Gators, Scott Stricklin Moved Quickly On Billy Napier Amid Mass HC Openings
Photo Credit: Alex Shepherd
It didn't take long.
When the Florida Gators originally fired Dan Mullen as the football team's head coach a couple of Sundays ago, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin began his push to bring in a guy he has studied for quite some time, and he didn't allow the openings at other football programs to deter or discourage him.
In 2018, Stricklin was brought on to the College Football Playoff committee. That meant he had an up-close-and-personal view of many college football programs, including the Louisianna Ragin' Cajuns, a program headed up by Billy Napier, the Gators' choice for their then-vacant head coaching position.
In 2019, in particular, Stricklin and ex-Texas A&M Aggies coach R.C. Slocum headed up the Sun Belt Conference. It was then he really realized that Napier was having a major impact in Lafayette and on the University.
He decided to do a deep dive into Napier, studying him more, asking people, watching YouTube and even reading articles. Anything and everything he could find.
"It was interesting, I kept hearing certain descriptions over and over again, words like 'genuine,' 'authentic,' 'organized,' 'detailed,' 'disciplined,' 'methodical,' 'caring,' 'competitive,' 'hardworking,' 'thoughtful,'" Stricklin said yesterday during Napier's introductory press conference.
"If you think about all those words, for us to reach the high expectations shared by everybody who loves the Gators and we talk about championship experience with integrity, to have consistent and sustained success, those are the traits that are going to be imperative."
Stricklin's deep-dive into Napier ultimately led him to target the head coach right away, never wavering and not entertaining any other candidates. Napier was the guy; he was the only guy they wanted.
Without the ULL and Florida openings to be considered, there were 25 FBS openings this cycle. LSU, right in Napier's backyard, was also open. Within the Power 5 conference, there were a staggering 13 openings, including Florida.
That would lead anyone, especially an on-the-rise coach like Napier, to have a lot to consider, but Stricklin wasn't discouraged by that. No, he knew he had his guy and he worked hard to make that a certainty.
During the post-press conference media scrum, Stricklin was asked about the openings and potential for the program to not land Napier because of them.
He reiterated that it was obvious the program made him a priority, and instead of taking the path of interviewing five to six candidates, they took the path of identifying Napier and sticking to him.
"We decided early on that Billy was going to be our target, and I think on Sunday night, I was on a phone with his representative. I asked if there was a time that week I could get in front of him and Ali [Napier], Billy and Ali, and it got set up for that Tuesday night, and I went to Lafayette and sat in their living room and had that conversation."
It was two days before Thanksgiving, just two days after firing Mullen that Stricklin got on a plane to meet with Napier and his wife, Ali, telling him that the net result of the multiple conversations they were set to have would be for him to accept the bid to become the program's next year coach.
"And he sat up and goes, ‘Well, all right. Let’s do it.’ So, he would do his job during the day, and, at night, we would get on the phone and have more conversations.”
Napier essentially took the gig sight unseen, having been to the university just once in the past decade. The brand of the program spoke for itself, the success the program has had in the past still held plenty of weight.
"He said he felt like he wasn’t sure he was ready to leave Louisiana in the past and this might be a year. So there’s a lot of things that lined up in our favor.”
It did, and so Stricklin got his guy and his excitement was palpable, seen as he grinned from ear to ear even as the cameras went away. He got his guy, he got his only guy.
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