Pete Thamel details unique language in Billy Napier buyout which makes decision difficult

The Swamp has been talking buyouts since Saturday when No. 13 Florida was upset at home by USF. However, based on the terms of his contract, ESPN’s Pete Thamel thinks there’s a lot to consider when it comes to possibly firing Billy Napier.

The ‘College GameDay Podcast’ discussed Napier’s standing coming out of the Gators’ loss on their latest episode on Monday. It was there that Thamel noted that Florida would have to pay the full sum of the $20.4 million buyout to Napier, $10.2 million of that within the first month of his firing, with no offset or mitigation language as part of the deal. Regardless of who you’re program is, that’s a big chunk of change to pay right away to your now former coach.

“Interesting about Napier’s buyout is there’s no offset or mitigation, so he gets it all, which is pretty rare. Like, even Lincoln Riley’s, like, $100 million contract? I think the buyout is around $80 (million) now. Like, he goes and becomes a five million dollar a year NFL play caller or whatever, like Chip (Kelly) did? Like, that would get offset from the buyout, so you can make it more manageable,” Thamel said. “This is $20 million, I believe $10 million in the first 30 days. I think it’s $20.4 million, $10 million or half of it in the first 30 days, and then they just have to pay the rest.

“Look, I don’t care where you are. Like, in modern college football, that’s a lot. That’s a lot of money. So, it would be interesting.”

As broken down by On3’s Pete Nakos, Florida would have to pay that $10.2 million to Napier within the first 30 days of his firing. Then, over the next four years, the Gators would pay out an additional amount of $2.5 million each July 15th to get to the final amount of $20.4 million on the buyout. If they waited longer to do so, that buyout drops to $13 million after 2026 and $6.1 after 2027 on what was a seven-year deal signed in 2021, which would take him through January 31st, 2029.

This process is then now further complicated pending what the opinion is of the decisions made by Florida AD Scott Stricklin. In June, Stricklin signed a new three-year extension to remain as athletic director, paying him over two million dollars a year, before becoming special assistant to the athletic director starting in 2030. It was previously thought that Florida would have a new athletic director by the time that Napier may be potentially fired and his replacement hired. However, this will now be a decision made by Stricklin, as noted by Thamel.

“A year ago, when we were having this very same conversation about Napier after they got pantsed at home against A&M…The difference at Florida now compared to then was Scott Stricklin, the AD, was going toward the end of his contract and believed to be – you know, the question was would he be able to hire a third coach? Since that time, Florida obviously went and won the national title in basketball. That was Stricklin’s hire. He just got quietly extended through, I believe, 2030, maybe even ’31,” explained Thamel. “So, it will be his call. As it is, you don’t get to hire a third coach very often, just as these things work. But, the way his contract has now been extended, it would seem to be that.”

Just going into week three, Napier won’t be fired for some time still. That said, the Gators are at least back wondering about this tenure as they’re already at 1-1, also back at just .500 overall under him, with a long season ahead still in Gainesville.

“But, boy,” Thamel said. “Look, we sat here a year ago and said, hard to see Billy Napier getting out of this and he did at 8-5. But, he’s 20-20 through 40 games and that is just not what the expectation is at Florida.”