Florida decided to fire head coach Billy Napier, opening up a great college football job. The Gators will look for a new head coach in the coming months. Here are potential head coach candidates for the Florida Gators.
The coach that is rumored to have the most interest is Ole Miss head man Lane Kiffin. Kiffin has been coaching at Ole Miss for six seasons with a 50-19 record. He has three double-digit win seasons with the Rebels. Kiffin has had other head coaching stop with the Raiders, Tennessee, USC and Florida Atlantic. He was an assistant most notably at USC and Alabama.
Kiffin has shown to be a good head coach over his time at Ole Miss and a good fit for the new era of college football. He recruits solidly and is one of the best in the country at using the transfer portal. Luring him away from Oxford could be tough, but Florida likely has more resources, which could entice Kiffin.
Fisch is a Florida alum, who is now the head coach at Washington. He has a 5-2 record this season, which follows up an impressive 6-7 year in which he had to replace a lot of players who left for the pros or followed Kalen DeBoer to Alabama. He also was a head coach at Arizona and an interim head coach at UCLA. Fisch was an assistant in the NFL, but also at UCLA and Michigan.
What Fisch has done at Arizona and Washington so far proves he is a good coach. His ties to the university should help and he has coached all over the country, giving him recruiting ties in those areas. Fisch doesn’t seem like he is too sold on staying at Washington long term and Florida could lure him south.
Sumrall is in line to get a power conference job, it is just a matter of when. He is currently the head coach at Tulane, where he had a 9-5 record last season and has a 6-1 start to this season with a path to making the CFP. Summrall was the head coach at Troy for two years before that and posted a 23-4 record. He played linebacker at Kentucky and was an assistant at several stops: Kentucky, San Diego, Tulane, Troy and Ole Miss.
While he has only been at two stops as a head coach, Sumrall has done very well in limited amounts of time. He could help turn around Florida quickly. Sumrall will be a candidate for other jobs, including his alma mater, Kentucky, if it opens, but could fit better in the south, where he has already coached. If Florida cant get a power conference coach to take the job, Sumrall could even do better.
Florida lost to USF earlier this season and their head coach, Alex Golesh, could be a candidate to get the job. This is his third season on the job with the Bulls. He started off with two seven-win seasons, which were impressive given that the Bulls won just one game the season before he arrived. He has been an assistant at Ohio State, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma State, Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State, UCF and Tennessee.
Golesh is known for his offensive mind and could work with some of the talented players on Florida’s roster if they are able to stay. He has done well with his own quarterback, Byrum Brown, when Brown is healthy, and his offense can bee successful in the SEC, which was shown when he was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. Golesh is another good coach that isn’t in a power conference, but would be a good fit.
Drinkwitz has had a good run as the coach at Missouri. He has a 44-25 record at the school, which is impressive given where the program started when he took over and the tough schedule in the SEC. He has two straight double-digit win seasons and a third one could be on the way, as the Tigers sit at 6-1 on the season right now. Before coaching at Missouri, Drinkwitz went 12-1 in one season as head coach of Appalachian State. He was an assistant at NC State, Boise State, Arkansas State and Auburn.
Florida could be enticed by what Drinkwitz has done at Missouri, especially because they have don’t have the resources Florida does. He could be interested in the job because of the recruiting base and NIL money he could utilize. Getting him away from Missouri will cost money, but Florida can afford Drinkwitz and he could be a good fit.
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