Tag: Mark Hocke

Florida football will hire new strength and conditioning coach in 2024

The Florida Gators are giving its strength and conditioning coach a new role on the coaching staff in 2024.

The Florida Gators are going through changes. Some moves for the better, some are for the worse. After the conclusion of the 2023 season, the Gators made a few abrupt choices, especially in the defensive unit after the firings of Sean Spencer and Corey Raymond.

Now the Gators are making one more change to the coaching staff by giving former strength and conditioning [autotag]Mark Hocke[/autotag] a new role for next season.

Florida head coach Billy Napier addressed the media Wednesday afternoon and announced Hocke will mainly be an associate head coach, a role he played this past season.

Napier said the Orange and Blue are going through a rebuild, but he has a different name for it and Hocke will be at the forefront.

“We’ve been in an evaluation mode,” Napier said. “I do anticipate some different leadership there, different approach there. You guys all know Mark (Hocke). Mark’s an unbelievable leader, person. He’s done an unbelievable job for me personally for six years. I can’t compliment him enough in terms of character and loyalty. One of the things that Mark and I have always talked about is what’s next for him in his career?

“Ultimately we’re going to try to help Mark with that, and he’s going to be doing different things for our organization, a lot more upstairs, kind of making some of that transition into the coaching element,” Napier continued. “He’s always had aspirations to do those things, and I think that presents an opportunity for us to bring new leadership from a strength and conditioning standpoint.”

Hocke worked four seasons under Napier as the strength and conditioning coach for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun and tagged along when the Florida head coach made his way to Gainesville in 2022.

As of right now, Napier has no name to share for will be taking over the strength and conditioning role for the Gators.

“I do think that we’re right in the middle of that process,” Napier said. “But I can’t compliment Mark enough relative to the work he’s done for us. We wouldn’t be here without Mark Hocke. I’m excited about helping Mark pursue some of the things that he and I have always discussed.”

The Florida Gators will look to fill the strength and conditioning role as the offseason rolls on. They will continue its rebuild over the recruiting season before national signing day on Feb. 7.

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Culture change nearing completion at UF

Florida’s second year under Billy Napier should go a lot smoother than the first did. Everyone is now on the same page and knows what to expect.

Training camp is a special time of year.

Most fans still have hope that their team will exceed expectations, and no games have been played yet, which means there’s no tape to comb through and over-analyze. Training camp will give the public a better idea of who will be a star and who won’t, but as it begins, there’s a lot of optimism in the Florida locker room.

Most of the optimism comes from the vibes in the Heavener Center, where Florida’s football team has been training over the summer. The physical returns are clearly there, but there’s a greater sense of camaraderie in Gainesville heading into 2023, according to Gators Online.

“Last year was almost like we were navigating in the dark a little bit,” UF director of football strength and conditioning Mark Hocke said. “I think there was some ego, some stubbornness with everyone involved. Whereas this year I feel like everyone understands what the expectation is, what the standards are, how we go about our different protocol systems.”

Hocke isn’t the only one noticing that the team is getting closer, either. Running back Trevor Etienne, wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and quarterback Graham Mertz all agreed that the team has grown together over the past six months.

Billy Napier has mentioned a few times that the bulk of the team has been together since January, and he’s intentionally set things up so that the team has as many opportunities as possible to bond.

“I think that’s the way you build and develop a team culture: we before me,” he said. “Are they perfect? No one is. I make mistakes all the time too. But there is remorse, there is ownership, there is accountability and less finger pointing.”

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Here are Billy Napier’s five most important staff hires at Florida

Here’s a look at the key acquisitions for Billy Napier and his army of assistants.

Billy Napier has assembled most of his “army” and is ready to move on to the next phase of his plan, which is spring practice.

He has made so many hires that it seems difficult to keep up with them. And in doing so has reenergized a fan base that went through a pretty rough 13 months.

Of course, we are curious to see how all of this works when the Florida football team actually plays football games. Coaches and analysts and everyone else on the inflated staff will be judged on the wins and losses. It’s just the way it works.

Napier’s plan isn’t that complicated. Get better players, develop all players and put them in position to make winning plays.

It’s not rocket science.

But getting the right people on board to try to achieve a common goal is not always easy. Napier didn’t get everyone he went after, but he didn’t miss on many.

So, here are the five most important hires he has made as the head coach of the Florida Gators.