4 Florida Head Coaching Options

The college football season is almost done, which means that a number of programs are looking for new head coaches after firing previous ones. Florida is one of those programs after the Gators fired Dan Mullen. The move seemed entirely necessary, and yet it was still a surprise, given that Mullen won the SEC East Division championship last year and gave Alabama two tough games – one in December, one this past September. Mullen’s talent as an offensive play-caller is obvious, but all the other dimensions of the Florida program rapidly crumbled under his watch. His career went from being on solid ground to being demolished in a very short period of time. Let’s look at four primary candidates to replace him.

Billy Napier

The guy Florida wants the most appears to be Napier, the coach of the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. Napier worked for Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, so he understands how to build an elite college football program in the modern age. Florida’s lack of high-end recruiting under Dan Mullen would be addressed by Napier. There are legitimate questions about a guy who would go from coaching in the Sun Belt to coaching in the SEC. Many people feel that Napier should take a less overwhelming power conference job such as Washington or Virginia Tech before making the move up to the SEC. Yet, it does seem Napier has wanted an SEC job and might not be interested in one of those lower-tier power conference opportunities. Napier is a candidate at LSU as well. Napier might want to stay in the state of Louisiana and get the job many feel he has been pining for his whole career. If he wants to go to LSU, Florida won’t get him, but if Napier is more interested in a prime SEC job than in the LSU job in particular, Florida has a real chance to land him and begin the process of restoring what it has lost.

Lane Kiffin

The Ole Miss head coach has clearly improved how he goes about his business. Kiffin was not ready to be head coach at Tennessee or USC, but he has evolved after his stint at Florida Atlantic University. Kiffin would be very popular with recruits and would have an elite offense at Florida. The big questions would be his recruiting prowess and his defensive coordinator. Those are significant concerns, but Kiffin obviously brings a lot of positive characteristics to the table.

Mario Cristobal

The Nick Saban connection for Mario Cristobal (a former Alabama assistant coach), combined with Cristobal’s time in Miami as a player and assistant coach, makes him a candidate who knows the recruiting landscape in the state of Florida. Cristobal has recruited at a high level at Oregon. Imagine what he could do at Florida. It is hard not to be impressed by Cristobal’s work as a recruiter, which would make the Gators eager to hire him. The problem: Cristobal is likely to stay at Oregon. Florida would have to really blow him away to pull him out of the Pacific Northwest.

Jeff Hafley

The Boston College head coach was an elite recruiter at Ohio State. He has energy and passion and a track record of developing good defenses. He improved Ohio State’s defense and helped the Buckeyes evolve. If the other candidates on this list – clearly higher in terms of preference – all say no to Florida, Hafley would be a good fallback plan.