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Rankings for the Gators and national belief in Billy Napier are on opposite sides

Florida is ranked in the top 15 of numerous preseason polls, but rankings of coaches continue to have him low and near the bottom
ByBenjamin Henderson|
Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier looks on during spring football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, March 6, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]
Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier looks on during spring football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, March 6, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun] | Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Poll after poll this offseason keeps instilling hope in Florida Football for 2025. With DJ Lagway at the helm, most preseason rankings keep pegging the Gators as a top-15 team.

Yet, with all the upward momentum for Florida as a program, rankings of coaches keep pegging Billy Napier near the bottom.

Billy Napier ranked 45th out of 68 Power Four head coaches

CBS Sports put out a ranking of all 68 Power Four head coaches. CBS Sports and 247Sports experts voted on the poll.

The good news for Napier is that he wasn't last; that honor went to Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby.

But coming in at 45th out of the 68 Power Four coaches was Napier.

Of Napier, CBS said:

"First, let me congratulate Napier on still being here. I really didn't think he'd make it another year when I was staring at Florida's death march of a 2024 schedule. But the Gators went 8-5, and Napier is getting at least one more season. It's somewhat surprising that he didn't climb a little higher."

This poll is against the backdrop of ESPN releasing their SP+ rankings that have the Gators ranked 14th heading into 2025.

So, as CBS alludes to, why is there such a disconnect between all the preseason hype Florida has been getting and what these same writers seem to think of Napier?

Well, if you have read any of our content here at Hail Florida Hail over the past couple of years, you would know that our main contention with Napier is his inability to maximize talent and overcome situations when he is forced to pivot from Plan A.

Napier's offense is extremely dependent on having superior talent in order to work, and he has run the same offense for the past three years, regardless of whether it made sense for the personnel he had at the time.

On paper, he has the talent needed for it to work this year, with Lagway throwing deep bombs to a crop of speedy wide receivers. Hence why people are high on Florida.

But until Napier can prove he isn't going to lose his annual "let down" game (Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas A&M) and his annual major gaffe game (Arkansas and Tennessee), it's not unfair to keep Napier himself this low on the list until he can prove otherwise.