Gators coach Billy Napier visited the Space Coast Gator Club on Monday night. (Photo: Scott Carter/UAA Communications)
Confident Napier Striving for Improved Results in Year 2
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | Football, Scott Carter
MELBOURNE, Fla. — In the Florida pocket of rockets and space travel, Billy Napier landed here late Monday afternoon, prepared to discuss a different kind of takeoff.
This liftoff is the one Napier envisions for his Gators football program.
Napier kicked off his spring speaking tour with a crowd of approximately 250 from the Space Coast Gator Club serving as his rapt audience. The orange-and-blue-clad boosters, alums and fans streamed into a large room at the Holiday Inn Melbourne-Viera Conference Center. They came to hear what Napier had to say as he prepares for his second season as the most prominent Gator of them all.
When Napier made the rounds a year ago, he was a relative unknown to many of the people who showed up to get a glimpse of the new ball coach, recently hired after four seasons at Louisiana.
They now know him well.
Napier took over a program in flux, restored some order, and guided the Gators to a 6-7 record, the same as the previous season. In many ways, it was a season of what-ifs. Other than for the loss to eventual national champion Georgia and the Las Vegas Bowl defeat to Oregon State, the Gators hung close until the end.
That's an optimistic sign to those fans who understand the talent deficit Napier inherited and an eye roll for the I-don't-care-just-win-them-all crowd.
Napier has shown a real-deal Billy, a down-to-earth approach in dealing with all kinds, and his cerebral outlook on building a program has remained as steady as his hairstyle.
"We've been through experiences like this in the past,'' Napier said, referring to the transition and 7-7 record in his first year at Louisiana. "I joke around with my brother sometimes that we've just got a lot more people watching. I'm really confident in our processes. We've adjusted a lot of our systems in terms of how we operate and what our calendar looks like. As a whole, right now, on schedule based on what I'm watching so far."
The increased scrutiny and bumpy inaugural season have not altered Napier's belief that the Gators will return soon to rejoin the top of the Southeastern Conference and the nation's elite. Florida has not won the SEC championship since 2008.
On a walk around campus with his younger brother during spring break, Napier was reminded everywhere he looked of why he accepted the Florida job. He knows Florida has all the pieces to compete annually at the highest level.
UF is a top-five public university located in a state with 21 million people and some of the country's top high school players. The alumni base stretches globally, the fans are passionate, and the program has rich history and tradition. There is so much to sell.
The Gators also have the Heavener Football Training Center, the $85 million facility that opened in August and serves as program headquarters.
"We've got a great place,'' he said. "We've worked hard over the first year of making our product as good or better in every single area of the player experience. I'm extremely proud of the progress we have made. We're teaching systems, and teaching values, we've improved personnel, we've improved our operation, and right now I think we are executing at a much better rate than ever before. We learned a lot."
Napier's climb to become a head coach coincided with drastic changes in the sport, from the early signing period in December to the transfer portal. Most recently, NIL (name, image and likeness) has dominated the headlines and cast uncertainly about the future of college athletics.
"[NIL] has added a layer of work relative to more evaluation, more recruitment, and certainly all the work that's been done behind the scenes relative to NIL,'' he said before his presentation Monday. "You have to get back to what college athletics is about, why you got into the profession. But there's no question, it's a major issue."
Napier has worked with the University Athletic Association administration, his staff and UF officials in mapping out a future in the largely unregulated NIL arena. Napier spent a portion of his speech educating the audience on how NIL has changed the game and how the Gators are approaching NIL.
"As you get to know me, you're going to learn that we want to win and compete at the highest level,'' he said. "We're going to win. We're going to win championships. But we're going to do that with a certain level of class, a certain level of integrity and character, and we're going to have an organization and a team that produces better people."
Of course, winning is all that matters to some fans, and when the Gators struggled late in the season in their first year under Napier, criticism mounted and was often amplified in the Twitter age. But for those who appreciate a rebuild more than a fixer-upper, they understand Florida is in a better position than a season ago.
The revamped roster includes 27 mid-year enrollees competing in spring camp, including Wisconsin transfer quarterback Graham Mertz competing with returner Jack Miller III. Florida signed a recruiting class ranked among the best nationally and added 10 transfers.
Meanwhile, the team posted a program-record grade-point average in the fall and placed an SEC-record 62 players on the all-conference academic team. Napier launched the GatorMade program to enhance the player experience, and a dozen players spent spring break in New York on a networking and educational trip.
Those in attendance greeted Napier's visit to the Space Coast enthusiastically. He thanked the crowd for their support and reminded them the Gators have a long way to go to get where he plans to take them.
But nowhere near as far as one of those SpaceX rockets up the coast.
"It's right around the corner,'' he said.
This liftoff is the one Napier envisions for his Gators football program.
Napier kicked off his spring speaking tour with a crowd of approximately 250 from the Space Coast Gator Club serving as his rapt audience. The orange-and-blue-clad boosters, alums and fans streamed into a large room at the Holiday Inn Melbourne-Viera Conference Center. They came to hear what Napier had to say as he prepares for his second season as the most prominent Gator of them all.
When Napier made the rounds a year ago, he was a relative unknown to many of the people who showed up to get a glimpse of the new ball coach, recently hired after four seasons at Louisiana.
They now know him well.
Napier took over a program in flux, restored some order, and guided the Gators to a 6-7 record, the same as the previous season. In many ways, it was a season of what-ifs. Other than for the loss to eventual national champion Georgia and the Las Vegas Bowl defeat to Oregon State, the Gators hung close until the end.
That's an optimistic sign to those fans who understand the talent deficit Napier inherited and an eye roll for the I-don't-care-just-win-them-all crowd.
Napier has shown a real-deal Billy, a down-to-earth approach in dealing with all kinds, and his cerebral outlook on building a program has remained as steady as his hairstyle.
"We've been through experiences like this in the past,'' Napier said, referring to the transition and 7-7 record in his first year at Louisiana. "I joke around with my brother sometimes that we've just got a lot more people watching. I'm really confident in our processes. We've adjusted a lot of our systems in terms of how we operate and what our calendar looks like. As a whole, right now, on schedule based on what I'm watching so far."
On a walk around campus with his younger brother during spring break, Napier was reminded everywhere he looked of why he accepted the Florida job. He knows Florida has all the pieces to compete annually at the highest level.
UF is a top-five public university located in a state with 21 million people and some of the country's top high school players. The alumni base stretches globally, the fans are passionate, and the program has rich history and tradition. There is so much to sell.
The Gators also have the Heavener Football Training Center, the $85 million facility that opened in August and serves as program headquarters.
"We've got a great place,'' he said. "We've worked hard over the first year of making our product as good or better in every single area of the player experience. I'm extremely proud of the progress we have made. We're teaching systems, and teaching values, we've improved personnel, we've improved our operation, and right now I think we are executing at a much better rate than ever before. We learned a lot."
Napier's climb to become a head coach coincided with drastic changes in the sport, from the early signing period in December to the transfer portal. Most recently, NIL (name, image and likeness) has dominated the headlines and cast uncertainly about the future of college athletics.
"[NIL] has added a layer of work relative to more evaluation, more recruitment, and certainly all the work that's been done behind the scenes relative to NIL,'' he said before his presentation Monday. "You have to get back to what college athletics is about, why you got into the profession. But there's no question, it's a major issue."
Napier has worked with the University Athletic Association administration, his staff and UF officials in mapping out a future in the largely unregulated NIL arena. Napier spent a portion of his speech educating the audience on how NIL has changed the game and how the Gators are approaching NIL.
"As you get to know me, you're going to learn that we want to win and compete at the highest level,'' he said. "We're going to win. We're going to win championships. But we're going to do that with a certain level of class, a certain level of integrity and character, and we're going to have an organization and a team that produces better people."
Of course, winning is all that matters to some fans, and when the Gators struggled late in the season in their first year under Napier, criticism mounted and was often amplified in the Twitter age. But for those who appreciate a rebuild more than a fixer-upper, they understand Florida is in a better position than a season ago.
The revamped roster includes 27 mid-year enrollees competing in spring camp, including Wisconsin transfer quarterback Graham Mertz competing with returner Jack Miller III. Florida signed a recruiting class ranked among the best nationally and added 10 transfers.
Meanwhile, the team posted a program-record grade-point average in the fall and placed an SEC-record 62 players on the all-conference academic team. Napier launched the GatorMade program to enhance the player experience, and a dozen players spent spring break in New York on a networking and educational trip.
Those in attendance greeted Napier's visit to the Space Coast enthusiastically. He thanked the crowd for their support and reminded them the Gators have a long way to go to get where he plans to take them.
But nowhere near as far as one of those SpaceX rockets up the coast.
"It's right around the corner,'' he said.
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