Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Per his customary end-of-practice routine, Billy Napier's team was huddled en masse early Thursday evening, snug up flush against the 10-yard line. The Florida coach rolled through a few post-practice talking points and then introduced a guest speaker with a loaded football resume of 19 seasons coaching in college and another 22 in the NFL. 

Rich Bisaccia, currently assistant head coach and special teams coordinator of the Green Bay Packers but once a cross-state confidante of Napier's in South Carolina, stepped in front of the group and immediately ordered them to close ranks. A few of them inched forward, but not close enough to his liking. 

"Squeeze it in. Tighter!" Bisaccia barked, his distinct Yonkers, N.Y. diction on display. "There. Now you look like a [expletive] team." 

Bisaccia proceeded to deliver a succinct but passionate chat more than four coaching decades in the making. From Wayne State to South Carolina to Clemson to Ole Miss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and a Super Bowl title) to the San Diego Chargers to the Dallas Cowboys to the Oakland-turned-Las Vegas Raiders (with a stint as interim head coach) and on to Green Bay. Bisaccia, 62, had a world of wisdom to impart, but took only three minutes of these young men's time. 

There were 105 players kneeling before him. One hundred of them, Bisaccia predicted, weren't going to listen. 

"So what I have to say is for you five that will," he told them. 

Bisaccia spoke briefly about decision-making and how it can be a deal-breaker at the next level (the level every player in front of him aspires to). He talked about three things in life a person cannot buy: Health, love and time. Take care of your bodies, find something and someone to love, and cherish every day. 

"You can never get today back. You can never get this practice back," Bisaccia said. "I hope every one of you takes care of himself, finds something you can't wait to do and love to do when you get up in the morning, and that you don't waste one second of one hour of one day of one week of one year." 

About an hour later, Bisaccia was mic'ed up and walking a podium on the floor of Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center giving a longer, more focused talk — complete with power point — before a gathering of about 150 high school coaches. They came to UF for Napier's second annual "Chalk Talk" coaches clinic, a professional development endeavor Napier staged during his time at University of Louisiana and brought with him to Gainesville.

Last year, the keynote speaker was then-Carolina Panthers coach Matt Ruhle, now the head coach at the University of Nebraska. This year, Napier tabbed Bisaccia, who Napier met during his quarterback-playing days at Furman while Bisaccia was coaching running backs at Clemson in the early 2000s. Their relationship eventually helped get Napier a graduate assistant job at Clemson and started him on his path in the profession.  Bisaccia's professional odyssey — along with that of Chris Foerster (offensive line/San Francisco 49ers), Joey Bleymaier (wide receivers/Kansas City Chiefs), Chris Rumph (linebackers/Minnesota Vikings), Mindy Black (performance nutrition/Jacksonville Jaguars and the 17 NFL guest lecturers at the clinic — will be on hand for brain-picking over the three-day event that Napier hopes will only grow in the coming years. The Florida staff will hold sessions, as well, with some attendees coming as far away as Nevada and Oklahoma.

"As this game continues to evolve, you're always learning. There's always a little bit better way to do it, look for more efficiency, a better way to describe situational football concepts, fundamentals, all of it," Napier said Thursday. "The reality of it is, everything I've gotten I've stolen from somebody else. I'm 43 years old and I've got a lot to learn."

The invited guests, in turn, have a lot to teach. 

Consider Bisaccia, who left the college ranks for his first NFL job in 2002 with the Buccaneers and walked into a locker room with four eventual Pro Football Hall of Famers: Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber — "I've got a great Rolodex," he said — not to mention the likes of Mike Alstott, Keyshawn Johnson, Brad Johnson, Simeon Rice and Martin Gramatica. Together they won a Super Bowl that first season and remain in contact to this day. 

That was 21 years ago and much has happened in Bisaccia's career along the way. 

"I'm going to go through some of the things I've been through, from getting jobs to not getting jobs. Maybe it'll help them as a coach," said Bisaccia, who was promoted to interim head coach of the Raiders following the email scandal that cost Jon Gruden his $100 million job and guided the team to a wild-card playoff berth. "I'm going to explain to them that the power of example means more than the example of power. When they stand in front of a group of young people — any teacher in front of young people — they're considered the example of power. Most kids don't listen to anything we say, but do everything we do. So the power of example matters more."

Bisaccia has 20 years on Napier, but he's bounced to clinics at the likes of Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama and South Florida because all coaches (at least the great ones or the ones who aspire to greatness) are always in fact-finding mode. 

"When you stop growing, you're done," Bisaccia said. 

Napier was asked about the colorful conversation and message his keynote speaker and longtime friend had for the Gators. 

"It's all good," Napier said. "There's different ways to do it and they need to hear it from different people."