Paul Finebaum: Billy Napier was 'never the right choice' at Florida

The tenure of Billy Napier at Florida ended on Sunday, with the Gators firing him after three and a half seasons in The Swamp. However, he was the wrong hire by them from the start to Paul Finebaum.

Appearing on ‘SportsCenter’ on Monday afternoon, Finebaum reacted to Napier’s firing. Not only does he think the firing should have happened at some point last season, but that his hiring probably should’ve never happened with how little that he thinks that he fit the job best in Gainesville.

“It should have been done at the end of last year, but Napier won a couple of games so AD Scott Stricklin went all-in on him. But, he was never the right choice. That was obvious early on,” said Finebaum. “They struggled. They hung with him. Nice guy, everybody loved him – but he could not win big games or enough big games.”

Napier leaves with a record of 22-23 (.489) as head coach of the Gators. He may have recruited as a Top-15, Top-20 level off the field, but, on it, Florida disappointed as they had losing records in each of his first two seasons, were on pace for one before a four-win turnaround at the end that saved his job a season ago, and are on pace for one this fall at 3-4.

Now, with his move, Finebaum thinks they won’t only be looking for just a better coach. He thinks the Gators will have a opportunity to hire someone who better fits their program, in order to find that top-end success that they’ve been looking for again.

“This decision was smart. Now, Florida, which, to me, ‘ought to be one of the top football schools in America, has the chance to go out and bring somebody legitimate in to lead their program,” said Finebaum.

Dinich says Gators should ‘start’ with Fisch, Finebaum explains what makes Kiffin perfect

In that same segment, ESPN’s Heather Dinich named Washington’s Jedd Fisch as the candidate that they should start with in their coaching search. That’s with his own resumé as a coach, including several ties to Florida, whether talking about the actual state or the Gators’ program

“Well, I think you would start with Washington’s Jedd Fisch, who is a Florida alum,” Dinich said on SportsCenter. “He was a student assistant under Steve Spurrier. I’ve been following his career forever. He was the offensive coordinator at Miami. He knows the state of Florida. He was with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And he’s done a terrific job at Washington. It makes perfect sense. And don’t forget, Washington was a complete rebuild. I believe that he is happy there, but if there was a destination job that he might consider, Florida would probably be it.”

However, Finebaum went with the obvious answer so far in Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin. It’s who just about everyone at the school seemingly wants, and a coach who may want the job himself.

“The answer is Lane Kiffin,” Finebaum said. “I’ve been to Gainesville recently, and every student that I ran into said, ‘Hey, can we get Lane Kiffin?’. He’s perfect for the job. And I’ll tell you a quick story that you already know, Matt. He wears a visor. Why? Not because he worked under Steve Spurrier. He grew up idolizing Steve Spurrier. He’s an offensive genius. He had a big loss the other day. Another loss and he could be in CFP trouble, and I think that would be the first place they should go.”