Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin opted to fire coach Dan Mullen after a poor 2021 campaign and his recruiting struggles during his stint with the Gators. After a couple of weeks, Stricklin locked in on Lousiana-Lafayette head coach Billy Napier to replace Mullen.
Now that the 2021-2022 coaching carousel appears to be finished, The Athletic‘s Stewart Mandel graded all 29 of the new coaches. Here’s how he graded UF’s hire of Napier.
Florida (A), Louisiana head coach Billy Napier: It’s hard to imagine a better mix of experiences to prepare someone to be a Power 5 head coach than Napier’s stints as an assistant under both Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney and his four-year, 40-12 run as head coach of a Group of 5 program. Napier, who led Louisiana to its first Top 25 seasons the last two years, is likely to be a much better recruiter than the guy he’s replacing, Dan Mullen. He has an innovative spirit, as seen in the unusual job titles he’s creating.
The Gators’ new head coach didn’t receive Mandel’s highest grade that was reserved for USC‘s hire of Lincoln Riley, but they were tied with Miami who pulled Mario Cristobal from Oregon.
Mandel’s grade of Napier is fair considering he has no Power 5 head coaching experience, and no hire this cycle compares to the one the Trojans made.
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List
Here are Florida football’s assistant coach hires under Billy Napier
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