Nearly every year there's at least one SEC head coach who is fired or leaves for another program, creating a coveted opening. 

Entering the 2023 season, there aren't many obvious hot seat candidates in the SEC. 

There's one prominent head coach, however, that could surprisingly be in danger of losing his job if he doesn't have a winning season. 

Florida's Billy Napier has had a rough go of things since arriving in Gainesville in late 2021. 

Napier, who went 40-12 in four seasons as the head coach at Louisiana, finished 6-7 in his first year as Florida's head coach. 

The Gators got off to a promising start in 2022, beating Utah at home in front of 90,000 screaming Florida fans. 

But the season was mostly up and down after that win. A loss at home to Kentucky immediately followed and the Gators failed to find consistency the rest of the season (a road loss to Vanderbilt was particularly painful for the Florida faithful). 

Beyond the on-field results, Napier has also struggled to get a grip on the perception of the program in recent months. The Jaden Rashada NIL debacle, which wasn't necessarily Napier's fault, has created an unfavorable national view of Florida football. 

The pressure is on for Napier to have a great second season. But that will be easier said than done. 

A quick glance at Florida's schedule reveals an easy path to a 5-7 season for the Gators. Losses to Utah, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, LSU, and Florida State are very possible. Wins against Arkansas, Missouri, and Vanderbilt won't be automatic, either. The only two "guaranteed wins" on the Gators' schedule are against UNC-Charlotte and McNeese State. 

I'm not about to predict that Florida will go 5-7 — it's far too early for that as we haven't even seen how Wisconsin transfer quarterback Graham Mertz looks taking snaps — but it's certainly a possibility based on their schedule and what we saw last season (it's also possible Florida rebounds and goes 9-3 in the regular season). 

If Napier suffers his second straight losing season, he might want to start thinking about other employment opportunities. 

The last Florida coach to suffer back-to-back losing seasons was Raymond Wolf way back in 1946/47 (Wolf by the way was a true renaissance man as he coached baseball at TCU while also serving as an assistant football coach, briefly played professional baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, served in the Navy during World War II, and served as Florida's AD). 

Florida isn't the type of program that's historically had a long leash when it comes to underperforming football coaches. 

The Gators fired Will Muschamp two years after he won 11 games and led Florida to the Sugar Bowl. Muschamp went 6-5 during his final season before getting a pink slip. 

Jim McElwain was fired in 2017 despite winning the SEC East in 2015 and 2016. 

Napier's predecessor, Dan Mullen, was fired two years after winning 11 games. The year before Mullen was fired, Florida finished No. 13 in the final AP Top 25 poll. 

So if Napier goes 5-7 in 2023 or even 6-7, there's a good chance Florida moves on and begins a search for another coach. While the Tennessee Vols have received plenty of attention for their multiple coaching searches over the last decade, Florida is right there with them (UT's had five coaches since Phillip Fulmer retired in 2008 while Florida's had four coaches since Urban Meyer stepped down in 2010). 

Maybe Napier rights the ship and shows vast improvement in 2023 — again, I'm not making a prediction. I'm just pointing out that another losing season is probably all it will take to make Napier's time in Gainesville short-lived.