What Florida’s latest coaching change means for Georgia
Kirby Smart has outlasted another Florida coach, as the program elected to move on from Billy Napier on Sunday.
Napier was in his fourth season as the Florida head coach, going 22-23 in his time in charge of the program. Florida, which like Georgia is off this coming week, is 3-4 on the season and coming off a 23-21 win over Mississippi State.
In some regards, Georgia may be sad to see Napier go. The former Florida coach was 0-3 against Georgia, with each loss coming by double digits.
For all the coaching tumult Florida has experienced since the end of Urban Meyer’s tenure in 2010, Napier is the only coach not to beat Georgia at least once. Charley Pell, who ran Florida from 1979 through the first three games of the 1984 season, was the last full-time Florida coach before Napier not to beat Georgia at least once.
It speaks to the nature of the rivalry, where weird things just seem to happen in Jacksonville.
Another Billy will be guiding the program throughout the remainder of the season, as wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales takes over as the interim coach. Gonzales is a Florida lifer, having coached at the school over three separate stints and worked with Meyer, Dan Mullen and Napier.
“Coach Gonzales has been a valued member of our program for many years, including being a part of multiple championship teams,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in an official statement. “He is a Gator through and through. His deep understanding of our culture, our student-athletes, and what it means to represent the University of Florida makes him well-suited to lead our team.”
To date, Napier is the only Florida coach who will not be making the trip to Jacksonville. As of this writing, no Florida players have said they will sit out the remainder of the season and enter the transfer portal. With Napier being fired, players have a 15-day window to transfer that begins five days after a new coach is announced.
This Florida roster has plenty of talent, with Napier upgrading what Florida had to work with, stemming back to the end of Mullen’s tenure. Georgia and Florida have gone head to head for prospects in both the transfer portal and recruiting trail.
Georgia won its share of those, including flipping one-time Florida commits running back Chauncey Bowens and safety Adrian Maddox. But Napier beat out Smart for LJ McCray, Michai Boireau and Jeremiah McCloud.
Those three all play on the defensive line for Florida, something that is not as strong as it has been in recent years for Georgia. There’s probably something to that, especially given how much Florida prioritized its offensive line play.
Florida has 14 players on its roster from Georgia. The most impactful is running back Jadan Baugh from Decatur, someone who never really was on Georgia’s radar as a prospect. He’s rushed for 611 yards this season.
If there is one position where Florida has stockpiled more talent than Georgia, it comes at wide receiver. Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown and Eugene Wilson all were top-110 prospects as recruits and all have eligibility remaining after this season. With all Georgia expects to lose at the position, you can expect the Bulldogs to be active in the transfer portal once again at wide receiver. Georgia landed Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas this past cycle, and Colbie Young and London Humphreys the year before.
As for who possibly replaces Napier, two top candidates appear to be Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss and Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri. Both have head coaching experience in the SEC — something Napier lacked before taking the job — and are strong offensive minds.
Regardless of whether either takes the job, Georgia is scheduled to face Ole Miss and Missouri in 2026. The Tigers will visit Athens, and Georgia will travel to Oxford, Mississippi.
Kiffin gave Georgia all it could handle this past weekend, with the Bulldogs needing 43 points to slip past his Rebels.
“A lot of credit goes to Lane and his staff,” Smart said. “Their team was really prepared to come into this game and start fast, as they did.”
Another name to monitor would be Washington coach Jedd Fisch. He is a Florida alum and worked as a graduate assistant under Steve Spurrier. He also is an offensive-minded coach, something important to the ethos of Florida.
Even if Napier had been retained through the end of the season, Georgia likely would have been favored over Florida. Smart is 7-2 against the Gators since taking over Georgia’s program in 2016. Georgia is 6-1 on the season and 4-1 in SEC play.
When these two teams meet in Atlanta in 2026, Florida will be on its fourth head coach since Smart came into power at Georgia.
Given the way things have gone for the Gators, it makes this next hire all the more important if they are to try to bring some balance to the rivalry.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct transfer rules.
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
