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Florida football coach Billy Napier will continue to call plays in 2025 and act as the offensive coordinator for yet another season.
Napier chose to not hire an offensive coordinator for the upcoming season and instead will lead the offensive strategy as he has done in his entire time with the Gators.
Napier Faces Music
Napier entered the offseason coming off a strong end to 2024, notching big wins and important recruits along the way. Napier addressed his feelings on last season and the outlook for the future of the team in an interview with Gator Breakdown’s David Waters.
“Obviously we finished well, but we’re not satisfied with where we’re at. Just in general, we’ve been forced to adapt, as college football has changed quite a bit. I’m excited about the group of players we have coming back, their experience, and their belief in what we’re doing and I’m really looking forward to getting to work with this team.”— Florida’s coach Billy Napier
Although the closing of 2024 treated the Gators well, much cynicism still remains around the strength of Florida’s offense heading into the dawn of a new season. In a make or break year for Napier’s future with the Gators, the fourth-year Gators coach decided to stick with his gut and remain the playcaller. Napier gave insight into the thought process behind his decision to remain the head of the offense as well in the interview.
“I think the big thing that we’ve been fortunate (with) is that we’ve got a really good offensive staff,” he said. “Some of those things as a head coach, the things maybe I used to do, I thought those guys did a great job taking some of that off my plate and I think in general that helped us be more productive down the stretch.”
Statistics Beg To Differ
Even with Florida ending 8-5 on the season, the offense showed signs of mediocracy, begging to question whether the choice is right. In Napier’s time as the head coach, Florida has only scored 40 points against a Power Four team four times. That mark lands the Gators ninth in the SEC over that span and nine instances behind Georgia’s SEC lead in the statistic.
It’s ride or die with Billy Napier this year.
2022: 6-7
Offensive PPG: 29.5 (58th overall)2023: 5-7
Offensive PPG: 28.4 (59th overall)2024: 8-5
Offensive PPG: 28.3 (64th overall)Napier is 19-19 at Florida and hasn’t even broken 30 PPG in a season yet. pic.twitter.com/8QNxYcwXmY
— Florida Gators 🐊🔥 (@gatorsszn) February 4, 2025
An upside for Napier’s decision is that there will be top-tier offensive talent playing in The Swamp next season, with young playmakers Eugene Wilson, Aidan Mizell, Tank Hawkins and Jadan Baugh returning to lead the offense.
DJ Lagway and Napier will both benefit from some new faces too, with J. Michael Sturdivant, Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson joining the fray.
While it is too early to judge whether this decision will sink Napier’s chances of remaining Florida’s coach or help him rise above, one thing is certain: The offense has both the talent and potential to blast off, but has yet to do so on the field under Napier’s guidance.
BOOM! Florida has flipped Four-Star CB Onis Konanbanny from Tennessee pic.twitter.com/SGxbWiUk7i
— Florida Gators (@gatorsszn) February 4, 2025
