Billy Napier, Football, Mark Hockey discussed on The Paul Finebaum Show

Automatic TRANSCRIPT

Wherever you listen. And we welcome you back in on this national signing day. We are delighted to welcome back to our show, the head coach of the Gators coach Billy Napier coach. Thanks for making time. Congratulations on ending your first signing class. I know it never ends, but how do you feel today? Yeah, Paul, thanks for the opportunity to be here. Yeah, very pleased with the progress that we've made. I think we've been working about too much now. Obviously, adding players and lots of different ways, but also hiring a staff and it's been a great experience. I've been very impressed with gazelle, Florida. I've been very impressed with the university of Florida. So so far so good. I know, coach, you can only do what you have time for, but I'm just reading the experts and what they are saying. And many not all are complimenting you on really finishing very strongly putting a really good class together considering the lateness of your arrival and the situation that you were in, the program was in when you inherited it. Yeah, a lot of early mornings in late nights, but I'm thankful for our administration our staff. We've got a terrific group of people that have taken pride in their role and a lot of people contribute to the success that we've had so far. It's a big part of what we do. Evaluate in players recruiting players and certainly trying to build trust in great communication with the current players on the team. So a lot going on. Certainly been a great transition. Feel with problems, but we're excited about some of the opportunities that come with that. Coach, I know this ends today, this class, but in college football today it never ends. So what's next for you? I realized there will be a spring practice eventually, but in terms of off the field matters, where do you put your attention now? Yeah. We're right in the middle of phase one. We're off season program. Players are doing a really good job. Obviously, we lean on Mark hockey and his staff, Joe danos, Kelsey Gomes, Tony hill. We've got a terrific group of people there, great team in a development part of the organization. Our staff, our football staff and recruiting staff is getting ready to take about 5 days off. We got to move families, heck, my wife and kids are getting here Friday. And much of our staff is kind of going through the same thing. So a little bit of a transition time here. We'll start phase two when we get back to work. But, you know, so really excited and I've been impressed so far. I've heard a number of commentators that we have spoken to about your program, talk about the completeness of your operation, which is something you did before in your former stop. But a lot of folks in Gainesville have not seen anything quite like it. Could you explain your philosophy on the whole package that comes along with your coaching regime? Well, Paul, I'm thinking, I think you're talking about just the approach we've taken with the people that we've hired, have been fortunate to work with some of the very best in the profession. We're all products of our experience, the people that we've been around and really what we're trying to do here is create an organization of people where we can impact the player in lots of different ways. You know, we want to obviously be very competitive on the field. We want these young men to develop as football players, but more importantly, we want to work on their character, work hard on who they are as people and chase this education go really prioritize their education as a whole and create a unique experience. One that's different than anywhere in the country. And I think we've got a great product to sell. And we've put our organization together with that in mind. So I think that it's what's required to be competitive in today's college football dynamic. Kosher, I know the inverse of Florida had some announcements this week in relation to NIL and it is the topic du jour. Let's start with what's going on on your campus right now. Yeah, we're very fortunate. In that we have made a partnership with gator collective. Actually in today's dynamic with the revenue that's created through college football, the players are they've got an opportunity to benefit. They get a piece of the pie and certainly this is an avenue. Where they can earn compensation. On top of their scholarship and the cost of attendance in Austin money and all the things that come with that, so we've organized our people. Still very much a working progress, but I'm excited about that. I think it's unique. And we look forward to how that can impact our program and certainly impact the players. Coach many have commented about the current state of NIL some have been very critical, some have pointed fingers. I'm not asking you to do that, but I am asking you to describe the culture that is existing right now and the competitiveness of it and how you and I know you've alluded to it a minute ago, but how do you take this on, especially coming from a major state institution like the university of Florida? Well, it's a new dynamic. This is a completely new air in college football. I do think you're seeing programs in universities across the country, still adjusting. I think this thing evolves every day. It's changing every day. Everyone's trying to get out in front of it. We certainly have been aggressive at the university of Florida in this area. I'm excited about how it can impact the quality of experience that the player has. But I do agree with some of the things that I've heard out there relative to. What are the parameters?.

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