Billy Napier’s honeymoon period at Florida is continuing apace. If anything, it’s getting deeper as time goes along. As it turns out, the massive staff that he has assembled includes people who are very good at sales and communications, and they’re excelling a telling a nice story. Think about everything we know so far.
Napier came in and said and did all the right things when it was just himself and a skeleton crew. He had some big wins on early signing day. He kept a steady flow of hiring announcements coming, creating the impression that UF was a place that suddenly everyone wanted to work — including some from eventual national champ Georgia.
One of the advantages of having detailed plans is you have specific things to talk about. Napier has his eight phases of the year, and the program announces them as they come and go. It gives fans the feeling like they’re getting to see behind the curtain into the management of things. People love feeling like they know how management works. It’s why free agency, trade deadlines, and recruiting all attract deep devotion and attention.
On top of the normal booster circuit, Napier has taken the time to hold periodic press conferences with the media even when there’s not a specific event happening. That may not sound like a big deal, but compared to the last three head coaching regimes, it’s highly unusual. Will Muschamp became everyone’s friend but he and Jim McElwain inherited information secrecy ideas from Nick Saban. Dan Mullen increasingly withdrew, doing little to increase access where the pandemic took it away.
I don’t expect Napier to have practices as open as Pete Carroll’s at USC or anything, but he is being less restrictive compared to the past decade of Florida football. It might just be a getting-to-know-you thing that will fade as he becomes more established, but he does give off the impression that he enjoys engaging with the outside world. That’s more than can be said for most college football head coaches, former Gators or no.
And while Napier didn’t make as big a splash on the February signing day as many hoped, the momentum is building. Florida now has 5-stars from IMG not only visiting but raving about the experience. Both parts of that statement are welcome changes.
A handful of players left in the transfer portal, and some of them like Ty’Ron Hopper, Mohamoud Diabate, and Khris Bogle are big losses. Among the guys who have stayed, Napier and staff appear to be winning them over very quickly.
Famously, the new staff fixed the underwhelming food and frustrating parking situation. The latter is no small thing if you’ve ever been to Gainesville in recent, well, decades — the one and only parking ticket I’ve ever had came in that city. It’s no joke.
But I’ve also been seeing scattered reports from various places that the assistants are really hitting it off well with the players. This should be no surprise. Nearly all of the new coaches are renowned for being good recruiters, and part of being an ace on the trail is the ability to quickly develop relationships. Both of the prior two staffs had multiple “well, he may seem like an @#*$(!*&, but you warm up to him once you spend time with him” personalities on them. No longer is that the case at the Heavener complex.
It shouldn’t be too hard for Napier to keep the momentum going. Merely having an average amount of access and coverage of the spring practice session with an Orange and Blue Game at the end will feel like a revelation.
There was no spring practice two years ago, and then as I said before, Mullen did as little as possible to make up for the pandemic restrictions last year. I know there was a lot of controversy about why there was no spring game in 2021 when other schools in Florida had them. I still do think the ultimate decision came from above Mullen’s head and was probably related to the stadium being used as a Covid vaccination site. Even if that’s the case, there didn’t see to be any fight within the staff to do literally anything to compensate.
So with physical access far less restricted in the age of mass vaccinations, there is no excuse for keeping media out. I don’t think Napier would look for such an excuse given how he’s run things so far. He definitely seems to get the need to be open and welcoming at the beginning of his tenure.
There’s no logical reason why that attitude would suddenly end at the precipice of spring practice. He’ll run the same offense and Patrick Toney will run the same defense they employed at Louisiana, so there’s no great need for secrecy as they install the bedrock basics. There are multiple film breakdowns on YouTube that reveal more about the new schemes than anything this practice session will disclose.
If you’re feeling like all is sunshine and roses with the Florida football program right now, there’s a reason for that. New coaches usually have a honeymoon period, and anyone who can project stability after how quickly the Mullen regime collapsed would certainly get one. Napier and staff are projecting that stability, but they’re also doing other smart things to further cultivate the good feelings right now.
We’ll see how everyone feels after the opener against Utah, but enjoy this offseason. It’s okay to let yourself get taken in by the good feelings. This sports stuff is supposed to be fun.