It has been nearly two years since Florida football traded in a struggling Dan Mullen for Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns head coach Billy Napier, and so far, the switch has yielded few positive results.
After a losing season under the departing Mullen in 2021, the new skipper also finished under the .500 mark with an identical 6-7 record and appears to be destined for the same again this fall. Further exacerbating the issue is the product on the field, which has vacillated between impressive and disgusting — mostly the latter — through five games.
USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg took a look at the college football landscape after the fifth week of official action and selected five of the most overpaid head coaches among Power Five schools. Napier’s name inevitably came up after the disheartening defeat at the Kentucky Wildcats and it appears that time might be running out for him to prove himself.
“Napier will get the chance to turn things around at Florida, and his very successful run at Louisiana-Lafayette and flashes of top-level play in Gainesville suggest he could eventually get the Gators back toward the top of the SEC and FBS,” Myerberg noted.
“But the results through one-plus season have come under heavy scrutiny: UF went 6-7 last year with two wins against FBS opponents with a winning record and has been hit-or-miss through the first month of this season, with a win against Tennessee sandwiched between less-than-impressive performances against Utah and Charlotte, as well as a loss to Kentucky on Saturday” he continued.
“Napier is the eighth-highest-paid coach in the SEC at $7.3 million this season.”
Ranking all 14 SEC football head coaches according to salary in 2023
Next up for the Orange and Blue are the Vanderbilt Commodores, who come to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 7, for the school’s homecoming game. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. EDT and the game can be watched on the SEC Network.
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.