Following the dismissal of Dan Mullen after a loss in Week 12 to Missouri, the Gators’ coaching search culminated in just a week with the hiring of Louisiana coach Billy Napier. A former assistant under both Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, Napier compiled a 39-12 record in Lafayette. Since a 7-7 finish in Year 1, he’s gone an elite 32-5.
Napier will officially begin his term as Florida’s head coach on Sunday after his Ragin’ Cajuns team faces off against Appalachian State for the Sun Belt title on Saturday as he looks to capture his first victory in the championship game (he’s 0-2 previously).
Though Napier doesn’t bring Power Five head coaching experience to the table, he’s a big-time recruiter and seems to be the CEO-type that Florida desperately needed in this cycle. The reactions to the hire in the national media have been almost universally positive, and ESPN’s primary takeaway from the move is that Napier, who previously turned down opportunities to coach Auburn and South Carolina, saw his patience rewarded.
Most Group of 5 coaches bolt for the Power 5 as soon as they have the chance. For many, it’s the right move. Some who miss their window to move up never get another opportunity.
But there are lessons coaches should take from what Billy Napier just pulled off.
Napier had several Power 5 opportunities in recent years, but opted to remain at Louisiana, where he believed he could keep winning at a high level. Sources close to Napier said he would be very strategic about his next move, not taking any Power 5 job, but only ones in which he saw clear paths to success. Before the season, Virginia Tech and Arizona State were two jobs that intrigued Napier. Back then, no one expected Florida to dismiss Dan Mullen.
As jobs began to come open, Napier’s name unsurprisingly surfaced. He was among the top candidates at TCU, which hired Sonny Dykes, and at Virginia Tech, which has named Brent Pry as its coach. But when Florida fired Mullen, Napier quickly emerged as a top target and was officially hired Sunday.
He worked the carousel to perfection, relying on what he continued to do as a head coach (39-12 at Louisiana), as well as a profile that included assistant-coaching stops at big-time programs (Clemson, Florida State, Alabama) for big-time coaches (Swinney, Fisher, Saban). Napier had enough belief in what he had done, both as a head coach and an assistant, to wait for a truly elite job to come calling.
Group of 5 coaches could learn from Napier’s example. Sometimes waiting is the right move.
The elite job Napier was waiting for finally came along, and Florida will hope it can have more success hiring a Saban disciple from the Group of Five then it did last time when it hired Jim McElwain from Colorado State.
There’s good reason to believe it will, though, given Napier’s reputation as a phenomenal recruiter and his reported attention to detail. He’s been one of the hottest coaching commodities in the last two cycles, and the Gators ultimately won out for his services. They will hope that this is the hire that will finally bring the team back to consistent national contention, a place it hasn’t really been since Tim Tebow graduated in 2009.
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