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Florida Gators nearly replaced Billy Napier with popular candidate in October of 2024, and they could look to do it again

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Tyler Forness | Last updated Sep 25, 2025 6:37 PM ET

It's been a turbulent year for the Florida Gators. Head coach Billy Napier has been on the hot seat for the better part of the last two calendar years, and it's warranted with a 20-22 record and no ranked wins on the road.

Last October, it felt like Napier was going to be fired with another head coaching search coming for the Gators, which would be their fifth since Urban Meyer decided to resign after the 2010 season. There are a lot of different directions the Gators could go, but they nearly had one fan favorite locked up in October of 2024.

Lane Kiffin nearly became Florida Gators head coach

The number one target for many Gators fans is Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. He's considered an offensive genius and has done a great job at Ole Miss over the last few years. It also appears that the Gators have the same belief.

During an appearance on the Saturday Down South podcast, ESPN's Ryan McGee detailed a dinner at athletic director Scott Stricklin's house where they believed Kiffin would be the Gators' head coach by the end of October in 2024.

Last September, @ESPNMcGee went to a dinner at Scott Stricklin’s house, wherein Florida boosters said that they’d “have (Lane Kiffin) there by October.”

Well… pic.twitter.com/IcaISMBdKz
— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) September 25, 2025

"Last year in the 2024 season, we did Marty & McGee and SEC Nation in Gainesville, Week 1 and 3," saind McGee. "And Week 3, we had to go to this mandatory dinner at Stricklin's, the athletic director's house, all those boosters were saying, 'we'll have him here by the end of October' because, and you know, obviously Billy Napier saved his job, but now it's happening again. And his name is coming up for a lot of jobs. I think the list is extremely short, but I don't know that there is a list, and I say that based on the experience that I've had with him, he's [Kiffin] so happy.

There is a lot to take in here. We know that Napier found a way to save his job, including beating Kiffin in The Swamp at the end of the season. If they were that convinced that Kiffin was going to take the job, it's highly likely that the Gators are going to make another push if they do end up moving on from Napier.

Would Kiffin thrive in Florida? He already did at Florida Atlantic before taking the Ole Miss job, and he can recruit and scheme at a high level. Those are two very important things to Gators fans especially after seeing Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer win a combined three national championships with that strategy.

Only time will tell if they will be able to land Kiffin, let alone fire Napier, but it's gong ti be a story to watch.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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