The Florida Gators are on the hunt for a new head coach. Florida has fired head coach Billy Napier. After weeks of speculation and reports that boosters met with the Gators' athletic director, Scott Stricklin, the team has made the move ahead of the open week. Here are the top options to replace Napier in Florida.
Lane Kiffin- Ole Miss head coach
Lane Kiffin has been connected to multiple head coach openings, even as he is leading Ole Miss to another successful season. There are reports that the Rebels' coach and the school are working on a potential extension. Kiffin is known as a quality recruiter and someone who has done great in the transfer portal. Both of those are issues that the Gators have had in recent years. He has also turned around the Ole Miss program.
The program had struggled in the wake of the Hugh Freeze firing due to recruiting violations. After three straight seasons without a winning record under Matt Luke, the school hired Kiffin. He has won ten games three times and is well on his way to doing it a fourth. The Rebels are already 6-1 on the year, but are coming off a loss to Georgia. Regardless, the team is still ranked eighth in the AP Poll, and winning out will likely bring a playoff berth for the team.
If Kiffin and Ole Miss do not agree to an extension, Kiffin could be on the market. Considering he is 50-19 with the team, it is likely Ole Miss will not let him move to a new job without putting up a fight.
Alex Golesh- South Florida head coach
Alex Golesh is going to be a hot commodity in the next coaching cycle. He has experience in both the state of Florida and the SEC. After starting his college coaching career with Ohio State, he spent time with Toledo, Illinois, and Iowa State. Golesh was the offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at UCF in the 2020 season, leading the Knights to the second-best offense in terms of yards and eighth in scoring in the nation.
The coach would then follow Heupel to Tennessee for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He immediately made an impact there as well, improving Tennessee from the 108th in scoring offense in the nation to seventh. His success there got him the South Florida job. In his first two years, USF went 7-6 each year, winning bowl games both seasons.
His Bulls are having an amazing season. The team opened with upsets over Boise State and then in The Swamp against Florida. After falling to Miami, South Florida has won four straight. The offense has scored 48 or more points in all four games, while winning all four by 25 or more points. South Florida is currently the top-ranked group of five team in the AP Poll, which could earn the team a College Football playoff berth.
Glenn Schumann- Georgia defensive coordinator
If the Gators want a top-quality coordinator to take over the team, Glenn Schumann would be a top choice. Schumann does not have a ton of experience and has no head coaching experience. Still, the experience he does have is wonderful. He was a student and graduate assistant for Alabama under Nick Saban from 2008 through 2014. He would then spend two years as the Director of Football Operations for the Crimson Tide through 2015. In that time, he was a part of four teams that won the National Championship.
Schumann then joined the coaching staff of Kirby Smart at Georgia for the 2016 season. He spent three seasons as an inside linebackers coach before becoming the co-defensive coordinator in 2019 with now Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. When Lanning left for Oregon, he became to solo defensive coordinator. He has since won two more National Championships at Georgia and appeared in another, losing to Alabama.
Schumann has coached multiple quality defenses and been a part of championship programs. While he does not have head job experience, a disciple of both Saban and Smart is a quality candidate.
James Franklin- Former Penn State head coach
James Franklin was recently fired by Penn State. He made an appearance on ESPN's College GameDay on Saturday, discussing his dismissal at Penn State. Franklin made it clear, his goal is still to win a title. He will now be looking for a new home to win a title at, and Florida has an attractive opening.
Franklin has turned around programs in the past. From 1983 through 2010, Vanderbilt won more than five games just once and played in just one bowl game. In three seasons at Vandy, Franklin won six games in all three, including two nine-win seasons. He also appeared in three bowl games. Franklin also had Vanderbilt ranked in the Top 25 at the end of the season twice, something the team had not done since 1948.
The coach then moved on to Penn State, a program that had just lost Bill O'Brien after two seasons and was still reeling from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Franklin won the Big Ten once, was named coach of the year for all of FBS, and consistently had winning programs. The team also went to the CFP Semifinal in 2024. After a bad start to 2025, Penn State fired Franklin.
While he never won the big one at Penn State, he is still a quality head coach, and this would be a solid hire for the Gators.
Urban Meyer- Former Utah, Florida, and Ohio State head coach
Since 2011, Florida has appeared in four SEC title games, but it has not won a conference title. They have also had four different coaches, and won over ten games just four times. From 2005 through 2010, the team won ten or more games three times, won the SEC title twice, and played for a third conference title. They also won the BCS National Championship twice. The coach then was Urban Meyer.
Meyer has been an exceptional college head coach. In two years at Bowling Green, he was 17-6. He then went 22-2 at Utah before heading to Florida. At Florida, he was 65-15 and won two titles. He then went 83-9 at Ohio State, with three Big Ten titles and another national title.
Meyer has recently been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He has also been clear, he is not going to return to coaching. He made that remark after the 2024 season. Meyer has been known to change his mind in the past. He did that in 2009 at Florida when he initially said he would resign, but then took just a leave of absence and coached the 2010 season. He also said he was done after his time at Ohio State, but ended up coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars. While bringing back Meyer would be a long shot, the Gators might as well ask if he is interested.
