Florida coaching search: USA Today names eight candidates to replace Billy Napier

Florida fired Billy Napier on Sunday after another disappointing record of 3-4 overall to bring him to a mark of 22-23 (.489) through three and a half seasons in Gainesville. Now, with their head coaching job, one of the better ones in all of college football, finally open, there are several hot boards already out as to who could be next for the Gators.

USA Today posted a hot board this afternoon with eight candidates on it. It’s a list with some big-time names on it for them to possibly consider during their upcoming search in The Swamp.

Again, with Napier officially out, several boards of candidates have been posted just in the past few hours. GatorsOnline and On3’s Andy Staples each had one respectively, as did those at ESPN.

Here is the eight-name hot list shared this afternoon at USA Today:

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz

After an average first three years both in CoMo and in the SEC, Drinkwitz is 27-6 (.818) over the past two and a half seasons at Mizzou. Now, nearly at seven years of head coaching experience with an overall record of 56-26 (.683), USA Today had him as one safer possible hires on the list for a school like Florida.

“Drinkwitz has the swagger to embrace the pressures in Gainesville and the track record in the SEC to warrant a deep look as the Gators’ next coach…(Missouri) should at least be in the mix for the College Football Playoff late into November and could even take advantage of an unsettled SEC to reach the conference championship game,” they wrote at USA Today. “Drinkwitz would represent a very safe, high-floor hire for the Gators, though he wouldn’t move the needle in the same way as his coaching peer at Mississippi.”

Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin

Kiffin is the one who continues to come up for the Gators, with an overall record as a head coach of 112-53 (.679) and at 50-19 (.725), having a chance this season at four out of six campaigns at double-digit wins with the Rebels, at Ole Miss. It’s just a matter of if he would, at this point, leave what he has accomplished in The ‘Sip.

“Kiffin would be a home-run hire for Florida with the added benefit of hurting the Rebels, who have been one of a few teams to fill the SEC power vacuum left by the Gators’ recent decline. But the landscape of college football has changed so dramatically in the past half-decade that it’s not longer a sure thing a coach would leave Oxford for Gainesville; that’s doubly true given how Kiffin not only seems very comfortable at Mississippi but has put in tremendous sweat equity to turn the program into a top playoff contender,” they wrote at USA Today. “Would Kiffin throw that away to start over again with the Gators?”

James Franklin

While he could want to take time away from coaching, Franklin didn’t sound like someone who’s done on the sidelines in his exclusive appearance on ‘College GameDay’ on Saturday morning. That should make him one of the top candidates in the country over the next two and a half months, with a proven record at 128-60 (.681) overall after being 104-45 (.698) over a dozen years in Happy Valley.

“Even if he’s leaning toward a year or more off the sidelines, the opportunity presented by Florida could be impossible to turn down,” USA Today wrote. “While things ran aground with the Nittany Lions this season, his 128-60 record at Vanderbilt and (Penn State) should make him a legitimate candidate. Wouldn’t the Gators have been ecstatic about bringing Franklin aboard had the school fired Napier last season? (Or even just three games ago?)”

Oregon’s Dan Lanning

This one was the courtesy call on the list by USA Today, as Lanning has continued to stand on staying in Eugene with a mark of 41-7 (.854) through three and a half years of a tenure at Oregon. Still, with the Gators having one of the best jobs in the sport, a call to at least consider him couldn’t hurt.

“This would be a kick-the-tires phone call with no downside for Florida,” USA Today wrote. “Lanning would very likely turn down the opportunity, given he’s already established himself at a Big Ten school with tremendous financial advantages and an intensely strong support system. But (he) might also be intrigued by the challenge and the chance to return to the SEC. The Gators have to ask, basically, and they’d better be ready to make him the highest-paid coach in college football.”

Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham

Dillingham is one of the hottest young coaches in the sport, being 19-14 (.576) through his full tenure back in Tempe but at 16-5 (.762) the past season and a half at ASU. That said, with him coaching his alma mater, he may just not want to leave the Sun Devils, at least not yet for the Gators’ job.

“Dillingham checks many of the boxes you’d want in a future coaching superstar. He’s just 35 but has three years of experience as a Power Four head coach. He’s already won in a big way by taking Arizona State from three wins in 2023 to the Big 12 championship and a playoff berth last season…But Dillingham’s lack of experience makes him a bit of a roll of the dice for a program that can’t afford any miss. There’s also the question of whether the Florida opening would entice him leave Arizona State.”

Tulane’s Jon Sumrall

Sumrall is, pending who you ask, the top candidate from the mid-major level, with a 38-10 (.792) record over the past four years as a head coach at Troy (23-4 (.852) out of the Sun Belt) and Tulane (15-6 (.714) out of the American). That, along with ties to several programs around the league, has had him long predicted to eventually get a chance in the SEC, but it just being a matter of where, whether it be here in this coaching search specifically, in the Southeastern Conference.

“Sumrall is the top Group of Five candidate,” USA Today wrote. “He’s guaranteed to land back in the SEC at some point, potentially as soon as this winter.”

SMU’s Rhett Lashlee

Similarly, Lashlee is already being pre-predicted to be the top candidate in the current coaching search ongoing at Arkansas. But, he, with a 34-14 (.708) record, including being 16-5 (.762) the past season and a half since transitioning to the ACC, through his tenure at SMU, would make a quality candidate for a lot of schools if he were on the market this offseason to leave the Mustangs.

“Lashlee seems likely to land at Arkansas as the replacement for Sam Pittman after taking the Mustangs to the College Football Playoff last year in his third season at the school. That’s a difficult challenge, though, and despite deep links to the state, Lashlee could see the Gators’ opening as a much cleaner situation with a clearer path to the playoff,” USA Today wrote. “But the two hiring pools aren’t the same: Lashlee, who played at Arkansas, is near the top of the Razorbacks’ list but would be farther down Florida’s board, meaning a few more proven Power Four coaches would have to decline for him to become a more concrete option.”

Urban Meyer

This one is a fascinating inclusion, with Meyer having not coached at all in nearly four years and not in college since 2018. However, with a career record of 187-32 (.854), including being 65-15 (.813) in winning two of the school’s three national titles in 2006 and 2008, could the Gators bring him back to coaching, after having been in broadcasting at FOX Sports, namely on ‘Big Noon Kickoff’, since 2022?

“The Gators could always try to lure Meyer back onto the sidelines and ignore the scrutiny that would come with hiring a coach with some major baggage,” they wrote at USA Today. “His two national championships and sterling record on the field in Gainesville might mitigate some of the downside. It’s not like this wouldn’t work: Meyer has won everywhere and on every level he’s been as a coach, and would quickly clean up the sloppiness and self-inflicted errors that largely defined Napier’s failed tenure.”

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