UF increases football spending by nearly $5M, recruiting budget up 55%

The University of Florida opened the checkbook not only to hire Billy Napier, but fund his recruiting and staffing needs to compete with the Alabama’s and Georgia’s of the world.

On Thursday, we learned the full scope of UF’s investment in Napier. The University Athletic Association has increased football spending by $4.72 million to $90.2 million, according to the Gators’ 2022-2023 operating budget obtained by the Orlando Sentinel through a public records request.

The additional spending is highlighted by a 55 percent increase in the recruiting budget, raising it to $2 million. According to a 247Sports report in October 2021, Florida’s recruiting budget ranked 14th nationally at $1.27M — more than $2 million behind Georgia’s nation-leading $3.6 million.

With the 55 percent jump under Napier, UF is now one of about five schools with a recruiting budget of $2 million or more, along with UGA, Alabama, Tennessee and Clemson (according to the 2021 figures). However, unlike those programs, the Gators don’t pay to fly out their coaches for in-home visits.

The UAA’s ownership of two private jets, a $3.3 million Phenom 100 and $8.5 million Phenom 300, and an aviation department budget of $839,000 offsets some of the costs tied to recruiting travel.

Napier received a salary pool of $7.5 million annually for 10 full-time assistant football coaches, an increase of $2.7M. He also has a salary pool of $5 million annually for other football support staff members, such as recruiting personnel. 

Investing in Billy Napier

During the interview process with Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, Napier presented a detailed plan on the pieces of his puzzle, how they fit together and why that’s going to matter. It was at that moment, Stricklin recalls, when he decided to loosen the purse strings.

“It’s kind of like when someone comes to you and asks you to invest in a company. You’re willing to do it when there’s a really good plan, a really good business model. And Billy has a vision for what that needs to look like. I was excited about his plan. I thought it made a lot of sense,” Stricklin said in a Gators Online exclusive. “He gives such a compelling reason to why these things are going to help make the Gators better. … When someone can explain why they need resources, it makes it really easy to want to invest in that. 

“But really, he presented why certain things were needed in his mind to build a structure. And a lot of it — I had done some studying of what he had done at ULL. He had basically built a Power Five program at a Group of Five school. He had just done it being very resourceful with his resources there. I was anxious to hear that and to learn about that. He does a really good job of talking about the structure, the layers of personnel, what the roles will be, why that’s important, how that helps and what the end result is going to be.” 

The UAA’s overall budget of $164 million for 2022-2023 is a $19 million bump.

The increased spending extends well beyond football due to an annual increase of $63 million in revenue over a 10-year period. The increases are generated primarily from the SEC Network and conference contribution (an additional $28 million), ticket sales (a $10 million increase), media rights ($9 million) and booster contributions ($5 million).

In addition to the enhanced commitment to Florida’s football and recruiting budget, other UAA spending increases include $5 million for overall athletic department salaries and fringe benefits, $3.4 million for administrative services and facility maintenance, $2.5 million for the Academic Incentive Award, $2.5 million for student-athlete travel and transportation and $800,000 for student-athlete meals.