The time may be right for Florida football to go big game hunting in its search for its next head coach after the Gators fired Billy Napier on Sunday, Oct. 19.

The Florida Gators have gone the up-and-comer route in its last four hires with limited to no success. It started when UF hired Will Muschamp, a highly regarded defensive coordinator and Texas coach in waiting, in 2011. Muschamp went 28-11 in three-plus seasons. Florida then turned to a Group of Five coach, Jim McElwain from Colorado State, who went 22-12 from 2014-17.

Florida made perhaps its biggest splash of that stretch hiring Dan Mullen away from Mississippi State in 2018. Mullen's tenure at UF started promising before tailing off due to lackluster discipline and recruiting, which resulted in his firing in 2021 with a 34

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