GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin enters his third football coaching search with something he didn't have in the last one.

Time.

By firing Billy Napier on Sunday after a 3-4 start, though less than 24 hours after a win over Mississippi State, Stricklin has a longer runway to vet candidates and identify who the Gators will hire as their fifth full-time head coach since Urban Meyer left in 2010.

"Time is an asset," Stricklin said Monday. "The more time you have, the easier it is."

That's a marked change from 2021 when Stricklin fired another coach he hired, Dan Mullen, with one game left in the regular season. With the recruiting early signing period looming, Stricklin quickly zeroed in on Napier, who went 40-12 at Louisiana and was on his way to a Sun Belt championship.

The move did not work. Napier's 22-23 record is the worst by a full-time Gators coach in 65 years.

Stricklin declined to pinpoint why Napier struggled but acknowledged that some of the problems came back to an offense that's second-to-last in the SEC in scoring (22.4 points per game). Napier, a former offensive coordinator at Clemson and Arizona State, never hired a primary play caller despite external pressure to do so. Stricklin said he told Napier the coach's strengths "may be in leading the program and overseeing the bigger picture," but he did not meddle with individual staffing decisions.

"That's probably part of the reason we're here today," Stricklin said.

With Napier gone, quarterbacks coach Ryan O'Hara will call the plays under interim coach Billy Gonzales.

The Gators are off this week before continuing one of the nation's toughest schedules against No. 5 Georgia. Stricklin will be able to devote much of his time to finding Napier's replacement, with help from a search firm, TurnkeyZRG.

Although Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin is widely viewed as a top target, Stricklin said he expects to consider a "wide variety of candidates." Florida joined Penn State as the top open jobs on the market, but others like Auburn and Wisconsin could follow in what will likely be an active coaching carousel. One of the Gators' rivals, Florida State, announced Monday it will assess its program under Mike Norvell at the end of the season.

Stricklin did not put a timetable on the hiring process, but the early signing period for high school players starts Dec. 3. Perhaps more importantly, the transfer portal window doesn't open until Jan. 2. Current players can no longer enter the transfer portal immediately after a coaching change; they must wait until five days after a new coach is hired.

Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, a five-star prospect, previously cited his relationship with Napier as a key reason why he picked and stuck with a struggling Florida program as a recruit. With Napier gone, Lagway reaffirmed his commitment.

"I'm a Florida Gator, man," Lagway said Monday. "I'm focused right now -- my biggest focus right now is these five games and to continue to better my craft and continue to develop as a player."

Although Napier's on-field results fell well short of Florida's championship expectations, Stricklin said the coach lifted the program off the field in areas like recruiting and staffing infrastructure.

"He's leaving this place in a much better position than when he found it," Stricklin said.

Florida will honor Napier's contract rather than trying to negotiate a smaller buyout, Stricklin said. Napier is owed about $21 million, which is one of the four largest exit payments in college football history.

Gonzales, a Florida assistant under Napier, Dan Mullen and Urban Meyer, said serving as interim coach "means everything to me."

"A goal of mine would be obviously be able to stay here (beyond this season)," Gonzales said. "My first goal is to make sure we put a fantastic group of players on that football field that are going to compete and play for the University of Florida."

Why did Florida fire Billy Napier now and what's next? 'Time is an asset,' AD says