Image Credit: UAA
The Florida Gators are officially in the market to hire the 27th head football coach in program history. After firing Billy Napier seven games into his fourth season — his career ending as the first losing coach in 76 years — the Gators are now eyeing their fifth leader since Urban Meyer departed 15 years ago.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin’s two football coaching searches have been vastly different; he spent the first in 2017 going after three candidates and landing his third choice, whereas four years later, Stricklin focused solely on Napier and landed his primary candidate. Stricklin is somehow being allowed to make this hire despite his first two failing after being given a five-year contract extension this year.
College football changed drastically right as the Gators made their last coaching change with the advent of NIL rights and major alterations to recruiting and the transfer portal. The portal has changed once again this season, for the first time in favor of coaches and teams who are replacing them. Florida players will not be allowed to enter the portal until five days after the team makes a coach hire, as opposed to having an immediate 30-day window to leave.
Only Gators will be with you the entire way with live updates on this page as we track the candidates and news surrounding one of the most prominent openings in college football this offseason.
Florida is reportedly focused on Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as its next coach, according to On3. While Sumrall objected to a report last week that he planned to interview for the Gators job, that statement was primarily made to reduce public pressure on the process as Sumrall stood as one of multiple backup options to Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, sources told Only Gators at the time (see: Day 33).
Sumrall has gone 18-7 in four years as a head coach, posting a 23-4 record with two Sun Belt championships in as many years at Troy. He led Tulane to the American championship after a 9-5 effort last season, and it is expected the Green Wave will again play for the league title — and a potential College Football Playoff bid — on the back of a 9-2 campaign this year.
Immediate comparisons will be drawn to Napier, who, like Sumrall, coached a Group of Five school to success in Louisiana. Many industry experts believe Sumrall is the type of coach and program leader Florida expected in its hiring of Napier. He was previously seen as the favorite at Auburn, though the loser of the Kiffin sweepstakes between Ole Miss and LSU could become a player for his services.
Sumrall, who will reportedly make his decision Sunday, has only coached four total seasons at the Power Four level with just one year of co-defensive coordinating experience at Kentucky, his alma mater, in 2021. The Gators would again be hiring an unproven coach after letting a candidate with clear talent at the SEC level pass through its claws.
——–
Florida is reportedly out of contention for Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and On3’s Chris Low. If accurate, this is just the latest in a long line of failures for Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin, who will now move to a backup candidate despite Kiffin being the perfect match for what Florida needed to push its program forward.
While it’s possible another hire could make a splash and ultimately work out, it’s tough not to see the Gators missing on Kiffin as the program under Stricklin continuing its descent into the zone inhabited by Nebraska and Tennessee — once-great teams that have become also-rans in the larger college football landscape. For Florida to be as confident as it was in landing Kiffin only to potentially fail once again in its pursuit of a big-name coach would speak to a wide-ranging issue that will be detailed at a later date.
In terms of which options would remain for the Gators, they had vetted nearly a dozen potential coaches, including many that have not been mentioned throughout the process. Of the names often linked to the program publicly, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key and Tulane’s Jon Sumrall have been the more intriguing and likely options.
Key is currently coaching at his alma mater, while Sumrall is 18-7 in four years at Troy and Tulane but only spent one year as a coordinator at the Power Four level. Sumrall has been mentioned in conjunction with the opening at Auburn and the potential opening at Ole Miss.
Only Gators will continue updating this tracker throughout Friday into Saturday and moving forward.
——-
As projected, the last week has been slow with little revealed in Florida’s coaching search as the Gators await a decision from Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, who will coach the Rebels’ final regular-season game Friday in the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. Only Gators shared our latest information on Kiffin alongside a Florida-LSU comparison on Wednesday.
Over the last few days, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea have agreed to extensions keeping them with their respective universities. Drinkwitz was not a candidate for the Florida opening — despite being listed as one in multiple media reports — while Lea was vetted for the position, Only Gators can confirm. Lea was reportedly interviewed by UF, too, per On3’s Chris Low.
The names mentioned in Day 33 update below — along with others not listed anywhere — are believed to be more in contention for the Gators job should their pursuit of Kiffin not prove fruitful.
Hours after it was reported by Yahoo Sports that LSU was finalizing a seven-year, $90 million contract offer for Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin — with $25 million in guaranteed NIL funds available annually — On3 reported that Florida and Ole Miss have similar offers on the table in the $13 million to $14 million range annually with the same NIL commitment. Those NIL funds would be about double what the Gators paid in 2025. Only Gators heard early last week that Florida’s offer was $13.5 million per season, and it was flexible on the number of years.
(Editor’s note: Interesting that the Tigers’ numbers — just like so much information around their pursuit of Kiffin — leaked individually, whereas the Gators have operated silently during this process. Furthermore, a Saturday morning report on ESPN’s “College GameDay” that LSU is only focused on Kiffin, while Florida has cast a “wide net” in its search, was simply incorrect. The Tigers have reportedly dug deep on Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, while the Gators, yes, have done their due diligence vetting and speaking to a variety of parties; however, they have been firmly focused on Kiffin since the start.
There has also been a strange narrative being pushed by ESPN’s talking heads that Kiffin should stay with the Rebels for … reasons. The suggestion being that he can win just as easily at Ole Miss as he can at Florida and LSU, which is patently false, as Nick Saban later pointed out on that show.)
No matter which offer Kiffin ultimately chooses, he will likely become the highest-paid coach in college football despite never having competed in either the SEC Championship Game or College Football Playoff National Championship.
Kiffin has led Ole Miss to success that the program has never seen before. The Rebels have won 10+ games in four of the last five campaigns; they previously achieved that mark in three of four efforts from 1959-62. He also led FAU to a pair of 10+ win seasons and Conference USA titles (2017, 2019) when the program had never achieved such success on the FBS level, only finishing tied for first in its league once (2007 under Howard Schnellenberger).
There’s no question that Kiffin is an extremely talented coach and the best seemingly available hire this cycle. However, it is simultaneously true that agent Jimmy Sexton has worked this situation to the point that Kiffin is being courted like he’s Saban when he has nowhere near that resume at this juncture.
The projection is that Kiffin is a talented enough coach to reach those heights at a Tier 1-2 program, which is the opportunity Florida and LSU are offering; however, it is still just a projection. The Gators and Tigers’ willingness to make Kiffin the highest-paid coach in the sport (until Ohio State, Georgia and perhaps Notre Dame presumably give their leaders raises) is relatively stunning on one hand but not that surprising on another, considering the desperation level of the Gators, the insanity around the Tigers and the lack of top-level candidates this coaching cycle.
Representatives of Florida and Lane Kiffin met on Thursday, according to 247Sports. Kiffin is set to meet with Ole Miss on Friday, per multiple reports. While there has been significant bluster from the LSU side that it is the leader for Kiffin’s services, should he leave Ole Miss, sources continue to tell Only Gators that UF remains confident in its pursuit.
That’s not to say conversations between Kiffin’s side and the Gators have been completely smooth sailing. There were two specific off-field areas in which concerns were raised and addressed — Florida believes positively, though it certainly cannot see inside Kiffin’s mind.
The Rebels met with Kiffin on Friday afternoon for a pre-planned sit-down. The program announced in the evening that Kiffin will make a final decision about his future on Saturday, Nov. 29, the day after the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. While this is a sensible date for Kiffin to state his decision, it is also the day on which Florida originally wanted to announce its next coach.
Should Kiffin not land with the Gators, it would be a massive swing and miss for the administration, especially athletic director Scott Stricklin, who somehow remains in position to make his third football hire. Still, Florida has been doing its due diligence, and it’s prepared to strike elsewhere should Kiffin and agent Jimmy Sexton go in another direction.
USC’s Lincoln Riley, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key have been the names mentioned most. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz no longer appears to be a candidate, according to the Associated Press, and for many UF fans, he was a non-starter in the first place. The Gators are still kicking the tires on Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, a source told Only Gators, despite the fiasco on Wednesday. It would take a significant offer for Riley (in Year 2) or Brohm (coaching at his alma mater) to move. Key (also coaching at his alma mater) is a consideration for multiple openings, and Sumrall has widely been linked with Auburn (unless Ole Miss opens).
Some believe Riley ultimately wants to return to the state of Texas. Brohm has never lost fewer than four games in a season at the Power Four level. The Cardinals are presently 7-3 with consecutive home losses to unranked California and Clemson. Key has transformed a Yellow Jackets program in need of a major refresh, and some believe he would be what UF thought it was getting in Napier.
As to the contention that this is a one-candidate search for Florida, it’s tough to say that’s inaccurate. Kiffin is the biggest fish in this cycle. The Gators should, ideally, be considered the top open job. The extended Kiffin family has deep ties to both the state and the university, each of which is in a better respective position than Louisiana and LSU. Kiffin staying at Ole Miss would be disappointing. Kiffin going to LSU over Florida would be a move that should lead to a reckoning within the athletic department.
There are numerous factors involved in the decision-making process that head coaches go through when evaluating future jobs. Certainly, the ability to win on the field is among them, but when comparing opportunities where that aspect is nearly equal, other items come into play. As Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin decides whether to stay with his program or move to either Florida or LSU, he is weighing not only those elements but also details like quality of life and his potential relationship with a new athletic administration. Kiffin also has two main parties in his year — his family and his agent.
To say that Gainesville, Florida, is a better place to live than Baton Rouge, Louisiana, based on all common sense and publicly available information, is hardly an argument. The belief from multiple sources with whom Only Gators spoke is that Kiffin’s family strongly prefers the former. (See: Day 29.) There have been various reports, including a reference from CBS Sports, that Kiffin is being told by “important people in his life” (external parties) that he has a better chance to succeed at LSU.
The Tigers do have inherent advantages as the only Power Four team in their state with a rabid fan base that rivals the Gators, but both programs have issues with their respective administration. LSU’s is an objective mess with political involvement and warring factions. It is also embroiled in an expensive legal battle, having just fired a coach who went 29-11 across his first three seasons.
Florida has shown much more patience with its hires, comparatively, but athletic director Scott Stricklin passed on bringing in Kiffin last time around, and Kiffin had concerns about that potential relationship, too, sources tell Only Gators.
To a person, the expectation is that Kiffin will be coaching elsewhere in 2026. The problem is that, with Kiffin, most feel like anything can happen — he is apt to change his mind by the minute. That’s one of the reasons why Ole Miss initially felt confident that he would stay, Florida blustered about stealing him away last week and LSU feels like it has gained so much momentum over the last few days. At this point, though, it’s decision time. The programs and their offers will be relatively close to one another — especially Florida and LSU — and Kiffin simply needs to put pen to paper, agreeing to terms with whatever program he plans to coach next season and beyond.
——-
Florida was set to meet with Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, per Zach Abolverdi among multiple reports, as it continued its pursuit of Lane Kiffin. However, that meeting has been called off, according to Pete Nakos, who reports that Sumrall has removed his name from the UF search. Clearly, this meeting was not supposed to get out.
The 43-year-old Texan, considered one of college football’s hottest up and coming coaches, is expected to be hired for a Power Four position this offseason. He is a top candidate at Auburn and may become one at Ole Miss should Kiffin depart. (It has been reported elsewhere that UF has also kicked the tires on USC’s Lincoln Riley, though no meeting has been cited. Other names tied to the Florida vetting process include Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key. Nakos mentioned Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield in his latest report.)
LSU has already spoken with Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, per multiple reports. While Drinkwitz’s name is often cited alongside the Gators opening (including by Nakos), there had been no substantial contact in that direction as of last week, a source previously told Only Gators. It is normal for programs to vet and meet multiple candidates even while in pursuit of a No. 1 target.
In the month since Napier’s firing, Florida has firmly focused on Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin as its top candidate to become next head football coach of the Gators. There has been little to shift the program, its boosters or its supporters away from that focus, and as the end of the 2025 regular season nears, sources involved with the process tell Only Gators that confidence rose over the last week that Florida would get its man.
Ex-Penn State head coach James Franklin was considered a legitimate secondary option should the Gators not land Kiffin; Franklin is not believed to be on LSU’s list. His negotiations with Virginia Tech were leaked over the last few days as the former took additional time to ensure a more attractive destination (UF) was not available before deciding to coach the Hokies. Franklin is now finalizing a deal with Virginia Tech, according to multiple reports. Like many coaches, Franklin is represented by the CAA’s Jimmy Sexton, who knows his other clients’ plans. Among those clients is Kiffin.
Members of Kiffin’s family reportedly visited Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday, and Kiffin representatives stopped by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday. Reports of the Tigers’ pursuit of Kiffin picked up significantly Monday with some taking that to mean LSU is the leader for his services. However, it has long seemed like Florida is his preferred destination — should he leave Ole Miss — with LSU serving as a backup should talks fall apart or something go wrong at the last minute.
Kiffin’s ex-wife, Layla, graduated from UF in 1996. She has been a Gators fan her entire life. Their son, Knox, has long been a Florida fan, too. Layla’s maiden name is Reaves; her father, John Reaves, was a Gators quarterback from 1969-72 and assistant head coach from 1990-94. Despite being divorced, Kiffin remains close with his ex-wife, and he highly values her opinion.
Furthermore, Kiffin pursued the Florida job through back channels ahead of the 2022 season, and Steve Spurrier has long been a heavy influence for the 50-year-old.
As Monday draws to a close, the tea leaves indicate that Kiffin will ultimately depart Ole Miss with a significant report to that end — perhaps even an announcement — coming over the next day or two.
There has been a lot of so-called “smoke” the last 48 hours about Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin having heightened interest in the Florida head coaching job. Not to rain on any parades, but this was bound to happen during the week when the Gators and Rebels battle on the gridiron. In reality, Kiffin is no closer to deciding on his future than he was Tuesday, Wednesday or last Friday. There have been no material changes to the situation; however, representatives for both parties remain in ongoing dialogue, and UF has expressed a serious commitment toward not just landing Kiffin but bolstering the program.
While some of it is not that revelatory, here’s what Only Gators has learned in totality over the last week: Florida’s boosters are sick of losing — to the point that they have adopted a “whatever it takes” mentality in this process. They are not only all-in on landing Kiffin but, at this juncture, supremely confident about obtaining his services.
UF has even worked out what it believes is a fair process to bring Kiffin into the program while respecting that Ole Miss is in the midst of a run that will take it to the College Football Playoff. (Others have reported that the Rebels are not keen to let Kiffin coach the team if he leaves before the postseason begins.)
If Florida lands Kiffin, the effort, commitment and (occasional) private bluster will be justified. If Kiffin stays at Ole Miss — or even worse, for the point of this exercise, chooses to go to LSU — it will be an embarrassing egg-on-their-face scenario for the Gators and their boosters, even if the pursuit has been handled appropriately.
The surprise moves of Brian Kelly to LSU (from Notre Dame) and Lincoln Riley to USC (from Oklahoma) were handled more privately without leaks. The Florida-Kiffin situation was never going to fall into the same category as connections between the parties have been drawn for years; however, the effort is nevertheless the worst-kept secret in sports right now.
The Gators do have other candidates besides Kiffin, and while most observers have assumed they are exclusively coaches with Power Four experience — due to the failure of bringing in Napier from Louisiana — there is a legitimate Group of Five option among the names being considered. Only Gators plans to publish a new ranking of the remaining Florida coaching candidates early next week.
Louisville is working on a contract extension for head coach Jeff Brohm, according to multiple reports. Brohm is 26-10 in the middle of his third season coaching his alma mater after runs at Purdue and Western Kentucky. While his name has been bandied about as a candidate for Florida, there has never been any strong connection made between the parties. At the same time, just because the Cardinals are in the midst of putting an extension offer together does not mean Brohm will ultimately sign it.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on Monday was asked a general yet pointed question about what constitutes a quality college football job in the modern era. Here’s what he said (truncated for relevance and space): “When people wanted to hire you [years ago and ask what was important], people used to say, ‘Facilities, how many practice fields?’ … I think that had changed: ‘How much NIL do you have?’ When it was all collective, ‘How is your collective? How’s it run? How much do you have?’ Before this, that was the salary cap, meaning that’s how much money you’re going to have. …
“People will talk about it’s narrowed [with the new NIL rules], like I heard Coach [Nick] Saban say, and some stuff has narrowed because you can’t stockpile [talent] at those blue bloods, whatever you want to call [them]. But there’s still things there that you’re still going to struggle to beat those guys because kids are still recruited, and they see the size of stadiums and tradition and Heisman [Trophies] and national championships. And then your location to talent. So all those all those [factors] are in there. But it’s slid a little over time. That question probably [before] was, ‘What is your assistant coaches pool?’ Now, it’s, ‘What is your player pool?'”
Certainly an interesting response from Kiffin, particularly when one takes these comments and puts Florida head-to-head with Ole Miss in these “new” categories. The Gators sweep the Rebels when it comes to the stadium, traditions, Heisman Trophies, national championships and proximity to local talent. Furthermore, Florida has proven that it is willing to commit to both assistant coach and player pools. Just some food for thought.
Coaching searches that begin in October generally have a long runway, so it has been a while since anything legitimately related to the Florida job has come out. In the meantime, LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly amid an extremely messy situation, creating its own coaching search that is politically tangled with a state governor trying to weigh in alongside a new school president and an interim-active-not-yet-permanent athletic director who may or may not have authority to make the hire.
Whereas some would consider the Tigers ahead of the Gators when it comes to coaching jobs, LSU firing Kelly at 20 games above .500 (compared to Napier being below .500 for his career) shows a different level of patience from the administrations. The extremely strange internal politics at LSU, coupled with Florida’s desirability as an athletic program and university, have the jobs even — at worst. And that’s not even counting the Gators being willing to spend with the Tigers set to head in a different direction for their search.
——-
Beyond the changing landscape of open jobs is coaches appearing to take themselves off the board. Georgia Tech’s Brent Key and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham appear prepared to stay with their programs. Key said his entire focus is to build the Yellow Jackets, suggesting anyone who disbelieves him, “slice me open and see what colors I bleed.” Dillingham reportedly told his Sun Devils that he will be coaching the team next year, according to 247Sports.
Neither Key nor Dillingham was atop the Gators’ shortlist; however, each coach could have been a consideration if top prospects do not wind up taking the job. While Only Gators’ candidates list remains firm, look for a first-time ranking of those potential coaches to be published next week.
——-
While, again, betting odds do not matter when it comes to coaching searches — they are listed to encourage even betting and maximize profits for sportsbooks — the latest from BetOnline.ag have Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin (-150) out in front with Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz (+120), Washington’s Jedd Fisch (+600), James Franklin (+900) and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea (+1200) in the top five.
It’s tough to imagine Florida hiring Drinkwitz, and over the last three weeks, his name has never once been brought up for the job in conversations Only Gators have had with sources.
When it comes to coaching searches, unless there is a clear, obvious candidate, the oddsmakers usually do not know that much. However, considering Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has indeed been that clear favorite for the Florida job, it’s at least interesting that BetOnline.ag has shifted his odds of taking over the Gators markedly. Kiffin (3-1) has slid back to third on the board with Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz (1-1) and former Penn State head coach James Franklin (2-1) overtaking him. (Kiffin is fourth on the board for LSU at 4-1, for whatever that’s worth.)
What’s important to know, again, is that oddsmakers do not operate as insiders. They adjust lines based on betting action and perception, the latter of which, right now, is that Kiffin has a team likely to make the College Football Playoff; therefore, he will not be available until later in the offseason process. The Gators’ patience and Kiffin’s willingness to leave a team he comes close to taking the Promised Land do technically make him less likely to join Florida … but how less likely is probably a small margin.
Drinkwitz should probably be a non-starter for this job as he’s a personality clash waiting to happen without as strong a track record as the Gators should be seeking. Franklin is definitely a “well, Florida could do worse” type who could at least get the program back to its regularly winning ways, even if he needs to be replaced in a few years with someone who can break through and win a national championship. Washington head coach Jedd Fisch (9-1), Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm (10-1) and South Florida coach Alex Golesh (12-1) are the next three names on the board.
——-
Former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow offered a rather banal take on the coaching search over the weekend: “You’ve got to find someone that can galvanize the fanbase and bring Gator Nation back to where they want to go and back to where they’ve been. I also think it’s really important to understand that they’re not that far away. This is a Florida team that has a really good defense and a very talented offense.”
Marcus Freeman is reportedly out of the Florida coaching search. The Notre Dame head coach was propositioned by not only Stricklin but Penn State AD Pat Kraft, according to The Athletic, with both administrators receiving a definitive “no” from Freeman. It has long been expected that his end goal is either to lead Ohio State or coach in the NFL. However, as Only Gators stated when compiling our original list of coaching candidates, Freeman should have been UF’s No. 1 target from the onset as he basically checks every box a program would want filled.
——-
During an interview on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin addressed his name coming up in coaching searches involving the Nittany Lions, Gators and now LSU after head coach Brian Kelly was fired Sunday. He made one point crystal clear — money will not influence his decision: “I have never made a decision based off money, nor will I. … I’ve seen too many examples in life where money does not buy happiness. So, I’m never going to make a decision off of money, nor do I care about it. Jimmy Sexton gets really mad when I say that. He’s like, ‘We got to get this. We got to get this.’ And I’m like, ‘Jimmy, I don’t care.’ And he goes, ‘I do!'”
While it’s fine to take Kiffin at his word, it’s indeed important to remember that Sexton is at the helm of these negotiations. And while money may not be Kiffin’s top priority, as the character Peter Brand tells Billy Beane in the film “Moneyball:” “You’re not doing it for the money. You’re doing it for what the money says.” There’s a legitimate possibility that Kiffin, perhaps temporarily, becomes the highest-paid coach in college football once he decides where he wants to continue his career. But the “money” aspect of these negotiations is not solely about the coach’s bottom line.
Kiffin and Sexton will be looking for a massive package that not only includes his compensation but a significant pool of money for assistant coaches and staff, NIL, programmatic improvements, etc. If Florida enters into such an all-out competition for his services, that commitment — along with how Kiffin views the program’s ability to win a national championship and compete at the top of the sport — will come into play.
There’s no doubt that he and his children feel strong ties to Ole Miss and the community, considering his six years in Oxford match his longest tenure in one spot since he served as an assistant at USC from 2001-06. However, if those competition factors are considered, the facts are that the Gators and Tigers top the tier that houses the Nittany Lions, and the Rebels are a full tier lower. And when one considers where Kiffin’s style makes the most sense, Florida has long stood out as a perfect fit.
Rumors were running rampant that Florida somehow offered Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin a contract worth approximately $13.5 million per year just days after its search began in the midst of the 2025 college football season. Consider this a rumor killer because that was erroneous on all counts. While it’s certainly possible and even likely that the Gators and Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, have discussed a range of pay that would be necessary to retain his client’s services, UF has neither made a formal nor informal offer to a coaching candidate as it is not appropriate to do so at this time. Administrators and agents have established a specific timeline for such offers and decisions to be made. Hearing anything like this so early in the season — well outside any type of window — should speak to the lack of substance to such a report.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is widely believed to be Florida’s top target. He’s certainly the overwhelming favorite of the fanbase and boosters. (Only Gators has provided our own suggestion that differs from the consensus.) Many see Kiffin as the spiritual successor to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, and while he and his family have been extremely happy at Ole Miss, they were also happy when he coached FAU in Boca Raton, Florida, with Kiffin holding a fondness for that home and the state.
Kiffin currently makes $9 million annually with a maximum of $2.6 million in bonuses available, making him the 10th-highest paid coach in the nation. Florida would likely have to exceed $11.5 million before bonuses, which would place him among the sport’s three or four highest-paid coaches. Ole Miss has already stated its intention to sign Kiffin to a richer contract, and agent Jimmy Sexton will certainly play the sides against one another, no matter the outcome.
Only Gators wrote about Kiffin in this space during the last Gators coaching search. Here’s what we knew at the time (edited for clarity): “There is not any specific push for Kiffin at this time, sources tell Only Gators. Two sources that know Kiffin say he would leave Ole Miss for Florida with an equal compensation offer. Rumors about his interest in Miami appear to be legitimate but not on the level of UF or remaining at Ole Miss, which has embraced him and his family. Kiffin likes the Sunshine State [as he used to spend] a lot of time with his father on the West Coast. He kept his Boca Raton home from the FAU job and waxes poetic about it frequently.”
Florida fired Napier less than 24 hours after a nearly blown 23-21 win over Mississippi State. Ironically, his release was similar to that of ex-coach Dan Mullen in that Mullen’s came after a dismal 24-23 overtime loss — exactly one month later in the season.
While the Gators were victorious in Napier’s final game, he nevertheless finished his career 22-23, making him the first losing football coach to don the orange and blue in 76 years. He went 5-17 against ranked opponents (0-10 on the road), 1-16 in low-scoring games, 6-21 when his team gave up 3+ touchdowns, 4-17 when trailing at halftime and 3-21 when trailing after the third quarter. Napier will be paid approximately $20 million in buyout money, with 50% due within 30 days of his dismissal.
Stricklin, who was somehow given a five-year contract extension before the season, will be tasked with making the hire. Stricklin is getting a third opportunity to hire a football coach, a rare occurrence for any major-college AD.
Florida Gators coaching candidates: Lane Kiffin, Marcus Freeman lead options to replace Billy Napier
Florida vs. Ole Miss score, takeaways: Gators stay hot, reach bowl eligibility by upsetting No. 9 Ole Miss
Florida hires Jon Sumrall of Tulane as football coach after Gators fail in pursuit of Lane Kiffin
