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Who is Billy Napier? According to reports, Billy Napier’s Arizona State University career could be over, if he takes a coaching job with another team. Could he be the next head coach of the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns? For more on that, keep reading our Billy Napier wiki!

Billy Napier’s Age and Early Life

Billy Napier, 38, grew up in Chatsworth, Georgia and graduated from Furman University in South Carolina. Billy Napier’s football career started when he was a quarterback in university, where he set a few of the school’s records. According to ESPN, he officially began his career as a coach when he was a graduate assistant at Clemson State University in 2003 before he was a coach at South Carolina State, in 2005. In 2006, he went back to Clemson where he was the recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach from 2006-2008. At 31, he was fired by Dabo Swinney when Napier became Clemson’s offensive coordinator in 2009.

After he was let go by Clemson, he ended up at Alabama State University as an analyst in 2011, moved to Colorado State, and then back to Alabama. He’s known to be a good recruiter and started at Arizona State University back in January.

Billy Napier’s Salary

Since the rumor of the possible trade has been circulating, Napier reportedly received a $50,000 pay increase to his existing $550,000 salary at ASU. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette offered Napier a $900,000 salary, if he signed on as the school’s head coach after Todd Graham was fired.

Coaches Respect Him

Despite being let go by the Clemson coach, Swinney still had nothing but respect for the Georgia native when he heard about his job at Arizona.

“Billy was the youngest offensive coordinator in the country when he had that position here in 2009,” he told ESPN in January. “We won our first Atlantic Division title that year and set records for offensive production.  What we accomplished this year got its start with that team in 2009 and I am indebted to Billy for the work he put in for our program.  Billy has always been a terrific recruiter and a tireless worker.  He grew up around the game. He was our recruiting coordinator when I became head coach and many of the players we brought in during that time set a standard for this program.”

After learning of Napier’s job at Arizona, former Clemson/Tulane head coach Tommy Bowden said, “I hired Billy as a graduate assistant and when I got the chance to hire him again I brought him right back. He played quarterback so he got to know everything about the position. He’s just got that mentality. His dad was a football coach so he grew up around the game.  As a recruiter, he doesn’t let go. He’s got all of the intangibles. He’s a marketable guy and it doesn’t surprise me that he’s advanced through this profession.”

It’s still unknown whether Napier will take the new job or not, despite the obvious differences in salaries. It’s possible he may stay with his current team at Arizona or find a new home with Louisiana-Lafayette.