UF coach Billy Napier’s search for front-office exec intensifies as interviews take place

GAINESVILLE Florida coach Billy Napier is closing in on a front-office hire as college football shifts to closer to an NFL-style structure.

Napier, some of his staff and UF athletic director Scott Stricklin conducted four interviews for the role on Thursday and Friday, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.

The new hire will negotiate contracts, manage a salary cap and evaluate talent as schools begin to share revenue with athletes as soon as next season.

Each candidate has NFL experience.

Three of them have worked under UF graduate Howie Roseman with the Philadelphia Eagles, including former Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell .

Caldwell, 51, has been a personnel executive with the Eagles since 2021 following a long stint as Jags GM (2013-20).

Other candidates: current Ole Miss general manager Matt Lindsay , who worked in scouting with the Eagles in 2013-14; Nick Polk , former director of football operations for 17 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons; and Rick Mueller , current director of player personnel for the UFLs Arlington Renegades and veteran of six other professional organizations including the Eagles from 2012-16.

Roseman has been with the Eagles since 2000, including as executive vice president and general manager since 2019.

Under the 49-year-old, the franchise won its first in Super Bowl following the 2017 season and a perennial contender in the NFC.

No consensus exists on the best model to manage college footballs ever-changing landscape.

Name, image and likeness benefits have led to steady player movement via the NCAA transfer portal and endless negotiations to retain and lure top talent.

If a $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement is approved April 7, as expected, schools will be forced to share revenue with athletes beginning in July.

The Year 1 cap projection is reportedly $20.5 million per school , necessitating the hire of someone with experience managing a salary cap.

The settlement also will limit football rosters to 105 players.

The 2024 Gators featured around 130 players.

In November, Napier said he was eager for specifics.

Weve asked for clarity and I think its to-be-determined, he said Nov.

20.

Its all going to be much different.

Is going to change the game in a significant way.

Floridas coach said his staff, including dozens of support personnel, could navigate the new frontier without additional hiring, if needed.

But the plan was to hire a general manager.

Were built to do it now, Napier said.

The big thing here is that were getting ready to were really, literally going to be in a business model.

We have a cap, we have contracts, we have negotiation, we have strategy about how we distribute those funds.

Were going to build out a front office here in the next couple of months, and its primary purpose is to help us manage that huge math problem.

Therell be a ton of strategy around that.

Napier awarded Jacob LaFrance the general manager title in 2024 after two seasons as the Gators director of player personnel, a role he will continue as one of the programs primary talent evaluators.

The new position is expected to have an administrative role at UFs University Athletic Association.

Other football programs have people in similar positions, though each has varying roles and levels of control.

Ohio State general manager of player personnel Mark Pantoni, helped build Urban Meyers teams beginning in 2011 in Columbus after Pantoni served five seasons under Meyer in Gainesville.

Alabamas Courtney Morgan came with coach Kalen DeBoer from Washington in 2024; Marshall Malchow now serves as Oregon coach Dan Lannings chief of staff after stints as a general manager at Texas A and LSU hired Austin Thomas away from Ole Miss leading Rebels coach Lane Kiffin to lure away Billy Glasscock from his job as director of player personnel at Texas.

Stanford recently hired former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck to serve as his alma maters general manager, with responsibilities in roster management and business operations.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at [email protected].

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