The Florida Gators beat Mississippi State by two factors on the Swamp on Saturday, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to stop head coach Billy Napier from being let go on Sunday.
According to multiple reports, Napier is out in Gainesville after there was hot-seat speak about him for a lot of the 2025 marketing campaign. He solely had one successful season at Florida, and Napier was simply 22-23 total, including 3-4 this season. His buyout is around $20 million. In no explicit order, listed below are 5 head coaches who ought to get a name from Gators brass to probably exchange Napier.
James Franklin, former Penn State HC
The Nittany Lions boss was abruptly fired a week ago amid a latest slide by the Large Ten Convention member. Nevertheless, Franklin went 104-45 total at Penn State, guiding the Nittany Lions to the semifinals of final season’s Faculty Soccer Playoff. He mentioned this weekend that he cannot wait to get again into teaching.
Kiffin has deep ties to the loaded Southeastern Convention, having beforehand served as Tennessee’s head coach and the offensive coordinator at Alabama. He is in his sixth season on the helm of the Rebels, with a 50-19 total document with that program. Ole Miss fell to Georgia in Week 8, however the Rebels are 6-1 total and No. 8 in the major top-25 polls.
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri HC
One other logical candidate for Florida, given that Drinkwitz is the boss of another SEC team. Missouri is not a perennial energy in soccer, but Drinkwitz has a 44-25 document there. He gained not less than 10 video games in each the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Within the present marketing campaign, the Tigers are 6-1 total and ranked No. 15 within the newest Related Press High 25 ballot.
Key has the Yellow Jackets rolling nowadays. In Week 8, Georgia Tech bested Duke on the highway. At 7-0 total, the Yellow Jackets are the one group within the Atlantic Coast Convention that has but to lose a sport in 2025. On Sunday, Georgia Tech jumped to No. 7 within the AP and Coaches High 25 polls. Key additionally has some SEC connections, having served as Alabama’s offensive line coach from 2016 to 2018.
It is in all probability a protracted shot that Florida may land Freeman, since he has an incredible factor going with the Fighting Irish. Nonetheless, the Gators ought to give him a name. After shedding to top-10 groups Miami and Texas A&M at first of the 2025 season, Notre Dame has rattled off 5 straight wins and is as much as No. 12 within the AP High 25 ballot after conquering Southern California on Saturday. Freeman is 38-12 total at Notre Dame, and the Preventing Irish went to final season’s CFP championship sport.
