Two Candidates Being Linked To The Vacant Florida Gators Job

Amid a dismal season, the Florida Gators made the somewhat surprising move to fire their head coach, Dan Mullen, last week following an OT loss vs. Missouri.

Mullen has had some highs and lows since he took over the mantle. But clearly, Florida has higher aspirations. And a down year this bad is simply unacceptable in The Swamp.

Now, the gators are back in that all-too-familar situation where they have to gauge potential candidates to bring SEC prominence back to Florida. But who will be the right guy to put an end to the recent history of incompetence?

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College football insider Paul Finebaum has two names in mind: Lane Kiffin and Louisville’s Billy Napier.

“Where does the school go? They want an offensive coach,” Finebaum said. “That’s why [Dan] Mullen was hired. They’ve had defensive coaches. Lane Kiffin is a name you have to look at. Billy Napier from Louisiana is not that well-known but he’s been at Clemson and Alabama. And after that, it’s literally going through the same list that we have regurgitated here every week since the beginning of the season.”

Paul Finebaum would go on to say that Florida has to make sure their next head coach has the energy for the tall task of recruiting players to come to Gainesville over other SEC schools – which is where Dan Mullen specifically failed.

“He didn’t even look like he liked to recruit,” Finebaum added. “That was the most bizarre part of it. He had no appetite for doing what you have to do in recruiting and that’s recruit every day of the year, 24/7. I think he’s a brilliant play-caller, he’s a great developer of quarterbacks—Dak Prescott being his prized pupil—but ultimately he could not cut it at this level.”

I’m not sure Lane Kiffin would leave Ole Miss for another SEC job. But who knows. One thing is for sure – Florida has their work cut out for them.

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