Sources: Billy Napier to be a serious candidate for Baylor job
4 hours ago
While Louisiana head coach Billy Napier shut down reports that he is a candidate for the open head coaching position at Mississippi State, the 40-year old who led the Ragin' Cajuns to their first 11-win season in program history is expected to be a serious candidate for another head coaching position that opened Tuesday morning.
Yahoo! Sports' Pete Thamel reported Baylor head coach Matt Rhule has agreed to be the next coach of the Carolina Panthers. Rhule went 19-20 in Waco, but improved each of his three seasons, finishing 11-3 in 2019.
Sources tell Cajun RedZone that Napier is a serious candidate to replace Rhule, who led the Bears to an appearance in the Big 12 Championship, falling in overtime to Oklahoma.
Napier was voted as the Sun Belt's Coach of the Year, the third Louisiana coach to earn the distinction and the first since 1993 when Nelson Stokley was named the Big West Conference's top coach. Napier is the first Ragin' Cajuns coach to win the award in the Sun Belt era and is fresh off a 27-17 win over Miami (OH) Monday night in the LendingTree Bowl.
Last week, the school announced a contract extension through 2025 with Napier, but his buyout has remained a relatively easy number for Power Five programs to hit, if they wanted to make a push for the former Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney assistant.
"The vision and support from our University leadership has been tremendous," Napier said in a statement about the extension. "We are very thankful for the belief Dr. Savoie and Dr. Maggard have in what our staff is working hard to build. Our entire organization is very appreciative of the quality of life in Lafayette and Acadiana. This extension will help us continue working daily on our process and improving our team. The #cULture is real and grows stronger by the day. We look forward to the challenges ahead."
"We are very excited to announce this extension for Coach Napier," athletic director Bryan Maggard said in the release. "He has led our football program to new heights, and we look forward to continued success under his leadership."
Mississippi State has yet to make a hire with Patriots assistant Joe Judge and Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham believed to be the serious candidates for the position in Starkville now. Napier addressed the reported interest prior to the game.
"It's fair to say we've made a decision that I'm not a candidate for that job. I just want to get that out of the way," Napier said, according to Creg Stephenson of AL.com. " It's very humbling when you do have opportunities and your name comes up in connection with jobs like that. I think it's a product of our success. Football's a game where when you do have success, it's a team effort.
"We have a tremendous staff, and we've got great leadership, tremendous vision by our administration. We're humbled that some of those things get brought up, but we're excited about the challenge that's in front of us."