Florida Fires Billy Napier: Can Lane Kiffin or Dabo Swinney Save the Gators?

The Florida Gators did this week what was believed to be inevitable, firing Head Coach Billy Napier halfway through his 4^th season in Gainesville. What’s next for a program that is now adrift? In talking to Gator fans, the candidate I hear them asking for repeatedly is Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin. He’s won in a difficult place and brought a swagger to the Ole Miss program Gator fans have been looking for since Steve Spurrier. What would be the advantage for Kiffin of going from one SEC to another? More pay possibly, but Ole Miss has been one of the most active schools in adapting to modern college football. They hand out NIL money like it is candy, and they are very active each season in the transfer portal. If Florida wants this top of the line hire, they will need top of the line money, not just for coaches but for players too. If you are a Gators fan, you have to feel like your program has more resources than Ole Miss, but I am not sure Lane Kiffin thinks this would be the right move.

Would Florida be willing to check and see if Dabo Swinney is unhappy in Clemson and want to try to renovate his reputation as a National Championship coach in Gainesville? This would also take a lot of money. Swinney has been slow to adapt to the modern landscape, but the wins are undeniable.  There are a bevy of usual suspects like James Franklin, just ousted at Penn State, and Jimbo Fisher who is anxious to leave television and pick up a clip board again. Gator fans would likely revolt at the hire of either one of these potential candidates, and I would be surprised if AD Scott Stricklin did not aim higher than a coach currently out of work. I’ll throw out one more name just for fun, Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch. Fisch is a UF grad who got his coaching start under Steve Spurrier. He has tons of NFL experience, has turned around Arizona, and is bringing Washington back to relevance in his 2^nd season there.