Paul Finebaum makes definitive statement on Billy Napier's future at Florida after Miami loss

Florida has been highly criticized amid its 1-3 start to the season. Saturday’s 26-7 loss to Miami has continued to pile up negative evaluations of the Gators and their embattled head coach, Billy Napier.

Paul Finebaum joined in, ripping the Gators for losing three-straight games after their season opener. When speaking on Matt Barrie’s podcast, Finebaum revealed that it may be time for Florida to move on from Napier and staff.

“Billy Napier, because he is the offensive coordinator, diminishes his opportunity to be a very good, if not great, head coach. He’s not — he’s a mediocre head coach,” Finebaum said. “His record is what? 20-22? The fact that we’re still discussing this as a possibility that he survives (from being fired) is a testament to what I’m not really sure, but the end is very near.

“However (AD) Scott Stricklin decides to do it and what matter, I really don’t know. And quite frankly, I don’t really care because he is not coming back as Florida’s head coach.”

The 1-3 start to the season comes following the best season yet for Florida under Billy Napier. The Gators finished the season 8-5 after winning six of their last eight games. Much of that has been attributed to the play of then-true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway.

However, Lagway has struggled early on in 2025 and missed most of the spring and some of training camp with an injury. This may have contributed to his slow start.

Napier currently sits at 20-22 overall amid his fourth season with the Gators. He has a losing record against SEC opponents, as well as a 3-12 against the school’s top rivals — Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami and Tennessee. He’s 0-2 against those schools so far this year, and have the other three on the horizon.

“That’s intolerable and unacceptable, and Billy Napier here has nowhere to go,” Finebaum said. “I mean, he can keep talking about how much his team is gutting it out, but they’re still losing. … there’s always something that goes haywire.”

It doesn’t help Florida that it’s playing one of the hardest schedules in the country this season. They’ve played two top-10 teams in the last two weeks in LSU and Miami. After they rest up on their bye this week, the Gators still have to play No. 10 Texas, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 5 Georgia, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 8 Florida State all during the regular season. The only two unranked teams they’ll play for the rest of the season are Mississippi State and Kentucky.