David Wunderlich

It’s time for Florida to move on from Billy Napier

Florida must stop looking to the past with its new head coaching hire

Florida is searching for a new head football coach, one who ideally is capable of winning national titles. It can be difficult to see beyond the recent past in relation to championships, however, so here is some perspective on it.

It’s a common college football trope that a team firing its head coach ends up a bit like Wile E. Coyote running off of a cliff. They can defy gravity for some short period of time, but then they inevitably look down and plunge into the ravine.

The Florida Gators lost to Tennessee 31-11, their first defeat at the hands of the Volunteers at home in more than 20 years. The team has been inconsistent under interim head coach Billy Gonzales, with exemplary efforts against Georgia and Ole Miss interleaved with crushing losses to Kentucky and UT.

Jon Sumrall’s only misstep so far in Gainesville might be sartorial. On a day when Job 1 was convincing the Gator fan base that this G5 head coach from Louisiana was very much not the same as the last G5 coach from Louisiana, he wore a blue suit and orange tie with a grid-like pattern to his introductory press conference very reminiscent of the the outfit that Billy Napier wore to his first press conference.

DJ Lagway’s departure is unfortunate but likely is for the best for both him and Florida

The Florida Gators and new head coach Jon Sumrall got big news on Tuesday when it became public that star running back Jadan Baugh will return to Gainesville for his third and likely final season of college ball.

What the 2026 Orange and Blue Game says about how Florida will try to win

NFL Draft Results, Prospects Show Napier Did Improve Florida’s Talent Over Mullen