The Florida Gators are one of two SEC programs who will have a new head coach during the 2022 season. Billy Napier was hired from Louisiana, replacing former head coach Dan Mullen to rebuild the program.
Napier was on the Paul Finebaum Show on Friday, detailing his goals in Gainesville over the next few seasons. He said everything will be about the players and Florida will make sure they come first.
“We’re going to build a special experience, an elite student-athlete experience,” Napier said. “It’s going to be player-based. I think you got to keep people at the core of what you do and we’re going to surround these players with great people that are really good at what they do, that really have authentic care for the player. We’re going to work our tail off in recruiting and evaluating and when we get them here, we’re going to have a very specific plan for their development.
“The game is about the players, right? I coach for the players. I’m excited for our plan. I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best in the entire country. We’re going to implement those lessons we learned along the way but I do think there is a different level of commitment here than there has been in the past. From a facilities standpoint and an infrastructure standpoint.”
Napier to still call plays for Florida
Napier brings an offensive-minded play style to the Swamp: he’s coached tight ends, quarterbacks and been the offensive coordinator at Clemson, he’s coached quarterbacks at Colorado State, tight ends at Florida State, wide receivers at Alabama, quarterbacks at Arizona state and more — getting a new gig at Florida, he says, won’t change that.
The new head coach still plans on calling the plays for the Florida Gators offense moving forward, regardless of who he hires as his offensive coordinator. He plans on maintaining his strong foundation of offensive principles.
“I will be calling the plays here,” Napier said in his introductory press conference. “I think it gives us an advantage, in my opinion. We’re one of the only teams in the country to have two offensive line coaches (at Louisiana). We’ll have an offensive line coach and an assistant offensive line coach (at Florida).”
Napier comes to Florida with an intriguing resume, with his most recent stop being a four-year stint as the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. Napier in 2018 took over a Louisiana program that had not eclipsed six wins since 2014, and he turned the Ragin’ Cajuns into a top-25 program with apparent ease; after a 7-7 campaign in his first year, Louisiana amassed two 11-win seasons and a 10-win finish. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished 2020 as the No. 15 team in the AP top 25, and they should finish in the top 25 once again this year.
Napier discusses goals while at Florida
The Florida Gators are one of two SEC programs that will have a new head coach during the 2022 season. Napier was hired from Louisiana, replacing former head coach Dan Mullen to rebuild the program.
Napier was on the Paul Finebaum Show on Friday, detailing his goals in Gainesville over the next few seasons. He said everything will be about the players and Florida will make sure they come first.
“We’re going to build a special experience, an elite student-athlete experience,” Napier said. “It’s going to be player-based. I think you got to keep people at the core of what you do and we’re going to surround these players with great people that are really good at what they do, that really have authentic care for the player. We’re going to work our tail off in recruiting and evaluating and when we get them here, we’re going to have a very specific plan for their development.
“The game is about the players, right? I coach for the players. I’m excited for our plan. I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best in the entire country. We’re going to implement those lessons we learned along the way but I do think there is a different level of commitment here than there has been in the past. From a facilities standpoint and an infrastructure standpoint.”
Napier comes to Florida with an intriguing resume, with his most recent stop being a four-year stint as the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. Napier in 2018 took over a Louisiana program that had not eclipsed six wins since 2014, and he turned the Ragin’ Cajuns into a top-25 program with apparent ease.