Florida football fans hoping for change atop their program will have to wait another season after the Gators on Thursday announced their intention to stick with head coach Billy Napier for the 2025 campaign.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, who has also drawn the ire of an agitated fanbase, voiced his unwavering confidence in the embattled third-year coach in a statement, saying that he and the university’s top decision-makers believe Napier is the right leader for a team that has amassed a 15-18 overall record and 8-13 mark in Southeastern Conference play under his direction.
“Gator Nation,” Stricklin wrote,” I wanted to let you know that Billy Napier will continue as head football coach of the Florida Gators. As we’ve seen these past several weeks, the young men on this team represent what it means to be a Gator. Their resolve, effort and execution are evident in their performance and growth each week – building a foundation that promises greater success next season and beyond. UF’s commitment to excellence and a championship-caliber program is unwavering. In these times of change across college athletics, we are dedicated to a disciplined, stable approach that is focused on long-term, sustained success for Gator athletes, recruits and fans. I am confident that Billy will meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. We will work alongside him to support any changes needed to elevate Gator football. As college athletics evolve, UF is committed to embracing innovation and strategy, ensuring the Gators thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Gator Nation has remained strong, showing up game after game to stand with our team. This loyalty creates an incredible environment that inspires our players to compete with heart and determination. Now, I call on all of Gator Nation to continue standing behind Billy and his dedicated team while we work together to build a championship program.”
RELATED: Keeping Napier almost certainly means keeping DJ Lagway, sources say
The Gators have largely fallen short of reasonable checkpoints since Napier took over the program prior to the 2022 campaign.
In 2022, Napier’s first season in Gainesville, the Gators posted a 6-7 record, struggled mightily on the defensive side of the ball and ranked outside the top-50 FBS teams in scoring offense despite having eventual No. 4 overall NFL draft selection, quarterback Anthony Richardson, under center and unanimous All-American offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence anchoring one of the best offensive lines in the nation.
Florida’s struggles from their first season under Napier were only amplified in 2023 when it once again ranked outside the top-50 FBS teams in scoring offense and put together one of the worst defensive campaigns in program history, ranking 78th nationally in scoring defense, recorded just three interceptions and 22 sacks, and surrendered more passes of 20-plus yards than all but one FBS team.
Florida opened its 2024 season with similarly discouraging results, posting the most lopsided home-opening loss in program history against rival Miami in Week 1 and suffering another blowout defeat two weeks later against Texas A&M. The Gators then turned things around with their best play under Napier to date, beating three of their next four opponents to briefly earn a winning record before suffering a loss to rival Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov. 2, a contest that produced several critical injuries on an already-beat-up Florida roster, including freshman quarterback DJ Lagway who assumed the starting role after senior Graham Mertz suffered a torn ACL.
Florida is 3-13 against opponents which carried a winning record into their matchup dating back to the start of the 2022 season.
“I see the steps he’s taken, the kind of caliber of young people he’s brought in, he’s improved the roster, he’s improved the overall structure of the team and I think our patience — we have been patient as a university and that patience is going to be rewarded,” Stricklin said roughly 24 hours before the Gators’ highly-anticipate season-opener. “I really believe Billy Napier is going to be the coach at Florida for a long, long time.”
Florida’s biggest triumphs under Napier have come on the recruiting trail, where it’s landed several stars, including Lagway, five-star edge rusher LJ McCray, transfer offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence, transfer receiver Ricky Pearsall and transfer quarterback Graham Mertz, among others.
Still, though, the Gators finished the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles ranked 13th nationally, according to the 247Sports team rankings, and currently rank 51st in 2025 recruiting with 11 high-school pledges.
Napier has also hung his hat on things like program-building from a cultural standpoint.
“We’ve done a lot of good behind the scenes in terms of building infrastructure,” Napier said. “We’ve got a great organization.”
The Gators are set to face No. 5 Texas, No. 14 LSU, No. 16 Ole Miss and Florida State to close out their season and will need to win half of those contests to earn bowl eligibility and avoid back-to-back bowl misses for the first time since a three-year stretch from 1984-86.
It won’t be an easy task with Lagway injured and Florida leaning on third-team quarterback Aidan Warner, a redshirt freshman preferred walk-on who transferred from Yale.
No Florida coach has opened their tenure with three-straight losing seasons since Josh Cody in 1936-38.
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