Billy Napier
Billy Napier went 69–35 as a head coach, 2018–2026, at Louisiana, Florida and James Madison. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 6–0); by them his record is 68–35. Share
- Record
- 69–35 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jul 21, 1979
- Alma mater
- Furman 2002
- Best season
- 2020 10–1, No. 15
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Louisiana | 7–7 | T–1st | Cure Bowl L | ||
| 2019 | Louisiana | 11–3 | 1st | LendingTree Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Louisiana | 10–1 | 1st | First Responder Bowl W | 15 | |
| 2021 | Louisiana | 12–1 | 1st | New Orleans (not coached) | ||
| 2022 | Florida | 6–7 | T–4th | Las Vegas Bowl L | ||
| 2023 | Florida | 5–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2024 | Florida | 8–5 | 10th | Gasparilla Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | Florida coached seven of 12 games | 3–4 | ||||
| 2026 | James Madison | 7–0 (Wikipedia: 6–0) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
O’Cyrus TorrenceConsensus All‑American, 2022- Caleb BanksNo. 18 pick, 2026
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 26 | 5–21 | 19% |
| Against top-10 teams | 13 | 3–10 | 23% |
| Against rivals | 24 | 10–14 | 42% |
| Conference games | 64 | 43–21 | 67% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 3–2 | 60% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 35 | 25–10 | 71% |
| At home | 51 | 41–10 | 80% |
| On the road | 44 | 25–19 | 57% |
| At neutral sites | 9 | 3–6 | 33% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 61 | 53–8 | 87% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 43 | 16–27 | 37% |
His own 104 games on file, 2018–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Drinkwitz 2019–2023 | 1–3 | App State, Missouri | 4 | |
| Brian Kelly 2022–2025 | 1–3 | LSU | 4 | |
| Blake Anderson 2018–2020 | 3–0 | Arkansas State | 3 | |
| Matt Viator 2018–2020 | 3–0 | UL Monroe | 3 | |
| Shawn Elliott 2018–2021 | 3–0 | Georgia State | 3 | |
| Steve Campbell 2018–2020 | 3–0 | South Alabama | 3 | |
| Chad Lunsford 2019–2021 | 3–0 | Georgia Southern | 3 | |
| Jake Spavital 2019–2021 | 3–0 | Texas State | 3 | |
| Shawn Clark 2020–2021 | 3–0 | App State | 3 | |
| Jamey Chadwell 2019–2026 | 2–1 | Coastal Carolina, Liberty | 3 |
Billy Napier’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| App Stateseries | 7 | 3–4 |
| South Alabamaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Georgia Southernseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Texas Stateseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Arkansas Stateseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Georgia Stateseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| UL Monroeseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Mississippi Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Alabama’s 2011 staff (offensive analyst) · the staff · source
- Won a national title on Alabama’s 2015 staff (wide receivers) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Other roles
- Team captain, Furman 2002
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Clemson | Graduate assistant | |
| 2005 | South Carolina State | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2006–08 | Clemson | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2009–10 | Clemson | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2011 | Alabama | Analyst | |
| 2012 | Colorado State | Assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2013–16 | Alabama | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2017 | Arizona State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018–21 | Louisiana | Head coach | |
| 2022–25 | Florida | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | James Madison | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Tommy BowdenClemson
- Dabo SwinneyClemson
- Nick SabanAlabama
- Jim McElwainColorado State
- Todd GrahamArizona State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Michael DesormeauxLouisiana
- Ron RobertsDelta State, SE Louisiana
- Matt ViatorMcNeese, UL Monroe
- Jay BatemanSiena
- Billy GonzalesFlorida
- Eric KiesauFresno State
- Dan EnosCentral Michigan
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy Bowden | Clemson | 2003–08 | 2003–04: graduate assistant; 2006–08: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Dabo Swinney | Clemson | 2008–10 | 2008: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; 2009–10: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | 2011–16 | 2011: analyst; 2013–16: wide receivers coach | |
| Jim McElwain | Colorado State | 2012 | Assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach | |
| Todd Graham | Arizona State | 2017 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (7)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Desormeaux | Louisiana, 2018–20: tight ends coach; 2021: co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | Louisiana | |
| Ron Roberts | Louisiana, 2018–19: defensive coordinator; Florida, 2024: EHC, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2025: EHC, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Delta State, SE Louisiana | |
| Matt Viator | Louisiana, 2021: quality control coach | McNeese, UL Monroe | |
| Jay Bateman | Florida, 2022–23: inside linebackers coach | Siena | |
| Billy Gonzales | Florida, 2023–25: wide receivers coach | Florida | |
| Eric Kiesau | Florida, 2023–25: offensive quality control coach | Fresno State | |
| Dan Enos | Florida, 2024: offensive assistant | Central Michigan |
Other assistants under him (16)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Austin Armstrong | Louisiana, 2018: graduate assistant; 2020: linebackers coach; Florida, 2023–24: defensive coordinator | |
| Matt Powledge | Louisiana, 2018–19: special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach | |
| Rob Sale | Louisiana, 2018–20: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach; Florida, 2022–24: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach; 2025: offensive line coach; James Madison, 2026: offensive line coach | |
| Patrick Toney | Louisiana, 2020–21: defensive coordinator; Florida, 2022: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Jeff Burris | Louisiana, 2021: cornerbacks coach | |
| Tim Leger | Louisiana, 2021: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Sean Spencer | Florida, 2022–23: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Ty Darlington | Florida, 2022: quality control | |
| John Donovan | Florida, 2023–25: senior offensive analyst | |
| Russ Callaway | Florida, 2024: co-offensive coordinator; 2025: offensive coordinator | |
| Robert Bala | Florida, 2025: co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach; James Madison, 2026: defensive coordinator | |
| Roy Istvan | Florida, 2025: offensive analyst | |
| Steve Spurrier Jr. | Florida, 2025: offensive assistant | |
| Vinnie Sunseri | Florida, 2025: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Brandon Bailey | James Madison, 2026: safeties coach | |
| Cam Aiken | James Madison, 2026: offensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Arizona State | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $361,000 | $550,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Napier’s teams went for it on 26% of fourth downs and on 48% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 45% of plays and took 26.1 seconds a play, 2018–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 14 g | Louisiana | 18 of 88 20% | 39% | 42% | 26.0 | +0.15 | |
| 2019 14 g | Louisiana | 17 of 81 21% | 36% | 43% | 25.2 | +0.21 | |
| 2020 11 g | Louisiana | 23 of 71 32% | 56% | 43% | 25.4 | +0.14 | |
| 2021 13 g | Louisiana | 36 of 100 36% | 63% | 45% | 26.1 | +0.11 | |
| 2022 13 g | Florida | 32 of 91 35% | 59% | 46% | 26.3 | +0.13 | |
| 2023 12 g | Florida | 21 of 86 24% | 45% | 53% | 28.6 | +0.12 | |
| 2024 13 g | Florida | 15 of 93 16% | 37% | 45% | 26.8 | +0.05 | |
| 2026 7 g | James Madison | 9 of 49 18% | 39% | 44% | 23.5 | +0.18 | |
| All 97 g | 171 of 659 26% | 48% | 45% | 26.1 | +0.13 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.