Florida Head Coach Billy Napier set Gator Nation and the media on fire with his ‘basement’ comment regarding criticism towards the program.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the full quote from Monday’s press conference.
“One thing I can say is we have a group that’s working hard. I do think that we have character. We got to go to work on the football part. I think we got to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better. If we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media, then we got a chance to get better, right? I think that’s the key. Sometimes you deserve criticism. I think that’s one of those things I would say I have no excuses, right? We got to go get it fixed.”
Two days later, Napier was asked about his comment as many Gator fans took it as criticizing the fan base.
Here’s Napier’s full response from Wednesday’s presser.
“Terrible choice of words. I think obviously didn’t explain myself the way I should have there. I think the question was about, how do we help our players and our staff manage maybe criticism and adversity and noise, maybe on the outside, in particular, social media.
So yeah, people have told me about that, obviously. I want to make it very clear that was not my intention there. I think ultimately, and there was no reference to our fans. I was just thinking talking specifically about life in general. I think our young people live in an era where social media is a part of their lives. And I think it’s critical if we listen too much to the wrong voice, no matter who that is in life. I’ve got young kids, me and my wife talk about it all the time they’re going to grow up in an era where there’s a social media environment where anybody can say anything. And I think it’s important, we have to keep perspective for our players. And I was in no way referencing fans, you know? I’m thinking about just our young people in in general here. I would never do that or be critical of our fans. It was we had nothing to do with that. So I think just in general, our young people, they’re growing up in a different era, and I think it’s part of our job. We’re obligated to teach them how to approach life and not be influenced in a negative way. And look, part of our job and their job as players and our job as coaches, we live in a public arena where we’re going to get criticized. And I told you guys personally many times, I wish we could make your job easier at times about performing better, and we certainly deserve criticism how we play. And I would tell you this, we challenge the football team to represent the University of Florida better, and when you play poorly, like we did Saturday there’s going to be criticism.”