Four Head Coaches Fired in 2025; Will Florida's Billy Napier be Next?

Arkansas fired Sam Pittman on Sunday, putting more pressure on Florida to make a decision with Billy Napier.

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier is 20-22 with the program after three-straight losses in 2025. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Arkansas fired sixth-year head coach Sam Pittman on Sunday, making him the fourth head coach fired in the 2025 season after Virginia Tech's Brent Prye, UCLA's Deshaun Foster and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy.

The Razorbacks' decision has no direct affect on the Florida Gators other than members of the fanbase continuing to ask when Billy Napier will be let go from the program.

Napier, now 20-22 while leading the program, has lost his last three games with an 18-16 upset at home to USF, a 20-10 loss at LSU and a 26-7 loss at Miami prior to this past weekend's bye week. With his performance, last season's discussions of "when" not "if" he gets fired have been resurrected, and it feels as if a change in leadership with the program will happen soon.

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— David Soderquist (@HightopDave) September 28, 2025

Buyout Info

Napier signed a seven-year, $51.8 million deal in late 2021 after leaving Louisiana to the open head coaching job at Florida. He currently has three years left on his deal after this season.

According to Napier's contract, should he be fired, he would be owed 85 percent of his remaining contract as a buyout, which rougly equates to $19.38 million, with half of that total (roughly $9.7 million) owed within 30 days of his firing.

The rest would be paid in yearly installments until July 2028.

Why Wait?

While Florida does have the buyout money to ultimately fire Napier, there are multiple possible reasons the program has not pulled the trigger just yet.

For starters, as soon as a coaching change is made, players on the team will automatically get 30 days to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. While they may leave the team and join another within that span, they won't be eligible to play for their new team until next season.

Waiting for next season would not be an issue, though, if Florida fired Napier immediately after the Miami game.

With the loss to the Hurricanes coming in the fourth game of the season, all players who have not redshirted already are eligible to opt-out of the season and retain a year of eligibility. Firing Napier last week would have allowed a significant chunk of the roster the option to enter the portal while retaining an extra year of eligibility.

Now, the Gators are set to play its fifth game of the season with a return home to face No. 9 Texas, potentially setting the stage for a decision to be made.

Upcoming Schedule

Pressure continues to mount for Napier and Florida to make a turnaround, and with four other Power 4 schools already firing their head coaches, the noise from the fanbase will only continue to grow louder.

The Gators won't have any cupcakes to give them an easy win, either.

Florida returns home next week to face No. 9 Texas before travelling to No. 6 Texas A&M the following week. Additionally, the Gators play four more ranked teams, three of which are in the top 15.

Florida plays No. 12 Georgia on Nov. 1 in Jacksonville, No. 4 Ole Miss on Nov. 15 in Oxford, Mississippi and No. 15 Tennessee and No. 18 Florida State in the Swamp on Nov. 22 and Nov. 29. Other games scheduled are a home game against 4-1 Mississippi State on Oct. 18 and a road game at Kentucky, where Florida has not won since 2019, on Nov. 8.