The University of Florida is ready to hire a new president. After Ben Sasse stepped down last July, Florida has spent the last ten months honing in on a new president.
News broke yesterday that Florida has recommended Michigan president Dr. Santa J. Ono as the sole finalist to take over the role.
As with any change at the top of leadership, things campus-wide are bound to change. For Billy Napier and Florida Football specifically, what might this change mean?
Billy Napier and the Gators are getting a new boss
We'll leave the commentary about what this means to the academic side of Florida to the people better equipped to comment on that, but for Gator athletics, this is a win.
Ono is considered a big athletics guy, which isn't something that every school can claim. Under watch at Michigan, the Wolverines won a national title, and as we all know, they spared no expense to get there.
There is some theory that Ono is jumping ship from Michigan under the belief that the hammer is about to drop from the Connor Stalions spying allegations.
Under his watch, Michigan also just won the national title in men's gymnastics and has made the Frozen Four in men's hockey three straight seasons.
Notably, Michigan pivoted from Juwan Howard as their men's basketball coach to Dusty May, which should have Napier's attention.
Howard was Michigan royalty and led the Wolverines to the Elite Eight in 2021 and the Sweet 16 in 2022. Michigan missed the tournament in 2023 and 2024 and was let go.
Scott Stricklin would have the first say on Napier, but if things go south in 2025 for the Gators, it wouldn't be shocking to see Ono stick his nose in and have a say.
That's the blessing and the curse Napier is going to have with Ono. He's going to have a president willing to make sure he has the resources to succeed. It also means he has a president who isn't interested in excuses.