Florida basketball is off to a fantastic start to the 2021-22 season. The Gators are 6-0, snapped their seven-game losing streak against rival Florida State and took down the Ohio State Buckeyes on a buzzer-beater to win the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday night.

After a hot start for a team that didn’t begin the year with high expectations, UF is quickly rising in the polls. In the latest update to the USA TODAY Sports Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll, the Gators saw a 12-spot rise from No. 24 all the way up to No. 12. This is the highest Florida has been ranked in the Coaches Poll since the preseason poll to begin the 2019-20 season, in which it ranked No. 6.

The Gators are now the third-highest ranked team in the SEC, behind No. 9 Arkansas and No. 10 Kentucky. UF ranks ahead of No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Alabama (who fell seven spots after a loss to Rick Pitino’s Iona team), and No. 21 Auburn. LSU isn’t ranked, but it was the third-highest vote recipient of teams outside the top 25.

Florida coach Mike White is off to perhaps his best start with the Gators, and though the next game is a difficult one on the road against Oklahoma, this team could enter conference play with a lot of momentum (and potentially, an undefeated record).

Here’s the full top 25 in the Coaches Poll this week.

From the Sporting News

Napier, a former assistant under such coaches as Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, among others, will make the leap to the Power 5 for the first time in his coaching career.

The change comes after Florida elected to move on from Dan Mullen, who was fired after a 24-23 loss to Missouri. It was the latest of a stretch run of misery for the Gators, which saw them lose three straight to LSU, No. 1 Georgia and South Carolina before surviving FCS opponent Samford, 70-52.

Mullen went 34-15 in four seasons at Florida, starting with seasons of 10-3 and 11-2 records in 2018 and ’19, respectively. The Gators were a thrown shoe away from competing with Alabama in the 2020 SEC championship game for a College Football Playoff berth as well; following that incident, the Gators went 5-9 under Mullen.

That’s the challenge facing Napier in Gainesville. With that, Sporting News breaks down everything you need to know about the Gators’ next coach:

LSU COACHING UPDATES: Lincoln Riley | Ed Orgeron

Billy Napier coaching history

Napier has only four years of head coaching experience, but has done a good job building the Louisiana football program into a perennial Sun Belt contender. He took over the Ragin’ Cajuns program in 2018, leading the team to a Sun Belt West division title and 7-7 record in his first season. The team had suffered three straight losing seasons prior to Napier’s first season in Lafayette, La.

Following that, Napier led the program to an 11-3 record and berth in the 2019 Sun Belt championship game, losing 45-38 to App State. In 2020, he led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 10-1 record and another West division title, but couldn’t play Coastal Carolina in the conference title game due to COVID-19. Louisiana is 11-1 through 12 games in the 2021 season and set to face off against App State in the conference title game on Saturday.

Prior to taking over at Louisiana, Napier served as an assistant under some of college football’s top coaches. That includes a stint as Swinney’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Clemson from 2009-10 (at 29 years old, he was the youngest offensive coordinator in the Power 5); an analyst for Saban at Alabama in 2011; tight ends coach for Fisher’s national champion Florida State team in 2013; and Saban’s receivers coach from 2013-16 (the Crimson Tide made the playoff every year from 2014-16 and won the title in 2015).

Napier’s final stop before taking over at Louisiana was as Arizona State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2017.

Billy Napier offensive scheme

According to a 2018 feature from SI’s Dellenger, Napier installed “an abridged version of Alabama’s elaborate system, a one-back spread offense with pro alignments that can operate at varying speeds.”

Napier, who also coaches the quarterbacks, has seen tremendous offensive success leading the Ragin’ Cajuns since 2018. That includes one 3,000-yard passer and two 1,000-yard rushers. Below is how Napier’s offense has stacked up nationally since 2018:

GatorCountry.com had a discussion of changes in the Gator Strength & Conditioning program. It appears that Coach Napier will bring Coach Hocke with him. Given the amount of time the S&C Coach spends with the players, this only makes sense. Below is Coach Hocke’s bio.

Mark Hocke is in his third year as Head Strength and Conditioning/Associate Head Coach of the Ragin’ Cajuns Football team after successful stints at Alabama, Georgia, Florida State and Texas A&M.

Hocke spent the 2017 season at Texas A&M where he served as the Football Strength and Conditioning Coach under head coach Kevin Sumlin seeing the squad earn a spot in the Belk Bowk.

Prior to Texas A&M, Hocke spent one season as the co-associate head football strength and conditioning coach at Florida State where he served under head football coach Jimbo Fisher and strength coach Vic Viloria. The Seminoles won the final five games of the 2016 season on their way to a 10-3 record that included a 33-32 win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl.

Hocke served as the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Georgia in 2015, where he directed a 15-person staff that trained a pair of All-SEC honorees in offensive lineman John Theus and safety Dominick Sanders. The Bulldogs finished the year with a 10-3 record, which included a win over Penn State in the Gator Bowl.

Hocke received his collegiate coaching start at the University of Alabama in 2009 spending six seasons on head coach Nick Saban’s staff. Under the tutelage of respected strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran, Hocke helped coach three teams that won BCS national championships (2009, 2012, 2013). He also headed the offseason Player Leadership Council and reported directly to the head coach. During his stay in Tuscaloosa, Hocke helped train over 35 players that signed NFL contracts, including 10 first-round NFL Draft picks. He also served as the head strength coach for the men’s tennis team for one season.

Hocke’s first coaching job was at Jesuit High School in New Orleans, La., where he served as a position coach (wide receivers, running backs and defensive backs) and oversaw the team’s strength and conditioning from 2003-2008.

His certifications include CSCCC Certified, FMS Screen Certified as well as USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach Certified.

A native of New Orleans, La., Hocke earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of New Orleans in 2008. He also completed two years of business school prerequisite undergraduate work at Tulane University.

By Adam Silverstein

Image Credit: Ben Massey, Louisiana athletics

FINAL No. 23 Florida 84, Troy 45 #Gators move to 6-0 for the first time in nine years.

Ohio State forward EJ Liddell’s six foot leaner rattled off the rim with eight seconds remaining in a tie game. What happened next was really fun for Florida fans.

Colin Castleton knocked the ball towards the perimeter where Myreon Jones picked it up and passed it off to Tyree Appleby at midcourt with just over three seconds left.

Despite having the timeouts available, Florida head coach Mike White opted to see what his veteran team would do in such a situation.

Instead, Appleby took a dribble and calmly sank a deep trey as time expired to give Florida the 71-68 victory to claim the Fort Myers Tip-Off championship.

The Gators moved to 5-0 on the season and continue to play a brand of basketball that is bringing a lot of excitement to the hardwood.

The Buckeyes led for more than 33 minutes including an 8-2 open to the game before the Gators managed to find any rhythm offensively.

Phlandrous Fleming scored a team high 19 points and hit 9-10 from the charity stripe, including four straight with 9:03 remaining to get Florida to within two just minutes after the OSU lead swelled to ten.

Prior to the game winning sequence, Appleby tossed it high and deep, but uber athletic Anthony Duruji rose up and slammed it home to tie the game at 68 and set up the grand finale.

Castleton added 11 points and 13 rebounds while CJ Felder was also in double digits with 10 points on 3-4 from the field. The Gators knocked down 37% of their attempts while allowing the Buckeyes to make 53%.

The Gators will return to the O’Dome with a matchup against Troy on Sunday before traveling to Oklahoma for a date with the Sooners next week.

The game against the Trojans will tip at 12:00 PM and air live on SEC Network.

I can confirm that Emory Jones injured his ankle in practice and missed today’s practice. Anthony Richardson is healthy and ready to go and took first team reps today.