Billy Napier now promises at James Madison what he refused at Florida

Among the many flaws of Billy Napier during his time as head coach of the Florida Gators was his stubbornness and borderline narcissism in refusing to let go of playcalling. He was defiant when challenged about his offense, even though every piece of empirical evidence pointed to the offense being a problem.

Now that Napier has been fired from Florida, he’s been hired at James Madison and has been making his rounds at his new home. And he claimed yesterday that he would actually do something he outright refused to do while in Gainesville.

Billy Napier will let someone else call plays at James Madison

In a short one-on-one interview with Dave Riggert, the radio voice for James Madison, Napier claimed that he was going to let someone else handle the playcalling duties for the Dukes:

“I'm gonna do it differently this time. So I'm gonna hire a coordinator, and I'm going to work with him, you know, but I'm going to give that guy autonomy. He let him call the plays. 

I do think that I will go a little bit more pace, a little more 11 personnel spread. I think at this level, you can find the skill players. I think it's hard to find the bigs that tight end. You certainly need a quarterback who can make some plays with his feet. 

But I do think you gotta jump into 12, and you gotta be able to rush the ball and stop the run, especially the weather here, the conditions here.”

There is a lot to unpack here, and none of it is going to endear Napier to Gator fans.

Gator fans begged, pleaded, and implored Napier to do this while in Gainesville. Even Scott Stricklin told Napier he should probably hire an offensive coordinator to actually call the plays.

But if you dared to question Napier and his Ask Madden offense, you were labeled a “bad fan” who lived in a central Florida basement.

Perhaps even worse than Napier finally letting someone else call plays is the fact that he wants to run more 11 personnel spread (three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back). One of the very real structural flaws of his offense at Florida was his reliance on two-tight-end sets despite the fact that he didn’t have two SEC-caliber tight ends to make it work.

Just remember, Napier left Gainesville as the only coach to have a losing record since World War II. If he learned his lesson, then so be it; just let it be a reminder that sometimes fans in the modern era do have some idea of what they are talking about.