With expanded staff, facilities, Napier has all he wanted to turn around Gators’ fortunes

On Nov. 28, 2021, the face of Florida Gators football changed. A seven year, $51.8 million contract brought the fourth new head coach to Florida since 2014.

Billy Napier left Louisiana for The Swamp.

While Napier’s comfortable confines of Cajun Field was also referred to as The Swamp, his new home is 643 miles away.

After a lackluster 6-7 performance from UF under former head coach Dan Mullen, change was needed. Down in the Bayou, Napier reconstructed a struggling Ragin’ Cajuns team in just four seasons. The two-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year finished the 2021 season 13-1 record and went undefeated against in-conference opponents.

While Napier worked in various roles at Arizona State, Alabama, Colorado State and Clemson, Louisiana was home to his first head coaching gig.

And since his arrival to Gainesville, it has been all gas, no breaks.

Napier was tasked with rebuilding a faulty Florida team. And to do that, he gutted the staff. An influx of hires joined the staff, on and off the field. Positions range from eight assistants to three dieticians to three associate directors to a director of player engagement and NIL, including 64 non-coaches (to name a few).

In the era of name, image and likeness UF’s man in charge of Southern hospitality has led to several recruits committing to Florida. The Gators bagged three four-star commitments for their 2023 class in 24 hours.

“The Gators aren’t going away on the recruiting trail,” Napier, a tenacious recruiter, said.

The addition of The James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center’s opening Aug. 14 didn’t hurt either.

The Gators’ new 142,000-square-foot, $85 million complex is dreamlike. The doors opened six years and four coaching changes after it was proposed in 2016. In addition to a locker room there are pools, a dining hall, a barber shop, meeting rooms, weight rooms and so much more.

For the most part, the Southeastern Conference is new territory for Napier. While he previously coached in the shadows, he now has full reign to a SEC football program. He attempts to turn around the mistakes of the prior season, where Florida claimed the fewest wins in conference play since 1986 with two, had 104 penalties for 918 yards and a humbling bowl game loss to the University of Central Florida.

Now, as the 29th head coach in Florida’s program history, Napier and his squad opened with ranked teams like Utah, and Kentucky. Two weeks later, the Gators also face SEC rival Tennessee in September.

The former starting quarterback at Furman specializes in offense, and has worked closely with sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson. He accumulated several accolades throughout his collegiate career and was recently inducted into the Furman Athletic Hall of Fame.

The cards fall in Napier’s hands now, as Gator faithful are eager for more wins. Florida’s last SEC championship and national championship came in 2008 with Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

UF enters the 2022 season with a bitter taste in its mouth. With no AP preseason ranking and College Football Playoff hopes seemingly out of the picture, the Gators’ future is quite unpredictable.

But with Napier’s track record, a winning season is in sight.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 1:37 PM.