Florida has officially entered the race for a new head coach after relieving Billy Napier of his duties on Sunday, following his three and a half seasons at the helm. 

Napier’s firing marked the 10th head coach dismissal among FBS programs during the 2025 season and offseason — following Troy Taylor at Stanford, Kenni Burns at Kent State, DeShaun Foster at UCLA, Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, Sam Pittman at Arkansas, James Franklin at Penn State, Trent Bray at Oregon State and Trent Dilfer at UAB — indicating this year’s coaching carousel will likely be one of the more active cycles in recent memory. 

Colorado State hopped on the coaching carousel hours after Florida, when it fired Jay Norvell on Sunday.

The search for a new Florida head coach marks UF athletic director Scott Stricklin’s third since his November 2016 hiring by the program, following Dan Mullen’s 34-15 (2018-21) and Napier’s 22-23 (2022-25) records on the job. Speaking with reporters Monday, Stricklin noted this will be an extensive search, which UF does not intend to rush. 

“This search is going to be thorough. It’s going to be deliberate,” Stricklin said. “Despite speculation about particular candidates or things that have already been done, we are early in this process, and it will be a very thorough process.”

Swamp247 has updated its Florida head coach hot board below.

This list includes a mix of coaches our staff has heard linked as potential candidates, as well as names that could be worth monitoring for UF, even if they have not come up in conversation with various sources. We have included updates on several of those candidates, based on intel we have received, as well as some public comments.

We have also added several potential candidates who have been reported by credible outlets elsewhere, and offered what we’ve heard about those coaches. 

Swamp247 will update its head coach hot board again in the near future, upon collecting meaningful updates on UF’s search for a new football program leader.

Note: Coaching candidates are not listed in any particular order.