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A close win Saturday wasn’t enough to secure Billy Napier another week in Gainesville.
The Florida Gators fired their head coach on Sunday after a 3–4 start, according to multiple reports. Napier signed a 7-year, $51.8 million contract with the Gators in late 2021, and Florida owes him $21.2 million for the buyout, per USA Today. (Other reports have indicated that the buyout is worth around $19 million.)
Reports have also indicated that the Gators must pay out half of the buyout within the first 30 days of his firing. The rest of the buyout will be paid every year on July 15 until 2029.
The buyout also does not include an offset, which means that the total figure will not decrease even if Napier secures another coaching gig.
Norvell Also Canned
Hours after the Gators let go of Napier, multiple reports indicated that Colorado State fired head coach Jay Norvell after a loss to Hawaii on Saturday that dropped the Rams to 2–5. Norvell was in the fourth year of a five-year, $9 million deal.
There are now 11 FBS head coach openings, including interim roles at Stanford (Frank Reich) and Kent State (Mark Carney).
$116M in Buyouts
Napier and Norvell are the eighth and ninth FBS college football coaches to be fired during the 2025 season, bringing the total buyout sum above $100 million. Napier has the second-highest buyout sum, while Norvell is the smallest so far.
The nine schools owe a total of $116 million:
- Penn State, James Franklin: $49.7 million
- Florida, Billy Napier: $21.2 million
- Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy: $15 million
- Arkansas, Sam Pittman: $9.8 million
- UCLA, DeShaun Foster: $6.43 million
- Virginia Tech, Brent Pry: $6 million
- Oregon State, Trent Bray: $4 million
- UAB, Trent Dilfer: $2.4 million
- Colorado State, Jay Norvell: $1.5 million
According to On3, Florida State officials held informal calls about the future of head coach Mike Norvell. A buyout for Mike Norvell would cost the Seminoles about $54.4 million, which would be the most among all FBS programs.
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