Gators, Billy Napier ‘deep in negotiations,’ per report

Almost from the moment Florida fired Dan Mullen, there has been a lot of smoke surrounding their interest in Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Billy Napier. A report published by Swamp247 on Thursday seems to indicate that the parties involved are close to reaching an agreement for Napier to take the reins of the Gators’ football program.

The full write-up is behind a paywall, and thus, we’ll refrain from quoting extensively from it. However, the juiciest tidbits are clear — Florida is “pretty deep in the negotiation stage” and “barring some late unforeseen snags, it’s sure looking like Napier to Florida.”

This report is fresh on the heels of the Swamp247 podcast making similar, albeit less definitive, claims of mutual interest.

”I’ve done a lot of back-end digging with some Louisiana contacts, both on the ULL side and at LSU, and Billy Napier is going to leave for a bigger job this offseason. I feel very, very confident saying that,” stated one the of co-hosts.

“I think there’s a lot of interest in Billy Napier from Florida’s end. I do not know if he’s the No. 1 target… but I do think he checks off a lot of [athletic director Scott Stricklin’s] boxes. So, I think he’s the guy right now that you gotta really keep an eye on.”

When asked about his future with the program on Wednesday, Napier dodged the question. He simply stated there has been ‘no decision yet’ before pivoting to praise his team for their hard work and good performance on the field.

The 42-year-old Napier has been the head coach of the Ragin’ Cajuns since December 2017, but has a far more extensive history at big-name successful programs. He’s held positions at Clemson, South Carolina State, Alabama, Colorado State, Florida State, and Arizona State before leading the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns to two Sun Belt championship games.

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