Napier hits the road to meet fans
That’s the fun part, but new Gators coach knows challenges await
With spring football in the rearview mirror, new Florida coach Billy Napier took to the road while making his way across the state, connecting with Gators fans and boosters at various locations.
An instrumental part of the job for any first-year coach, Napier shared his message with fans at events in Tampa and Jacksonville. He still has dates in Lakeland, Pensacola and Atlanta. He spoke to a sold-out Gators Boosters crowd at Full Sail University in Orlando on Wednesday.
“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Napier said. “Every experience that you have along the way, you want to learn something, and I’m learning a little more in each one of these. It’s an incredible opportunity to connect, tell a story, cast a vision and talk about where we’re headed.”
Napier has been on the job for almost five months now, hired last November to replace Dan Mullen, and the 42-year-old has been hard at work bringing his organized style of leadership to the program. He’s hired a staff of 40-plus members to help him navigate the ins and outs of an ever-changing college landscape and reshaped a roster featuring talented players such as quarterback Anthony Richardson and edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr.
“I gain confidence every day relative to the product that we have to sell,” Napier said of what he’s learned so far about the job. “I’m learning more about the University of Florida: the passion, the history, the tradition, the people, the caliber of education that we have to offer and the student-athlete experience that we have to offer.”
Napier may be learning a lot about Florida football, but something that’s concerned him more than X’s and O’s has been dollars and cents, specifically the challenges associated with Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.
“We have to continue to evolve there and compete in a game that doesn’t have a set of rules right now,” Napier said. “As a competitor, you’re looking for parameters and guidelines. What are the rules
of engagement?
“We’re living in a world where we have free agency with no salary cap and no manual, no rule book, and a lack of leadership. We’re all in an adjustment phase here, there’s no question about that.”
It’s been almost a year since the inception of NIL legislation, with states like Florida passing separate laws on the matter. But without universal guidelines from the NCAA, universities have been saddled with patchwork rules that vary from state to state. That’s left some coaches, such as Napier, concerned over the direction of things.
“I’m learning something new every day,” Napier said. “But it’s part of the game. As a leader, your job is to come up with the best
strategy.
“The important part of NIL is that everyone wants to equate it to recruiting, but reality starts with your current team and your current players. They’re the ones that have worked, and they’ve earned their position. They have name, image and likeness and the opportunities that come with it.”
Elsewhere, Napier is left to deal with on-the-field issues like managing a roster with the looming presence of the transfer portal.
The Gators signed six transfers since his arrival but none since mid-January. With Sunday representing the last day players can transfer to a new school and be eligible to play in the fall, the window is closing on potential roster additions.
“We’re in for the long haul here,” Napier said. “When we talk personnel, we say we’re going to make every decision in the team’s best interest. So sometimes that’s attrition, sometimes that’s acquiring another player. We’re going to see a little bit of both.
“We created four signing days. You’ve got the one in December and February that we’re all very familiar with, but now you’ve got a winter portal period and a spring portal period. So having a strategy there and doing your best to get up to speed and make the best decisions are in the team’s interest.”