No matter how many games or championships that Billy Napier wins at Florida, one iconic phrase will always be a part of his enduring legacy: “Scared money don’t make money.”
Napier uttered those words during a halftime interview last season while explaining his decision to forego a field goal on the final play of the first half and go for the end zone, a decision that paid off when his Louisiana team scored a touchdown on the play.
Since he accepted the Florida job in December, that phrase has become something of a battle cry for Gators fans and a phrase that has been slapped on merchandise to make some money.
While Napier’s halftime interview went viral and earned him a reputation as a gutsy play-caller, support staffer Ashour Peera deserves a ton of credit for the Ragin’ Cajuns scoring on that play.
Peera served as Napier’s director of player engagement at Louisiana from 2019-21, and he followed him to UF as the assistant director of football operations, logistics and analytics. As his current title states, one of Peera’s biggest responsibilities is analytics.
Analytics have become an increasingly large part of game-planning in sports over the past decade or so, first rising to prominence in baseball before gradually spreading to other sports. The idea is to take the guessing and the emotions out of the equation and make data-driven decisions in critical moments of the game.
Basically, Peera’s job is to study a ton of games from around the country over multiple seasons to determine when the Gators would be better off going for it on fourth down versus punting or kicking a field goal and when they should go for two points after a touchdown. The coaches then take that information and put it into their game plans.
So, when that fourth down situation comes up in the game, they already know if they’re going for it or not and which plays they like if they end up going for it. The coaches don’t have to make a gut decision and hope that it works out anymore.
“It’s become a big part of the game, and it changes the way you call plays, I feel,” Peera said. “Coach is very bought into it. So, we do a lot of work throughout the year in preparation for when those situations come up, just like anyone else that prepares for situations. We just use analytics heavily, look at what the numbers say about different situations.”
Peera said that the analytics could tell you to do something different based on some external factors, such as the weather. The numbers might tell you to kick a field goal under clear skies and with minimal wind but to go for it during a heavy downpour. All of those scenarios are researched and presented to the coaches.
Interestingly, Peera said that his research has shown that homefield advantage isn’t as much of a factor in the outcome of a game as you probably think. Instead, the team that’s favored has the advantage, particularly in the fourth quarter and overtime. So, you might see the Gators be more aggressive with taking deep shots, going for it on fourth down and attempting two-point conversions than they would in a game where they’re favored to win.
It’s important to note that the coaches will use analytics as a guide, but they won’t just blindly follow everything that the computers tell them to do. For example, if the analytics say to kick a field goal, but their kicker has already missed a couple of chip shots, Napier may override the computers and go for it anyway. The coaches’ feel for the game will remain a vital component of their game management.
“You’ve still got to call a game,” Peera said. “You’ve got to feel the game, and you’ve got to make some decisions, go with your gut, that type of thing. I think it’ll eliminate some gray area, or it forces you to prepare more. Now you’re more prepared for certain situations. You’ll see different situations that come up, you’ll learn more as a coach. I’ve learned a lot. It’s made me a better coach.”
While analytics are probably his most fascinating role and the area that will affect the product you watch on television this fall the most, Peera also wears several other hats for the program.
He coached high school football at several schools in Florida for more than a decade, so he serves as a liaison of sorts between the program and the state’s high school coaches. He’s taken on a leading role in organizing Gators Chalk Talk, a clinic for middle and high school coaches that will take place this weekend.
The clinic will feature at least 20 guest speakers, including an NFL head coach, numerous NFL assistants, a dietitian, an NBA coach and a mixed martial arts coach. Peera is reaching out to his high school contacts to spread the word about the clinic and get as many people to show up as possible.
As one of the members of the staff that worked for Napier at Louisiana, Peera is also helping to integrate some of the new members of the staff. Napier has a very detailed and process-oriented way of doing things, and Peera is helping the newcomers make the adjustment.
“I think part of it is just knowing the systems that we run, how we operate, having a feel for how Coach wants things done in the program,” he said. “He always puts people first, so I know that’s always at the front for us is how we treat people, how we manage our people. I couldn’t say anything bad about him. He’s done everything for me that he said he would. He’s just a great guy to be around. So, I think we try to emulate that and make sure it’s throughout our program.”
Peera probably has one of the most unique backstories of any of the support staffers. He grew up in Chicago and briefly played football at Concordia University Chicago, a Division 3 program. Once he realized that he couldn’t cut it as a player, he decided to get into coaching.
But he didn’t always coach football. His first job in Florida was as the Gators’ club lacrosse coach.
He eventually got into coaching high school football. He coached at Vanguard and Forest in Ocala, South Lake in Groveland – the alma mater of Jeff Demps and Marcell Harris – Miami Northwestern and East Ridge in Clermont. He also taught first grade at his various stops.
He eventually moved up to the college ranks and got a job as the offensive line coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State. He parlayed that experience into a job as Central Arkansas’ director of recruiting.
In 2019, Napier came calling and offered him the job at Louisiana. Offensive line coach Rob Sale had recruited one of Peera’s players at Miami Northwestern when he was the offensive line coach at McNeese State, and the two had remained in touch ever since then. When a job opened up, Sale put in a good word for him to Napier.
And now, just a few years later, Peera is the brain behind some of Napier’s most critical in-game decisions.
“I think he’s been putting this plan together for years,” Peera said. “The advantage that we had was he got to be a head coach before taking this position, and I think he’s been putting the plan together for years, and we just follow the plan. He dictates what he wants. He knows what he wants, and we’re just all a part of it. We’re happy to be a part of it. We can see it work, and we saw it work at Louisiana.”