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Florida football coach Billy Napier was rewarded for leading the Florida Gators to their first winning season since 2020.
Napier earned a $100,000 bonus for leading UF to more than six wins and a non-BCS bowl game, per terms of his contract.
Under Napier, Florida finished the season on a four-game win streak. UF finished the year 8-5 following a 33-8 win over Tulane the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Dec. 20, which came after knocking off rival Florida State and posting back-to-back wins in The Swamp over ranked teams LSU and Ole Miss.
Napier wasn’t the only SEC coach to receive a performance-based bonus. Georgia coach Kirby Smart received $800,000 in bonuses for winning the SEC championship and reaching the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, while Tennessee coach Josh Heupel received $300,000 in bonuses for winning more than six games and reaching the first round of the CFP.
Overall, college football coaches around the country earned more than $16.8 million in bonuses, according to the USA Today’s public-school salary database.
Florida returns a promising roster in 2025 that includes rising sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, who went 6-1 as a starter last season, and All-American center Jake Slaughter. The Gators are ranked 12th in USA Today’s Way-Too-Early preseason Top 25 poll for the 2025 season.
Napier, 19-19 in three seasons at Florida, is entering the fourth year of a seven-year contract that pays him an average annual salary of $7.04 million.
Last week, Napier told 247Sports that he intends to hold on to play calling responsibilities in the 2025 season. Florida is still seeking to fill a co-defensive coordinator role on its staff to replace Austin Armstrong, who left UF to take over as defensive coordinator at Houston.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-football-coach-billy-napier-001437647.html
Author : The Gainesville Sun
Publish date : 2025-01-22 00:14:00
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