>\n The Gators are off this week before continuing one of the nation\u2019s toughest schedules against No. 5 Georgia. Stricklin will be able to devote much of his time to finding Napier\u2019s replacement, with help from a search firm, TurnkeyZRG.<\/p>\n Although Ole Miss\u2019 Lane Kiffin<\/a> is widely viewed as a top target<\/a>, Stricklin said he expects to consider a \u201cwide variety of candidates.\u201d Florida joined Penn State as the top open jobs on the market<\/a>, but others like Auburn and Wisconsin<\/a> could follow in what will likely be an active coaching carousel. One of the Gators\u2019 rivals, Florida State, announced Monday<\/a> it will assess its program under Mike Norvell at the end of the season.<\/p>\n Stricklin did not put a timetable on the hiring process, but the early signing period for high school players starts Dec. 3. Perhaps more importantly, the transfer portal window doesn\u2019t open until Jan. 2<\/a>. Current players can no longer enter the transfer portal immediately after a coaching change; they must wait until five days after a new coach is hired.<\/p>\n