Six weeks after the Florida Gators parted ways with Austin Armstrong as co-defensive coordinator, creating a staff opening for head coach Billy Napier to do with as he saw fit, the program has hired a similar replacement for the role. Vinnie Sunseri, the son of Sal Sunseri who spent the 2024 season serving as safeties coach at Washington, will lead that position while also assuming the co-defensive coordinator role, according to 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz among multiple reports.
The 33-year-old’s time with the Huskies marks Sunseri’s lone season of Power Four coaching experience. He spent the prior three years coaching running backs for the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick previously serving as a defensive coaching assistant with the Patriots in 2020 and a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama in 2019.
Sal Sunseri is a career defensive assistant who coached the defensive line at Florida in 2018 and spent multiple stints coaching for Saban at LSU and Bama. His son won two national championships under Saban during his time as a player from 2011-13.
Vinnie Sunseri had accepted the defensive coordinator position at Jacksonville State three weeks ago.
It’s tough to determine why, precisely, Napier made this move — and why he made it now — for a variety of reasons.
As was the case with the man he’s replacing, Sunseri is being given a prominent role at a major program despite immensely limited experience. Armstrong at least served as defensive coordinator for two years at Southern Miss before being hired, but he had no Power Four coaching experience and was brought into that role on his own whereas Sunseri will be in a No. 2 position. There is something to be said for learning under the trees of Belichick and Saban, but none of that time saw him coordinate defenses, three of his four years were spent coaching offensive players and he has only one year of even position-coaching experience at the college level.
Why are the Gators overpaying (by title) and hiring inexperienced coaches with limited pedigrees to important positions while rivals and similarly distinguished programs bring in veterans, top assistants from other teams and some of the best names in the industry to fill their roles?
Taking six weeks to hire an assistant who should have been readily available when the position initially opened is another curiosity. That either speaks to Napier’s continued paralysis-by-analysis approach when it comes to making hires and other crucial decisions within the organization, or it suggests the opportunity was turned down by numerous other candidates. Florida made this hire after all but two teams were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs, which would have made sense if a coach from those ranks was joining the program; however, Sunseri would have come from a Power Four position coach role (or the lowest rung of the FBS depending on hiring date). Why the wait?
This move once again closed the door — despite literal pleas from the fan base, media covering the team and analysts across the country — on Napier hiring a dedicated offensive coordinator to call plays, innovate the unit top-down and take pressure off his shoulders on game day where he continues to struggle managing multiple responsibilities.
This open position on the roster — a high-paying one at that — created all sorts of possibilities for Napier. The late 2024 turnaround was defensively powered with offensive improvement remaining the one area in which Florida could make its most substantial gains this offseason. For the last three years, the offense has been a play caller away from performing better. Napier has insisted on doing that himself while simultaneously trying to manage games and his roster. It has not worked — an inevitable truth many of his offensive-minded peers realized over the last decade.
The key to Sunseri potentially working in this role will be whether he winds up working alongside Ron Roberts. The executive head coach of defense and co-defensive coordinator, who turned the Gators unit around last season by taking over playcalling duties after three games, could potentially depart the program. Roberts, 57, signed a two-year deal that will pay him $950,000 in 2025, but there have been murmurs about him potentially not returning to the team. It is tough to determine whether those are substantiated at this juncture, but given how slowly Napier moves, it’s difficult to say either way.
Anyone who watched or followed Florida football over the latter two thirds of the season saw a defensive unit that was not only improved but, in some cases, became among the most dominant in the nation. Florida jumping from 92nd to to 7th in team sacks (3.17), 102nd to 12th in red zone defense (0.737), 129th to 16th in turnovers gained (22) and 104th to 24th in tackles for loss (6.8) are just a few clear indicators that the defense is headed in the right direction under Roberts’ stewardship.
Napier has made significant changes to his staff over each of the last three offseasons — some of his own accord, some not. Before the 2024 campaign, he replaced three defensive assistants, hired two new strength & conditioning coaches (the first replacement hire departed) and added a more talented and experienced special teams off-field assistant that helped turn around that unit as well.
Sunseri will mark the fourth coach to hold a defensive coordinator title of some kind in as many seasons.
Meanwhile, a stagnant offense remains largely unchanged at the top. Rob Sale is still listed as co-offensive coordinator, but despite being paid $1 million annually, he is largely a chief offensive line coach ahead of assistant Jonathan Decoster. Russ Callaway was promoted to co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach with a salary of $550,000, but most believe that move was largely made to placate fans and boosters who were bothered by Napier calling plays and Sale originally holding the entire title himself. (Unless one wants to believe that Callaway, 35, went from off-field assistant without FBS on-field coaching experience to managing offensive plays in two years.)
Napier has refused to acknowledge who calls offensive plays simply saying that Callaway and Sale are heavily involved in the game-planning process. By all accounts, Napier is still calling the plays. Sale is not a true offensive coordinator, and given his salary, he and Decoster are leaving a lot to be desired when it comes to recruiting offensive linemen. (That said, the coaching of Florida’ offensive line has largely been tremendous with significant improvements made to a unit that lost major talent last offseason.)
Just as last season was a chance to make a necessary change to his defensive structure — changes that resulted in immense improvement and may have saved his job — Napier had an opportunity to do the same offensively having Armstrong’s $1.2 million salary to utilize to that end. Instead, despite it being clear to everyone outside the program that offensive innovation is the missing piece in the Gators’ return to consistent success, Napier has seemingly allowed it to pass him by given the staff is now complete.
Napier earned an extended lease on his coaching life given how Florida turned its fortunes over the latter half of the season behind Roberts’ defense and freshman quarterback DJ Lagway’s breakout performances. With the 2025 schedule no easier, Lagway likely only playing two more seasons and the Gators offense unchanged despite an opportunity to capitalize on his unique talents, it will certainly be interesting to see how the remainder of the offseason plays out.
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Florida hires Vinnie Sunseri as co-defensive coordinator: Billy Napier passes on improving offense
