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Where Billy Napier stands in new CFB hot seat rankings

Billy Napier isn't in the clear just yet
ByBenjamin Henderson|
Apr 12, 2025; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin and Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier talk before the game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Apr 12, 2025; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin and Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier talk before the game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Despite a four-game winning streak to close out the 2024 season, Billy Napier still finds himself on the hot seat heading into the 2025 season. Even with the hope and optimism that Florida can make a run to the playoffs this season, CBS Sports just dropped their list of "Hot Seat Rankings" and Napier found himself 11th on the list.

It's not all gloom and doom for Napier, but it does highlight that he isn't out of the woods just yet in Gainesville.

Billy Napier has the 11th hottest coaching seat in the country

CBS does these rankings every year, and they assign everyone a score of 0-5, with 5 meaning you are a dead man walking.

With a score of 3.67, Napier found himself in the "Getting warmer" tier of coaches. The only coaches with a hotter seat than Napier are Sonny Cumbie (LA Tech), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Trent Dilfer (UAB), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Brent Brennan (Arizona), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Hugh Freeze (Auburn), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Scott Satterfield (Cinncinnatti), and Joe Morehead (Akron).

Of Napier, CBS said:

"Despite a turnaround last season, Napier did not fully get off the hot seat. An eight-win season is substantially better than the alternatives though, especially since it included upset wins over LSU and Ole Miss. With a second-year DJ Lagway, this is the year that Napier can finally eject himself from the hot seat for good with an SEC title-caliber run, and perhaps even more."

Success in 2025

We've beaten this horse dead 57 times, and we openly said Napier needed to be fired after the Texas A&M game last year. In our eyes here at Hail Florida Hail, it's playoffs or bust for Napier in year four of his tenure.

Let's not forget that if the playoffs had been expanded, Will Muschamp would have made it in 2012, Jim McElwain probably would have made it in 2015 as long the committee stick to the precedent it set this year not to punish teams in a conference title game, and Dan Mullen makes it for sure in 2019 and 2020 with the 2018 team being on the bubble.

Based on vibes, Napier will still be safe with nine wins, and he's probably still safe with eight wins.

But Vegas isn't 100% convinced Florida will even get to seven wins, thus Napier has to win in 2025 to cool down his coaching seat for good.

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