Buddy Martin Blog: If Florida Is Going To Succeed Under Napier, The Enemy Within Must Be Defeated

Bill Napier is starting strong, but we'll all have to wait and see. (Chris Spears photo),

"Truth be told, all but one of the last 11 Gator head football coaches have met a dastardly fate -- not always fired, but fired, run off or promoted upstairs."

Some years it feels like Florida football coaches are fighting the enemy within. Like Pogo once said in the comic strip, “I have met the enemy – and it is us!” When you skin it back like a piece of gator tail, it almost seems cannibalistic.

When it comes to football coaches, a little more than most places, do Gator fans chew up and spit out coaches? Eleven in 62 years, which means every 5.6 years there’s a new Gator coach. Barely lasting one recruiting cycle.

This is part of the challenge facing Billy Napier: Don’t get consumed by the job or the critics. He knows, because he mentioned it obliquely in one of his early pressers.

Napier saw how Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney survived and will construct his own buffer zone, just as he did on a smaller scale at UL-L. Probably already has. As a reminder, though, Billy needs to strap it on.

No doubt he’s already grounded, because metaphorically, he already has both feet planted right there on the west sideline of Steve Spurrier Field, where he will soon take his stand. Daily, he mounts up with spiritual armor.

When asked, Napier confirmed in an interview that he starts his day with a private bible study. So he has a daily scouting report on the enemy from within. However, he knows he must do more than survive. He must excel.

Of course, it’s not only Florida where the pariahs are lurking. It just feels that way because of escalating salaries and escalating expectations -- plus UF’s record for devouring coaches. And in today’s game, they look more like man-eating whales.

Truth be told, all but one of the last 11 Gator head football coaches have met a dastardly fate -- not always fired, but fired, run off or promoted upstairs. The guy who named it “The Swamp,” was the only one to get out alive. (Technically Ray Graves was promoted to AD and Urban Meyer resigned.)

Together they have all the championships. The HBC is the gold standard. (Chris Spears Photo)

The other day I asked the HBC if Florida fans were unreasonable and, if so, why?

“Sometimes our fans think we’re supposed to win the championship every year,” Steve Spurrier said, “and historically that’s not possible.” In this case, he was referring to the basketball program, but the same applies to football, and to many of the other sports as well.

I put it right to the guy who started it all with Florida’s first national championship and first six SEC football titles. Why are the Gator fans so ruthless?

“Oh, I don’t know,” Spurrier pondered. “Sometimes I think our fans are not as well acquainted with our history as they might should be.” And then he proceeded to tick off the championship success of almost every sport at Florida.

Frankly, the HBC thinks Gator fans need to do a better job of educating themselves about how far the Florida athletic programs have come – something Spurrier has done himself. He can tell you the number of titles won by almost every sport. So the Ambassador has done his homework. (If you count everything, it’s 42.)

With the fleeting years, Spurrier’s value as the gold standard for Florida sports looks incomparable and untouchable. That’s a good thing for obvious reasons. He beat the brakes off all his SEC rivals. But it’s not so good for the guy chasing the HBC’s ghost because that standard will never be even close to equaled, as Urban Meyer found out. Not even by winning two national titles.

The specter of Spurrier gold hung over Florida’s football program the entire time Meyer was winning all those titles and amassing those 65 wins. And as tough as it was, Meyer conceded that the ghost of the HBC should always loom there because of his imposing accomplishments and credentials. Although it had no bearing on Urban’s decision to leave for an ESPN job, there is no doubt the burden of that HBC’s ghost will always be heard in the echoes.

Will Muschamp, one of the 'M' itinerants. (UAA Photo)

Quickly, the line of “M” itinerant coaches who followed Urban began to feel it – from Muschamp to McElwain to Mullen. And now it’s time to see what The New Guy can do as Billy Napier prepares to put his 2022 team through its first spring practice.

In recent weeks I’ve drilled down on the subject of Napier through his pressers, my interviews with numerous current players, coaches and former coaches, media outside and inside the program and the perusing of many stories. It comes up sparkling. And yet I really don’t know – despite the fact that he’s an “N” and not an “M” -- if he’s going to break that chain.

When asked, I always confess that while I am cautiously optimistic and feel Napier’s stock is rising, I will have to wait and see like the rest of us. But it is with eager anticipation. On Wall Street, I’m buying his stock with my senior discount.

What strikes me these days is how rare it is to find prolonged sustained success among coaches, with exception of “The Man In The Straw Hat,” as Saban is sometimes referred to by Napier.

As I watched the final game coached by 75-year-old Mike Krzyzewski, it occurred to me how quickly some of the giants were aging out in all of college sports. Next in line for the gold watch is Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who at 77 is already the eldest D1 hoops coach in history. Tom Izzo of Michigan State is 71. Saban is 70. Bill Belichick 69.

Billy Napier will be 43 on July 21. Will he age out, or be consumed by jackals? Hopefully it’ll be the former. If so, the Spurrier Gold Standard will have to be his goal. And the enemy within will have been muted.

Time for Napier to turn things around. Can he? The stock buy looks good. (UAA Photo)