{"id":23022,"date":"2025-10-27T23:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/23022\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T23:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:53:11","slug":"florida-coaching-search-live-updates-latest-news-rumors-gators-coaching-candidates-and-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/23022\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida coaching search live updates: Latest news, rumors, Gators coaching candidates and analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image Credit: UAA<\/a><\/p>\n

The Florida Gators are officially in the market to hire the 27th head football coach in program history. After firing Billy Napier seven games into his fourth season \u2014 his career ending as the first losing coach in 76 years \u2014 the Gators are now eyeing their fifth leader since Urban Meyer departed 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin\u2019s two football coaching searches have been vastly different; he spent the first in 2017 going after three candidates and landing his third choice, whereas four years later, Stricklin focused solely on Napier and landed his primary candidate. Stricklin is somehow being allowed to make this hire despite his first two failing after being given a five-year contract extension this year.<\/p>\n

College football changed drastically right as the Gators made their last coaching change with the advent of NIL rights and major alterations to recruiting and the transfer portal. The portal has changed once again this season, for the first time in the favor of coaches and teams who are replacing them. Florida players will not be allowed to enter the portal until five days after the team makes a coach hire as opposed to having an immediate 30-day window to leave.<\/p>\n

Still, it as crucial ever for the Gators to act quickly, and while the list of Florida coaching candidates<\/a> may be long, but it should actually be short for Stricklin. The turnaround is short from the end of the season to the the early signing period and portal, and Florida will need to lock up its hire as soon as possible so that person can hit the ground running. Considering the 2025 season is only at its midway point, it\u2019s likely that UF is as many as 6-7 weeks away from announcing its next coach.<\/p>\n

Only Gators will be with you the entire way with live updates on this page as we track the candidates and news surrounding one of the most prominent openings in college football this offseason.<\/p>\n

Monday, Oct 27. \u2014 Day 8<\/p>\n

Marcus Freeman is reportedly out of the Florida coaching search. The Notre Dame head coach was propositioned by not only Stricklin but Penn State AD Pat Kraft, according to The Athletic<\/a>, with both administrators receiving a definitive \u201cno\u201d from Freeman. It has long been expected that his end goal is either to lead Ohio State or coach in the NFL. However, as Only Gators stated when compiling our original list of coaching candidates, Freeman should have been UF\u2019s No. 1 target from the onset as he basically checks every box a program would want filled.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

During an interview on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show,\u201d Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin addressed his name coming up in coaching searches involving the Nittany Lions, Gators and now LSU after head coach Brian Kelly was fired Sunday. He made one point crystal clear \u2014 money will not influence his decision: \u201cI have never made a decision based off money, nor will I. \u2026 I\u2019ve seen too many examples in life where money does not buy happiness. So, I\u2019m never going to make a decision off of money, nor do I care about it. Jimmy Sexton gets really mad when I say that. He\u2019s like, \u2018We got to get this. We got to get this.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Jimmy, I don\u2019t care.\u2019 And he goes, \u2018I do!’\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s fine to take Kiffin at his word, it\u2019s indeed important to remember that Sexton is at the helm of these negotiations. And while money may not be Kiffin\u2019s top priority, as the character Peter Brand tells Billy Beane in the film \u201cMoneyball:\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re not doing it for the money. You\u2019re doing it for what the money says.\u201d There\u2019s a legitimate possibility that Kiffin, perhaps temporarily, becomes the highest-paid coach in college football once he decides where he wants to continue his career. But the \u201cmoney\u201d aspect of these negotiations is not solely about the coach\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n

Kiffin and Sexton will be looking for a massive package that not only includes his compensation but a significant pool of money for assistant coaches and staff, NIL, programatic improvements, etc. If Florida enters into such an all-out competition for his services, that commitment \u2014 along with how Kiffin views the program\u2019s ability to win a national championship and compete at the top of the sport \u2014 will come into play.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that he and his children feel strong ties to Ole Miss and the community considering his six years in Oxford match his longest tenure in one spot since he served as an assistant at USC from 2001-06. However, if those competition factors are considered, facts are that the Gators and Tigers top the tier that houses the Nittany Lions, and the Rebels are a full tier lower. And when one considers where Kiffin\u2019s style makes the most sense, Florida has long stood out as a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

Thursday, Oct. 23 \u2014 Day 4<\/p>\n

Rumors were running rampant that Florida somehow offered Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin a contract worth approximately $13.5 million per year just days after its search began in the midst of the 2025 college football season. Consider this a rumor killer because that was erroneous on all counts. While it\u2019s certainly possible and even likely that the Gators and Kiffin\u2019s agent, Jimmy Sexton, have discussed a range of pay that would be necessary to retain his client\u2019s services, UF has neither made a formal nor informal offer to a coaching candidate as it is not appropriate to do so at this time. Administrators and agents have established a specific timeline for such offers and decisions to be made. Hearing anything like this so early in the season \u2014 well outside any type of window \u2014 should speak to the lack of substance to such a report.<\/p>\n

Monday, Oct. 20 \u2014 Day 1<\/p>\n

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is widely believed to be Florida\u2019s top target. He\u2019s certainly the overwhelming favorite of the fanbase and boosters. (Only Gators has provided our own suggestion that differs from the consensus.) Many see Kiffin as the spiritual successor to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, and while he and his family have been extremely happy at Ole Miss, they were also happy when he coached FAU in Boca Raton, Florida, with Kiffin holding a fondness for that home and the state.<\/p>\n

Kiffin currently makes $9 million annually with a maximum of $2.6 million in bonuses available, making him the 10th-highest paid coach in the nation. Florida would likely have to exceed $11.5 million before bonuses, which would place him among the sport\u2019s three or four highest-paid coaches. Ole Miss has already stated its intention to sign Kiffin to a richer contract, and agent Jimmy Sexton will certainly play the sides against one another no matter the ultimate outcome.<\/p>\n

Only Gators wrote about Kiffin in this space during the last Gators coaching search. Here\u2019s what we knew at the time (edited for clarity): \u201cThere is not any specific push for Kiffin at this time, sources tell Only Gators. Two sources that know Kiffin say he would leave Ole Miss for Florida with an equal compensation offer. Rumors about his interest in Miami appear to be legitimate but not on the level of UF or remaining at Ole Miss, which has embraced him and his family. Kiffin likes the Sunshine State [as he used to spend] a lot of time with his father on the West Coast. He kept his Boca Raton home from the FAU job and waxes poetic about it frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday, Oct. 19<\/p>\n

Florida fired Napier less than 24 hours after a nearly blown 23-21 win<\/a> over Mississippi State. Ironically, his release was similar to that of ex-coach Dan Mullen in that Mullen\u2019s came after a dismal 24-23 overtime loss \u2014 exactly one month later in the season.<\/p>\n

While the Gators were victorious in Napier\u2019s final game, he nevertheless finished his career 22-23, making him the first losing football coach to don the orange and blue in 76 years. He went 5-17 against ranked opponents (0-10 on the road), 1-16 in low-scoring games, 6-21 when his team gave up 3+ touchdowns, 4-17 when trailing at halftime and 3-21 when trailing after the third quarter. Napier will be paid approximately $20 million in buyout money with 50% due within 30 days of his dismissal.<\/p>\n

Stricklin, who was somehow given a five-year contract extension before the season<\/a>, will be tasked with making the hire. Stricklin is getting a third opportunity to hire a football coach, a rare occurrence for any major-college AD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image Credit: UAA The Florida Gators are officially in the market to hire the 27th head football coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3009,28,30,29,10713,10714,7583,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-23022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-billy-napier","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-lane-kiffin","13":"tag-marcus-freeman","14":"tag-scott-stricklin","15":"tag-sec"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}