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Paul Finebaum predicts Billy Napier 'probably won't be at Florida' in 2026

Danby: Daniel Hager8 hours agoDanielHagerOn3
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© Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Last Saturday marked the low-point of the Billy Napier era for Florida, as in-state rival USF knocked off the Gators 18-16 in The Swamp via a walk-off field goal from kicker Nico Gramatica. Napier is now 20-20 in 40 games as the head coach at Florida and is just 14-7 in games played in their home stadium, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The loss has caused an uproar of fan outrage, calling for Napier to be let go prior to the end of the season. ESPN‘s Paul Finebaum joined Wednesday’s edition of ‘The Rich Eisen Show‘, where he revealed that he cannot see Napier remaining at Florida next season.

“In terms of Florida, they’ll be revealed this weekend,” Finebaum said. “They’re at Baton Rouge (LSU). Not a good place to find yourself after losing to your not even cross-state rival. Florida this year has Florida State and Miami on the schedule. Miami is on the schedule next week, and they lose to the weakest of the three (USF). I did the calculation on Florida‘s 12-game schedule and USF is either the 10th or 11th best team on their schedule. If you’re doing the math on where Billy Napier will be next year, it probably won’t be at Florida.”

Since Napier took over in 2022, Florida has climbed as high as No. 13 in the AP Poll twice. However, it lost both games when reaching those heights (2022 vs. Kentucky as No. 12, 2025 vs. USF as No. 13) and quickly fell back down the poll.

Greg McElroy pumps the brakes on ‘Fire Napier’ discussions

Although Finebaum doesn’t believe that Napier will remain the head coach at Florida heading into next season, his ESPN teammate Greg McElroy pumped the brakes on those discussions during this week’s edition of ‘Always College Football‘.

“We need to cool it with the hot seat hot takes in week two,” McElroy said. “Now, I understand where we’re at. I get it. I understand why people react the way they do. They react with everybody’s voice being heard in the world we live in with social media and hot takes galore and the amount of response people get when thriving on negativity.”

“People like negative. I get that. We here at ‘Always College Football‘ really try to find the silver lining. So for those of you coming to us expecting us to fire Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State or for those of you coming to us telling us to fire Billy Napier at Florida, I’m not willing to say that now.”

Florida has a massive opportunity this weekend to wipe away the negative stigma of the USF loss as it is on the road at No. 3 LSU. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM on ABC.