On the night of his promotion to interim head coach, Billy Gonzales reached out to two-time Florida Gators National Championship head coach Urban Meyer.
Gonzales and Meyer have a unique relationship that dates back further than their time spent together at UF from 2005-09. Meyer served as Gonzales’ wide receiver coach during his playing days at Colorado State from 1990-92. Once Gonzales stepped into coaching, the two worked together from 2001 to 2009 with stops at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida.
“I spoke with Coach Meyer last night,” Gonzales said on Monday. “We had a chance to catch up a little bit. He was my position coach in college. I obviously had a chance to work with him at three different stops.”
“I reached out to him. I wanted to have a chance to talk to him a little bit about the team concept,” Gonzales added. “One of the unique things he talked about and we talked about is you’re walking into a situation where it’s not the perfect situation for you, Billy, but at the same time you want to make sure you’re here for the players.”
Meyer and Gonzales won two national championships at Florida together in 2006 and 2008.
“We went back and we started talking about the two national championships. I was very fortunate to be part of those teams. We started talking a little bit, and we weren’t perfect back then either,” Gonzales said on his conversation with Meyer. “We had to fight. We had to change some things, the things that we wanted to work at.”
“I know it’s not a perfect situation. But nothing in life is,” Gonzales added. “But one thing that I do know for sure is that these players are resilient. They’re tough. They’re competitors. And they don’t have quit anywhere in their DNA.”
Gonzales has played and worked under Meyer for 12 years. He’s observed how Meyer’s found success. Gonzales plans to take what he’s learned and apply it to his opportunity in 2025.
“He’s a great motivator. He’s a great mind,” Gonzales said of Meyer. “The one thing he did, he had his team ready to play. I think that’s a goal of mine. Obviously, they’ve entrusted me and have given me that opportunity.”
At age 54, Gonzales has never been a head coach despite 32 years of coaching experience. However, he understands the culture and expectations in Gainesville, making three separate stops at UF under Meyer, Dan Mullen, and Billy Napier.
“Florida is a special place to me. I’ve worked for this program for 12 years. I take this new role to heart. It means a ton to me. I’ve seen what this program can be firsthand, like Mr. Stricklin said in his statement. The standards and the expectations at the University of Florida and Gator football program are to win championships, not to simply just compete,” Gonzales said.
One thing was made clear from Gonzales’ press conference on Sunday: he’s doing this for the players.
“We’ve got a bunch of seniors on this football team. We’ve got a bunch of underclassmen that are fighting and are going to do everything they can to be successful,” Gonzales said. “I want to take care of these guys over there. I’m looking at those three football players right there, what they’ve been through.”
When asked if he was using this five-game stretch as an audition to be a head coach, his response was simple: “I want to win.”