Buddy Martin Blog: It Felt Really Good for Billy Napier, Getting Off The Plane As A Champion

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Napier is here to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after The Great Fall. (UAA photo)

This just in: I think Billy Napier won the press conference. That being said, so did his predecessor. This one feels a little different, though. I didn’t get this sense of optimism for the M&M&M boys -- Will Muschamp or Jim McElwain, or Dan Mullen. . .

Departing third from the plane, peeking around the corner without mugging for cameras, then peering down to inspect the 4 1/2 steps that stood between him and being the Boots-On-The Ground Gator coach. He arrived in Gainesville as the 28th UF coach, fresh off the victory trail, with a scent of that victory still wafting behind him, less than 24 hours removed from his home turf in Lafayette where his Ragjn’ Cajuns stamped their names for a second time on the Sun Belt Championship trophy by beating Appalachian State, 24-16. After a congratulatory handshake and two pats on the back with new boss Scott Stricklin, he moved deliberately through the short greeting-party line.

Billy Napier is here to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after The Great Fall. Dressed tastefully in an almost electric-Royal blue suit with tan shoes and a light orangish tie, he has the kind face of a new neighbor who’d willingly loan you his lawn mower, or help with some heavy lifting, or drive you to the repair shop if your car was on the fritz. And if he has a big ego, he must have checked it before arriving. He also looks like he has the broad shoulders and patience for the task at hand.

Tennessee-born William Hall Napier came packing a recipe box for success, some of it seemingly with a plan that covers everything from upgrading recruiting, to perhaps a new nutrition program that includes the proper way to make a Gatorade Smoothie (just kidding.) He warned us Sunday not to expect much change in his/Dan Mullen‘s recruiting class which has been leaking oil and is down to 11, saying he’d be surprised if he received any more commitments for 2022. But you got the feeling he was sandbagging a little.

And while he’s known as a methodical coach who likes to change culture organically, there was this one time this season when he rolled the dice on fourth down at the 1-yard line as time was winding down in the first half against Ohio, where he blurted out over the headsets, “Scared money don’t make money.” Which has probably become the adopted battle cry of Gator fans.

“I’m never going to live that down,” Napier said almost sheepishly, saying it was well calculated part of his analytics for their fourth-down strategy. Later he also explained that he likes to play poker – mostly five-card draw and Texas Hold ‘Em – where that phrase is fairly common.

I doubt the former Furman quarterback is going to be calling plays with scared money.

Napier’s presser

https://www.facebook.com/GatorsFB/videos/965633227381413/

Billy Napier plans on winning more than just the press conference. (Chris Spears photo)

This just in: I think Napier won the press conference. That being said, so did his predecessor. This one feels a little different, though. I didn’t get this sense of optimism for the M&M&M boys -- Will Muschamp or Jim McElwain, or Dan Mullen – perhaps because they came after Steve Spurrier’s and Urban Meyer’s national championships.

He started to work Sunday, drawing on that 7-year, $51.8 million deal to coach the Gators. In these days of gi-normous coaching salaries, that almost sounds like a bargain.

Napier was chosen by Florida because of his winning record, program-building acumen, recruiting savvy, patience and a resume that included stints under coaching icons, Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. After a high-stakes poker game by three of the biggest brands in college football, he was the first domino to fall when Florida announced him as Mullen’s replacement, followed shortly by USC’s hiring of Lincoln Riley and LSU’s anointment of Brian Kelly.

All of Scott Stricklin’s roads led him to Louisiana. And so did the words.

“It was interesting,” said Stricklin, “I kept hearing certain descriptions over and over again, words like ‘genuine,’ ‘authentic,’ ‘organized,’ ‘detailed,’ ‘disciplined,’ ‘methodical,’ ‘caring,’ ‘competitive,’ ‘hardworking,’ ‘thoughtful . . .”

Napier’s first time setting foot on Steve Spurrier Field — blown away! Great new hype video in the Swamp.

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/1467899677773291529/video/1

The very fact that he stayed to coach his team to a conference championship proved his loyalty. Of course, you have to first be IN a championship game, which neither Kelly at LSU or Riley at USC were.

He does his first Chomp correctly -- right over left. (UAA Photo)

As I watched the last 30 seconds of his final game at Louisiana tick off the clock, I made note to ask what he was thinking while wearing his stoic look, despite churning emotions inside. He said he wanted his players to experience the feeling of having accomplished an important goal.

“So to see them finish the job, I mean it was an incredible journey,” said Napier. “But I think the most important part is that they got the result and the reward for all of that work. And it changes the entire dynamic for the next 12 hours, right? I was telling one of my good friends that earlier; it's one thing to get on a plane and fly to Florida after a championship game. It's another to get on the plane as a champion.”

This time there was no previous DNA to Florida, but the Tennessee-born, Georgia-raised, self-admitted “football junkie” is very aware of what’s been going on around Hogtown. The son of a deceased football coach remembers going to a high school game on Friday night and either attending or watching a college game on TV Saturday.

“I can still remember growing up watching Florida play, and Coach (Steve) Spurrier throwing that ball around the park. I could still remember watching Danny Wuerffel, a long list of players when I was a young person. I'm well aware of the history and the tradition here. This is one of the few places in the country -- you're talking about a championship culture. We're talking about it's been done multiple times. I think one of the interesting things here is the success all the other teams in the athletic department have had. It's unprecedented and unmatched.”

Billy also said when his dad became the head coach of a high school team and changed the uniforms, “our uniform was exactly like the Florida Gators. So my dad was a big fan for sure.”

He gagged a little when talking about his late father and what former Murray County High coach Bill Napier might say if he were with him at Florida, but then deferred to the assurances of his Christian faith: “He’s here,” he said. “That’s what I would tell you. He’s here. So, he’s smiling. I’ll tell you that much.”

In is first presser, Napier lays out his plans to the media. (Chris Spears photo)

As for Billy’s Scared Money mantra, “he’d have probably got on me about that.”

Prayer plays a big part in Napier’s decision making. During the press conference he cited scripture from Joshua 1:9, “be strong and courageous.” Later as we were all dispersing, I walked up to him and asked if he had any particular favorite bible verse. “Oh I have a lot of them,” he replied. “How about one?” I asked. “Proverbs 3:5-6,” he said. I recognized it immediately as one of Danny Wuerffel’s and Tim Tebow’s favorite scriptures, as well as mine:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not on your own understanding.

In all ways acknowledge him

And he will direct your path.”

Perhaps his path was directed right to Gainesville, Fla. for good reason.