{"id":6174,"date":"2025-10-16T06:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T06:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/6174\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T06:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T06:55:13","slug":"florida-could-fire-billy-napier-this-weekend-after-high-stakes-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/6174\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida could fire Billy Napier this weekend after high-stakes meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Napier\u2019s time at Florida may soon be chomped.<\/p>\n

The Gators\u2019 coach could be fired as soon as this weekend, according to a bombshell USA Today report<\/a>, and reportedly won\u2019t survive one more loss.<\/p>\n

Florida hosts Mississippi State on Saturday before facing Georgia in a massive rivalry game on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n

Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin met with several prominent boosters on Tuesday, who told him their support depends on \u201cnew direction\u201d within the program, per USA Today.<\/p>\n

These boosters reportedly have been chomping at the bit \u2014 pun intended \u2014 to move on from Napier, and reportedly were willing to pay a large buyout to move on from him during last year\u2019s 8-5 campaign.<\/p>\n

Stricklin convinced them to instead use their financial weight to help Napier, which reportedly played a role in how Florida flipped star receiver Dallas Wilson from his Oregon commitment, along with keeping other premium players from leaving for other programs.<\/p>\n

Florida coach Billy Napier. Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

However, the boosters reportedly wanted him to give up offensive control by handing the reins to a veteran offensive coordinator but that did not come to fruition.<\/p>\n

Florida entered the year with high expectations and a No. 15 ranking, but any chance of competing for a national title is already gone.<\/p>\n

Florida AD Scott Stricklin in 2024. AP<\/p>\n

The Gators lost a stunner to South Florida in their second game before falling to LSU and in-state rival Miami to fall to 1-3.<\/p>\n

An upset win over Texas provided some good vibes before last weekend\u2019s loss at Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

Florida coach Billy Napier exiting a bus before an Oct. 4 game against Texas. Getty Images<\/p>\n

With three ranked teams still left on the schedule in the Bulldogs, Ole Miss and Tennessee, it\u2019s possible the Gators could be staring at a third losing season in Napier\u2019s four years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 21-23 with the program after a successful four-year run with Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Napier reportedly has a roughly $21 million buyout in his contract, per USA Today, which is relative chump change compared to the $49 million Penn State owes James Franklin<\/a> after axing him on Sunday. <\/p>\n

The publication notes that the \u201chope\u201d is for Napier to finish the season before a coaching search commences as Florida continues to struggle in the post-Urban Meyer era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Napier\u2019s time at Florida may soon be chomped. The Gators\u2019 coach could be fired as soon as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[143,28,2530,30,29,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-6174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-gators","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174","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=6174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}