Billy Napier Admits Stubbornness During Florida Tenure

Billy Napier has opened up about his failed stint with the Florida Gators.

Billy Napier has opened up about his failed stint with the Florida Gators. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

At least Billy Napier finally admitted it. He was stubborn.

As the Florida Gators turn the page to the Jon Sumrall era and Napier begins his first year as the head football coach at James Madison, the former UF head coach has reflected on his failed stint from the last four years. In doing so, he admitted what seemingly everyone else outside of the program saw: stubbornness.

In an interview with On3's Wilson Alexander, Napier admitted he was "probably a little stubborn" when it came to offensive play-calling and that he did not delegate effectively in the NIL and Transfer Portal era.

“I think that we really struggled to manage the workload that came with NIL, that came with the portal,” Napier told On3. “
I think in general there, the work continued to be loaded up in terms of my responsibility to our team and to our entire organization. So, for me, in general, if I can sum it up, I would say the ability to delegate and hire exceptional people in certain areas and hand over more responsibility to those guys and empower them to do their job at a high level. 

“I think that you have to continue to adapt and evolve, and certainly college football the last few years, that part has been really important. We didn’t do that as well as I would like us to do it. 
And ultimately, that was my responsibility.”

Billy Napier was fired midway through his fourth season leading the Florida Gators. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For a coach who once touted having an army of off-field staff and was praised for his organizational skills, Napier's refusal to give up play-calling and apparent mismanagement in the NIL and transfer portal worlds were two of his many shortcomings during his near-four seasons leading the Gators. It did not help that as loud as the criticism grew, so did Napier's refusal to change.

As Florida trudged to a 1-3 start heading into a crucial matchup against a top-10 Texas team, Napier remained steadfast in his ability as a play-caller when asked why he had not made a change.

"It’s what got me here. It’s how I became the head coach. It’s what’s helped us make progress and win in the past. I’m confident it will help us do that in the future," he said.

Nine months later, Napier has flipped and has since hired a play-caller at James Madison.

“I think that that took away from the level of detail that I had provided in a lot of those areas in the past,” Napier said. “And then once my back was against the wall, I wasn’t confident or comfortable enough to hand that over to somebody else.”

Too little too late, but at least Napier finally admitted what everyone else saw. Now, we move on.

Sumrall, to his credit, has been everything Napier was not in his early tenure. He immediately hired one of the top offensive coordinators in the country in Buster Faulkner. Sumrall is a defensive-minded coach, after all, but he also hired a defensive play-caller in Brad White). He is putting NIL and revenue share in the hands of other people. The bulk of his staff is made up of outside hires and not carry-overs from his previous stop.

He has also kept a core group of key Napier staffers, including Assistant AD of Recruiting Strategy Katie Turner and Director of Scouting and Recruiting Relations Joe Hamilton.

"Every place is different. When I walk into a new place, the first thing I do is I assess what's there," Sumrall said in his first press conference last December. "There will be some folks that stay. Then I may bring a few that have been around me. There's going to be some people that haven't been here and haven't been with me that need to be added to help us get the best group of people together to win championships and serve our players."

Jon Sumrall enters his first season leading the Florida Gators. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

Napier, to his credit, praised Sumrall for keeping those staffers. While the on-field results ended his tenure, which he said was a "failure of leadership and my responsibility," he pointed the off-field organization as something he is proud of.

“I do think that we, just in general, built an organization from top to bottom that was impressive,” Napier said. “And I think that the fact that they retained the majority of those people within that organization, I think, speaks to that. I’m thankful for Jon for doing that. I do think that a lot of those people are incredible at what they do, and I think that they deserve to stay, and I’m glad that he saw that. That was able to create some stability for them. So, in general, I think that’s ultimately what we did. We finished up the facility piece and then obviously built a football organization that I think could go toe-to-toe with anybody in the country.”

Time will tell if Sumrall can undo Napier's mistakes and bring Florida's football program to new heights. There is still just under two months left until he coaches his first game. There is confidence, though, that he can with how he has moved in his first offseason with the program.

And for Napier, only time will tell if he can keep James Madison as a Group of Six powerhouse as he makes changes to his coaching style.

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