From the 2024 season, Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier was already in the proverbial hot seat. Now, after leading the Gators to a 4-3 record, there are still questions about his future.

ESPN insider Peter Thamel explained that Napier’s status is still in flux with the team College GameDay Podcast. He also shared some insight into why that might be and the acquisition Napier has with Florida.

“I still think Billy Napier’s future is in flux,” said Pete Thamel. ‘He could have really helped himself by hitting Tennessee. I give Billy Napier a lot of credit. There have been signs, and DJ Laway is at least hope, and they seem to be on the same page. It was interesting: Lagway’s dad, who I follow on Twitter, posted a photo of DJ and Billy on the field during the game. Kentucky game. “Florida hasn’t won an SEC game like that where they chased someone out of the building in a long time.”

Now in his third season at Florida, Napier has led the Gators to a 15-17 record. However, there are signs of improvement in 2024, including in the form of freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. At the same time, the loss to Tennessee meant Napier missed out on a potentially big win and the schedule becomes much tougher from this point on.

“I am convinced that there is a collectively quite talented roster at Florida. Look, that last part is that last part. There’s no other way to say it. It was a final match of five games. The game in Tallahassee doesn’t look so intimidating now… there’s a path for Billy Napier. I believe the buyout number is about $26 million. So that is not unimportant.”

Another big concern for Florida when it comes to Billy Napier is the financial cost of firing him. His buyout amounts to well over $20 million. That’s before taking into account buying out the assistants and likely buying out the team’s next head coach. Additionally, this comes as it appears that revenue sharing will soon be a challenge for athletic departments.

“Another macro point here is that all these schools that are making decisions, whether it’s SEC, AAC, Conference USA, it’s, ‘I have to pay of $20 million for revenue sharing.” “There’s just not an unlimited amount of money for these schools and finding a line item for an extra $20 million is – again, the money is there and no one’s playing the violin, but it’s still like an extra $20 million,” Thamel said.

“Florida is going to figure out the money and it will be fine. There’s kind of a thought exercise of, ‘Okay, let’s take $26 million and spend it on good players, instead of spending it on coaches with no weight,’ because you have some assistants on that staff. Sometimes employee transfers cost an additional $10 million. Florida, the way the contracts are written… it’s not a total poison pill among the workforce. Ultimately, it is still millions of dollars, they just cannot be achieved with the snap of a finger.”

For now, Billy Napier and Florida are going to the Georgian bulldogswho they will play after a bye week.