The Florida Gators will look to replace offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton, who recently accepted a position with the Washington Commanders. With Stapleton leaving for the National Football League, Head Coach Billy Napier is left with another coaching vacancy that he must fill quickly, with spring football only a few weeks away.
Stapleton was one of Napier’s original additions to the staff, and his departure from Florida marks the eighth assistant to leave the program in Napier’s two years as head coach.
Gator Country looks at Florida’s options for filling the coaching vacancy.
Hire another offensive line coach.
Florida already has one offensive line coach (Rob Sale), but Napier has had two offensive line coaches on his staff in five of his six seasons as head coach, going back to his time at Louisiana. In 2022 and 2023, the Gators had two offensive line coaches under Napier.
“Certainly, when you’re coaching the offensive line, you’ve got to coach five players,” Napier stated during his 2021 introductory press conference. “Nobody has one coach coaching five defensive backs. “I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have two guys coaching the offensive line.”
Hiring another offensive line coach does not guarantee that Florida will not have a new player caller in 2024; they may still promote from within. If Florida chooses that path, Russ Callaway would be the leading candidate for the position.
While Napier has previously preferred a two-offensive line coach system, he was hesitant to implement it in 2020 because Louisiana only had one offensive line coach and a special teams coordinator that season.
Hire an offensive coordinator.
Florida could look to hire an offensive coordinator and play caller for the 2024 season. However, given Napier’s comments at the signing day press conference, I believe this is unlikely.
“I don’t see any major changes aside from how we organize that group and now operate in-house,” Napier told the media on February 7th.
These remarks were made before Stapleton accepted a position in the NFL and left the Florida program. So, there’s a chance Napier sees this as an opportunity to make a big hire and bring on an offensive coordinator, leaving the offensive line in the hands of Rob Sale.
Promote Joe Houston (ST COACH).
Florida recently hired Joe Houston of the New England Patriots as a Special Teams analyst.
“I think Joe Houston is an outstanding coach,” said Napier of Houston. “I believe we are acquiring not only a special-teams expert, but also a player who has four years of experience with Coach Belichick and that organization. All of those meetings, all of the observations, and the information he brings to our staff. I believe we performed well statistically in some areas, but there was no doubt that some organizational issues could have been addressed better.
I believe we added a layer of expertise, as well as another set of eyes and hands, in order to get a bigger picture. The situational football piece will also fall under that umbrella, with him and Chris collaborating, which is good for the Gators. I hired Joe Houston for one day at Louisiana before Bill hired him. “We’re fortunate to have him back.”
Napier had an on-field special teams coordinator for his first three seasons in Louisiana before handing over the position to analyst Chris Couch, who followed Napier to Florida and continued in a similar role.
If Napier decides not to hire an offensive coordinator or another offensive line coach, Joe Houston could be promoted to on-field special teams coordinator position. This option would also allow Florida to promote from within for offensive coordinator and play calling duties.
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