Billy Gonzales Reflects on Leading Gators, Players Share Love

Getting to be the head coach, even as an interim, was a special time for Billy Gonzales and the players who got to know him best

Florida Interim head coach Billy Gonzales did what he could to represent the standard at UF | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With a Florida Gators win over Florida State on Saturday, Billy Gonzales picked up his first win as a head coach. Interim or not, he got his shot to be at the helm for five games. A 1-4 record won’t tell the whole story. 

There were some hard-fought games against tough opponents. He kept the whole team together when it could have fractured. For the position he was in, few are going to look back at his time in charge in a negative light. 

When asked about the opportunity, he did his best to stay humble about it, making it about the players he got to coach as much as he could. Still, with how much of his career has been spent in Gainesville, what he described made it clear how important the opportunity was to him. 

“I spent the majority of my career here,” he said. “Special place. The University of Florida is special. I've said before. You play for the patch, you honor the name on your back for the players. It is a special place.”

Gonzales has seen some of the best of Gators football during his different stints in Gainesville. He was here for the heights of Urban Meyer and the hopes that Dan Mullen brought to the table. For what it’s worth, he was there for a run month at the end of last season. 

The program will always have a place in his heart, and he wants to see these heights again. It doesn’t matter if he’s directly part of it. 

After the game, the players used every word they could to describe what it meant to have Gonzales in charge. 

“He’s been around enough to know what the Gator standard is,” fifth-year senior edge Tyreek Sapp. “He’s a true Gator.”

Sapp arguably goes back with Gonzales longer than any other player on the roster. Gonzales was the one who recruited Sapp when he was a recruit. It took very little for him to decide he wanted to come to Florida. He committed in 2018, two years before he actually signed. 

Much of that easy decision was because he was already heavily drawn to the Gators brand. However, Gonzales has been a huge part of Sapp’s journey, and that wasn’t going to be overlooked. 

There was a shared sentiment with the veterans on the staff who spent a lot of time with him.

“It means the world to us,” fifth-year senior offensive lineman Jake Slaughter said. “I think every player in the building has nothing but love and deep respect for Coach G. I've had the privilege of knowing him a long time. I got to play with his boy in high school. It's something that we were super excited for.”

The future for Gonzales is up in the air. Maybe the next head coach keeps him around on his staff. He could be at another college next year. He’s done more than enough to secure a gig for next year. 

You never know, but from what we learned, the chances of him coming back to Gainesville are never zero. Three head coaches have called for his services. Perhaps a fourth will one day, too.