The Florida Gators enter the third year of the Billy Napier era with much to prove in the new-look SEC. After consecutive losing seasons and missed bowl eligibility last fall, the pressure is on Napier and the rest of the Florida staff to deliver results in 2024. Who makes up the team behind the Gators football program?
Florida Gators Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Billy Napier
Following a successful tenure at Louisiana, where he turned the Rajin’ Cajuns into a perennial Sun Belt contender, Napier became the head coach of the Gators in November 2021. His appointment made him the 29th head coach in Florida history, joining historic names such as Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
Napier heads into the 2024 college football campaign with a 51-26 record as a head coach. However, after two difficult seasons with the Gators, he’s compiled an 11-14 record as the leader of the Florida football program. The majority of his success as an FBS head coach has come from his previous role, which was his first appointment to lead a college program at the FBS level.
Napier’s first head coaching role came at Louisiana in 2018. Taking over a program on a run of three consecutive losing seasons, Napier engineered a winning regular season before presiding over three double-digit win campaigns. He was twice named Sun Belt Coach of the Year and led Louisiana to a Sun Belt title in 2021.
Prior to landing his first head coaching role at Louisiana, Napier was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arizona State in 2017 — a role he also held at Clemson from 2009-2010. The Florida head coach has also held roles at Alabama, Colorado State, and South Carolina State after beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Clemson in 2003.
Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach, Rob Sale
After serving under Napier as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for Louisiana between 2018 and 2020, Rob Sale was reunited with the Gators head coach when he joined Florida’s staff as the OC/OL coach in 2022. For 2024, he will split coordinator duties with Russ Callaway in a change to the Florida coaching staff for the upcoming college football campaign.
A standout offensive lineman with 25 starts during his career at LSU, Sale took his offensive line expertise to McNeese State in 2012, having earned his first college coaching role as a strength and conditioning assistant and offensive analyst at Alabama.
Sale came to the Florida coaching staff following a season spent as an offensive line coach for the New York Giants. During his time in New York, he oversaw the development of 2020 first-round draft pick Andrew Thomas. Sale’s full college football coaching résumé can be found below.
- Alabama (Strength and conditioning assistant, offensive analyst, 2007-2011)
- McNeese State (OL coach, 2012-2013; co-offensive coordinator, 2014)
- Georgia (OL coach, 2015)
- Louisiana-Monroe (OL coach, 2016)
- Arizona State (OL coach, run game coordinator, 2017)
- Louisiana (OC/OL coach, 2018-2020)
- New York Giants (OL coach, 2021)
- Florida (OC/OL coach, 2022-2023; co-OC and OL coach, 2024)
Co-Offensive Coordinator and Tight Ends Coach, Russ Callaway
A national championship-winning quarterback at Valdosta State as a player, Russ Callaway joined the Florida coaching staff ahead of the 2022 college football season as a defensive intern. He’s quickly ascended the ranks under Napier, leading the team’s tight end room in 2023 before adding co-offensive coordinator responsibilities to his remit for the upcoming season.
While he has quickly risen in Gainesville, Callaway is no stranger to coaching at the highest level. He cut his coaching teeth as a defensive analyst under Nick Saban at Alabama, winning two national championships in the BCS era. Meanwhile, he spent another season in the SEC with the LSU Tigers and another in the NFL as an offensive assistant for the New York Giants (2021).
For all his experience at the FBS level, it is his prowess from his time in the FCS that should excite Gators’ fans. In his only previous assignment as an OC (Samford), Calloway engineered one of the most explosive offenses in the nation and helped Devlin Hodges break passing yard records. His full coaching résumé can be found below.
- Alabama (defensive analyst, 2011-2012)
- Murray State (WR coach and recruiting coordinator, 2013-2014)
- Samford (WR coach and pass game coordinator, 2015; OC/QB/WR coach, 2016-2017; OC and QB coach, 2018-2019)
- LSU (senior offensive assistant and analyst, 2020)
- New York Giants (offensive assistant, 2021)
- Florida (defensive intern, 2022; TE coach, 2023; co-OC and TE coach, 2024)
Defensive Coordinator, Austin Armstrong
During his short coaching career that started with Division II West Georgia in 2016, Austin Armstrong has established himself as a producer of ferocious defensive units. He joined the Florida coaching staff for the 2023 campaign having held the same position at Southern Miss for the previous two seasons.
As the youngest defensive coordinator in the FBS during the 2021 season with the Golden Eagles, Armstrong led a unit that ranked in the top 10 across several metrics. Southern Miss allowed the second-fewest first downs in the entire nation while ranking sixth for red-zone defense.
MORE: Florida Gators’ Top 10 Returning Players in 2024
Armstrong’s inclusion on the Florida coaching staff reunited him with Napier, who he worked for at Louisiana in 2018 and 2020 — the latter was his first coaching inside linebackers. Armstrong’s full CFB coaching résumé includes:
- West Georgia (assistant defensive line coach, 2016)
- Louisiana (defensive graduate assistant, 2017-2018)
- Georgia (defensive quality control coach, 2019)
- Louisiana (LBs coach, 2020)
- Southern Miss (DC and LBs coach, 2021-2022)
- Florida (DC, 2023-2024)
Defensive Line Coach, Gerald Chatman
After leading the successful Tulane Green Wave defensive front in 2023, Gerald Chatman returns to SEC country in 2024 as the defensive line coach on the Florida coaching staff. While he began his career at Ball State in 2012, Chatman has worked for Texas A&M and LSU (twice) during a career that saw him assume defensive coordinator responsibilities at Colorado in 2022.
Running Backs Coach, Jabbar Juluke
Jabbar Juluke followed Napier to Florida as the running backs coach/associate head coach after serving as RBs coach for Louisiana. After a long career at the high school level, Juluke got his first college gig at Louisiana Tech in 2013, spending a season with LSU and Texas Tech before landing in Louisiana.
Juluke was the FootballScoop Running Backs Coach of the Year in 2019.
Secondary Coach, Will Harris
From 2018-2022, the Washington Huskies produced a string of NFL-caliber defensive backs. Now, the mastermind behind that success joins the Florida coaching staff as Will Harris takes over the secondary for the 2024 season.
A standout DB at USC during his playing career, Harris began his coaching career at Northwestern Oklahoma State in 2013. He has coached at San Jose State, Washington, and Georgia Southern in the FBS. Meanwhile, he earned a year of NFL experience with the Los Angeles Chargers last season as an assistant secondary coach.
Inside Linebackers Coach, Ron Roberts
For the 2024 college football season, Ron Roberts reunites with head coach Napier on the Florida coaching staff, having previously worked alongside each other at Louisiana in 2018 and 2019. In addition to mentoring the Gators’ inside linebacker group, he will serve as a co-defensive coordinator this fall.
Roberts has spent most of his coaching career working in the latter role. Most recently, he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn having engineered dominant Baylor defenses from 2020-2022. Under his tutelage, five players earned Day 2 NFL Draft selection, including Houston Texans standout Jalen Pitre.
Wide Receivers Coach, Billy Gonzales
Billy Gonzales returned to the Florida coaching staff in 2023 as WRs coach. He previously held the position from 2018-2021, as well as spending five years in Gainesville in multiple roles from 2005.
He began coaching wide receivers at MacMurray in 1994 and has worked at Kent State, Bowling Green, Utah, LSU, Illinois, Mississippi State, and FAU.
EDGE Coach, Mike Peterson
An inductee to the Florida Athletic Hall of Fame following a playing career with the Gators that included a national championship ring in 1996, Mike Peterson initially joined the Florida coaching staff in 2013 as an undergrad assistant following his NFL career.
KEEP READING: Florida 2024 Football Schedule
Peterson served as the South Carolina OLBs/DEs coach from 2016-2021 before returning to Florida.
Assistant Offensive Line Coach, Jonathan Decoster
Jonathan Decoster returns to the college football scene for the first time since 2020 after joining the Florida coaching staff for the 2024 campaign. A former offensive tackle for Louisiana, he transitioned to coaching with Nevada in 2013, where he was responsible for the development of Joel Bitonio.
He has stops at West Virginia, LSU, and Old Dominion on his college résumé but arrives in Gainesville after three seasons in the NFL.
College Football Network has you covered with the latest news and analysis, rankings, transfer portal information, top 10 returning players, the 2024 college football season schedule, and much more!