'Every Day, You’ve Got a Chance To Get Better or Get Worse'

“Romeo.”

The name once made Billy Napier shudder.

Napier was in his early 30s working as the wide receivers coach at Alabama under Nick Saban when he admittedly botched a practice assignment.

“I did the seven-on-seven scripts, and I accidentally put a very game-plan specific play in where there was a receiver in the backfield. He called that ‘Romeo,’” Napier said.

“There was confusion on defense. The nickel didn’t know where to line up because the receiver was in the backfield, the tight end was in the slot, and (Coach Saban) knew I scripted that period.”

“One of the worst ass chewings I’ve probably gotten in my career,” Napier added, laughing in retrospect.

Napier survived his boss’ fury and went on to become the two-time Sun Belt Coach of the Year at the University of Louisiana. He’s now entering his third season as the head coach at the University of Florida — and is optimistic about what lies ahead after a series of off-season adjustments.

The Daily Coach spoke to Napier about his biggest takeaways from his time under Saban, his six cultural pillars with the Gators, and putting his program under the microscope this offseason.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Coach, thanks a lot for doing this. I know your father was a long-time high school coach in Georgia. What did you learn from him that you apply to your own leadership style?

I think, in general, how you go about life, how you treat people. I believe in the game of football and the lessons the game can teach. I think our game reflects life as much as anything out there these days relative to the number of people involved, the diversity of background, thought, teamwork. Ultimately, I think the game is about people, and I think life is about people.

My dad went through a tough bout with ALS. He had a four-year battle. I can still remember he told me one time, “The game of football is about people, strategy and competition. It’s very important we keep people at the top of that list.” We always kind of re-center and reset around purpose.

I think as I’ve gotten older and been through some adversity, and have had some ups and down in my career both as a player and as a coach, that’s what I believe the game is about.

You had a good playing career at Furman, then joined Clemson as a graduate assistant. How did you distinguish yourself early on?

Every day, you’ve got a chance to get better or get worse, go forward or go backward. You’re still at the point where there’s a lot to learn. It’s important to go to work each day and maximize the opportunities you have to learn as much as possible. I took the approach that I was going to learn as much about all parts of the game — offense, defense, the kicking game, strength and conditioning, overall program organization. You are going to be assigned small jobs. You try to do the absolute best work you can, and you need to prove you can be consistent, dependable, accountable. When you produce good work, you acquire more responsibilities as you go.

A lot of what you learn as a player applies to not only the profession of coaching but I think really any career you pursue.

Our core values here at UF, and we used these at the University of Louisiana, resemble what the game taught me and I think are important for any career and anyone trying to advance in any profession. Our core values are:

1. Integrity
2. Together
3. Discipline
4. Effort
5. Tough
6. Belief

We very much believe in a journey approach. We try our best to replicate the important things to us to the current players we coach.

You had a nice rise at Clemson, then they let you go in 2010. Were you thinking that might be it for your college career or how did you navigate that period of uncertainty?

It was an incredible opportunity as a young coach to be coordinating and calling plays. I’ll forever be thankful for that. But I do think there were lots of areas of my life where I needed to grow, and I do think I learned through that. There was some maturity needed. Overall, I needed to be exposed to more and learn from others, to put my ego on the shelf, to back up and look at things from a big-picture standpoint.

But it was healthy. I think most people will tell you that while they’re in the middle of difficult times, they maybe struggle to understand it, but when you look back and as time goes by, we all know that we need that. I think young people need that, and sometimes as adults we need it. I’ve grown stronger and have been able to handle more because of the more challenging things that you go through.

In this profession, you’re either in the club that’s been fired or you’re going to join the club later. But I’ll tell you, it was great for me. I was able to reset at Alabama. Coach Saban gave me an opportunity there.

We’re all products of the people we’ve met along the way and the experiences that we’ve had. I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to work for great people. Every day, I learn something. I think, ultimately, if you can keep that attitude and keep that perspective, you’ve got a chance.

What were your biggest takeaways from your time under Coach Saban?

Coach was great for me. He set the pace. His worth ethic, his attention to detail, his self-discipline was incredible, his ability to allocate his time, stay on task, to work his way through adversity and success. His consistency.

He had a great feel for all parts of the organization. Expectations were defined. There was accountability. He knew what he wanted his football teams to look like and play like.

You went from Alabama to Arizona State, before getting your first head coaching job at Louisiana. What clicked for your teams there?

We worked extremely hard. I can’t credit our staff and our players enough in terms of their approach to the work. What we do is very hard. I think that group embraced that from the jump.

We also had great support from our administration. We had an incredible president, an athletic director and support staff. We had a little bit of adversity in year one and then caught some traction in year two and found a rhythm. Our players believed in what we were doing, and we were able to change the roster. We added significant groups of players in year one and year two and inherited some really good pieces. Once it got up and running, we had an opportunity to go on a good run.

You mentioned your program values earlier. When you’re building a team, do you look for players who already have those attributes or do you more try to mold players to those values?

The evaluation process and recruiting has become more important than ever because of the current dynamic. We have an extensive physical evaluation we go through for every position on our team relative to the position description. The height, length, verified speed, critical factors, key measurements and the level of production.

But then there’s a human element that’s so critical in today’s world where you want to get to know the person and understand how they’re wired. Who’s the voice of reason? What’s the circle of influence, the family dynamic?

I think that’s one of the keys. You have an opportunity to really get to know that part of the player, and you combine those two to make decisions about who you add to your team. We have a very detailed approach to that.

With the human element, I want to spend time personally with the player, with all the people involved in the decision, and then I kind of go with my gut instinct about the person and if I think they’re a fit.

At Louisiana, you garnered a lot of praise. You’ve also faced a bit of criticism at Florida. What's the key for a leader to tuning out outside noise?

As my mom would put it, “It doesn’t matter if you’re coaching at Murray County High School or the University of Florida.” Any time your team is sputtering or not performing to a certain standard, there’s going to be criticism.

You’ve got to remain objective for your team and for your staff. For me, I would like to think my standard is more demanding and more critical than anyone on the outside because I’m trying to do the absolute best I can for our people, and I think our players feel the same way.

One of the things that’s exciting and motivating for me is to be at a place like the University of Florida. I appreciate the people I’ve met over the last two-and-a-half years. This place is special. There’s a history and a tradition here, and these people are hungry to get back to where they’ve been before. It’s been a long time, 15 years. I think, ultimately, for me, the more people I meet, the more stories I hear, the more motivated I am to put this program back in position to be a consistent championship contender.

I know you did a big evaluation of your program at the end of last season. Can you take us through what that entailed?

I think you’re doing that a little bit as you go during the season. You’re listening to key people in your building and key players on your team. Then, you’ve got some key people on the outside who have wisdom and experience and are observing your team. You get down to the nuts and bolts of, what are the objective areas where we have to improve and get better if we’re going to make the progress we need to become championship contenders?

It’s a lot of listening and then some discernment because those decisions are tough. They don’t just affect myself. They affect hundreds of people, players, their families, staff members, their families. I think those are the tough things that come with leadership.

How is coaching and your job now different than it was when you broke in?

The portal and the adjustments from the competition, NIL, all things you would do to acquire talent to change the roster have been affected.

You’re challenged with building trust, creating great communication, the intangibles of your team, and team chemistry... It’s hard enough to establish trust with young people and a new group of hundreds of people, but then you have the portal available, then you have the NIL uncertainty. Those two things contributed to our ability to acquire talent, and they contributed to our ability to build a culture and create an environment that’s conducive to having great team chemistry. The market has settled down, and we’re much more aware of what’s out there. We’ve adjusted our strategy. We’ve built infrastructure, and systems, and processes in house to help us. We have much more stability.

That's allowed us to develop better intangibles, better trust, respect and team chemistry — and that’s one of the things that’s been fun about this off-season. I think we’re finally there.

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