GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As bye weeks go, this one for the Gators comes at a most opportune time.

Six days ago, the Gators pulled off a stunning win over Mississippi State as defensive lineman Michai Boireau intercepted a pass by Blake Shapin when it appeared the Bulldogs were about to attempt a potential game-winning field goal. By the next afternoon, Billy Napier was no longer Florida’s head coach and Billy Gonzales, the receivers coach, was the interim head coach.

And then on Monday, UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, Gonzales, and team leaders Jake Slaughter, DJ Lagway and Myles Graham spoke at a press conference about the dizzying past 36 hours.

Florida (3-4, 2-2) practiced this week and will take the weekend off for a final breather before facing No. 5 Georgia (6-1, 4-1) in the annual Southeastern Conference clash in Jacksonville. Georgia is the fifth top-10 team the Gators will have faced in their first eight games, so an additional week to prepare under the circumstances is ideal.

“I’ve been through this before, obviously, as a coach, as a player,” Gonzales said. “We’re in this together. [The players] have got a heartbeat. And so, yeah, the change will hopefully be a smooth transition, and that’s kind of why I’m here.”

Meanwhile, it’s been another busy week across the board for Gators athletics, and with so much going on, here are 10 items that grabbed my attention and perhaps caught yours, too:

 

LAGWAY’S FUTURE

If we have learned anything since the introduction of the transfer portal in college football, it’s that keeping a roster intact is more difficult than ever. Toss NIL into the equation, and players come and go like students on scooters along University Avenue.

In the wake of Napier’s exit, Lagway was asked about his long-term commitment to the Gators with two seasons of eligibility remaining after 2025.

“Yeah, I’m a Florida Gator,” he said. “My biggest focus right now is these five games and to continue to better my craft and continue to develop as a player.”

When asked what he would like to see in Florida’s next coach, Lagway remained noncommittal.

“I just control what I can control, and all I can control is, like I said, one day at a time and continue to better my craft and just continue to be a better human.”

Lagway has humbly acclimated to the UF and local community as the face of Napier’s program over the past two years. He is growing up under intense scrutiny and still developing as a talented prospect. There are no indications that Lagway is not committed to staying at Florida, but as we all know, nothing is certain until the 15-day transfer portal window (Jan. 2-16, 2026) officially closes.

 

SULLY & VITELLO

The SEC baseball world experienced a pair of earthquakes on Wednesday when the San Francisco Giants hired Tennessee coach Tony Vitello as their next manager and Florida announced that Kevin O’Sullivan was taking a leave of absence for personal/family reasons.

First and most importantly, best wishes to O’Sullivan as he deals with an undisclosed serious matter. O’Sullivan was prepping for his 19th season at UF when news broke that he was stepping away.

The double dose left me thinking about how similar O’Sullivan and Vitello are in many ways. Both are fiery competitors that we’re more accustomed to seeing on the sideline than in the dugout. Vitello was suspended twice in his eight seasons at Tennessee, and O’Sullivan is facing a three-game suspension at the start of next season following an outburst at the NCAA Regional last summer.

While their intense leadership styles are uncommon in baseball, you can’t argue with the results.

Vitello was hired by the Vols in June 2017, the same month O’Sullivan led the Gators to the program’s only national title. In the eight seasons since then, whenever the Gators and Vols met, the competitive juices flowed with each dugout decision. They first met as opposing managers in April 2018 in Knoxville. The Gators won the game, 22-6, roughing up future Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Meanwhile, current big leaguers Brady Singer and Jonathan India starred for the Gators.

As Vitello built the Vols into a national championship contender and O’Sullivan weathered a stretch of up-and-down seasons, Vitello finished with a 16-7 record against Florida. He departs with one national title (2024) and three trips to the College World Series. As for O’Sullivan, he has nine trips to the CWS and a national title.

He won’t be matching wits against Vitello any longer — a bummer for SEC baseball fans — but O’Sullivan’s competitive fire still burns deep based on the last time we saw him in uniform.

 

SPURRIER, SPURRIER, SPURRIER

If there is one way for sure to get Gators fans excited, it’s to mention Steve Spurrier.

Add Steve Spurrier Jr. to that list, too.

 

When Gonzales informed reporters on Wednesday that Spurrier Jr. will have a more involved role coaching Lagway for the rest of the season, internet stories sprang up instantly. According to Gonzales, offensive coordinator Russ Callaway will provide play options, quarterbacks coach Ryan O’Hara, working from the booth, will call plays into Lagway, and Spurrier Jr. will be on the field working directly with the sophomore quarterback.

Spurrier Jr. started his coaching career with the Gators as a graduate assistant in 1994 when his Hall of Fame father was Florida’s head coach. He rejoined the program in the offseason as an offensive analyst after two years as offensive coordinator at Tulsa.

“Whenever you’re around one of the greatest offensive minds in history, it’s obviously going to rub off on you as well,” Gonzales said. “He’s been involved, but now he’s going to have more of a role because he’s going to be down there on the field with the quarterback looking in his eyes and getting a chance to talk to him and review the film that’s being relayed.

“It’s going to put us in a great situation to help DJ and the quarterbacks perform on the football field.”

No word on whether Spurrier Jr. plans to wear a visor.

 

URBAN’S EVALUATION

Gonzales called former Gators coach Urban Meyer for some advice on Sunday after he was named interim coach. Meyer was Gonzales’ position coach at Colorado State, and Gonzales served on Meyer’s coaching staff at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

Meyer offered his thoughts on the Florida job later this week on the “Triple Option” podcast, when asked where the UF job ranks compared to openings such as Penn State and Arkansas, and Notre Dame, which was once Meyer’s dream job and a place he served as an assistant.

“It’s not even close, and I think it’s Florida,” Meyer said. “I’m Irish Catholic. I still love Notre Dame, and not many people know this story, but I was offered both jobs. A lot of people thought I was going to South Bend, but Florida’s a better job. It’s the recruiting, and at that point in my life, I had young kids at home.”

Besides being one of college football’s top brands, Mayer said Florida offers recruiting advantages that Penn State and Notre Dame don’t have beyond a talented pool of players.

“When you recruit at Notre Dame or Penn State, you’re on a plane half the time,” he said. “You’re recruiting Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Detroit and Chicago. At Florida, you’re a 45-minute flight from your recruiting base. I had two planes, and they said I could be home at night. I said this is a no-brainer.”

 

SOARING SKYE

Gators sophomore gymnast Skye Blakely took another massive step on Friday toward her ultimate goal – representing the USA in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics – by placing fourth in the uneven bars at the World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

Blakely’s performance came 15 months after an Achilles injury limited her during her first season with the Gators, who open the season in January. Blakely figures more prominently in Florida’s plans in 2026 as she continues to train primarily on uneven bars and the balance beam.

The goal is to return to the all-around competition by 2028 eventually.

“This last year of just training those two events … it has helped me pace myself better in the gym with how I work,” Blakely told Olympics.com. “It doesn’t need to be aggressive every single day. It’s really just trusting my gymnastics more and doing what’s best for me.”

When Blakely will return to the all-around competition remains uncertain. But the good news for the Gators is that Blakely is much closer today than last year when she joined the program as one of the nation’s top recruits.

“Part of me is like, I want to do all-around, but it’s all about the pacing,” she said. “It’s more important to stay healthy now. Let my foot get fully back. There’s no point in pushing big skills on it yet.”

 

BILLY’S BUYOUT
 
The Napier Era started with an abundance of hope in December 2021 when the Gators lured him from Louisiana with a seven-year, $51.8 million contract.

Napier’s 22-23 record was not what the Gators paid for, prompting Stricklin to pull the plug on Sunday. While the Gators have moved on as a football team, the UAA owes Napier a hefty buyout. Stricklin said Monday that “we’re going to honor the contract as it’s written.”

According to the agreement, the Gators owe Napier almost $21 million in buyout money, with $10 million due within 30 days. Stricklin said the financial hit is notable, but that it’s not a liability in hiring the next coach.

“It’s not insignificant,” Stricklin said. “The market kind of dictates that. We’re blessed that we have tremendous resources, but it’s not unlimited. We’ll have to manage that, and we will. And the resources are not going to be a reason why we don’t make the right decision going forward.”

 

MAD MULLEN

Dan Mullen is an excellent coach. He is one of the game’s brightest offensive minds. He is healthy and wealthy, and he has a home on an exclusive golf course in Las Vegas.

By most measures, Mullen has a dream life. Still, the Gators continue to live rent-free in his head four years after he was fired late in the 2021 season. In his first season at UNLV, Mullen sounded off to Yahoo! Sports this week after Napier’s dismissal.

 

Mullen vented that he didn’t have enough resources and that UF moved on as soon as he hit a rough patch.

“We’ve won at very high levels, won where it’s hard to win, won where you should win,” Mullen said. “Then all of a sudden it doesn’t look right and, yeah, quick trigger and you’re gone. But I also look at — and maybe I don’t know the specifics of [Napier’s] situation — whatever that’s going to cost them, are they going to give the next guy a lot more than they gave him, as far as resources?

“Me, right? I mean, like, everything was, ‘No.’ And then, everything I asked for, they said, ‘Here you go,’ to the next person. So, what’s the plan to make it better? Not that, then what? They doubled the salary pool [for Napier] to hire coaches and staff members. I was always told no.”

Rarely is anyone pleased when told to hit the road. But in Mullen’s case, he had 12 million reasons to pack and never look back. Maybe money really can’t buy happiness.

 

GRAHAM ALL IN

Graham faced the same question as Lagway on Monday about his future with the program in the wake of Napier’s firing.

The son of former Gators running back Earnest Graham, Graham made clear his plans.

 

“Oh no, no, man. I’m a Gator,” he said when asked about possibly transferring. “I’m just focused on rallying these guys for these last five games and just keep rolling.”

Graham has developed into a team leader as a sophomore and leads Florida with 40 tackles through seven games. He credited Napier for the opportunity to play for the Gators and for helping him improve.

“I learned a lot from Coach Napier, just his attention to detail, just his focus, his urgency, and everything he did,” Graham said. “I saw how he tuned out all the bad stuff throughout his whole career, all the negative stuff, and he just kept rolling. He just kept pushing no matter what. And that was really just significant to me, man, just to see how strong he was in times of trials and tribulations.”

 

SLAUGHTER’S PERSPECTIVE
 

All-American center Slaughter is one of Florida’s most respected players. His teammates and coaches rave about his approach to the game and his leadership skills.

Slaughter is one of the few players on the team still around from when Mullen was fired in 2021. He was a freshman trying to find his place.

Four years later, Slaughter has a voice that resonates inside and outside the locker room.

Did he see any similarities between Mullen’s departure and Napier’s?

“I think it’s very different. I was 18 years old. Now I’m 22 years old and playing ball,” he said. “I think there’s always going to be lessons you can take. I was thinking about it [Sunday] night, the type of things that I remember going through at that time. I remember seniors like Stewart Reese and Jean Delance in my room, who really took care of the young guys.

“Ultimately, it’s about playing ball and taking care of your guys. I feel like that’s something that stuck with me my whole career.”

 

NAPIER’S NADIR

In dissecting what went wrong for the Gators under Napier, you can point to the offensive regression, consistent mistakes at the most inopportune moments, his decision not to hire an offensive coordinator and so on.

Everyone has a No. 1 reason on their personal list. But make no mistake, it always comes back to wins and losses.

 

It’s rare to see a head coach fired after a victory, but in Napier’s case, it felt like the die was cast regardless of what happened against Mississippi State. If there were any doubts, the “Fi-re, Bil-ly” chants that erupted late in the fourth quarter sacked them.

Stricklin’s assessment of Florida’s roster echoes what so many fans and media saw before he decided to part ways with the fourth-year coach.

“We didn’t win as many games as we wanted to, but there was no question we had the talent to win at that level,” Stricklin said. “I believe we have the talent to compete with anybody left on our schedule. This is a talented group of football players. I know that.”

The two most damning stats in my view: Florida’s 0-14 record away from home against ranked opponents, and its 3-12 record against the Gators’ top rivals (Georgia, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee and LSU).

The Gators had their moments at home with Napier in charge, but when they were not at The Swamp, they often seemed defeated before kickoff. And you have to win more rivalry games. Only Mullen (9-6) has a winning record in rivalry games since Meyer’s dominant six-year run (20-5) from 2005-10.

If the next coach can improve in those two departments, his chances of sticking around increase dramatically.