Gators HC Billy Napier Shares Further Insight Into Desire to Build ‘Army’
Florida's ongoing effort to construct an "army" of support staffers for the football program is far from over.
In the early stages of Billy Napier's tenure as the Gators' head coach, he has laid out well-detailed plans for how he wants to approach rebuilding a once-illustrious program. Prefacing his vision with the fact that it will span beyond surface-level interactions, Napier has been adamant about creating a culture built through relationships at all levels.
The program's actions have supported those claims by hiring a bevy of analysts, nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches and recruiting staffers thus far.
On Friday, Napier continued to provide insight into his thought process for that ongoing initiative.
"If you evaluate other sports, I think that coach-to-player ratio is much smaller than your traditional head coach and 10-assistant blueprint. So, we want to build more relationships, more people that can have a positive impact on the current players," Napier said in his afternoon press conference. "I think that's a big part of what we believe in — more people that have a sincere care for the player and want to impact the player."
Making 39 total hires to this point, Florida has been devoted to enhancing the ability to make connections inside and outside of the program.
Apparently, those efforts have merely just begun. To ensure bonds are formed, UF will look to add enough staffers to match the expected number of players on the roster.
"I think the big thing here is, relative to the number of student-athletes that we have. We're going to approach 130 — somewhere around that number — [of] players. We have 85 scholarship players and the goal is to have a 50-man walk-on roster," Napier said.
While relationships will be an essential part, Napier emphasized that it's paramount for everyone hired to have a purpose. Therefore, each member of the staff will serve in a specified role for the betterment of the team.
"We've got things for them to do," he said. "We're not going to hire anybody we don't have a very clearly defined role for or we don't feel like their role is very important. The key here is that they all understand what their role is, they do their job and they understand the impact that they can have on the player and the impact that they can have on our team."
That impact of the army has the potential to take away the burdens that come with the profession's heavy workload. It's a component Napier coins as "quality of life" for the "really talented people" within the organization.
"This profession can chew you up and spit you out," he said. "Literally, I could work every day of my life, from sunup to sundown and more. There's that much work to do. As competitors, we can let it consume us."
The added staffers allow for task delegation is a crucial aspect to keep everyone fresh and balanced in their lives outside of football.
He said the motion has been implemented to decrease the chances of getting caught up in the minutia of day-to-day responsibilities.
The high number of staff members can be an asset, as job specialization will make task completion more efficient and effective. Simultaneously, this lessens the strain on everyone.
"You want to get a systematic approach up and running, where everybody is good at what they do when you try to repeat this process each year and get better at it, and you have enough people to execute that plan. When we get this thing up and running, you have very clearly defined roles and job descriptions for all eight phases of your football plan and six phases of your recruiting plan."
Florida will continue to add a surfeit of pieces to the staff with the hopes of establishing a connection-driven culture as they work through the phases of both football and recruiting.
"If we create that kind of culture, I think we've got a chance. I think that's our process."
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