Buddy Martin Blog. Dear Billy Napier: Kudos On The Start. Now Here's A Little Piece of Advice.

UAA Photo by Hannah White

“It's one thing to know.It's another thing to do. I think we've got to take the hearing, and we've got to do the doing.” -- Billy Napier.

By BUDDY MARTIN

GatorBaitMedia.com Editor

This is the time of year when we amateur shrinks in the media attempt to psychoanalyze head football coaches based on a 20-minute conversation with 30 people, a dozen questions and bag of chips. Sometimes I think we’d be better off with just a copy of Gen. Bob Neyland’s handbook of Seven Maxims, a palm reading and a GPS pointing to Tuscaloosa.

There have been 29 coaches at Florida. We media people feel compelled to go and kick the tires. I’ve kicked a lot of them, having attended 11 previous first-day introductions. So I asked myself, how much difference has there been? In words, declarations and intentions, not that much. Moods and behavior have been similar. Messages about the same.

The three most impactful I remember were Ray Graves in 1960, Steve Spurrier in 1989 and Urban Meyer in 2004.

What I remember I liked most about them:

--Graves’ promise to improve the offense and make Florida competitive again. And win more.

--Spurrier’s intention to rip up the Astroturf, bring back the blue jerseys and put Miami back on the schedule. (And win.)

--Urban Meyer’s grasp of Florida’s tradition, especially under Spurrier, and a commitment to build on it. (And The Plan To Win).

I think we see a theme here.

I felt a connection with Graves, Spurrier and Meyer – energy, a sense of freshness and excitement.

Spurrier laid down his plan at the outset. UAA photo by Tim Casey

So what do we have now in Billy Napier? I’m still trying to get a handle on what I saw and heard Tuesday.

To paraphrase the captain in Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a success to communicate.” Not a failure, but success. And BTW, the rest of that quote by actor Strother Martin in the chain gang scene of the 1967 classic, was: “Some men you just can’t reach.”

In my opinion, aside from the Neyland Maxims about fundamentals -- mistakes, breaks, tackling, the kicking game, etc. – I think the new head coaches’ job is to lay out a plan, sell hope and communicate like they were the Phi Beta Kappa in Strother Martin’s leadership class on chain gangs.

On those counts, Billy Napier came up aces. Especially in communication. It seems like Napier has already reached the vast majority of his team – at least 20 of the 21 I’ve interviewed. He has told the players what to expect. Now he must tell the fans and supporters, using the media as his conduit. And beginning Sept. 3 he must start showing everybody.

There is a lot to like about Napier and, in time, I hope we can eventually sense that total connection. There are good signs, such as the student body tickets being sold out and the recruiting uptick that occurred last week. Yet a tiny bit of reluctance hovers over The Swamp.

Part of it may because many of us who prematurely anointed Dan Mullen as statue-worthy fell prey to our own hype and ignored the time-worn mandate: “Don’t fall in love on the first date.” Thus there is guarded optimism. However, there is also every reason to wax optimistic about Napier’s long-term future. He is a bold leader, very much in charge, and as one of his assistant coaches said, “speaking wisdom into his players every day.”

And we thought Urban Meyer had a Plan. Billy Napier apparently doesn’t take a breath without thinking about it first.

“He has a plan for every second of the day,” said one of his assistant coaches.

We shan’t start breaking down the offense, defense, three-deep roster, etc. just yet. As Napier proceeds with his final 20 or so days of fall camp, new names will emerge and a few nicks and dings will no doubt surface in what he promises will be “a hard camp for everybody” with “designed difficulty.”

He bragged on his squad’s intentional manner, willingness to learn and ability to adapt to a new system and new ways. Now it’s time to walk the walk.

“It's one thing to know,” he emphasized. “It's another thing to do. I think we've got to take the hearing, and we've got to do the doing.”

Watching Billy Napier shape his team physically, emotionally, sociologically and intelligently has been quite fascinating – almost like a new dad mentoring his kids in post-puberty, about to let them flee the coup. You’ve heard the old adage “it takes a village” to raise a child? Apparently, it “takes an army” to coach Napier’s football team. Almost, it seems, one person for every player. That could turn out to be a huge asset.

Among those stirring the fires is Strength & Conditioning Coach Mark Hocke, who makes the Energizer Bunny look like a piker. He’s actually had access to the squad longer than Napier because of off-season training. And as one person said (favorably), “He never had a bad day and when he wakes up it’s like he’s had eight cups of coffee and four Red Bulls.”

Mark Hocke "Makes the Energizer Bunny look like a piker." (Chris Spears photo)

Hocke is also an eternal fountain of metaphors, similes and homilies, including the one about toughness: “You can’t train gladiators with pillow-fighting.” It’s not just about strength, or even speed, he says, and he calls his style more “holistic.”

And, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” The little things become the big things. Like how you put on your socks. And what color they are.

By now you’ve probably heard about the death of blue socks among Gator football players. They gotta be white. Everybody’s! This is the new directive on discipline about detail which mandates uniformity on Billy Napier’s team.

The new coach wants his players to close ranks as people as well.

“Propinquity,” he said as a challenge to the media. “Look it up.”

We did. MERRIAM-WEBSTER: The state of being close to someone or something; proximity.

"he kept his distance as though afraid propinquity might lead him into temptation"

But I think the one he liked better meant “nearness, closeness or kinship.”

I did not see any references to the prohibition of blue or white socks promoting that cause, but no doubt it does.

Three minor points of assessment for Coach Napier.

1.) Get used to the idea that you’ll need to feed the media monster regularly to keep from getting eaten alive yourself. Remember there is a short shelf-life for coaches at Florida. And one reason is that many of them failed to grasp the true function of the working press. They also failed to realize this is one of the biggest and most competitive media contingents of any state. And they NEVER go away. Also, I would heed you to never lie or purposely mislead the press. But you don’t need that, Coach Napier, because they say you are a man of character, integrity and honesty.

2.) When trouble starts brewing, step up and address it to the media ASAP before it festers. It may become painful, but the pain won’t last as long.

3) And one more thing: Although you didn't specifically mention your goal of winning, as did Graves, Spurrier and Meyer, we can figure out that's the desired end result of your brilliant scheme and detailed plan. Maybe you might want to throw that in the convo for emphasis now and again.

Also this piece of advice: Even though you were raised close to Athens and grew up watching Georgia, please don’t use that term of endearment (to them) “Dawgs” around Gator fans, as you did at SEC Media Days. It’s nauseating to them. That’s not the kind of propinquity they’re looking for, coach.