Florida Gators Keeping Struggling Head Coach in Efforts to Boost NIL Budget

The Florida football team will stick with Bill Napier with hopes of adding millions of NIL investments.

Melina Myers-Imagn Images

A looming question over the Florida Gators football program has finally been answered.

This past week, Florida’s athletic director Scott Stricklin announced that head coach Billy Napier’s job is not in jeopardy, at least for the time being. Stricklin opened his message with a straightforward answer to Gator Nation:

“I wanted to let you know that Billy Napier will continue as the head football coach of the Florida Gators.”

This bold statement from the head of the Gators athletic department put a few months of rest on the topic of the coach's future with the program. It also will save the team plenty of money that can be pushed towards other significant places to help improve the roster. 

According to Saturday Down South’s Neil Blackmon, one of the main factors of keeping Napier for 2025 is that half of his $26.5 million buyout would be due to him up front if he were released from his contract. Instead of taking that route, the athletic department feels it is a better idea to use that money for its players. 

Florida intends to spend upwards of $13 million this offseason on NIL investments to improve the roster and help get them back to being SEC contenders in 2025 and beyond. 

According to a source who spoke with Saturday Down South, this decision regarding the 2025 roster could make a huge turnaround for the program. 

“With one of the best young players in the country in DJ Lagway and a defense making strides, we feel more NIL investment in players, especially in the portal, could make the Gators a great team in 2025. If we can do that without a coaching change, it creates even more room for NIL investment.”

According to On3 Top 100 NIL players in college athletics, Lagway is 56th in the country with an NIL valuation of $1.1 million. Assuming the program plans on adding $13 million more to that initiative, the roster could quickly become one of the best offensives in the country with a player like him already secured as your quarterback. 

It’s been a tough go for the Napier and the Gators ever since they decided to move on from former head coach Dan Mullen. The team has not reached at least eight wins since 2020. They have yet to make an appearance in the college football playoffs since its inception in 2014, and even with the newly formatted 12-team tournament that starts this season, that streak is likely to continue. 

It will be interesting to see how Florida will attack the recruiting trail and transfer portal this offseason as they look to make an aggressive push with some newfound funds being transferred into NIL. This new blueprint could be seen as an actual building block for other struggling schools that are hesitant to move on from a coach or add to their NIL budget.